Matthew 5:3, 6; Romans 12:1; Philippians 2:17
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Matt. 6:33 (BSB)
The great reverend, Billy Graham, said, “If we are to be poor in spirit, we must be aware of our spiritual poverty; it means being conscious of our constant dependence on God.” As the Holy Spirit draws us to God, the realization of our need for God brings us closer to Him, to the truth that is in Christ Jesus. It will cause us to seek Him and His Kingdom, His righteousness, and in doing so, we will also come to the realization that we need to always live in His presence and be filled with His Spirit and will desire it continually. Charles Spurgeon once said, “The first link between my soul and Christ is … not my riches but my need.” I need Jesus; we all need Jesus, every hour of every day and for all eternity. Amen?
Most of us start our Christian walk “poor” in spirit and should retain a humble spirit to remain aware of our need for Him. In most cases, we begin with the lack of a good understanding of God’s word and God’s will for our lives. We are not rich in our understanding of the Scriptures, and most of us have just a glimpse of what Jesus has done for us and the need for us to serve Him in a manner worthy of a servant slave; one bound to Him out of gratitude of all He’s done for us. Matthew 5:3 tells us that those who are “poor in spirit” will inherit the kingdom of heaven. That gives us so much to look forward to. We need Christ in our lives; guiding and directing us through His Spirit. We have so much to give and are encouraged in God’s word to do that and to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength and others as ourselves. Matthew 5:6 tells us that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are blessed and shall be satisfied and those who are satisfied are best equipped to give of themselves, having a sense of fullness in their souls.
It’s hard to give when you have very little to give. This can have many applications but when it comes to giving of yourself to others, you must have something to give. When we come to know we are poor in spirit, it leaves us with the awareness of our need for God in our lives and for life. We are spiritually poverty-stricken without Jesus and must realize our need through our efforts to always be walking with Him. But our walk must go deeper than just living with the realization of our need for Him. We must realize fully the need we have to be filled with His Spirit and with that filling, a realization to live to serve Him. As Romans 12:1 says, we need to be a living sacrifice, willing to offer ourselves in sacrifice and service to Him in holiness.
So how do we go from being poor in spirit to being a living sacrifice, serving Him, and being poured out for others? We’ll look at that tomorrow in part two.
Rev. Douglas K. Johnson
Pure in Heart Ministries 