APRIL 4, Matthew 5:3

The world The world tells us that people are happy if they are rich, successful and powerful. Every day, we see pictures and articles telling us that the latest fashion, the sleekest cars, and the biggest bank accounts are cool. These people with all these things look very happy. So why does the first Beatitude tell us instead that we have to be poor to be blessed?

Actually, that’s not what the first Beatitude says. It says “Blessed are the poor in spirit”. Jesus Christ was not commending poverty, but rather, He was giving us another idea of blessedness and blessed people. To be “poor in spirit” is to recognise and admit that we are sinners who have nothing to offer to God, and that we deserve nothing but the judgment of God and so need to seek salvation from God. To be “poor in spirit” means that we know we are spiritually bankrupt, that we have no resources in ourselves, and that we must seek the assistance of God. So to be “poor in spirit”, we have to look to the Lord Jesus Christ for help, begging for His mercy, as we know on our own we can do nothing. And if we are truly doing that, we should then get rid of all of our self-pride, self-assurance and self-reliance, and ask God to forgive us of all our sins, save us from going to Hell, and fill us with the Holy Spirit.

The hymn writer James M. Gray puts it this way:

Naught have I gotten but what I received;
Grace hath bestowed it since I have believed;
Boasting excluded, pride I abase; I’m only a sinner save by grace!

Only a sinner, saved by grace! (2x)
This is my story, to God be the glory
– I’m only a sinner, saved by grace!

Thought: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

Prayer: Heavenly Father, please forgive me of all of my sins. Help me to realise I’m spiritually bankrupt, for I am nothing in Your presence and unable to do any good on my own. I need Jesus to be Lord of my life. This is my humble cry. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.