We Are The People

Matthew 5:3 “³ “Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

In Luke’s Gospel he records only the word poor as being those who receive the Kingdom while Matthew adds “poor in spirit.”  Now, let us consider just the “poor” as Luke puts it.  To be poor in Jesus’ day meant to have little or no material things, no security.  They were people who knew their helpless estate.  They did not possess arrogance or a self-sufficient spirit.

The poor knew they must learn to wait on God.  Jesus said “the poor will always be with us” but as we read in the Beatitudes – the poor are forced to look to God for everything.  They were as James 2:5 reads, “Poor of the world, rich in faith.”  Jesus adding “poor in spirit” combines spiritual and financial poverty and when recognized as a sort of parable helps all of us to see the path to true riches.

Pray today that we in America see the parallel and the fact that all of us are poor in one way or another and need to abandon our pride and self-effort and turn to God in humility and faith in His ability in our weakness.  Psalms 113:7  “God raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap.”  Our nation could become an ash heap if we as believers refuse to repent and turn to God in this hour of shaking.