Wednesday

Daily D - Poor In Spirit


Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:3

Seems like everyone wants to be blessed, but how many people do you know who want to be poor in spirit? I mean, I’m always hearing people say, “I’ve reworked my personal priority list and now “poor in spirit” is in my top five.”

Fact is, by fact I mean my opinion, most people give little to no consideration of Jesus’ meaning when he says the poor in spirit are blessed. Maybe I’m not giving people enough credit, but facts are facts.

If you want to wrap your mind around what the phrase means I suggest you look closely at Jesus himself. He is the supreme example. Now I don’t want to wax all theological on you, but this is a daily D, and I suggest that Jesus lived in a moment by moment awareness of absolute dependence on God. His poverty of spirit kept his hands continually open toward a loving Father who could provide for any and every need. Can you ever find Jesus anxious? Stressed out? Hopeless? There is something about the reality of genuine dependence on God that washes away emotional distress. And that, my friends, is a small part of what it means to be blessed.

Father, help me today to experience what it means to be poor in spirit.

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