Spiritual Bankruptcy

What does it means the poor in spirit? Jesus Christ the Lord started the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3 NKJV)

The Amplified Bible translated like this. “Blessed (happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous--with life-joy and satisfaction in God's favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the poor in spirit (the humble, who rate themselves insignificant), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven! (Matthew 5:3, Amplified)

Why are the poor in spirit blessed? Why are not the rich in spirit happy? Anyways, who are the poor in spirit? He is the one who admits that he doesn’t have what it takes to cope with his life. He is the one who accepts that he is nothing and has nothing to please God. He realizes the fact that he is completely bankrupt in spirit, so that he can’t do anything for God.

Apostle Paul illustrated well what the poor in spirit means out of his Christian experience. In Romans Chapter 7, Paul expressed the agony of despair as a servant of God. He found himself desperately faulty in doing good. He wanted to do good but he didn’t. Likewise, he didn’t want to do evil but he did. In the end, he cried out with the most distressed voice of human, saying “O wretched man I am! Who can save me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24 NKJV)

He reached the state of bankruptcy in spirit that he couldn't do anything to save [fulfill] himself. That is what exactly what our Lord Jesus Christ is saying in the Sermon on the Mount. God searches the people who are lowly and meek in His sight. God delights the people who humbly come unto Him for everything from morning till evening. God loves the people who ask everything in the name of Jesus Christ.

When we yield everything to God, He can begin working for His glory according to His promise. First of all, God heals the poor in spirit with the power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit who indwells within us strengthens and enlightens us to see the reality and truth what is really going on. Jesus gave us the reason why the poor are the blessed. It is because theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

The kingdom of heaven is not somewhere in space but everywhere God reigns. Is there any place where God is not reigning? The kingdom of heaven is the invisible realm. What we can see is the manifestation of God’s reign in what is unseen. Those who are poor in spirit are allowed to see true reality in life by the merciful Father in heaven.

Paul thanked God through the Lord Jesus Christ immediately after the desperate cry (Romans 7:25). Jesus Christ the Lord is the key for life. He is the secret to unravel the hidden things of life. Jesus Christ lived exactly that way. Although He was the Son of God, He was completely selfless. Throughout His earthly ministry, He was in the Father and the Father in Him. Our Lord Jesus Christ said that the Son could do nothing of Himself (John 5:19).

Jesus Christ the Lord humbled Himself and obeyed the Father up to the pointed of death. Then, God exalted the Son Jesus Christ in the highest place in heaven, so that there is no other name given in heaven and on earth and under the earth not to bow down under His feet. That’s we are called for. Every Christian is called to live on that basis. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”