|
"Blessed are the poor in spirit."
(Matthew 5:3)
Who are the poor in spirit?
It is not by accident that this is the first of the beatitudes or blessed statements of Jesus. This one is primary in importance and sets the foundation for all the others. If you misunderstand this one, then you will miss all the others.
The Greek word translated "blessed" is makarios. Some translate it as happy; the word means to have inner joy and fulfillment, inner peace, and bliss. The word is used to describe God the Father and Jesus. Homer used it to describe a state of existence that is unaffected by outside forces. (Source: MacArthur, The Beatitudes, p. 9, 36-37.)
The Greek word used for "poor" in this passage is ptokas, which means abject poverty, beggarly poor. There was another word Jesus could have used, and that is penace, a less severe state of poverty. One writer describes this "poor in spirit" state of being this way: "Nobody ever entered on the basis of pride. The doorway is very low, and only people who crawl can come in... Poverty of spirit is the foundation of all graces, yet so much of our modern Christianity feeds on pride. You might as well expect fruit to grow without trees if you think the graces of the Christian life grow without humility." (Source, Ibid, p. 57)
Notice Jesus said "poor in spirit", not poor in material possessions. This poverty of spirit is where one humbles himself before God, regardless of worldly goods. Jesus is not calling everyone to a vow of material poverty or a life in a monastery. If He was, then the worst thing we could do is have money or give money to others, but that is not the teaching here by our Lord. Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones does a great job explaining this verse in his excellent book on the Beatitudes. Lloyd-Jones was a medical doctor who married a doctor and surrendered to the Lord's call on his life to be a pastor. He served for ten years in Wales and then became the pastor of the Westminster Chapel in London, England. He writes, "What our Lord is concerned about here is the spirit; it is poverty of spirit. In other words, it is ultimately a man's attitude towards himself. That is the thing that matters, not whether he is wealthy or poor." (Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, p. 35)
We are either proud in spirit or poor in spirit; our lives display either one or the other. The opposite of poor in spirit is one who is proud, haughty, arrogant, who has a spirit of entitlement, and a demanding personality. How about you? If you are struggling with pride, ask the Lord to forgive you and help you so that you can live the poor in spirit, blessed life.
|
Apple
Spotify
Deezer
YouTube
