Our hearts long for true happiness don’t they? Like participants in The Amazing Race we go to great lengths to seize an elusive prize, and chase clue after clue with great anticipation until we latch on to the thing which promised bliss. In the end, the “thing” proves empty—a grasping for the wind, touched but not held. So, off we go seeking the next promise to happiness certain we’ll arrive at the final destination and retain the long awaited happiness—yes?
Have you noticed the right way to something or somewhere is not always the way you expect? Often we find the path counter-intuitive, contrary to our nature, and in its wake we’re a vexed cat brushed the wrong way.
My daughter was a gymnast in her younger years. As she advanced in her skills, she was most frustrated by the balance beam. She walked across the narrow beam, toes pointed, arms straight, with ease. When it came time for her to jump, turn, raise into a handstand, or flip a cartwheel, she consistently fell off. Why? She followed her instincts and looked at the beam where she hoped her feet would land. Her coach instructed her to find a point on the wall straight ahead and lock her gaze there instead of on the beam. It was contrary to what my daughter wanted to do, but when she executed her coach’s instructions, she stayed on the beam. When she followed her self-preserving instincts, she fell off—every time.
Such is the way to true and lasting happiness—it grates against our natural bent and we want to flee from it. John MacArthur states: “The way to heavenly blessedness is antithetical to the worldly path normally followed in pursuit of happiness.”
The first sermon Jesus preached during his early ministry, known as the Sermon on the Mount, is a three chapter exposition intended to turn the traditional thinking of his hearers (and readers of today) inside-out and upside-down. This, the greatest of all sermons, begins with eight clear directions to ultimate happiness called the Beatitudes. Over the next few months I hope to highlight each of these beatitudes. In reading, I pray you will be blessed and find the treasure your heart longs for.
Beatitude # 1: Poor in Spirit
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matt. 5:3
The word blessed in Scripture means “happy, blissful, fortunate; divinely bestowed well being that belongs only to the faithful.” If you’ve read this far, I’m guessing you’re interested to learn how to find such an elusive state.
Jesus is very clear in the first sentence of his great sermon who is blessed, happy, blissful: those who are poor in spirit.
In his study Bible, John MacArthur defines poor in spirit as “the opposite of self-sufficiency…..{it} speaks of deep humility of recognizing ones utter spiritual bankruptcy apart from God…{it} describes those who are acutely aware of their own lostness and hopelessness apart from divine grace.”
In other words, blessed are those who are humble, not proud; happy are those who recognize their utter inadequacy to achieve any spiritual blessings, not those who are self-sufficient; and blissful are those who see their sinfullness and lostness before a holy God, not those who think they are “good”.
It is not a welcomed attitude in our day, but, “Humility,” said J.C. Ryle, “is the very first letter in the alphabet of Christianity. We must begin low, if we would build high.”
This is not our default attitude though. Since the deception of the Fall in the Garden of Eden we have pursued Satan’s lie that we “will be like God.” Strive as we may, we are not God. On the contrary, we desperately need him. When we become poor in spirit we are able to acknowledge the fact that apart from God we can do nothing.
In Jesus’ day, the Pharisees thought they were righteous before God because of their good deeds and strict religious rule-following. They were sure, “theirs {was} the kingdom of heaven.” To their astonishment, Jesus told them that because of their spiritual pride they were headed in the wrong direction—heaven was not to be theirs as long as they kept on this way. They were a living testimony to the truth of Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.”
C.S. Lewis said of the great nemesis of pride: “As long as you are proud, you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people, and, of course, as long as you are looking down you cannot see something that is above you.” So what does this kind of humility look like? Scripture gives us a real-life example of the contrast between poor in spirit and its opposite.
In Luke 18:9-14, Jesus tells a parable to “those who trusted in themselves that they were righteous.” Two men went to the temple to pray, a Pharisee and a tax collector (tax collectors were abhorred by the Jews as vile sinners). The Pharisee prayed a proud prayer thanking God that he was so righteous and obedient, and unlike this tax collector who stood nearby weeping.
The tax collector, burdened by his guilt and too ashamed to even look toward heaven, beat his chest in anguish and cried out to God, “Be merciful to me, a sinner!”.
Jesus’ summary of this parable needs no explanation: “I tell you, this man {tax collector} went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:14)
Those of us who have been saved, have all come to this low place of spiritual poverty. It’s impossible to truly be the Lord’s without this first stop: poor in spirit. Here is where the real amazing race, the journey to heaven, begins.
Happiness, the kind that lasts, is found in being like that tax collector, poor in spirit, before God. Humility is against our natural bent, but it leads to eternal blessedness, guaranteed. Will you have this happiness? It’s inside-out and upside-down thinking, but only those who are poor in spirit will have this blessedness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, ‘Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.’” Matt. 18:2-3
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” Proverbs 14:12
“But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6
“…..But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. Isaiah 66:2
The Light for My Path 
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