“We are urged today to develop almost every other kind of spirit except poverty of spirit. But the lack of this spirit can lead to spiritual ruin, as Jesus warned the Laodicean church: “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked” (Revelation 3:17). We are in danger of being spewed out of Christ’s mouth if we are neither hot nor cold. There is much teaching on how to be filled with the Spirit, but where can we learn what it means to be spiritually emptied- emptied of self-confidence, self-importance, and self-righteousness?
The sad truth is that we know so little of the blessedness of which Christ speaks (and which He gives) because we are all too often full of ourselves and our own means of blessings. In fact, there is no sadder commentary on our lack of this spiritual poverty than the readiness so many of us have to let others know what we think. But the man who is poor in spirit is the man who has been silenced by God, and seeks only to speak what he has learned in humility from Him.
If you would be rich and possess a kingdom, you must first lose all- including yourself and your self-centeredness- and become poor in spirit…
The sinner hates his sin, and grieves over it because it is an offense against God. But he mourns over it all the more because this same God forgives sin!
Some Christians never seem to discover this reality of life in God’s kingdom. It is grace that makes us mourn for our sinfulness. The law of God convicts us of our sin. But it is the grace of that God melts our hearts and causes a right attitude toward that sin, in sorrow, shame, and mourning…
Poverty of spirit and mourning over sin have pervasive effect on our lives. Their immediate effect is to make us meek…
There is probably no more beautiful quality in a Christian than meekness. It enhances manliness; it adorns femininity. It is a jewel polished by grace. But it is all too rare. Is it because so few of us know what it is to be poor in spirit and to mourn for our sins?
Poverty of spirit, mourning of sin, spiritual meekness- all these hallmarks of Kingdom life can be imitated. We can counterfeit them. But just as a stone hurled into the air by man seems to defy the law of gravity, only to rise ever more slowly until it turns and plummets to the ground with increasing velocity, so it is with all cheap imitations of God’s grace. They ‘burn out’ as they return to the atmosphere of this world. They cannot sustain themselves in a fallen world. Only the real thing will survive.
But how do these hallmarks appear in our lives?…Only as we come to know God and His presence do we begin to discover ourselves as we really are. When we know what we are before God, and look to Him for grace ans salvation, then we become poor in spirit’ then we mourn for our sins; then, having seen ourselves as we really are, we bow to His will in all things. And as we experience the gentleness of His grace, we are meek and gentle with others…
We have two basic spiritual needs. The first is to come to understand ourselves, to discover what we really are in the presence of God…when God’s Word is expounded in the power of the Spirit, we are forced, under its influence, to see ourselves in all our sinfulness. Thus, discovering ourselves, we become poor in spirit, mourn for our sins, and become meek before God…
But we have a further spiritual need. Driven into ourselves, we now need to be driven out of ourselves. Martin Luther said that man’s basic problem was that he was ‘incurvatus in se’- turned in upon himself, or self-centered. The work of God in giving us true knowledge of ourselves is not intended to increase this. Rather, it is the prelude to decrease it. For once we have discovered that we have no resources to save ourselves, we learn to look elsewhere- to Christ- to meet our needs, and also to meet the needs of the world in which we live…
This change from a heart dominated by and absorbed with itself, to a heart that reaches out for God and to others marks the turning point from immaturity to maturity in spiritual experience…the mature Christian is one whose life is centered on God and His will, and who seeks to serve others by God’s grace.” ~ Ferguson, Sinclair B., Kingdom life in a fallen world.
