Poverty in Spirit

The promise of this first Beatitude Jesus gave is, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:3 [RSV]). Poverty of spirit has to do with humbling oneself before God and expressing a broken and contrite heart. Poverty of spirit has to do with emptying ourselves of all of our spiritual pride and expressing our dependence upon God for salvation and for transformation. Poverty of spirit leads us toward the salvation by grace through obedient, saving faith that God offers, and poverty of spirit becomes the foundation for all the other beatitudes that lead to spiritual maturation. We cannot be filled until we are empty, for God cannot fill what is already full. And we cannot be filled and helped by God until we recognize our need for God’s help.

God loved us even while we were yet sinners (Romans 5:8), but He loves us too much to want to leave us in that lost condition. God wants us to have real righteousness and to be just like Jesus.

The Beatitudes are a composite of the spiritual character that will make us be like Jesus. To be “poor in spirit” requires that we die to self through a broken and contrite heart, coming to the Lord in humility and a sincere desire for dependence upon God. This is only the beginning, but it is the right place to start. And it is the right place to keep on starting.

Pride, then, is the antithesis of humility, and it has always been the foundation of all sin ever since Eve first set her eyes upon the forbidden fruit. As John warned, “For all that is in the world – the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions – is not from the Father but is from the world.” (1 John 2:16 [ESV]) So put aside your self-pride, humble yourself before the Lord, and let Him exalt you! James, the Lord’s brother, wrote in James 4:10 [ESV], “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.” So the next time you begin to think how blessed God is to have you working for Him, remember the words of His Son, the greatest example of meekness and humility whoever lived but was exalted to the highest position by the Father where He now sits at the right hand of God (Romans 8:34):

“Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29 [ESV]). Remember,

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”

May the Lord bless you as you come to Him broken and “poor in spirit”!

Because He Is

The great Hall of Fame of Faith chapter in Hebrews 11 reminds us that "…without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6 [ESV]).

How better to prove that He exists was there than for God Himself to come in the flesh and take upon the form of man in Jesus Christ? As the Apostle Paul explains it in Galatians 4:4-5 [ESV], 4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. But to be called His sons we must come to Him on His terms in obedient, saving faith, just as all of those great men and women of renown of old did who are listed in Hebrews 11.

A life spent learning to obey God is like a journey with a stating point, a route and a destination. For Abraham that journey began when he left his home in Ur of the Chaldees to travel wherever God would lead him. He did not always know what route that journey would take. But he learned through faith to trust in God to direct his steps. We can all be encouraged by these examples from the life of the father of the faithful, Abraham.

Your journey may not be as eventful as Abraham’s, but you can be sure there will be tests and trials, ups and downs, successes and failures along the way. One of the wisest men who ever walked the face of the Earth succinctly pointed this out long, long ago when a young man named Elihu stated to Job and his friends, 2 “Do you think this to be just? Do you say, 'It is my right before God,' 3 that you ask, 'What advantage have I? How am I better off than if I had sinned?' 4 I will answer you and your friends with you. 5 Look at the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds, which are higher than you. 6 If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against Him? And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to Him? 7 If you are righteous, what do you give to Him? Or what does He receive from your hand? 8 Your wickedness concerns a man like yourself, and your righteousness a son of man.” (Job 35:2-8 [ESV]) We love God because He is, not because we deserve any reward from Him. This is the message Jesus taught in His Parable of the Master and the Servant (Parable of the Unprofitable Servant) in Luke 17:7-10.

One does not learn to live by faith all at once. It does not come naturally. You must learn and, as you learn, you will make mistakes. But those mistakes need not cut you off from God. He is a patient, compassionate and merciful teacher. He is a gracious, loving Father! And for those who do follow God in faith, there is the absolute promise given by Jesus Christ: "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5).

Words Mean Something

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” So begins the second paragraph of our nation’s founding document, the Declaration of Independence.

Today we in the United States of America will be celebrating the 234th birthday of our nation, for it was on July 4, 1776 that the Declaration of Independence was presented to the public. Many people realize this, but what they may not know or may have forgotten is that on July 6, 1776 John Hancock, one of the 56 signers of the Declaration, was given the duty of presenting the Declaration of Independence to the British authorities. Accompanying a copy of the Declaration was a short note from Hancock which said the following:

"Gentlemen, Altho it is not possible to forsee the consequences of human actions, yet it is nevertheless a duty we owe ourselves and posterity in all our public councils to decide in the best manner we are able and to trust the event to That Being who governs both causes and events, so as to bring about his own determinations.

“Impressed with this sentiment, and at the same time fully convinced that our affairs will take a more favorable turn, The Congress have judged it necessary to dissolve all connection between Great Britain and the American Colonies, and to declare them free and independent States as you will perceive by the enclosed Declaration, which I am directed to transmit to you."

Their Creator. That Being. These words mean something. The words of the Declaration still have meaning. Our Founding Fathers believed in the God of the Bible and they were not ashamed to admit it. They reasoned and fathomed that it was from the great Yahweh of the Bible that all blessings flowed. They understood that if they did not have faith in God above then nothing they did would be worthwhile. It would all be meaningless. James says in James 1:17, [RSV], “Every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with Whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”

Yes, our forefathers fought for our right to be able to worship the God of the Bible as He would have us do. Let us never lose sight of that as we persevere in our prayers that the Lord will continue to bless us as a nation insofar as we still laud and magnify Him as our Sovereign Master. By being His slaves we will achieve true liberty! “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life.” (Romans 6:22 [RSV])