Skip to main content

72. Blessed Are the Poor In Spirit


Matthew 5:5, Luke 6:20, Psalm 86
Key Verse: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” 
Matthew 5:3

Even though the verse in Luke: "blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” may sound as though Jesus is referring to physical poverty, in contrast to Matthew's more spiritual emphasis, this would not be accurate.  Both verses are meant to be applied in a spiritual sense.  Blessed are you when you have a spirit of humility for in that attitude, you will inherit the Kingdom of God. 

A person who is poor in spirit has given up trying to do life on their own.  They recognize that their way is probably not God's way.  They are willing to surrender to God, for His Will to be done. 

Their prayer of surrender will sound like the Psalmist when he says, "Hear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.  Guard my life, for I am devoted to You.  You are my God; save your servant who trusts in You.”  (Psalm 86:1-2) We see his humble attitude continue throughout the Psalm when he says, "Teach me Your way, O Lord, and I will walk in Your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear Your name.”  (Ps.  86:11)

It is the humble person who will listen.  It is the humble person who will obey.  It is the humble person who can decrease and let Christ increase as we saw John the Baptist do earlier.  (John 3:30, Day 53).  God loves to work through humble people, such as Moses, (Numbers 12:3).  When we are humble, and not concerned about who gets the credit, God has proved that He can do mighty things.  Those humble ones who give God the glory for any good thing in their lives are those who will live in the Kingdom of Heaven, for they know that it's really about Him. 


Hymn: "Spirit of God Descend Upon My Heart"  

An interesting variation

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

211. The Sons of Thunder's Request

Matthew 20:20-28 , Mark 10:35-45 , Key verse: "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all." Mark 10:43B-44 In our readings for yesterday, in which Jesus outlined what was about to happen to Him, for His disciples, the passage in Luke ends: "The disciples did not understand any of this. It's meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what He was talking about." ( Luke 18:34 ) Now, we see just how truly clueless they were. Jesus had laid out a plan before them of pain and suffering and death and now James and John are focused on a promotion. The disconnect is so obvious. It's really not important to know whether James and john came up with this request on their own or if their mother put them up to it. The request was made and James and John thought that they could handle the responsibility that would come with it. What is that saying, "Fools rush in where angels fe...
Post a Comment
Read more

These Boots are Made for Walking

Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-15 These Boots are Made for Walking. Of course, I picked that title because it has a reference to popular culture, and it connects with our text today about “feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.” I was tempted to play the video of that song, but it’s really not amenable to worship. If you remember that old song, it was quite confrontational. The singer had a righteous complaint against a boyfriend or spouse who was cheating on her. She’s not going to put up with that, and the song goes on to say, “One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you!” And that “take a stand” bravado made her a hero! It was a #1 hit in 1966. I mention it because it has one interesting parallel and one major contrast with the message of grace and forgiveness. That parallel is this. God has a righteous complaint against the entire human race for cheating Him out of the loving relationship He desires with us. As the God who created us, he h...
Post a Comment
Read more

201. All for God's Glory

John 9 & 2 Corinthians 12:7-12 Key Verse: "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life." John 9:3 In this event John records my personal favorite from all four gospels. I love it for its detail. I love it because it demonstrates so much of our human frailty. It shows us how powerful our fears can be in the midst of God's amazing grace and glory. First, we have the disciples who are suffering under the misconception that sickness and unfortunate circumstances are the result of sin only. They are thinking like Job and his friends. If you obey you will always be blessed and if you sin, God will punish you for it. They couldn't imagine that God could have possibly designed this man, blind, for His own glorious purposes. Then we have the neighbors who are all amazed, but then what? What do you do when the mold has been broken? This man was blind and now he...
Post a Comment
Read more