Blessed are the poor in spirit – now it’s personal

We’ve considered what Jesus was referring to when he said the “poor in spirit” were “blessed” and the “kingdom of heaven” was theirs.

Now I want to think more specifically about what this means for you and me living in the 21st century. Are we poor in spirit? What would that even look like?

Commonly misunderstood.

Firstly, I want to make one thing clear: Jesus is not saying to us “You must become poor in spirit”. That may seem like the obvious reading, but it’s a misunderstanding of the verse.

Why?

Because that would mean being poor in spirit is something for us to achieve or earn. That would mean Jesus is effectively saying “Here’s what you need to do in order to enter the kingdom of heaven.”

The whole point of being poor in spirit is the opposite of that. It means accepting we *cannot* do or achieve or possess anything that will earn us a place in the kingdom of heaven. We need to come before God in humility and admit that about ourselves, confessing that we are – in spiritual terms – helpless and empty and completely dependent on his love and his willingness to forgive our mistakes.

Does that make sense?

A similar idea

If not, let’s consider another example. In Galatians chapter 5, Paul lists a number of characteristics or personal qualities which Christians ought to have:

We might think that Paul is giving us a to-do list, qualities to strive for, or goals to reach. Again I think that’s a misunderstanding.

The key word here is “fruit”. These are “fruits” of the spirit, meaning that anyone who possesses “the spirit” should as a result find these qualities manifesting in his or her life. If these qualities are present, it suggests that we are following the spirit, as opposed to our natural human impulses.

What does it mean to have “the spirit”? Probably the best explanation is that this refers to a mindset or attitude which Christians ought to have, the same one which Jesus himself had throughout his life.

The only way to have that attitude of mind is to have been truly converted by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. That means being truly motivated by his willingness to die for us when he was the only person who ever lived who could claim that he deserved to escape death.

A person who has never been converted can certainly strive to demonstrate kindness or goodness or any of the other fruits of the spirit – yet these cannot be called fruits of the spirit if he or she does not have the spirit to begin with.

Let’s go back to Matthew 5:3.

Likewise a person cannot be “poor in spirit” if they do not have the spirit to begin with, if they haven’t been truly converted and inspired by the sacrifice of Jesus. Remember that “poor” in this context doesn’t mean “lacking” or “deficient”, it means a recognition that we have no spiritual wealth or resources of our own; we are entirely reliant on God’s.

Are you poor in spirit?

So if you want to be among those who are in poor in spirit, or if you are wondering whether you’re already among them, think about the sacrifice of Jesus.

Think about Jesus on the cross. Think about the hours of unbearable and inescapable agony and humiliation he suffered, abandoned by virtually all of his friends and family, mocked by many of the Jewish people he had come to save, treated as nothing but the lowest criminal scum by the Roman soldiers.

This was a death he could have avoided in any number of ways. He wasn’t forced into it. He chose to do it. Why? To make it possible for you and me to be saved, to be among those who are counted as “poor in spirit”.

If you’re a Christian, think about the time you were converted and committed your life to him. How did you feel? What was it that motivated or inspired you? Do you still feel that same sense of inspiration and motivation when you think about those things? Or has that dulled over time?

Have you lost motivation?

How could that happen? How could your motivation or sense of inspiration have grown cold since the time you were converted?

One reason may be that you’ve lost sight of the very thing Jesus is talking about in this verse. Have you forgotten that as a child of God you can bring nothing to the table? That you are completely dependent on him?

If, like me, you live in the West, it’s so easy to be blinded by the relative wealth and comfort we possess. Like the Christians in Laodicea at the end of the first century AD, we can so easily believe that we’re rich and capable and self-sufficient – because that’s what we’re told by the society we live in – when the truth is that we are none of those things in God’s sight.

Do you consider yourself to be wealthy and live a comfortable life? Maybe it depends on to whom you compare yourself. Are you wealthy compared to your friends? Your neighbours? People at church? Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk? Families living on the brink of starvation in the developing world?

If you have the means to cover your basic needs and still have something to spare, you are far more wealthy and comfortable in financial terms than the vast majority of people on planet Earth.

Does that describe you? How much do you have left over once your basic needs have been taken care of? How much of that surplus goes towards purchasing additional niceties and luxuries? And how much goes to providing for others who don’t have enough for their basic needs?

Jesus’ words in this verse are not specifically an instruction to care for the poor, but your attitude to your own material resources will play a huge part in determining whether you truly have the attitude of someone whom Jesus would count as being poor in spirit.

Is your surplus money something you feel that you must hold on to because you need it and won’t be able to survive without it? Would its absence make you feel weak and powerless and helpless?

That’s what it means to be poor in spirit.

Even if you don’t have a huge amount of surplus money – even if you don’t have any at all – it’s still possible to fall into this same trap. Instead of thinking “I am safe and can look after myself because I have a lot of money”, you might find yourself thinking “I will be safe and able to look after myself as soon as I have lots of money”.

If you have money, imagine how you’d feel without it. If you don’t have money, imagine how you’d feel if you knew you were never going to have it.

Destitute? Scared? Hopeless?

That’s what it means to be poor in spirit.

But that’s only the starting point. Jesus doesn’t want you to feel like that continually. Once you truly understand that this is your true position before God, you can begin to rely on God’s promises of provision, of care and of hope, culminating in the kingdom of heaven itself.

With faith that God will keep those promises, you need no longer feel weak or helpless or scared in any way.