To be poor in spirit is to be humble and lowly in our own eyes; to be as little children in our opinion of ourselves, weak, foolish, and insignificant; to acknowledge that God is all and we are nothing, and to humble ourselves before Him, and under His mighty hand; to have no confidence in our own righteousness and strength, that we may depend only upon God for our salvation.
Matthew 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus dealt with both the spiritual and the physical needs of the people. Matthew 9:35-36 says that He went preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion, because they fainted (were tired and lay down), and were scattered as sheep without a shepherd. What a picture of hopelessness and helplessness! Yet Jesus was their hope and their help. He could help those who were unable to help themselves. Matthew 11:1-5.
The greatest need that we all have, that can only be met by Jesus, is the bondage and penalty of sin. Where we are powerless to break free of the cords of sin, we have Matthew 1:21 to tell us that Jesus came to save His people from their sins.
He came to give us the Kingdom of God…. righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Romans 14:17
Many times people trust in something other than God, and they miss out on Salvation. In Mark 10:17-27, we see a man who had kept many of the commandments; but because he was trusting in his riches, he couldn’t let go of them to trust God. Yet, we may be “poor” in temporal things, yet rich in spiritual… enough even to help others 2 Corinthians 6:10, Proverbs 8:18, Proverbs 13:7.
We can get so caught up in building our own safety net for things of this life, that we neglect our soul and what’s most important for eternity. In Luke 12:16-21, we see a man who had spent all his years making things comfortable for this life, but never took time to get things right with God. Suddenly, his life ended and he realized he had not prepared to meet God!
In Luke 9:57-62 we see several different priorities shown. In vs 57-58, maybe having a home was more important than following Jesus. In vs. 59-60, earthly responsibilities were more important. And in vs 61, it was his family and friends that took precedence. Vs 62 shows that when Jesus comes to us, following Him must be more important to us than anything else.
Without God, we are truly poor. But there is good news:
Read Psalms 72:12, Psalms 34:6-8, and Isaiah 55:1-3, 6-9 You will see that if you have gone your own way, if there is still sin in your life, if you have never given your life totally to God, you can be saved… if you will seek him when he is calling you… Don’t put it off… Don’t miss the opportunity to be saved from your sins and ready for eternity.
Born to be Sin Free 