Poor in Spirit

Today I started reading the Sermon on the Mount, that's where we'll be for a while. Today's verse is Matthew 5:3, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

"Poor in spirit" sounds like a bad thing. It sounds, perhaps, like a minor medical condition - a good reason to take vitamins, maybe. Nobody wants to be poor in anything, whether it's in spirit or in our bank account.

So why are the poor in spirit, the spiritually impoverished, blessed? Jesus said, "...for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." The truth is that we are all, in fact, spiritually poor. We children of the King of Glory have all sold away our royal titles, our inheritance, even our basic dignity, for an empty promise that gives us nothing in return. We have been conned out of everything that was ours and left spiritually destitute.

The problem is that we don't want to admit our spiritual poverty. We want to pretend that we've got it all covered and don't need help. We are like a poor, starving, homeless man by the side of the road who is offered a meal by a kind stranger, but refuses because he doesn't want to take charity. A certain amount of self-respect is a good thing, but there comes a point where pride must yield to reality, unless one enjoys eating from trash cans.

The reality is that we are spiritually destitute. We have no merit, no virtue, no goodness that comes anywhere close to balancing our sin and gaining us fellowship with the Father, in this life or in eternity. We have no redeeming qualities, so our only hope is to admit our sin, throw away our pride, and ask for the amazing charity of God's grace, which was poured out for us through the blood of His Son so that He could redeem us. If we will only admit that we have been swindled and left poor in spirit, the righteous Judge will rule in our favor and restore our stolen inheritance. Then ours will be the kingdom of heaven.