Is Poor Really Poor?
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3-4 NIV
All summer long, our air conditioner has been on its last leg. It has caused a lot of unneeded strife in our life. The last straw that broke the camels back was this last time that it quit working. The demeanor in our house was hot, tired and cranky. This put even more stress into the situation. Until the air conditioner can be replaced, we went out and got a couple of window shakers. A few days later, we realized that one of the units was not working properly. I called the store to be sure we could come in for an item exchange before we disassembled the unit from the window. Customer service was short and on the line of being nasty, but said yes and to bring in the receipt with the unit. While the lady I spoke to in customer service was giving off an attitude, I could have easily told her about herself and reported her to her superiors. I chose not to go that route, instead I chose to let God deal with her on His own terms. I don’t know what may have happened in life, if anything or if this just who she is. That is not for me to decide. This may or may not be a great example of being poor in spirit, it is a way for me to share God’s love by simply hanging up the phone and granting her grace by not saying anything, other than thank you.
As I said in the introduction, it is no coincidence that Jesus taught the Beatitudes in a certain order. You will see this with the first Beatitude. Before we accepted our gift of Salvation, we were poor and destined for destruction. But through God’s saving grace, we were saved. Our christian walk began when we excepted our grace-filled gift. The promise we received is to live eternity with Him in heaven. We are also blessed in this world that we are passing through. When we are poor in spirit, we are not poor as the world sees poor. We have been emptied out of ourselves and filled with the Holy Spirit.
In the Old Testament the poor was often seen as humble and self-denying. We can look at Job as a perfect example of being poor in spirit. Job was a man who was blameless and upright. He feared God and shunned evil. He was a very wealth man. God knew Job’s relationship with Him and allowed satan to utterly destroy his physical wealth and health. In all reality He pointed Job out because He of their relationship. Trough each trial, lose, and tribulation, Job did not sin against God. He remained faithful. He was poor in spirit. The Lord blessed Job. God restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before. Being poor is spirit means to walk in Christ, living a life that is not self-seeking, not demanding our own way and crying out “why me” or “just my luck” when bad falls upon us. No, it is living a life that reflects Jesus, cheerfully serving those around us, humbling our hearts towards God’s will for our lives, sharing the love of God to others and thanking Him for all situations and circumstances, whether they are good and bad.
When we get to heaven, we will receive our heavenly reward. We will hear, “Well done my faithful servant. Here is the inheritance I promised you.”
In His Love, Crisi
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