“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”….?
That verse always confused me. Honestly, I would skip over it when I would read through Matthew because it would get me so confused.
Poor in spirit.
What does that even mean? I understood poor. I understood spirit. But putting those two words in the same sentence was like putting carmelized onions on top of my chocolate cake. The concept of both, easily understood separately. Both have their time, both have their season. Reading that verse made me feel like I took a big bite of my caramelized onion chocolate cake dessert…unpleasant and did not like the taste it left in my mouth.
Until today.
Until today, I found freedom in this verse.
This past weekend my husband and I went to a marriage confence at our church. It was amazing. Many, many things from that conference we will take with us as we journey through our lives. However, two of the topics he talked about really got my attention.
1. Describing body, soul and spirit like this;
Body: the world around us
Soul: the world within us
Spirit: the world above us.
2. Meek: yielding my personal rights and expectations with the desire to serve.
I had been letting these concepts toss around in my mind and in my heart since I heard them. Feeling that the “light bulb” was dimly turning on…
And than came my devotional today. In it is a quote from John Calvin. Typed in beautiful italics across the center of the page, first thing I read;
“He only who is reduced to nothing in himself, and relies on the mercy of God, is poor in spirit.”
I have to rely on the mercy of God.
And than Rebecca Faires puts it like this:
“Strength and power insulate us, too—all these things give us the illusion that we are in control. But the “poor in spirit” are those who have no power; they are the demoralized, the dejected. They can be fiscally poor, or lonely, or rejected; but regardless, they have lost all hope of finding power in themselves.”
Oh…me controlling my life is just an illusion…
The poor in spirit lose hope in finding power in themselves.
The power comes from the Spirit who is above us! (Light bulb)
Poor in spirit — have nothing.
Nothingness = the illusion that we are in control.
Which being poor in spirit enables us to rely wholly on God.
(You know the point in the movies where someone goes up to the front of the class and writes a really long answer to a problem that takes them so much time where the music cues in…that’s me right now. Along with the Rocky soundtrack.)
God is so cool! Confusing sometimes…but I’m learning more and more that it’s me, the one that is doing the confuse-ing. Things may seem backwards and upside down when trying to look at this world in Heavenly terms. But how amazing is it that God gives us glimpses of the whole picture.
He gives us His spirit to comfort our souls as we live in our earthly bodies.
I pray that you find freedom in this too. That, together, we lift our hands and surrender our control to the only one who deserves it.
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”
Matthew 5:5
*Karl Elkins is the lifestyle counselin coach who was the amazing speaker at our marriage conference. Find more info start here: Karl Elkins
*My devotional can be found here: She Reads Truth