Blessed are the poor in spirit . . . —Matthew 5:3
We do an awful job of conveying the essence of Christianity. The world has the idea that Christianity is about forgiveness and being good and maybe love. It is viewed as a system of great, but unattainable, standards of behavior. Most see it as great, but mystical, teaching. And much of this is part of it. BUT
Jesus Christ did not come only to teach— He came to make me what He teaches I should be. The redemption means that Jesus Christ can place within anyone the same nature that ruled His own life, and all the standards God gives us are based on that nature.
The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount produces a sense of despair in the natural man— exactly what Jesus means for it to do. As long as we have some self-righteous idea that we can carry out our Lord’s teaching, God will allow us to continue until we expose our own ignorance by stumbling over some obstacle in our way. Only then are we willing to come to Him as paupers and receive from Him. “Blessed are the poor in spirit . . . .” This is the first principle in the kingdom of God. The underlying foundation of Jesus Christ’s kingdom is poverty, not possessions; not making decisions for Jesus, but having such a sense of absolute futility that we finally admit, “Lord, I cannot even begin to do it.” Then Jesus says, “Blessed are you . . .” ( Matthew 5:11 ). This is the doorway to the kingdom, and yet it takes us so long to believe that we are actually poor! The knowledge of our own poverty is what brings us to the proper place where Jesus Christ accomplishes His work.
How can we convey that we are called to be like Jesus, that we can’t do that on our own, but that we can with His life within us? We do it by openly and honestly living out our poor spirits have become rich in Jesus.
Nick
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