 |
|
|
What does it mean to be poor? Some would say to be impoverished, in lack, not living the life of a ‘baller’. But on the contrary, when you read Matthew 5:3 it says the blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Now what does this mean? How can one that is poor in spirit be blessed, how can they inherit the kingdom of God?
Let me answer that for you. In my lifetime, I have lost two nice homes, cars, my favorite nephew, my dad who is still living but, his mind is lost to Alzheimer’s disease. I have even lost friends and pets. When I had these things, I took them and life for granted and I appeared happy at the time. But, when it was all taken away from me, I was definitely not happy. I was poor in spirit. Now, what does poor in spirit mean? You see, I had to go through what is called a breaking point, sometimes when everything is going well in our lives, we lose focus of what we are called to do. But when God gets you off to yourself, with nothing or no one to distract you, you will start to see the real you. This is what happened to me, with those things in my life, I had a smoke screen around me and everything appeared to be right, but I was deceived, because Christ was not in the center of my life. Things and people had my attention, not God and my spirit was high but not for the right cause. I was not seeking His face enough therefore, when I was hit, I fell. But praise God, I got up!
As God started to reshape and restore my shattered pieces, it humbled me and allowed me to realize that things do not last, nor do earthly vessels last. I realized that people(friends) will come and friends will go, it all depends on your season. My spirit became poor, I saw the other side of where I had not been before. Therefore, as God restores me, I will be able to minister to those that are going through what I have been through. Yes, He is restoring me with a new home, new cars, and new friends, but I know now not to take life for granted. I sacrifice my time so that I can spend more time with my parents because they have thus far lived a long life on this earth. I spend more quality time with my family, realizing that time is so precious.
When you ask, what is poor? Poor is not your outward appearance or how you are living, it is the inward position of your heart. One can be rich but yet still be poor in spirit and one can be poor, but still yet their pride hinders them from receiving the blessings of God. The true meaning of poor to me is to be humble in your spirit no matter where you are in life.
|
|
|
