The words poor and happy, are not often used together in our society. Being poor brings to mind those who are lacking in the basic needs of life. In my opinion, there are two classes of poor, one who works hard, but because of circumstances beyond their control, they still don’t have enough to pay for the basic necessities of life. The other group is poor because they are lazy and misappropriated their funds. That is our idea of being poor. In Matthew 5:3, Jesus gives us the heavenly view of being poor. He teaches of their attitude and of their gain from being poor.
Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Jesus begins the message we refer to as the Sermon on the Mount with “Blessed.” This word is translated “happy” in Greek (makarios), but it is not happy as we think of happy. This “happy” means to be fully satisfied. In our estimation, a person who is poor in anything would not be fully satisfied. He is not talking about being physically poor, but spiritually poor. To be poor in any analogy would signify you are destitute and have no resources. When we are spiritually poor, we recognize we have no resources of our own. We have nothing to offer God in exchange for our souls. We understand we are not worthy of His blessings.
The person who is poor in spirit understands the prophet Isaiah when he speaks about the worth of our righteousness. Isaiah 64:6 says that on our own, none of our righteous deeds are worthy of God’s mercy. Our deeds are as a filthy rag and merit us nothing. We are spiritually bankrupt and are at the mercy of God.
Isaiah 64:6 “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”
To be poor in spirit is to have a humble opinion of ourselves. We understand how God hates sin, and that it is only by His grace that we are extended the opportunity to be saved. Mercy and grace mean so much more when we understand the saving of our eternal soul is a gift from Him.
Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
Since man first sinned in the garden, pride has been a sin that he easily succumbs to. Pride says “look what I have done.” Humility says, “look what God has done.” To be poor in spirit gives God all the glory for our salvation and any good deeds that please Him. Submitting ourselves to God gives Him the rightful place in our lives as our Master, our Lord, and Savior.
Being poor in spirit does not mean that we walk around with a poor self-image, it means we have no image of ourselves at all. We are consumed with Him and what pleases Him. When we live our lives this way, there is a deep joyful satisfaction in our souls. Our ambition is not to gain or do more so we can be seen or gain wealth. It is so He can be seen. Our wealth becomes a resource to promote Christ. We understand all that we have is a gift from Him, and we are merely stewards of those gifts.
Our reward for this attitude is the kingdom of Heaven. An eternal reward that far surpasses anything this world has to offer. Riches on this earth may offer happiness or joy for the moment, but they soon fade away and another opportunity is sought for happiness. The reward for the poor in spirit is eternal life and joy forever. It will not fade or change. There will never be a rival to the reward of Heaven. We will be fully satisfied now, and forevermore.
In this world, we must work hard at keeping this attitude. The world presses in hard to teach us the opposite of what Christ taught. We must avoid falling into the trap of getting comfortable in this world. With all its comforts and physical riches, we can become so comfortable we long to stay here. But we must remember, as the old hymn says, “this world is not my home, I’m just a passing through.”
