A Poor Spirit Purges the Poverty of Pride
“Blessed are the poor in Spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” - Matthew 5:3 (KJV)
The word and the condition of being poor is not usually associated with a positive situation. A majority of people believe that the word “poor” points us to a pejorative position. In their mind, P.O.O.R. stands for “People Out Of Resources”. For countless centuries people have measured a soul's significance and one's welfare and joy with by their access to a well of wealth from which he or she can draw. Therefore a poor person will naturally have little reason to be joyful based on outward circumstances.
Today’s text were words spoken by Jesus Christ as an introduction to His sermon. They clarified that He was not speaking of physical poverty but spiritual poverty as a requirement for a Christian. The beginning of repentance and a right relationship with God is the recognition of one’s spiritual bankruptcy and one’s inability to become righteous on one’s own. The Word of God is very clear about our righteousness apart from God:
“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” - Isaiah 64:6 (KJV)
“What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?” - Job 15:14 (KJV)
“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one” - Romans 3:10 (KJV)
The poor in spirit are people who are conscious of their own spiritual deficiency and the degree of our depravity. Our Lord Jesus Christ preached the coming of the kingdom and established the truth that a humble heartqualifies one to be a citizen of the kingdom. The possession and the presence of humilityis an essential element for an eternal relationship with God!!!
According to scripture, God always propels the prideful soul! Consequently, it is impossible to have a personal relationship with a holy, righteous, loving and merciful God when He is resisting you!
“There they cry, but none giveth answer, because of the pride of evil men.” - Job 35:12 (KJV)
“Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy commandments.” - Psalms 119:21 (KJV)
“Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.” - Proverbs 16:5 (KJV)
“But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith,‘God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.’” - James 4:6 (KJV)
Again the poor in spirit are the spiritually humble. Therefore their disposition is the exact opposite of a Pharisaic attitude. A Pharisaic attitude is a mentality that is prolific in pride, saturated and stricken with self-righteousness, obsessed with observances of rules, and hardened and heavy in hypocrisy. When this is your “MO”, there is a definite “No-Go” for citizenship in the kingdom of God. We should not exercise an exaggerated estimation of ourselves. Humility will keep you in the hand of God and on the Highway of Heaven!
Body of Christ, “humility gives you a head that thinks like heaven, a heart that has the power of heaven, hands that hold the hope of heaven and the habits that point others to heaven.”
Not a Sermon But a Thought,
PBKSR