How can a poor person be blessed? What does it mean to be blessed?
Believe it or not, accept or not, this is a good time to remember these seemingly incongruous words used in the same sentence. Here in the United States we are just days away from Caucus and Primary season as we begin the process of selecting candidates for President of the United States of America. In the great state of Iowa, we are being inundated ad nauseam with television, radio, and newspaper and internet advertisements on the best candidate for the job.
These ads generate many different emotions among those who see/hear them. They range from anger and frustration to excitement (not sure why) and even complacency. Those who are in the church and who are following Jesus can also get caught up in all the excitement and fervor this political season can bring.
But how can we keep our bearings or sanity at this time? By reading and heeding these powerful words of Jesus; “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3, ESV).
The immediate context of this famous and unsettling verse is that Jesus had just spent 40 days in the desert not eating or drinking anything and then being tempted by the devil while at His weakest physical and emotional state. Jesus defeated Satan through quoting the Word of God from the Old Testament and sent Satan away from Himself.
Then after calling His first disciples to Himself, while traveling through the northern part of Israel called Galilee, He taught and proclaimed the gospel of God. He was also healing all who were sick and brought to Him.
And then He sat down to teach them. I really wonder what they were thinking after watching all those sick people immediately healed from all their illnesses and diseases. Possibly when the new disciples saw Jesus sit down they just knew that He was about to tell them how they too could heal all those they meet and are sick. But what came out of His mouth was probably not what they were expecting.
The first of the Beatitudes as they are called and the introduction to what we call the Sermon on the Mount must have stunned the disciples. An awkward yet good way to put this is from the Amplified New Testament translation: “Blessed – happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous [that is, with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions] – are the poor in spirit (the humble, rating themselves insignificant), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven!”
Wait, what?
First we should probably deal with the phrase, “poor in spirit.” These are people that realize that they are in need of help; very serious help. They are spiritually bankrupt and realize it. The poor in spirit know that they are totally reliant on another for whatever needs they have, and in this instance it is God.
This becomes a tad bit clearer when we hear these words from Jesus; “Apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5b). A person who comes to the end of themselves, the end of their rope, is “poor in spirit.”
Coming to this realization is the beginning of salvation. Up to the point of becoming “poor,” they tried everything they could think of to fill up the voids in their life and have failed miserably. Now they turn to God for the filling or completing they need and it only comes to us in the person of Jesus.
When one turns to Jesus and is saved by grace, through faith alone in Christ Jesus, only then is one “Blessed,” for God’s glory.
In all of the chaos of the day there is a sure foundation and it is found only in Jesus Christ. It is not found in the political process nor a certain candidate, but only in God. He does all the work. All we have to do is lay down our selves before Him and He will take us up and allow us to walk with Him.
This is a daily task that we must put into our routines (without letting it become routine!) confessing that Jesus did all the work and we simply placed our trust in that finished work He accomplished upon the cross. It makes an election year livable by putting all the noise aside as we view the world through the perspective of God’s saving grace. We thrive as we place our simple trust in Him.
How about you? Have you trusted Jesus as your Savior? Turn to Him today and experience the blessing of being “poor in spirit.”