Poor But Exceedingly Rich
“Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3
When Jesus gave His Sermon on the Mount, it was designed to probe the hearts of its hearers leading them to live righteously before God and their fellow human beings. For those who do not know Christ as Lord and Savior, the words of this sermon can only lead to despair for it is impossible to live up to these standards that God has set forth without knowing Him in the free pardon of our sins and the abundant life for which Christ died to give us. The blessings of this sermon not only give us a current blessing, but also a future blessing. Each one of the Beattitudes represents a character trait of one who is truly a Christian. The first blessing that Jesus promised was directed to those who were “poor in spirit”.
What did Jesus mean when He refers to the quality of being “poor in spirit”? In the most basic sense, to be poor in spirit means to be completely stripped of ourselves and recognize that we are nothing without Jesus Christ. It is to be humbly submissive to Him and depend on Him “for in Him we live, and move, and have our being…” (Acts 17:28a). To be poor means to be needy, impoverished, lacking, inadequate, and insignificant in our own right. Oswald Chambers wrote in his book on the Sermon on the Mount, “The bedrock of Jesus Christ’s kingdom is poverty, not possession; not decisions for Jesus Christ, but a sense of absolute futility, ‘I cannot begin to do it.’ Then, says Jesus, ‘Blessed are you’. That is the entrance, and it takes us a long while to believe we are poor. The knowledge of our own poverty brings us to the moral frontier where Jesus Christ works.” What Mr. Chambers wrote reminds me of that old hymn of invitation, “Just As I Am”. When we come to Christ, we have nothing to offer but our lives in whatever condition that we have found ourselves. The Apostle Paul came to the realization that his self-righteousness and his works were nothing but manure (Philippians 3:8). As harsh as that sounds and as difficult it is to admit, that is the only way that we can find the peace and forgiveness that we seek.
Without the Spirit of Christ indwelling my soul, I would be living in great despair. To despair is to have no hope. Day to day living with all of its problems, worries, and responsibilities makes life difficult. It sometimes seems hardly worth the effort to continue the struggle of maintaining a positive outlook on life when the light at the end of the tunnel becomes so dim that I can hardly see it. But then I think about God’s grace and how good He has been to me. He is my constant Companion. I know that one day all of the loneliness, depression, and sorrow will be behind me, never to be thought of again. That gives me incentive to get out of bed each morning knowing that I am one day closer to home. I can experience joy and peace as I lean on Christ. He hasn’t forgotten me. To the world I am nothing, but in Christ I am a child of the King of heaven and earth.
It is only when one realizes his or her utter poverty without Christ that hope becomes a true reality. Not only does hope become real, Jesus promised that we would be blessed. What does it mean “to be blessed”? It means to be divinely favored. God looks on those who are poor in spirit graciously. He bestows upon them His grace, peace, and love. These are gifts to those who come to Christ with nothing to offer but themselves. As far as their future is concerned, it, too, is blessed perpetually, never to come to an end, for “theirs is the kingdom of heaven”. Therefore, the poor in spirit, whether in this body of flesh or in that spiritual body in the heavenly realm, can rejoice as a starving man who is invited to a sumptuous feast. I was poor, but You, Lord, have made me exceedingly rich in grace and love, the true wealth.