Blessed are the Poor In Spirit
Wether your spiritual life has looked good this week, or perhaps you feel disappointed with your efforts, I want to remind us of a paradoxical, but beautiful truth.
I say paradoxical because it feels backwards. It goes against the grain of how we so often think.
In our pursuit of God and following His way, there are days we stumble. Maybe we neglect time with God, maybe we struggle with an old sin pattern, maybe we just feel far. Does Jesus teach anything that comforts us and shapes the way we live in times where we feel weak?
Consider Matthew 5:3 - "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." - To be poor in spirit is to embrace the reality that we are needy. We don't have it all together. We are weak. Why is this text helpful for us? Because it reminds us that He fills our lack. When I face my weakness, I rest in His strength. When I feel confused and lost in my walk, He is a steady shepherd. When I feel sinful and guilty, He is a forgiving savior who loves me. Embrace your weakness, turn to His strength.
The reason this teaching goes against the grain of our thinking is because we do not like to embrace our weakness. We do everything we can to hide our weaknesses from those around us. Even when we are honest about our struggles, we frame them in such a way that they are often stories of the past, not present stumbles. “Last week I really struggled, but I’m doing better this week.”
Don’t just say you are weak
If we truly embrace Jesus teaching, it will change our Christian walk. If I say I am a weak swimmer and cry out for help, the life guard throws me a life vest and I put it on. If I say I am a weak weight lifter and on rep 12 of lifting my arms begin to shake and I cannot lift it anymore, I say “help” and the spotter helps me lift the weight back up to the bar so I can get out from under it.
Unless we admit we are weak and ask for help from someone who is stronger than us, we will never grow as Christians.
If we do not admit our weakness, we will never pray daily for help. If we do not admit our weakness, we will never go to church regularly to build Christians friendships and be helped by sermons. If we do not admit we are weak we will never fast for spiritual strength. If we do not admit we are weak we will be crushed under the pressure to make God love us.
The problem in our Christian walks isn’t that we are weak, it is simply that we do not acknowledge it. Jesus teaches us that those “poor in spirit”, those who admit they need help outside of themselves, they are the ones who are “blessed” or flourishing.
Christianity is only restful if we stop having to prove ourselves to God and rest in His abilities to be all that we cannot. And in turn, this leads us into following His way more in our lives, not less.
Praying for you all this week,
Josh.
