“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
What does someone who is poor in spirit look like? Let’s look at the opposite; what does a spirited person look like? Remember the cheerleaders at high school football games? There was a cheer back in my day where one teams cheerleaders would yell to the other teams cheerleaders; “we’ve got spirit, yes we do, we’ve got spirit how ‘bout you!” Then the other team would yell back the same cheer and the teams would go back and forth, each trying to be louder than the other team. Having spirit is having a lot confidence in yourself or your team. Being poor in spirit then would mean that you have little confidence in yourself. It literally means broken…Oh how happy are the broken, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Someone who has figured out that they can’t get to God without a redeemer, or someone who realizes their need for Christ…it is those people who will truly be happy…it is those people who will enter the kingdom of heaven.
The first landmark we see here in the Beatitudes is brokenness. In order to start a relationship with Christ we must first realize our need for Him. Many self proclaimed Christians have never gotten to that point. They still think that there is a scale at the pearly gates where Saint Peter puts all the good things you’ve done on one side and all the bad things you’ve done on the other and if the good outweigh the bad, you’re in! But that is not the case. We all according to our works deserve death, we cannot earn our way to heaven…there must be a go-between. That mediator is Christ, and until you believe that, you will never gain access to the kingdom of heaven.
Scripture Reference: Isaiah 66:1-2
“Blessed are those who mourn,
For they shall be comforted.”
Oh how happy are those who are sad?! That’s right the second landmark we will see on our spiritual journey is mourning. David exhibits this very well for us in Psalm 51 where he writes of mourning over his sin…we, like David need to mourn over our sin. But unlike many of us today, David’s mourning wasn’t a surface “sorry ‘bout that” mourning; he cried out to God in despair asking for forgiveness. That kind of mourning leads to repentance. That kind of mourning leads to a hatred of sin and a desire to turn from it. It is that kind of mourning that we need to have in our life. When that type of mourning occurs, God comforts us…He forgives us…and happy are those whose sins are forgiven.
Can I suggest that this kind of mourning will only occur when brokenness (poorness of spirit) is achieved, once we realize our need for Christ and see ourselves in His light, the automatic response will be mourning over our sin.
Scripture Reference: Psalm 51:4-12
“Blessed are the meek,
For they shall inherit the earth.”
Meekness…when we understand the concept of meekness and apply it to our lives, God blesses us. Meekness is humility or the lack of any substantive pride. We are told numerous times in the Bible that we need to be humble, putting our desires aside and seeking God’s will for our lives. This is the place where many get stuck on this road to sanctification. We don’t want to be humble; we want our will to be done. We define our happiness by looking at how much we have compared to how much we want and we think that the closer those two things get to each other, the happier we’ll be. But that’s not how God sees it. He tells us that the more you put aside what you want and seek out what He wants, the happier you’ll be.
Humility will naturally follow when you’ve truly realized your need for Christ (brokenness) and after you have begun to mourn over your sin.
Scripture Reference: Mark 8:34-35
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
For they shall be filled.”
You’ve realized your need for a Redeemer, begun to mourn over your sin and have put aside your selfish ambitions to follow Christ. You are now empty; it’s time for you to be filled. Hunger and thirst are powerful human drives. When you’re hungry it’s hard not to eat, and when you’re thirsty it’s even harder not to drink. Do you hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness or are you still hungering and thirsting for the world’s unrighteousness? When you have realized your need for Christ, mourned over your sin and humbled yourself, you will have a natural desire to fill yourself with good things. Your music taste will change and you’ll hunger for God honoring music. Your movie choices will change, and in the place of those worldly movies you’ll hunger for God’s Word. You’ll find yourself hungering for good things and thirsting for right living.
Scripture Reference: Philippians 4:8
“Blessed are the merciful,
For they shall obtain mercy.”
Boil down mercy and essentially it is putting the needs of others above your own needs. Oh how happy you will be when you begin to do that! We naturally fight that, we naturally put or own needs above the needs of others, but in God’s economy, happiness will come when you change from self centeredness to others centeredness. I would contend though that before that can happen, before you can truly put others needs above your own, you must first realize your need for God, you must mourn over your sin, you must humble yourself and you must begin to fill yourself with God’s righteousness; if those things haven’t been done it will be hard for a person to truly be merciful.
Scripture Reference: Philippians 2:3-4
“Blessed are the pure in heart,
For they shall see God.”
Purity of heart deals with motives. What are the motives behind your actions? A lot of us have impure motives for what we do, what we give, who we minister to or how we worship. Most of us have motives derived in pride…”what will I get out of it” is the question we ask before we act. We do that a lot in worship. Our motive for worship should be because God deserves to be worshiped, but instead we many times seek to obtain some sort of an experience for ourselves in worship. We see here that to truly “see God” we must have a pure heart or motive. If we have realized our need for God, begun to mourn over our sin, humbled ourselves, started seeking out and filling ourselves with righteousness and once we have begun to truly be merciful; it is then that our motives are purified and we will see God. When we go to God based on faith as He requires, with a pure motive, He will show up and we will see Him.
Scripture Reference: 2 Corinthians 5:9
“Blessed are the peacemakers,
For they shall be called sons of God.”
What is a peacemaker? It is someone who can bring people together…a leader. The desire to be a leader is a good desire, but one can only truly be a Godly leader once they’ve realized their need for a savior, started mourning over they’re sin, humbled themselves, filled themselves with righteousness, started to put the needs of others above their own and have sought to purify their motives; it is then that you will naturally become someone who others will seek out to lead them. People will look at your life, see that you are someone who practices what you preach (are a child of God) and they will look to you for directions to the peace that you very obviously have deep inside.
Scripture Reference: Romans 14:19
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
You are now a leader who realizes their need for Christ, is mourning over your sin, are humble, filled with righteousness, merciful and pure in heart and what is your prize? Persecution... People of the world don’t generally like people like you, you scare them. God is working through you to draw people to Himself but the life the world sees in you is unattractive. We naturally want to be self sufficient, not care about sin and we are naturally proud. We don’t seek after goodness and we generally put our needs above the needs of others. We like our selfish motives and many people have no interest in being called a child of God. What you now represent is change and the world does not like that kind of change, so they will fight against that change. But know this…you are blessed because what can man do to you? You are now compelled to speak knowing that your reward is in heaven.
Scripture Reference: Psalm 56:11; 118:6
Where are you on this road? What landmark can you not seem to get past?
- If you are not mourning over your sin, you may still think you can make it to God on your own effort.
- Are you struggling with pride? Check to see if you’ve begun to mourn over your sin.
- Are you thirsting for unrighteousness? Deal with your pride.
- Having problems showing mercy? Begin to seek out and fill yourself with righteousness.
- Do you want to be a leader but nobody is following you? Check your motives.
This is not a program or system for sanctification; but it can be a mirror that you can look into to see where you are on the road to sanctification. If you are struggling with one of these principles, if you feel that you’re stuck and can’t free yourself, the best advice I or anyone can give you is to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. What that means is seek God, pray, read His book, and He will help you navigate the road to sanctification. Trust Him…believe Him…follow Him.
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