Poor In Spirit?

Are you poor in Spirit?

I am in the process of walking through the Sermon on the Mount with the youth at FBC Bevil Oaks and for lack of time in the service I thought I would supplement the lessons with some personal reflections on the Beatitudes, starting in verse 3. 

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Mt 5:3 ESV

I have always read this like, “be humble in spirit.” Now, that’s not necessarily wrong, but with the utter lack of humility in our society do we even know what that looks like.  So I did some digging into the Greek and what you get from that “poor in spirit” is less of a head down-eyes closed-prayer style approach I used to picture and much more like a fearful cowering of a beggar. I am not trying to paint a picture of God as a wrathful being about to snuff us all out, though I am not denying the possibility of obliteration at anytime. But, I do not want to belittle the awesomeness of our God or the repulsiveness of our sin.

The idea behind poor in spirit is our coming before the King as enemies, fearing for our lives, and begging for mercy. To which He tells us to fear not. I am convinced that many people skip straight to the fear not. I know that this was me for a long time.. I was taught how Christians are part of the family of God and are His much loved children, but I was not a Christian. I came to God assuming too much of my relationship. I came to God thinking, “I walked the aisle so now I can relax and kick my shoes off in God’s house.” When in reality I had assumed a place in the family without consent. I was not a beggar of mercy; I simply assumed its benefits without asking.  

“Just trust in Jesus as your Savior.” “Give your Heart to Jesus.” These are the alter calls of modern Christianity. And while I could talk about the ridiculousness of pastors assuming a non-Christian even understands these phrases, I will just say that I knew nothing of repentance. I was not poor in spirit. I did not ask God for anything with a heart that begs with fear and trembling. I did not wait for God to say “fear not.”

The poor in spirit are those that have received the Kingdom of Heaven, because they came before the King, petrified with fear and with a resolve that they have no other way to be saved. Their cringing lips whimper a confession that bares their whole being completely vulnerable before God. It’s then that God scoops them up like helpless infants, wipes their tears, and sets them at His table clothed in robes befitting heirs of the King.

Even in writing this my heart is troubled by the lack of humility, I have shown God. Even though I am a member of His family, I am reminded of time in which I crashed into the God’s courts with bold disregard and tried to take what was not mine. What audacity. Praise God for His perfect patience and love. 

I found this song to be a good addition to this entry: