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Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom

of heaven (Matthew 5:3)
There are very few people who would agree that poverty is a blessing or that
there is any bliss to be found in destitution. Most people would rather speak
of the curse of poverty rather than of the blessings of poverty.
The word which is used in the Greek for poor is ptochos which is an
adjective to describe not one who is simply poor but one who is completely
destitute (bankrupt). Ptochos was always used in a bad sense, until it is
was ennobled by the gospel.
This word originally meant poor in the literal sense of the term. A man who
has no power, no prestige, no influence to defend himself against the insults
and the assaults of the world.
What then is the poverty of the spirit? It is surely not financial destitution,
or material poverty. Nor does this expression denote poverty of the Holy
Spirit.
Poverty of the spirit is the personal acknowledgment of spiritual bankruptcy.
It is the conscious confession of unworth before God. As such it is the
deepest form of repentance. This is exemplified by the guilty publican in the
corner of the Temple: God be merciful to me, a sinner.
Illustration Spurgeon said: I once know a man whom I believed was the
most holy man I ever met until one day, I heard him told me that he agreed
with me.
This Beatitude has in it 3 basic truths about life:
a.
It means that the way to power lies through the realization of
helplessness; that the way to victory lies through the admission of
defeat; that the way to goodness lies through the confession and the
acknowledgment of sin.
This is an essential truth which runs through all of life. If a man is ill, the
first necessity is that he should admit and recognize that he is ill, and that he
should seek for a cure. Without this, he will never be whole.

Simon Siew
Southeast Asia Union Mission

b.

The second thing which this Beatitude does is to make a complete

revaluation of what constitutes wealth. It lays down that true wealth
can never consist in the possession of things. The man who has
nothing but money with which to meet life is a poverty-stricken man.

c.

The third thing this Beatitude teaches is that the way to true
independence lies through dependence in God and the way to true
freedom comes through complete surrender to God.

Poverty of spirit therefore becomes a general confession of a mans need for

God. Such a person recognized that he cannot fulfill Gods righteous
standards himself and acknowledges his own spiritual bankruptcy, emptying
himself of self-righteousness, moral self-esteem and personal vain glory.
Emptied of these things, we are ready for God to fill us. It is not surprising
then, that Jesus promised that the kingdom of heaven belongs to the poor in
spirit, for only a person who recognized he is poor and is in great need will
go in search for that which he lacks.
Those who are contented are beset with complacency, they see no lack of
God and for that matter disqualifies themselves from heaven.
Paraphrased rightly, this Beatitude reads: O the happiness of the man who
has realized his own utter helplessness and his own utter inadequacy, and
who has learnt to put his whole trust in God; for then he will humbly accept
the will of God, and in so doing he will become a citizen of the kingdom of
God.

Simon Siew
Southeast Asia Union Mission