Blessed are the poor...

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 5:3 (NIV)

Christ’s message within the beginning verse of the Beatitudes, as written in Matthew, is one that I have struggled with since seriously beginning to look at them within a class at seminary that I took in the fall semester of 2004. Each petition brought me into a deeper walk with Jesus struggling with what He is speaking to me. The words cause me to cry out, “You’re killing me, Jesus!” It really is difficult because these words challenge all that I have been enculturated with since I was a child and as I ponder them I understand that, to some extent, they are meant to kill the old self. It fits into another of those troublesome verses Matthew 10:39, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
Faith in Jesus Christ is a struggle because it calls us to give up our natural, sinful desires and give ourselves fully over to the Holy Spirit. These verses are best explained in The Message, “You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.” We are a culture that likes to be in charge, or at least feel we are, over everything. Uncertainty creates anxiety and anxiety creates a high level of stress and this stress causes a variety of other issues. We get caught up in the busyness of life we forget to do the most important thing and live. Families are separated and disjointed and God is left on the sidelines. We are so caught up in our gods that we forget about the only true God who redeemed us in His precious blood and understands us because He walked among us.
When we walk before God with all of our brokenness and give that brokenness over to Him, He lifts us up and renews us making us whole again. First, we need to realize our own brokenness and then when He renews us He stays in us and with us and holds us together. It is only when we forget to give it over to Him that we begin to fall apart once again as broken beings. We need to be poor in spirit to leave room for the Holy Spirit to work within our lives, so we will know and feel His full promise, the Kingdom of Heaven.

Lord, Father in Heaven, we lift our hearts to You this day. We come to You broken and weak, fill us with Your Spirit, renew us in Your promises. Help us to constantly remember that all we have is because of You and that in our lives it is You that we should see in the center. You are eternal Lord and when all those distractions fade there You will be. Lord, Jesus Christ, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit may we not lose sight of what is important. Amen.