Matthew 5:3

Good Morning all,
Another beautiful day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. I've spent the morning watering trees. I sure wish the Lord would bring us some much needed rain. Are we being judged? Considering the spiritual state of our town and with the prison in our area, probably so. But, that's another blog entirely.
I told you that I'm doing a study on Matthew, chapters 5-7. It's called the sermon on the mount. It's also called the beatitudes. 'Be' is the key here. We are to 'be'. What are we to 'be'? We are blessed if we: are poor in spirit.
Today's verse is 5:3: "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Have you ever really looked at this portion of scripture? Why are we blessed if we are 'poor'? In order to better understand what this verse and portion (vs. 3-11) you have to understand the history of the Jews.
They thought that material wealth meant the God was blessing them. If a person was poor materially, then they were under condemnation. It's the same with women that were childless. If a woman had a child(ren) then she was blessed. If not, she was cursed. I know, such nonsense.
What Jesus was doing with this teaching is telling the people that material wealth was not an indication of God's blessing, or lack there of. We are to be poor in spirit, toward God. I think this means to be submissive to Him in all areas of our lives.
When we realize that we are literally paupers spiritually, then we are ready to surrender all to Him. That means we have to shove everything aside that we hold dear and rest in His arms. This could be people, or things, maybe projects and ministries.
So, are you poor spiritually toward God? If not, why not? What is in your life that you need to forsake so that you can 'take' God as He wants you to take Him?
God's motive for helping us to be 'poor in spirit' is that He loves us so much. Being poor in spirit is a good thing and delights our Heavenly Father, right down to His toes!

Trusting,
Sandy