07 May Devotional Thought – The Power In Being Poor
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3
To be “poor in spirit” seems a really strange goal for me to seek to attain. However, while it might at first appear to be easy and unheroic, it is actually one of the most difficult and heroic things in the world. You see, while it may be easy to be poor spiritually, that is really not the same thing as being poor in spirit.
Only those who are truly rich spiritually can can be poor in spirit, for to be poor in spirit means that I am aware of the fact that I am nothing and have nothing. Before I can have that conscious awareness I must have begun to be something. Isn’t it only as I begin to know my true state that my ignorance begins to be revealed to me? Isn’t the fact of my own sinfulness made apparent as I look on the One who is infinitely pure and holy?
A heart that is dead is totally unaware of its deadness. That’s why it is only in that moment when I fall under the weight of my own spiritual sickness that I first learn of my overwhelming weakness. The closer that I draw to Christ the more that I realize just how far off I follow Him. My humility rises with my revelation.
When I was a young child I wanted to reach up and grab the sun, but it was when I learned the laws of creation that I became poor in spirit. My knowledge of God works in much the same way. As long as I am apart from Him, away from Him, I am satisfied with myself. The reason for this is because I don’t have a standard by which to measure my fallen estate. However, when I draw near to Jesus, then I see myself as I truly am.
It is in the light of His holiness that I see my darkness. It is in His majesty that I measure my meanness. It is by His incorruption that I become conscious of my corruption. It is in the presence of His wealth that I come to grips with my poverty. In fact, my confession of sin is really the result of His holiness. It’s the dawning of His glorious light that reveals my utter darkness.
So, don’t say that being poor in spirit is something that is easy or unheroic. It is actually proof that heaven’s kingdom has come – “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Don’t despair over the revelation of your nothingness, for this just proves that you have beheld a higher standard of measurement – the perfect measure of the stature of Jesus Christ. Gaze more and more on Jesus, for it is in the brightness of His beauty that you will begin to loath your own impurity. Then, in the blaze of glory that no human eye has seen you will fall at His feet and be lifted up – a new man in Him!
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