The Blessings of Being Poor in Spirit
Okay, in our world today, poor is not exactly something to aspire toward. More often “poor” is something you fall into through misfortune and bad luck. You don’t climb the ladder to be poor. You don’t compete and learn and practice to be poor. No, poor is not an aspiration. It is a curse-or so it would seem.
It might come as a huge shock to you when I say we are indeed to aspire to be poor. Poor in spirit that is. Yes, the first of the Beatitudes is as relevant today as it was when Jesus stood on the Mount. In fact, it may be more relevant now.
Let me for a moment describe what it means to NOT be poor in spirit. You will have to learn all the rules of the world and how to break them. You will forever have to watch your back for one of the greatest characteristics of being on top is that someone younger, smarter, more powerful, more ruthless is waiting one rung down to knock you off.
When you are NOT poor in spirit, you can rely on only one person-yourself. All others playing this game are out only for themselves, and you would do well to remember that. This is an especially important point to remember when they begin to build you up.
In Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, the chancellor, think the snake in the garden with nice clothes, tells Anikan, “It is clear you are the best one for the job.” And later, “They are jealous of your power.” Now if you think the chancellor was being benevolent in his compliments, think again.
In the Garden of Eden, the serpent used a similar ploy. “God knows if you eat it, you will be just like Him…” What he is saying is, “Look, you too can be a god. You can have power. You can have all of this if you’ll just….” Again we hear this enticement when Satan tempts Jesus, “You can have all of this…”
The moment you turn to yourself as your power, you have turned against the idea of being poor in spirit. I have done this many times. When I tried to learn the ways of marketing and selling and being “good enough to get published.” This is the trap I was falling into. When I listened to others tell me I had to sell X number of books before I would be considered published, I was again in this trap. Why? Because I was trying to prove my own worth, and I was using the world’s definitions as my yardstick.
Let me tell you as one who’s been there-it’s no place to live!
I heard a preacher who substituted the word “lucky” for “blessed.” How lucky are the poor in spirit. How lucky are you if you know and admit that you’re not all it.
If your worth is wrapped up in power, what happens when the wheel of fortune inevitably turns? Who are you when they get a new go-to guy? To the world which exalts you, you are expendable. But to the One who allows you to be nothing for your own sake, you will be exalted. “The last shall be first and the first, last.”
When you know your place is not at the head of the table, when you see that your faults are unforgivable, when you know you can’t do it yourself, only then do you lay yourself down at His feet and beg for mercy.
You’re not saying, “Lord, I have earned your forgiveness.” Rather you are on your face in the dust knowing you do not deserve His mercy, but you are begging for it anyway. You are a helpless child who can do nothing for themselves but have learned to raise your hands to the Father and trust that He will pick you up, love you just as you are, and in His grace and faithfulness have mercy on you and take care of you.
This is what it means to be poor in spirit. That you have seen where going on your own power gets you and it’s no place that you ever want to be again.
The blessings of the poor in spirit?
Honesty about how small you are and about how much you need Him.
A disregard for your own plans and self in exchange for His plans and His life.
A blessed release (relief) that you don’t have to know all the answers because you know the One who does, and you trust that He will do it all in His time, in His way, for the good of all those who love Him (and that includes you!).
These are but some of the blessings of being poor in spirit, and when you find them, the Kingdom of Heaven will be yours because the powers of this world will no longer have any hold on you, and that, my friend, is Heaven!
