“Blessed are the poor in spirit, because the kingdom of heaven is theirs.” (Matthew 5:3 CSB)
Sounds a little mysterious, doesn’t it? How can it be that someone who is poor in spirit is blessed? How does this make any sense? Consider that Jesus promised that those who believe in Him would have an eternal spring of water gushing up from within. Consider that He promised an abundant life in the Spirit. Yet here, He seems to be saying just the opposite. How are we to make sense of this?
Being spiritually poor is a perception. When someone comes to perceive in his or her heart the crushing reality of a spiritual bankruptcy, the reality of his or her desperation to know the Lord personally and deeply, there comes a turning to the Lord, a humbling of self before the Lord, and a seeking after the Lord, and invariably that results in finding the Lord and the kingdom of heaven. When that happens, this person is then turned into one who is spiritually prosperous, which is what the word “blessed” actually means.
We are blessed when we recognize our absolute eternal insignificance apart from a personal relationship with the Lord, because that recognition turns us to Him, and He then ushers us into the kingdom of heaven.
We thank You, Lord, for building a spiritually prosperous life from the ashes of what we once were, through the power of Your redemption. Amen.
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