Sept 21 - Matthew 5:3

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven"

Matthew 5:3

Has that phrase ever seemed upside-down to you?

 

Should we want to be "rich in spirit"?

 

But perhaps we live in too "rich" of a culture to catch the meaning. Wealth tends to focus our hearts on the wrong things. It is often proud and entitled. Callous -- intentionally or unintentionally -- to the plight of others. Often the richer people are in things, the poorer they are in spirit! 

 

Poverty, on the other hand, can create a humbleness. A reverent dependence -- the joyful realization that our life (right down to our daily bread) is dependent upon a "higher power." Now for some, that higher power is luck. For others it's the government. For "the poor in spirit," it's an honest, thankful, trusting dependence on God.  

 

Rich -- even rich in spirit -- can be proud and entitled. While "poor in spirit" is humble. 

 

I can easily fool myself. Yes, God wants me and gifts me to work hard, but he's my provider ... not me. 

 

Martin Luther expresses this powerfully and beautifully in his Small Catechism. As we seek today a poorer, more humble, more joyfully and worshipfully dependent spirit, let us pray Luther's words ... 

 

I believe that God has created me and all that exists; that he has given me and still sustains my body and soul, all my limbs and senses, my reason and all the faculties of my mind, together with food and clothing, house and home, family and property; that he provides me daily and abundantly with all the necessities of life, protects me from all danger, and preserves me from all evil. All this he does out of his pure, fatherly and divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness on my part. For all of this I am bound to thank, praise, serve and obey him. This is most certainly true.

 

In Christ's Love,

a guy who desires to more fully

thank, praise, serve and obey him.

This is most certainly true.