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Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit

Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”Matthew 5:1-3

Have you ever had someone in your life that was impossible to please?  Maybe it was a teacher, a coach, a boss or worse, a spouse or a parent.  No matter how hard you tried, it was just never good enough.

It is an exhausting feeling.  And this is exactly how everyone in the audience felt the day that Jesus sat down to teach what we now know as the Sermon on the Mount.

You see, the Pharisees had added so many man-made rules, 615 to be exact, to the Old Testament Scriptures, that pleasing God had become impossible.  No one felt like they were good enough.

They were all “poor in spirit.”

Poor in Spirit

Being poor in spirit had nothing to do with their financial state.  It had everything to do with the humble spirit that acknowledged they were not good enough. So when Jesus began his sermon, he was simply giving words to how everyone already felt.

But then he said something that no one expected.  He said that if you felt this way you were “blessed” and that you would inherit the “kingdom of Heaven.”

Talk about a game-changer!

All of a sudden, everyone who felt like they would never be good enough for God had hope.  And everyone who felt like they had cornered the market on righteousness had anger.

So if you feel like you aren’t good enough for God today, you are in good company.  In fact, Jesus would say you are exactly where you need to be to hear from Him.  You are poor in spirit.

Take a few moments to acknowledge to Jesus in prayer your need for Him.  Ask Him to help you maintain a humble spirit this week towards him and others.