By Guest Writer
“Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3).
Have you ever been to a drive thru or a restaurant and come up a couple cents short? I have yet to meet a man who has escaped the dreaded experience of being short on change at one time or another. No one ever wants to endure the walk of shame away from the food you were so close to enjoying.
The part I hate the most about the times when this happens is how I instantly fall into the paranoia of thinking someone is judging me. I hear them in my head in a Jim Gaffigan whisper: “Oh, that’s so sad. He must be really poor. He can’t even cover a 99 cent burrito.” To silence the voices, I want to make up excuses about why I can’t get my food. I want people to know I do have money. If they knew that, I wouldn’t feel as bad about myself.
This situation reminds me of how all people come up short of righteousness. Romans 3:23 says that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” In a life apart from Christ, we are always many spiritual nickels short of the required price. Being dead in our sins and coming up short in our spiritual life, our temptation is to rummage through the moral change jar and other places that might prove we have enough to pay the price in full on our own. But we can’t. We need help.
It would be incredibly humbling to turn to the person next to you or the car behind you and ask for them to buy your food because you are short of what you need. But let’s say you do, and they cover you. You would be grateful, wouldn’t you? Acknowledging our spiritual poverty to God is vital to unleashing the immeasurable and unsearchable riches found in Christ.
Being needy may be frowned upon by our culture, but God not only welcomes it, He promises that our poverty of spirit will be met with the riches of His grace. Apart from Christ, the wrath of God remains on us as His enemies. But in Christ, God, being rich in mercy and great in love, offers Himself as our inheritance.
When grace meets our poverty of spirit, it ignites the flames of gratitude for what God has done in and through Christ on our behalf. When our faith is in Christ, He not only removes our sin, but He also gives us His righteousness, which is credited to our account.
“Oh, praise the One who paid my debt and raised this life up from the dead.” Those who are in Christ lack nothing. In Him, we never come up short. In Him we have everything we need.
Written By Jevon Washington
8 thoughts on "Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit"
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Brandon Dillard says:
We are saved by faith not works. This should allow us to rest in Gods arms of grace and not spend so much time and effort trying to prove ourselves.
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Luke Blackburn says:
A true Christian walk requires a deep internal evaluation. Discipline in Christ acknowledges the lack of personal spiritual strength. You cannot rely on both God and yourself for spiritual nourishment. True devotion is total surrender. It is understanding that without the Father, one becomes void of meaning and dependent on the flesh. Only when we become nothing will God fill us with His Presence. Only when we empty ourselves of pride and self-reliance are we able to fully experience the fullness of God. He created us to be in constant communion with Him. It is our responsibility to rid ourselves of the distraction of conceit in order to bridge the gap back to the Father. To be “poor in spirit” is to acknowledge how much we need our Creator, Savior, Father. I love you, Lord. Without you, I am a lost vapor in a hurricane. But you, Father, give me life.
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DeMario Smith says:
Even though I was drowning in a debt of sin your grace and mercy covered my costs by bankrupting heaven and sending your son Jesus to die for me. I know that it was nothing that I have done that has saved me but through the power of your death and your resurrection. I am forever in your debt Lord. My life I owe to you. Thank you Jesus for saving me. O Praise the One!!!!
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Caleb Combs says:
God is so unbelievably rich in mercy, that truth alone should usher us into a broken spirit in light of him. That even when we’re pharisaical, he calls us to turn from our ways and come back to him in humility. The heart of God is merciful. God I need you to humble my spirit, so that I would come to you for true riches. Soften my heart, shatter the hardness that I’ve allowed in an attempt to pleasure my soul. Fill me with you Jesus. Thank you for calling this prodigal son back to you. I love you Lord!
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Joel Ladd says:
This is such good news: I don’t need to look any further in the moral change jar as to ways to cope for my failings or excuses for not being righteous on my own.
I can freely admit my moral failures to God and be safe. In fact, he wants me to admit my poverty of spirit. He promises that our poverty of spirit will be met with the riches of his grace.
Please Jesus, help me to have the eyes to recognize my poverty of spirit and to know that I can be simply honest with you about it rather than make excuses!
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Kevin says:
Day 2: what a good reminder that on our own, we fall short. We are embarrassed and not in a good spot. But when we lean upon the lord, he makes us new and restores our heart. What a cool God we have to mean on, not just in times of need. He wants us ALL the time. I love that.
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Jacob T says:
Why do I care if people think I have money or not? Where does this say I am putting my worth/self value?
We should be so grateful for what Jesus has done. Why do I feel entitled to his grace??
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Christian Fernandez says:
“Oh, praise the One who paid my debt and raised this life up from the dead.” Those who are in Christ lack nothing. In Him, we never come up short. In Him we have everything we need.
I really can’t imagine asking another person to pay for my food. In fact I really just love to be the person who pays for others food. But that’s not how it works with Jesus. He paid for our aid and we really can’t do anything because we can’t go one without his payment. I really don’t know how to live my life in gratitude of this.
God,
Please show me how to be grateful for your sacrifice. I want to live in thankfulness for your suffering. It wasn’t just that you suffered and not me. It was he fact that I could do nothing to get away from my humanity. I am a wretched sinner in need of the King’s grace. Thank you for your sacrifice!
❤️ Christian
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