“Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3)
What does it mean to be poor in spirit? These past several months I have been discovering what this truly means. The journey of living a lifestyle with a heart posture of being poor in spirit has been a very hard but rewarding process in my life. I have learned that oftentimes we choose not to humble ourselves in life or we are unaware of the pride that is still living in our hearts. No matter the case, God intervenes in love to humble us. He does this because He truly desires to continually give us grace upon grace. “In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility towards one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:5-7)
God cannot and will never empower pride. Therefore, in order for our lives to be more completely empowered by the Holy Spirit we must live a lifestyle of humility that is expressed through being poor in spirit. Have you ever meditated on the reality that in Christ we are more wealthy than the richest of the rich on the earth? The treasure of heaven has deposited Himself fully into the account of our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Yet, our riches are an inheritance that was given to us by our Loving Father because of his Beloved Son. We have not earned it, or else it wouldn’t be an inheritance - that would be wages. It has been given to us as a free gift out of the glorious riches that are within God. Our rich and glorious inheritance is Christ in us the hope of glory. The indwelling person and presence of Jesus Christ inside of us. Paul states that the kingdom of God is not just food or drink but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. The kingdom of God is within us. This makes the poor in spirit rich!
When this revelation enters our hearts we respond with an ache of adoration for the glory that is in the gospel. We recognize that we are eternally indebted to Jesus. He made a way through his body and blood for us to receive our inheritance from our Father. As I meditate on the glory of the gospel, my heart begins to become full of thanksgiving along with an overwhelming sense of indebtedness to Jesus. This leads me to a place of utter humility and poverty of spirit. I recognize that apart from Him I am nothing and can do nothing. I am desperately dependent on his grace.
There are times when God will allow external realities in our lives to humble us. They bring us to our knees and aid us in coming to the end of ourselves so that we can rightly see our true state. He uses these things to expose our pride and independence. The reality is that I am weak and poor in spirit. I desire to remain in this posture of heart even apart from external realities confronting my pride and independence and bringing me to a place of humility. What I have experienced is that continual meditation on the gospel brings my heart to a place of worship and adoration thus leading me to continue to recognize my absolute need of God each moment of every day. Simply admitting and recognizing the truth. I am poor in spirit.
I believe that apart from humility expressing itself in our lives through a heart posture of being poor in spirit we will continue to rely on our own strength, wisdom, and power. We will be unable to rightly examine ourselves or rather allow the Holy Spirit to rightly examine us. We will despise weakness because we believe that we must be strong. In reality, we are weak, finite, frail, and extremely limited in our own ability and capacity to do anything. I have learned that there is absolutely no shame in admitting what God already knows about us. We truly are poor in spirit apart from him. We are destitute and utterly indebted to Jesus who chose to humble Himself and become utterly dependent on His Father. He did this so that we could share in his inheritance. What a loving God. What a glorious gospel we have received.
My invitation to you today is to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Humble yourselves, admit to God and to other brothers and sisters what He already knows. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you grace to remain in a heart posture of being poor in spirit so that you can continually as a lifestyle position yourself in humility to experience the supernatural empowerment of the Holy Spirit. This is the way to live a life that imitates Jesus’s life - utter dependence on our Father.
