Matthew 6:20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.The Sermon on the Plain as its corresponding passage - the Sermon on the Mount - in Matthew, has been called The Christian Manifesto as it sets out the values and ideals of the Christian Life in the Kingdom. It is a pledge to be detached from all that is not of God and that one’s life be guided by what is conducive to the service of God or, to put it another way, by what is conducive to the end for which we were created. They are difficult passages to understand and equally difficult to have as the guiding principles of our lives.
Many years ago in a Moscow theatre, matinee idol Alexander Rostovzev was converted while playing the role of Jesus in a sacrilegious play entitled Christ in a Tuxedo. He was supposed to read two verses from the Sermon on the Mount, remove his gown, and cry out, “Give me my tuxedo and top hat!” But as he read the words, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted,” he began to tremble. Instead of following the script, he kept reading from Matthew 5, ignoring the coughs, calls, and foot-stamping of his fellow actors. Finally, recalling a verse he had learned in his childhood in a Russian Orthodox church, he cried, “Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom!”
See ourselves as we really are can be quite daunting. A young woman asked for an appointment with her pastor to talk with him about a besetting sin about which she was worried. When she saw him, she said, "Pastor, I have become aware of a sin in my life which I cannot control. Every time I am at church I begin to look around at the other women, and I realise that I am the prettiest one in the whole congregation. None of the others can compare with my beauty. What can I do about this sin?”
The pastor replied, "Mary, that's not a sin, why that's just a mistake!”
Without being poor in spirit we will never fully see just how much we need God and how bankrupt we are without Him. How are you doing about ranking people in your mind? Maybe it’s subtle but if you think about it you have found yourself thinking you are better than them. Maybe you have found yourself judging them and thinking you would never be like that. Jesus said “happy are those who are poor in spirit.” In truth it will free you up to live a more happy life to realise just how dependent you are on God. To realise just how much we need God is what being poor in the Spirit is really all about.
Dear Lord, I try so hard to be self-sufficient, to be "rich in spirit." But ultimately my efforts to rely on myself fail. By your grace, I realise just how much I need you. So I come to you, not full of riches or full of myself, but empty, needy, truly poor in spirit.
And you, Lord, meet me in my poverty. You not only meet my needs, but you pour out blessings upon me. You take my poverty of spirit and give back the riches of your Spirit. You uphold me when I'm weak. You comfort me when I'm afraid. You make your kingdom available to me, graciously reigning over my life.
All praise be to you, dear Lord, because you invite those who are needy into your kingdom so that you might bless them with your inexhaustible riches. Amen.
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