Poor in Spirit
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3)
Character – gone are the days when men valued character, when integrity and courage were carefully preserved virtues. For all the blessings of which Christ could pronounce, each blessing centers around character. Between poverty and persecution, Christ paints a portrait of priceless character. Character is the godly man’s crown, and the first jewel set is to be “poor in spirit.” But what does it mean to be “poor in spirit”? Jesus is not referring to those who don’t have two nickels to rub together. You can have empty pockets and still be full of yourself. Jesus is not referring to the “poor spirited.” A grumbling miser is not a godly man. To be “poor in spirit” is to find nothing good in yourself and to find everything good in Christ. As Al Martin once said, “I am nothing, I can do nothing, and I am in need of everything.”
How different is this from the world? Too often, we are like the woodpecker on the tree when it was struck by lightning. Amazed, he said, “Wow! I didn’t know I had it in me!” Truth be known - a man cannot receive anything unless it is given to him from Heaven. Yet in spite of God’s kindness, we are not “poor in spirit,” we are “proud in spirit.” Woe to the “proud in spirit,” for theirs is a dominion of darkness. God raises up the valleys, but he casts down the mountains. He dwells with the humble and contrite in spirit, but the haughty he casts down. To be cast down and cast away from God is spiritual poverty.
Only the “poor in spirit” can inherit the kingdom of heaven. A glass must be emptied before it can be filled, and a man must be emptied of self before he can be filled with the grace of God. To be poor in spirit and rich in grace, to be emptied of self and filled with the Spirit, to deplore our lack and delight in Christ’s fullness – this is the first jewel to the godly man’s crown, the first link in the chain of Christian character. To be “poor in spirit” entails a kingdom in heaven, but the lacking thereof is spiritual poverty.
