7 Keys for Kingdom Inheritance: #2 Poverty of Spirit

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 5:3

We read in Matthew 4:23 – 5:1 that Jesus saw the large crowds pursuing him from Galilee to the region across the Jordan because of the healings and miracles He had performed. He decided to go up the mountainside to withdraw from the aspirations and ambitions of the multitudes, in order to teach and express matters of greater concern in the kingdom. While the great crowds were impressed and hungry for their needs being attended to, true disciples came to Him with a hunger for truth, and the nourishment of their spirits. Jesus opens by teaching His disciples that, it is those who are poor in spirit that will inherit the kingdom of heaven.

The question is, what is it that we can identify about the poor that Jesus valued, and for those who aspire to be part of His kingdom to be like?

1) The poor are in need. To be in need shows admission of lack and being dependent; requiring essential help and relying on another, more than just what is desirable.

2) They are beggars and are not proud. Beggars earnestly ask and are not concerned of people’s perception or interpretation of their quest to seek alms or help. You cannot beg with a high regard of your image, condition or status. Begging comes with insisting and being persistent to attain what is asked for.

3) They have very little to lose. Sometimes when I drive, I come across homeless and poor individuals carelessly walking into busy and dangerous traffic. I have had to maneuverer around as they carelessly walk before moving cars. The poor man does not care whether you bump into them or not. In the state they are in, whether you decide to run them over or make way for them, it is not their concern. For they have very little to loose; they have lost it all and nothing moves them any longer.

What does it say? “Blessed are the poor in spirit”. This implies that:

• Our spirit must be needy for God – showing our dependence on God; seeing Him as our source of help. We must respond to Him beyond just our desires, but as essential for our existence.
• Our spirit must be humble before God – We must earnestly seek God in all humility, and not be proud to involve Him in any matter or circumstance we find ourselves in. This can apply to matters we feel justified to handle by ourselves, or matters we know can only be sovereignly attended to by an Almighty God.
• Our spirit must have very little to lose of the world, and very much to gain of the kingdom of God. When living for God, we must be relentless enough to be given to Him without reserve. We should be willing to forsake it all for Him and having nothing left of us, in order to deploy everything chosen by Him for us.

Because Jesus promises that in doing so, “theirs is the kingdom”. None can come to Christ and inherit anything from Him if they are proud. If you struggle with pride, the kingdom of God is a place and reality you will forfeit. Those who lose it are the proud. Pride cannot survive the kingdom. Whether it is pride against God, pride against your neighbour, pride against your friends or family; or pride against the lost.

I believe that Pride is the root in which many acts of the flesh grow from. We are taught in Galatians 5:16-17 that the flesh and the Spirit are in contrary to one another. They operate as two kingdoms in contrast to one another. Idolatry cannot take place if people are not proud to assert the worship and submission that belongs to God, and give it to things that pleases or serves them above God. Hate is a result of one having a higher and justified view of himself, which at the heart of it is an act of pride. Envy takes place because of having a resentment and desire for what another possesses or is, and this stems from pride. It is a love and drive for superiority and contempt against God and another person. The list goes on.

Jesus says to the Church in Loadicea, “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see (Rev 3:17-18).

The kingdoms of this world have inconsistent standards of righteousness and piety, pride and ‘humility’. The things that can make one acceptable or shunned in the eyes of man and religion, can be different to what makes on acceptable in the Kingdom of God. Therefore, it is easy to transfer that same attitude and spirit we have in the world to God, thinking that we will be accepted because of our riches, wealth and the things that prides us. Jesus rebukes the Church in Laodicea to make them understand that their riches and wealth they have do not matter to God for eternal realities.

To be blessed in the Kingdom, demands us to have a mind and spiritual posture that is ‘poor’, in order to be rich in God’s kingdom. May God helps us to be needy for Him, humble before Him and have very little to lose of this world, and much to strive for in the kingdom of God.

© Br. Sibusiso Banda