The Beatitudes - 1. The Poor In Spirit

Hi there and welcome to Van Life Devotions. Thanks for joining me today. Over the next eight weeks we will go through each of the eight beatitudes found in Matthew chapter 5. These incredible teachings are part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Last week I gave an introduction and background to this most famous sermon by our Lord.  

Let’s look at the first beatitude found in verse 3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3 NIV).

This first beatitude many of us can relate to. This does not refer only to the materially poor. “The poor in spirit” are those who acknowledge their own helplessness and rely on God's power.  Is this your situation right now? Is it someone’s else situation that you know off?

We must be careful not to think that this beatitude calls actual material poverty a good thing. Poverty is not a good thing. Jesus would never have called blessed a state where people live in slums and have not enough to eat, and where health rots because conditions are all against it. That kind of poverty it is the aim of Christians to remove. The poverty which is blessed is the poverty of spirit when a person realises their utter lack of resources to meet life and finds their help and strength in God.

Eugene Peterson in his The Message translation puts verse three as: “You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule” (Matthew 5:3 MSG).

Think of a rope. That rope represents your security and control, and most likely your hope. For most of your life situation you have clung to that rope. But you are starting to see those various parts of the rope slip away – security, control until you get to what appears to be the very end of the rope and there is no rope left. You start frantically clutching into thin air. It is then you realize and accept that you have nothing left. You become “poor in spirit”. You have nothing else but God to cling to. Peter says, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you” (1 Peter 5:7 NLT).

When you have come to the end of your rope and realized your utter helplessness, and put your whole trust in God, then Jesus says, you are “blessed” – because Jesus says, “theirs is the kingdom of God”, meaning God will reign in your life. When there is no rope left, when you become completely detached from things that you think brings happiness and security; but you become completely attached to God, knowing that God alone can bring you help, hope, and strength, then you are poor in spirit. Yours is the Kingdom of God – His reign in your life.

Let’s pray.

Dear Father. Some are at the end of their rope. Please come and reign in their lives to the point that they know that they are blessed. O God, preserve us who travel; surround us with your loving care; protect us from every danger; and bring us in safety to our journey’s end; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

David Moyes