Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Happy are those who are poor in spirit. Many of us read that and have no idea what poor in spirit means. To be poor in spirit, is to think meanly of ourselves, of what we are, and have, and do; the poor are often taken in the Old Testament for the humble and self-denying. For those who are physically poor, they have a humble spirit because they don’t have anything. To be spiritually poor is to recognize that we are in need of God’s help. It is those who understand they are spiritually bankrupt. We are in need of a Savior to save us because we can not buy, earn or work our way into his favor. It simply means to be humble. We can not inherit the kingdom of heaven if we are not humble and understand there is nothing we have to offer our Creator. Our humility comes in the shadow of the cross and the victory only Christ could win.
Happy are those who are humble.
Matthew 5:4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
Like I said Sunday this scripture is one of the most taken out of scriptures in the NT. We like to use this verse in funerals to comfort a family, but Jesus is not talking about physical death here. Jesus is addressing those who mourn over sin. He is talking about those whose heart break over sin and the darkness of this world. When we find our happiness in the humility of Jesus we will realize the brokenness of this world. Our hearts will be shattered over how sin so often consumes us. Paul too addresses this idea of mourning over sin.
2 Corinthians 7:10 “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.”
Godly grief or mourning over sin produces repentance. Repentance is turning from ones sin and turning back to God. The fruit of such mourning is salvation. This is the comfort Christ refers to when our hearts are broken over personal sin and we repent we find salvation. But if our grief is like that of the world, we will not repent but continue in sin and produce a spiritual death.
Happy are those whose heart breaks over sin.
