“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3).
Have you ever stared into space with nothing but your very own eyes and been in awe? Have you ever witnessed firsthand such a phenomenon as the Aurora Borealis? Or seen a shooting star?
Have you ever stood on a beach and marveled at the beauty of the ocean? Have you ever been astonished by power of the waves? The curiosity of its depths?
Have you ever stood on a mountainside and had your breath taken away by the valley below? To be high above the winding river and myriad of trees, knowing your view is nothing compared to vision of our Creator?
If you’re a follower of Jesus, then you must admit that God has quite the imagination. To think He spoke all this into existence and made all of it work harmoniously together, like an intricately exquisite timepiece, is beyond anything our finite minds can fully fathom.
When you view God and His Creation in the right light, with the right heart, and the right spirit, you soon realize just how poor in spirit you are. The Greek word poor in Matthew 5:3 means “one who crouches and cowers,” “beggarly,” “poor,” “deeply destitute.” The scene in Isaiah 6, where Isaiah gets commissioned by God, gives us a picture of how a person who is “poor in spirit” responds when faced with the majesty of the King of the Kingdom of Heaven.
You see, the first step to entering the kingdom of heaven is having a right understanding about ourselves by knowing and honoring the King of that kingdom (Isaiah 45:22-25). When we do that properly, then we can feel nothing but poor in spirit, which is not the final resting place of believers in Jesus, but the first step toward “kingdom living.” However, it is not a step that can be skipped. It is the crucial foundation.
The rest of the Beatitudes mark the progression of the believer’s life and faith when he or she does things God’s way, so that by the time the believer is living out each and every Beatitude, he or she will have become a true follower of Jesus. Jesus, in response to such heavenly living, says in verse 12, “Rejoice, and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way, they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
The life of a believer. To stand in awe of the Almighty and follow Him unswervingly. When you are poor in spirit, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. That is when the kingdom of heaven gets real. Here and now. And for all eternity.
C. Kevin Thompson
The Letters
Kevin Thompson is an ordained minister, and his published works include two award-winning novels, The Serpent’s Grasp (winner of the 2013 Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference Selah Award for First Fiction) and 30 Days Hath Revenge – A Blake Meyer Thriller: Book 1, the first in a continuing series. His latest novel, The Letters, released in February 2020.
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