poor in spirit

Today, I was thinking about how much I want to know and understand God. I know that God is good and fair and just, but what does that mean? In other words, what’s God like? Does he have a favorite food? Does he even eat food? What does he spend most of his time thinking about? And what kind of work is he doing in heaven? I guess I just really want to understand the very nature of God.

Jesus told his disciples that if they knew him, then they knew the Father, because he and the Father are one. In search of satisfying my curiosity about God, I decided to go to the beatitudes. Seems like as good a place as any to find out more about who God is, and, hopefully, learn more about his very heart. 

For the next several weeks, I’m going to meditate on the beatitudes in the hopes of learning more about our amazing God. Without further ado, I give you Beatitude Number One. 

Matthew 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. NIV

It’s tempting to think that this verse is about being poor. It is. But not the kind of poor we think of. The poor in spirit are those who realize that they can’t save themselves; those who look to Jesus’ work on the cross and know that it was he who earned their salvation.  

I think the NLT version makes this point even clearer.

Matthew 5:3 God blesses those who realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is given to them.

This is Christianity 101. Thinking that you can get into heaven because you’re good enough just won’t cut it. Because, well mostly, we’re not that good, not really. It reminds me of Jesus’ parable about the wedding feast. As the story goes, a guest arrives in his own clothing rather than wearing the wedding clothes that the host has provided. 

Matthew 22:11-12 But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. “Friend,” he asked, “how did you get in here without wedding clothes?” The man was speechless.

Maybe this man was speechless because he’d known all along what clothes he needed to wear, but he decided to come to the feast on his own terms. The host had no choice but to throw him out. To us it may seem harsh, but to God it’s the truth. If we try to enter heaven with our “good works” they will never be enough. We will never be enough. 

I have to admit that there have been times that I’ve felt pretty self-righteous. It’s a real temptation to want to get to heaven on my own merit. But in knowing the truth, the truth that sets us free, there’s some relief. A big sigh. A thank goodness I don’t have to be left out of the heavenly wedding feast. I even get a new set of clothes to wear--Christ’s righteousness.  After all, as one who is poor in spirit, the kingdom of heaven belongs to me. And just in case you’re wondering, in Christ, the kingdom of God is yours, too.