The Blessed Life — A Harsh Reality

^5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

The first thing that those who would be pleasing to God must be is “poor in spirit.” What does it mean to be poor in spirit? Some have equated this with physical poverty, noting Jesus’ unqualified statement of poverty in Lk. 6:20. This doesn’t really mesh well with the overall context of what Jesus is saying in this place (though He definitely talks about money later in the sermon). When one is poor, they are lacking something. Someone with poor finances has no money. Someone with poor health is very sick. Someone who is poor in spirit is one who has a depravity, or emptiness of spirit. That is, we are spiritually bankrupt.

This depravity is not, as many believe, a hereditary condition brought about by Adam’s sin. Rather, it is the result of our own violation of God’s law.  The apostle Paul said in Romans 3:23 that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” In the kingdom of heaven, our King is utterly righteous. When we violate His command, we put ourselves “in debt” spiritually. As there really is nothing good that we can do that we shouldn’t already be doing, we find ourselves spiritually bankrupt. We are all greatly in debt to God and poor in spirit.

However, this does not mean that everyone will receive the kingdom of heaven because of their state of spiritual poverty. Not only must we be in this bankrupt spiritual state relative to the King, we must recognize this reality. Notice the parable Jesus told of the pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18:9-14. Both of these individuals were in the same spiritual state. Both had sin in their lives and had fallen short of God’s glory. The difference between these two was the way they viewed their relationship to God. The pharisee had convinced himself that he was righteous. He bragged to God of all the good things he had done and compared himself to common sinners, including the tax collector standing nearby. In spite of the righteousness that He felt he had, it was the other man, the tax collector, whom Jesus said went away justified. The tax collector was so aware of his spiritual relationship to God that he could not even bear to look up toward heaven. His only words to God were a plea for mercy.

It is, as the title suggests, a harsh realization for most people that they aren’t the center of the universe. Many walk around only caring about what is best for themselves, thinking that they are the only ones who matter. I am reminded of the bumper sticker/billboard saying: “There is one God. You are not Him.” Not only are we not the center of the universe, but spiritually-speaking, we are so far from the center of the universe that we are insignificant. We cannot hope to compare to God.

It is when we forget our position relative to God that we get into trouble. It is when we neglect the truth that we forget our position relative to God. “Buy the truth and sell it not” (Prov. 23:23, KJV).