Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit

January 9, 2017

Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit

“God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.”

Matthew 5:3

As we begin this second week of our New Year, I think it will be helpful to focus on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount for inspiration. The first portion of that sermon is the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes are Jesus’ description of the life in Christ. These pronouncements by Jesus reveal the character traits of the citizens of the Kingdom of God. Each of the Beatitudes begins with the statement, “Blessed are” which can also be translated, “Happy are” or “Joyful are.” Six of the Beatitudes promise a future reward; while two, “Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit” (v. 3) and “Blessed are the Persecuted” (v.10) promise a present-tense blessing.

“God blesses those who are poor” is sometimes thought of as God’s concern for the economic poor. While God certainly cares deeply for all people, including the poor, the widows and orphans, Jesus has in mind here the poor in spirit. Tom Long calls Jesus’ intended audience, “spiritual beggars” and I think that is entirely appropriate (Matthew, Thomas G. Long, (Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville 1997) page 48). When we are spiritual beggars, we recognize we are in need of help; we recognize we can’t save ourselves, no matter what we do.  All we can do is plead for mercy. Jesus says this is the key to our right-standing relationship with God.

What we will see as we continue to reflect on the Beatitudes, is that Jesus’ people do not have some Pollyanna, head-in-the-clouds, blind faith. Jesus’ people are most assuredly aware of the state of this world. We see the same abuses, oppression, war, sickness, droughts and famines as the rest of the world. But we also are convinced of the coming Kingdom of God when God will make all things right. This faith in the return of Christ brings a present experience of God “our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us” (2 Corinthians 1:3b-4).

Hallelujah and amen!

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.