Proof of Citizenship- Poor in Spirit
"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:3
What a strange way to be blessed, to be poor. It seems like such an easy thing to do. But it isn't. The most difficult thing in the world is to become poor in spirit. To be poor in spirit means I am conscious of my nothingness. Think for a moment, can the dead mind know of its own deadness? No. I first learned about my spiritual poverty when I was made alive. Humility only grows in proportion to one's knowledge of self against the reflection of Christ. When I leave that mirror, I become self-inflating because I have no standard by which to measure my height. But when I come back to Christ, then once more, I see how low my stature really is. To say it another way,
In His light, I behold my darkness;
in His majesty, I behold my baseness;
in His purity, I behold my filth,
in His riches, I behold my poverty of spirit.
So then, my aliveness to my sin, and confession of it, is the fruit of being made poor.
This is a hard saying, who can hear it? Many who claim to be citizens of the kingdom of heaven have always been made good.
Never say then, that to be poor in spirit is an unhelpful thing. It is proof of citizenship, for "theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” I will not be cast down by my own sense of nothingness but raised by it. It proves that I have gazed on a higher standard of measurement, the stature of the excellence of Christ. Then the believing heart cries, "Blessed Savior, let me gaze on Thee more and more, until, in the vision of Thy brightness, I loath the sight of my impurity, until, in the blaze of that glory which no natural eye hath seen, I fall prostrate, blinded, broken, to rise again a new man in Thee.”
Are you poor in spirit this morning?