The Daily Word

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“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”. What a promise! Firstly we are blessed, see yesterday’s Prayerline, then we have perhaps the reason why: because we are heirs to God’s kingdom.

What does it mean ‘to be poor in spirit?’ Well, we could imagine that means being dull, lifeless. And in a way that is part of the meaning. But the real thought behind this is that we realise we are worthless in ourselves, that as mere human beings we have no spiritual worth or life as far as God is concerned.

In many ways this one beatitude sums up all the others because without coming to the realisation that spiritually we are poor beyond measurement without God in our lives, then we can never please or satisfy God in fulfilling the other beatitudes. We have to realise that without God we are spiritually empty and then we need to empty ourselves of any false value that we might think we have so that God can fill us. We would call this true repentance, an end of ourselves and a giving of ourselves to God to give us spiritual life, which is the kingdom of heaven, being made a citizen of heaven whilst we are still on earth.

Jesus told the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee who went into the Temple to pray, The Pharisee boasted to God of his incredible spiritual magnificence and integrity, “I……” was the theme of his prayer. He was rich in his own spirit but not once acknowledged God. The Publican on the other hand just uttered one true prayer, “God be merciful to me, a sinner”. There was true poverty of spirit. Jesus said he went away blessed, and we too need to recognise that anything of spiritual value that we have, has all come from our Heavenly Father and thank Him for His precious gifts to us.

Article written by Brian Preston, Elder @SFGH Church 

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