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Rich in
Blessings, Poor in Spirit
Story 50
by jennygrace777
Matthew 5:3-11
Mourning is usually
a sign of losing something valuable to us.
But what if we are
mourning something that is hurting ourselves and those we love?
What if it is
allowing ourselves to think deeply and be sad about things that we have done
that violate the goodness of God?
When mourning is
part of repentance from sin, it is part of a cleansing, freeing process that
allows God to come in and bring deep change.
The Sermon on the Mount begins with these words:
“Blessed are the poor in
spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the
earth.
Blessed are those who hunger
and
thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Blesses are the merciful
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called the
sons of God.
Blessed are those who are
persecuted
because of righteousness
for there is the kingdom of
heaven.”
Matthew 5:3-10
 |
Mourning is usually a sign of losing something
valuable to us. But what if we are mourning something that is hurting ourselves and those we love? What if it is allowing ourselves to think deeply and be sad about things that we have done that violate the goodness of God? When mourning is part of repentance from sin, it is part of a cleansing, freeing process that allows God to come in and bring deep change. |
In each verse, the Lord did not give a specific action, like
“serving” or “sharing the Gospel.”
He gave qualities of the heart, and then He tells what the
blessing will be for those who have them. Let’s start with the first one.
The first quality is to be poor in spirit. At first glance, it
might seem like this is about not having any cash or lacking courage
or confidence.
Neither of these ideas fit what Jesus meant. The Old Testament
describes what it is to be poor in spirit in Isaiah 57:15.
The Lord said, “I live in a high and holy place, but also
with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly
and to revive the heart of the contrite.”
The Most High God loves it when His children come to Him with
humble hearts.
He loves to revive them with joy and peace!
He gives them the Kingdom of Heaven!
In Isaiah 66:2, the Lord says “This is the one I esteem, he
who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.’”
Do you remember what happened when Peter realized that Jesus was
Lord?
He had been out fishing all night and had caught nothing, but
then Jesus gave him a wonderful miracle.
He told Peter to cast his nets into the water one more time.
Peter obeyed, and suddenly, his nets were bulging with fish.
This amazing miracle opened Peter’s eyes to the glory of the
Lord. He fell to his knees in reverent fear and said, “Go away
from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”
When Peter realized the majesty of Christ, he also saw how poor
and weak he truly was. He immediately got down on his knees and bowed to Jesus.
It wasn’t that Peter had no worth as a human being. He was made
in the image of God! But when he compared it to the bright, blazing purity of
Christ’s holiness and power, his own goodness was like nothing.
It highlighted the deeply wicked sin and unbelief of his heart
and his own distorted motives, and he was deeply repentant.
He hated his sin, so he fell to his knees. And Peter was surely
given the Kingdom of Heaven!
Some people can do really well and brag about it so much that
they make everyone around them feel like they are something less.
But have you ever been around someone who was so genuinely good
that they made you want to be more in the best ways? What a beautiful image of
how God longs for His people to come to Him!
Jesus started the Sermon on the Mount by declaring that no human
can come to God unless they are poor in spirit.
Only those who come with humility will be accepted into the
Kingdom of Heaven.
When we try to earn righteousness out of our own strength and in
our own power, we are in terrible danger.
Our own desire for pleasure or personal glory or comfort, our
pride and our conceited competition against others, will take over and destroy
anything that was good in our efforts.
Nobody can get into the Kingdom through their own righteousness.
We must come in repentance and humility before Jesus, aware of our need for His
grace and confident that we have it.
In the next verse, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn.”
Jesus did not mean that believers have to walk around sobbing in
tears.
We are not supposed to feel sorry for ourselves all day long.
But we are meant to mourn our sin and the terrible
consequences of the curse.
The closer we get to Jesus and the more we learn about Him, the
more we understand His goodness, and the more it shines a light on the stain of
sin in our own hearts.
It is a great gift to see our own stains. It gives us a chance
to grieve over them and take them to God.
He will wash us clean! He will comfort us in our mourning and
give us new life! And so we will spend our lives being purified by the Holy
Spirit.
There is another kind of mourning that is beautiful in the heart
of the redeemed.
When we mourn the sins of the world, we stand with God. It shows
we are on His side of the great battle. It is as though we are looking at what
is going on around us from his eyes.
If we take an honest look at many of the things happening on
this planet and the suffering that goes on, this world is truly awful, and
Satan is a terrible, evil ruler.
When we grieve over injustice, hatred, malice, and murder, we
agree with God’s desire for righteousness.
When we are sorrowful over the suffering of the innocent and the
hunger of the poor, our hearts are like the heart of Jesus.
As we live in a fallen world full of the horrific curse, the
realistic, honest response is to mourn.
The promise that Jesus gives us is that when we mourn the
terrible state of this world, we will find comfort.
We get to be part of setting captives free from the power of the
Enemy and the terrible curse!
We can be a part of Jesus’ work in bringing the Spirit of God to
men in bondage to sin.
As we pray and serve, we can watch the Lord bring new life and
liberty.
And some day, when God’s Kingdom comes, there will be no more
pain or suffering or tears. Mourning will be over forever.
JENNYGRACE777
There
are many things about Christianity that are so arrestingly beautiful...a God
who came to die for His people, for example, that I have never been able to
move away from a love for Jesus. However, I had a number of years when many
parts of the Bible were terribly confusing, even angering to me. How could God
tell Abraham to sacrifice Isaac? How could God command the Israelites to commit
genocide against the Canaanites? At times I used these questions as a reason to
walk away from the faith entirely. Then I had the privilege of going to a
university with scholars who understood God's story. They helped me see His
goodness and justice as he has worked over thousands of years to reach a dark,
fallen, sinful race of humans with His plan of salvation. My deep desire is to
give others a chance to see God's glory in His story...the story that is our
story...as well.
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