In Matthew 5, we are introduced to the beatitudes. The beatitudes are not just some biblical clichés; these are things the Bible says Jesus actually taught (Matthew 5:2). Because the sayings and teachings of Jesus are the foundation upon which the true Christian life is built (Luke 6:49), we will do well to meditate on these beautiful attitudes. This is crucial if we are going to live the life we have been called to live in Christ.
In Matthew 5:3, we read the first of these beautiful attitudes: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”. Poor people are needy people. To be poor in spirit is therefore to recognize your dire need of God. It is when we recognize our need of Him that we become humble and look to the One from whom we can obtain our daily sustenance – the bread of life. As the Bible says “A laborer’s appetite makes him work harder, because he wants to satisfy his hunger” (Proverbs 16:26). Even so, if we recognize how grave our spiritual need of God is and that He alone can satisfy, the pursuit of Him will become foremost in our lives.
But the moment we think we are rich, and have need of nothing we become like the Laodicean church, which Jesus described thus: “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth (Revelation 3:15-16). An underlying cause for their lukewarmness can be seen in what they had been saying: “Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing” (Revelations 3:17a). But the delusion of lukewarmness and those who think they have it all so they do not need God is that they do not know they are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked (Revelations 3:15-17b).
When seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness ceases to be our priority, and prayer and studying the Bible lose their foremost place in our lives, that is a sign that we are beginning to feel sufficient in ourselves, and like the Laodicean church feel like we have need of nothing. But here is the problem: “when you stop growing, you start dying” (William S. Burroughs). It is those branches that bear fruit that are pruned by God so that they may bear more fruit. Every branch in Him that does not bear fruit is cut off (John 15:2). Therefore, if you have been gripped by lukewarmness, hear now the Word of the Lord: “be zealous and repent” (Revelations 3:19).
When we stop being poor in spirit, we become spiritually arrogant. Such arrogance will produce in us a lukewarmness that will cause us to be spewed from the mouth of Christ. And evidently, those who are spewed out from His mouth do not inherit the kingdom of God. But those who are poor in spirit are the ones called blessed. To them is the kingdom of God given for their inheritance.
-Kwadwo Omari
© 2015