August 14 - Blessed are the Poor in Spirit

“Blessed are the poor in spirit.”

The word Blessed here comes from the Greek word Markarios - meaning blessed, or happy, fortunate, and well off. It’s actually a picture of being content and fulfilled. This word blessed is an understanding that you are just fine with where you are at, because you get you, and where you are at. See, this is an awareness that you don’t have to look around and measure up, judge, compare, or even contrast how you would do things, because you are just fine accepting the grace you have been given for the situations you have been place in. 

Let me further that thought for a second. 

We have been given grace and mercy. The writer of Hebrews tells us in Hebrew 4:16 - to “approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” 

What’s the difference between grace and mercy? 

Grace is being given blessings beyond what we deserve. It’s the understanding that God is so incredibly good to us as he pours out his favor and kindness on us. 

Mercy is not getting what we actually deserve. It’s the understanding that we deserve to be punished for our sinful rebellion, but instead, we were forgiven and redeemed. We should be cast out of the presence of the living God, but instead we were given a chance to build relationship with him. 

These two things in our lives, the grace to be cared for beyond what we deserve, and the mercy to be forgiven and spared the punishment we should embody, both lead me to a place of gratitude. When I take the time to understand how good God has been to me, it makes me fulfilled, happy, full of contentment, fortunate. . . It makes me realized how blessed I am! 

So Jesus starts with the reminder that Blessed are you, when you are poor in spirit. What does it mean to be poor in spirit? 

Poor - the Greek word ptōchos (pto-khos’) indicating a state of helplessness, or powerless to accomplish an end on your own, 

Spirit - the Greek word pneuma- referring to the rational of a person, the power by which the human being feels, thinks, or decides. 

What Jesus is saying, is that you would do good to understand just how helpless you are when you are left to your own ability to feel, think, or make decisions on your own. You don’t have the power to always make wise, meaningful, thought out actions and thoughts. The flesh drives you to make bad judgements all the time. 

It’s the condition of the heart. The heart wants what the heart wants. . . 

The sooner you recognize that you aren’t perfect, that you give in to your fleshly desires all the time just like everyone else, the sooner you will be able to find satisfaction realizing the grace and mercy of God! In fact, Jesus takes it a step further. He said, 

“Blessed are the Poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Jesus basically said, there is no way to understand the kingdom in which he reigns, if you can’t understand your inability to deserve it in the first place. 

This isn’t a moment of thinking poorly of yourself. 

This doesn’t mean to evoke a “Woe Is Me” attitude. 

It’s a simple reality that Jesus illustrated in John 15 when he said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart form me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.” 

See, the poor in spirit are blessed and content, because they don’t need to look around and compare what opportunities others have been given, because they realize the breath in their lungs today is a graceful act of a loving God who breaths life into them, in stead of making them pay for the mess they have made around them. And when you understand that, you get the kingdom of heaven. 

See without understanding this, you miss the kingdom of heaven because you are constantly thinking you deserve something better than what you actually deserve. 

Now, here is an important piece that Jesus wanted them to walk away with. He wasn’t trying to knock them down or tear them down to size by saying this. He was reminding them of his goodness. He was helping them put the goodness of God into perspective. 

You will be content and satisfied when you begin to realize that apart from God you can do nothing. You are but filthy rags. . . . But the kingdom of heaven amends this, because you aren’t apart from God. You have the forgiveness, favor, mercy, and grace of God in your life! So you can do all things. You are more than a conqueror. And this grace is no different than the grace of the person who you think has undeserved favor to be in a role and do things that you want for yourself. 

So here is the rub. This is what I want you to think about, and then I want you to put into practice. . . 

Somewhere you have looked at someone or a situation and have thought you deserve the opportunity to be given the chance. . . . I don’t know your exact context or what you feel slighted from, but it’s human nature. We all want the chance to prove ourselves. This is a drive that will cause you so much frustration, hurt, and pain. If you want to be blessed, if you want contentment in your life, you have to realize that apart from God you can do nothing. So all you really need is. . Jesus. 

Two things to overcome this. 

First - stop and admit to God that you need him. You don’t need the promotion, favor of mankind, opportunities, or anything else this world has to offer. You just need the presence of the living God. For if you can find this, you will be blessed. So take some time to admit your dependence on him. 

But Second - if there is someone that you have been jealous of, someone who you feel like you could do their job better and so you have been bitter, angered by the fact that you don’t get the chance to. .  but they do for some reason. . . . you need a reset of heart. The only way you can do that, is through prayer. 

See, I told you that prayer isn’t something we do to earn the favor of God. The blessings aren’t being held out from you until you say a certain amount of prayers and earn your favor. But prayer helps you align your heart with God and get out of your egocentric thought process. So start by praying. Pray for the person you find yourself jealous of. Or pray for the one that isn’t handling things the way you would. Begin asking favor over them and a protection to make wise decisions. When you do this, you will begin to become a person who is poor in spirit. And the result, you will get the kingdom of heaven. 

So wrestle with this today. And as you do, I pray it helps you understand what you believe, and why you believe it to be true. And until tomorrow, I love you, and as you learn to be poor in spirit, may God bless you!