the Beatitudes: Blessed are the poor in the spirit.

It's been a long time since i blogged about anything at all here. Looking back at the blog posts, i realized that i've been prideful and so not gentle. Ha i guess i'm not the same now, thank God He has brought me on a season of refining and CHANGE. I'm still not perfect though, but i believe God who started this good work is faithful to finish it!

Beatitudes: from Latin beatus, meaning "blessed" or "happy".

I just started studying this portion of scripture a couple weeks ago and it's been an amazing ride. It's almost 2 years in my walk with God and it's such a shame on me that i couldn't even remember such a beautiful and important chapter. So i'm taking it real slowly, one verse at a time and i find God speaking to me so much more than reading a few chapters a day.

In this portion of scripture, Jesus was preaching a sermon on a mountain about the different qualities and character of those who will inhabit His kingdom. The first of the Beatitudes is this: "Blessed are the poor in the spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven" ( Matt 5:3)

The promise of such a quality is the inheritance of the Kingdom of heaven. But what does it mean to be poor in the spirit? I liken it to a spiritual beggar. A beggar is lowly and humble in contrast to the arrogance of a rich man. He is desperate, i mean really desperate like his whole life depends on everything that he begged for. He has no dignity, no ego, nothing to boast of.

I want to be a spiritual beggar, possessing nothing, only what is given from the Lord's hands. To be broken and contrite, never be full of myself and never to be arrogant of being "better" than anyone else. Desperate and reliant on God for everything.

Ahh the blessedness of possessing nothing and yet gaining everything.