Blessed are the Poor in Spirit
In my Bible, Matthew 5:3 reads: "Blessed are those who realize their need for Him..." I think that's one of the clearest translations out there (NLT). I preached recently that "We Must Be Poor Before We Can Become Rich," based on that verse. Here's a list I used:
ADVANTAGES OF THE POOR:
1. The poor know they are in need of urgent redemption.
2. The poor know not only their dependence on God and on powerful people but also their interdependence with one another.
3. The poor rest their security not on things but on people.
4. The poor have no exaggerated sense of their own importance, and no exaggerated need of privacy.
5. The poor expect little from competition and much from cooperation.
6. The poor can distinguish between necessities and luxuries.
7. The poor can wait, because they have acquired a kind of dogged patience born of acknowledged dependence.
8. The fears of the poor are more realistic and less exaggerated, because they already know that one can survive great suffering and want.
9. When the poor have the gospel preached to them, it sounds like good news and not a threat or a scolding.
10. The poor can respond to the gospel with a certain abandonment and uncomplicated totality, because they have so little to lose and are ready for anything.
ADVANTAGES OF THE POOR:
1. The poor know they are in need of urgent redemption.
2. The poor know not only their dependence on God and on powerful people but also their interdependence with one another.
3. The poor rest their security not on things but on people.
4. The poor have no exaggerated sense of their own importance, and no exaggerated need of privacy.
5. The poor expect little from competition and much from cooperation.
6. The poor can distinguish between necessities and luxuries.
7. The poor can wait, because they have acquired a kind of dogged patience born of acknowledged dependence.
8. The fears of the poor are more realistic and less exaggerated, because they already know that one can survive great suffering and want.
9. When the poor have the gospel preached to them, it sounds like good news and not a threat or a scolding.
10. The poor can respond to the gospel with a certain abandonment and uncomplicated totality, because they have so little to lose and are ready for anything.
posted by Neal | 9:47 PM
3 Comments:
Great thoughts. I would have liked to have heard the whole sermon.
Thank you...but I'm greatly over-rated. :-)
Poor in spirit is likely a reference to humility. God gives grace to the humble.
As such it used to be defined by many reformation leaders as...the absence of "self-esteem".
This modern psychological idea used to be considered a sin.
Paul wrote that we are to esteem others better than ourselves.
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