The Poor In Spirit
3
The Poor In Spirit
Confusion
What does it mean to be poor in spirit?
Most assuredly, it does not mean being poor-spirited. Unfortunately, there are some people who have little or no self-esteem and whose self-image is poor; as a consequence, their inner person is anemic.
I once counseled a young man who, during childhood, had heard nothing from his father but, “You are good for nothing and will never amount to anything!” The young man had such a low opinion of himself that he failed in everything he attempted, and every failure only added to his emotional and spiritual bankruptcy. I pointed out to him that he was important to God and therefore ought to have more self-esteem. After all, he was created in the image of God. Even more, Jesus Christ died for him and the Holy Spirit lived in him, so he was worth something. All of this theology he accepted with his mind, but down in his heart he could still hear his father telling him how worthless he was.
Some people are shy and retiring by nature, but that is not the same as being poor in spirit. God created us with different temperaments and personalities; some of us are extroverts, whereas others are introverts. But it is possible to be an introvert and proud or an extrovert and humble. Peter was certainly an extrovert, yet Thomas’s refusal to accept the fact of Christ’s resurrection—and his demand for proof—was just as much an evidence of pride as Peter’s boasting and poor swordsmanship. Shyness is not poverty of spirit.
Neither is the detestable, groveling attitude that we call mock humility. The classic example is Uriah Heep in David Copperfield, who was always reminding people that he was “but a very ’umble person.” In a more refined way, we see this mock humility in the people who deny about themselves what everybody else knows is true. I once worked with a Sunday school teacher who had a great gift of working with children, yet she would deny it every time it was mentioned. “Oh, I can’t do anything!” she would protest. “I just struggle along until somebody comes to do the job the way it ought to be done!” All of us in the meetings would smile at each other and change the subject. We knew that her “protesting too much” was a veiled request for praise, and none of us felt like praising her.
In a sense Moses was guilty of this sin when he told God he was not able to speak (Exodus 4:10–17). Who can tell God anything about himself that God does not already know? And, after all, God made us, and God is able to empower us to do whatever He calls us to do. Denying that we can accomplish God’s work is not humility; it is the worst kind of pride.
Being poor in spirit means knowing yourself, accepting yourself, and being yourself to the glory of God.
It means knowing yourself—your strengths and weaknesses, your hidden desires, your ambitions, your spiritual gifts and natural abilities—and being honest with yourself. When I was in grade school, I almost developed an emotional disorder over sports. Both of my older brothers were capable athletes, but I am not, and every time the boys in my class chose sides, I was the last one chosen. At first it was a painful experience. After all, many school children dream of being a great sports star. Then it got to be a joke, and finally I was able to accept the fact that I would never be a great athlete—or even a good player. One of my coaches was sure he could make a trackman out of me, but after I knocked down six hurdles and broke a bone in my foot, he changed his mind. Sometimes getting to know yourself can be a painful experience, but it is a part of maturing.
It also means accepting yourself. Some people, when they discover what they really are, deny their discovery and move into a life of pretending. In fact, some people have pretended their way right into a dream world of psychological problems and have completely lost touch with reality. Most of us do not go that far, but the inability to accept yourself can have serious emotional and spiritual consequences. When you accept yourself, you find it easier to accept others and also easier to accept God’s plan for your life. It did not take me long to accept the fact that I was neither an athlete nor a mechanic. (I handle a hammer about as well as I do a baseball bat.) But early in grade school I discovered a flair for words, and I have been speaking them and writing them ever since.
Being poor in spirit means knowing yourself, accepting yourself, and being yourself to the glory of God—your best self, of course, and not anything less. That means constant growing in every area of your life. It means using your strengths to overcome your weaknesses and using your weaknesses to discover the mighty power of God. “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10). Being yourself involves yielding to the Spirit of God and permitting Him to fulfill God’s will in your life. You are not imitating somebody else or envying somebody else. You are yourself—your best self—empowered by the Spirit of God to do what God has called you to do.
To be poor in spirit means knowing that in myself I am bankrupt, but in Christ I am rich. It means discovering the place God wants me to fill and filling it for His glory, no matter how insignificant or unimportant I may believe it is. The person who is truly poor in spirit knows that every place of God’s choosing is an important place. “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you’ ” (1 Corinthians 12:21). The believer who is poor in spirit is in the place of God’s choosing, fulfilling the purpose of God’s choosing and depending on the power that God alone can supply.
Perhaps the word humility is another way of saying “poor in spirit.” I believe it was Andrew Murray who said that humility is that grace that, when you know you have it, you have lost it. He also said, “Humility is not thinking meanly of yourself. It is simply not thinking of yourself at all!” This explains why “blessed are the poor in spirit” is the first of the Beatitudes, for until we admit our need we can never receive what God has for us. Too many people are like those in the Laodicean church; they are “rich . . . have acquired wealth and do not need a thing” (Revelation 3:17). And, like the Laodiceans, they don’t know that they are “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.”
To be poor in spirit does not mean to deny your personality or try to suppress it. It simply means yielding it to God for Him to make it all that He wants it to be. The motto is old but true: “God always gives His best to those who leave the choice with Him.”
Characteristics
There are several evidences of humility in the life of the believer. To begin with, when you are poor in spirit, you accept others, because you have accepted yourself. That does not mean you always agree with what they are or what they do, but you accept them just the same. When others succeed you are happy for them; when they fail you try to encourage them. If I find myself happy when they fail and sad when they succeed, then I am not poor in spirit. I am proud. When young David killed Goliath, King Saul was glad to get rid of his enemy and honor David, but when David started slaying his ten thousands in contrast to Saul’s thousands, then the king became envious and angry. David was poor in spirit: “Who am I, and what is my family or my father’s clan in Israel, that I should become the king’s son-in-law?” (1 Samuel 18:18). At no time did David use his position to promote himself; he was willing for God to do the promoting in His time and in His way. “In everything he did he had great success, because the Lord was with him” (1 Samuel 18:14).
A constant source of friction among the disciples—and it must have grieved their Master’s heart—was, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” (Matthew 18:1). Our Lord’s answer was to place an unspoiled child in their midst. Why are unspoiled children great, so much so that people will risk their lives to protect and save them? They are great because they know they are children and act like children. There is something unsetthng and distasteful about children who act like adults and expect to be treated as one. (Perhaps the only thing worse is an adult acting like a child.) But when children naturally act like children, they are beautiful to behold and loveable. Children without guile or affectation are sovereigns; the entire world bows before their little throne!
King Saul could not become like a little child and, as a result, lost his crown, his kingdom, and his life. He pretended to be something that he was not. Samuel commanded him to wait for the prophet’s arrival before any sacrifices were offered, but Saul could not wait. He pretended to be a priest (1 Samuel 13:5–14), and he impetuously offered the sacrifice. Later, when God gave him another chance and commanded him to exterminate the Amalekites, Saul pretended to be God and deliberately disobeyed the orders (1 Samuel 15). The final scene in Saul’s life shows the king completely abandoned by God (1 Samuel 28). He prayed but received no answers; even the dreams, the priests, and the prophets brought no message from God. So he decided to consult a witch. “Saul disguised himself,” 1 Samuel 28:8 says, and went by night to a witch’s cave. In one sense Saul did disguise himself, but in another sense he was revealing his true self. All along he had been rebelling against God, and “rebellion is like the sin of divination” (1 Samuel 15:23). The next day Saul committed suicide on the field of battle, and a man who claimed to be an Amalekite—one of the men Saul himself should have slain—took his crown (2 Samuel 1:10).
Another evidence of poverty of spirit is accepting circumstances. When circumstances do not go my way, do I become angry and critical? Am I always trying to manipulate people and circumstances for my own benefit and comfort? Or am I willing to give in to make things easier for somebody else? Do I cut corners and pull deals to accomplish what I want in life? Paul said, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances” (Philippians 4:11). That does not mean that Christians never try to improve their circumstances, because that would be complacency, not contentment. But it does mean that the poor in spirit do not chafe in uncomfortable circumstances and spend their time complaining both to God and others.
A third evidence is a right attitude toward things. Those who are poor in spirit do not find their satisfaction in things; they can do with or without. “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty” (Philippians 4:12). People who are poor in spirit do not measure a man’s worth by his material wealth, for “a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15). If things change my attitudes, then things are my master—not my servant—and that is the sin of idolatry. The proud person is possessed by things; the humble person possesses things and uses them for the good of others and the glory of God.
The parable of the rich farmer illustrates this truth (Luke 12:13–21). Material wealth is either a window through which we see God or a mirror in which we see ourselves, and with this farmer it was the latter. There are eleven personal pronouns in this farmer’s conversation with himself. He talks about himself to himself. And he had no thought for God or his hungry neighbor. Had he been poor in spirit he would have been rich toward God, but because he believed he was rich, he became poor and lost everything. He believed he was an owner, but he discovered (too late) that he was only a steward. God was the owner, and all the fruits and goods were merely on loan. The farmer possessed, but he did not own.
Thoreau was correct when he wrote, “A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone.” Paul expressed it even better: “For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that” (1 Timothy 6:7–8). Those who are poor in spirit do not build their lives on things. They have God, and that is all they need.
Let me suggest a fourth evidence of humility: accepting God’s will for your life. The person who is poor in spirit joyfully accepts the will of God; the proud person resists God’s will. I have met people who are so proud that they even defy God. I remember a Christian couple that had big plans for their children and told God what He was supposed to do. He did it, and they lived to regret it. “So he gave them what they asked for, but sent a wasting disease upon them” (Psalm 106:15).
Sometimes God gives us seeming failure to teach us to submit to His will. I learned that lesson in a little fishing village in Denmark, where I ministered with a Youth for Christ team in 1957. I did not know the language, the people of the village did not seem interested in the gospel, and I felt like quitting. Few people were attending the services, but night after night my associate and I led the singing and preached the Word. Before the week ended, we learned that God had indeed changed some hearts. During that week I learned to obey God’s will in spite of my feelings and in spite of the results, a lesson I hope I never forget.
The person who is self-satisfied and self-sufficient, who feels no need for God, is not poor in spirit. The believer who argues with God’s will and complains about circumstances is not poor in spirit. The person who fishes for compliments and inflates when compliments come is not poor in spirit. Leaders who are harder on others than they are on themselves are not poor in spirit.
To be poor in spirit, then, means to know yourself, accept yourself, and be yourself to the glory of God. It means letting God use both your strengths and your weaknesses to accomplish His will and glorify His name.
Consequences
Why does being poor in spirit bring blessing? An attitude of humility is exactly opposite to what the world teaches and usually opposite to what most people practice. “Assert yourself!” is the world’s slogan. But Jesus says, “Humble yourself.” How can humility bring blessing to you when you live in a cutthroat world?
To begin with, humility is godlike, and anything that makes us more like God is bound to bring blessing, even if the world will not accept it. “Who is like the Lord our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, who stoops down [humbles himself] to look on the heavens and the earth?” (Psalm 113:5–6). God the Father humbles Himself to behold the things both in heaven and on earth. God the Son “humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:8). Think of the humility of the Holy Spirit as He lives with us day by day!
It is difficult to conceive of a Christian growing in grace apart from humility. True poverty of spirit is the soil out of which the fruit of the Spirit can be cultivated. “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word” (Isaiah 66:2). Certainly the seed of God’s Word could never be planted in the hard soil of a proud heart. “Break up your unplowed ground and do not sow among thorns” (Jeremiah 4:3).
But there is another reason poverty of spirit brings blessing: It makes us kings. “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” We control by being controlled. No person has a right to exercise authority who himself or herself is not under authority. We reign in life by submitting to the authority of Jesus Christ (Romans 5:17).
What is involved in reigning in life? It means authority, for when we submit to Christ, He is able to share His authority with us. Pride always weakens us because pride cuts us off from fellowship with the Lord. Peter was his weakest when, in pride, he wielded his sword and tried to defend Jesus. Peter was his strongest when he wept bitterly, humbled himself, and submitted to Jesus. Jesus used a little child as the perfect example of a citizen of His kingdom because in a child you see authority based on humility. Because children are so weak in themselves, they command all the strength of those about them. The world believes that authority comes from size, ability, noise, and self-promotion; the Christian knows that true authority comes from poverty of spirit. We reign as kings because we submit as servants.
This spiritual kingdom involves not only authority but also liberty. Pride always makes a slave of a person, whereas humility sets that person free. When you live to promote yourself, you are bound to become a slave of people or things or circumstances. You are never really free to be yourself, because self has already enslaved you through pride. Those who are poor in spirit are not disturbed by the attitudes or criticisms of others because they live to please God. Moses was not afraid of Pharaoh because Pharaoh could do nothing to hurt God’s servant so long as that servant was submitted to the Lord. When you live to promote yourself, you must always get something from others to inflate your ego or advertise your importance; but every time you receive something you pay dearly. “Please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel” pleaded King Saul (1 Samuel 15:30). His pride made him a slave. He was not the king of Israel: Israel was king over him.
Humility means that you look to God for everything you need. This sets you free from people, circumstances, and things. If you need nothing but God, then nothing—and no one—can be a threat to you. You are free.
Humility makes us kings, not only by giving us authority and liberty but also by giving us adequacy. “The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up. The Lord sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts. He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor (1 Samuel 2:6–8). When we are low enough, then God can trust us with a throne and a scepter. He opens the treasures of His grace to the dead, the poor, and the beggars. His feast is spread for “the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame” (Luke 14:21), not the proud who believe their souls can be satisfied with lands, oxen, and honeymoons.
There is poverty in riches, and there are riches in poverty. “One man . . . pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth” (Proverbs 13:7). “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). People who depend on material things cannot reign in life because they are possessed by the things they possess. Things control them, and they are never satisfied with the things that they have.
When you and I are poor in spirit, God gives us a kingdom, and we reign in life as His heirs. When King Saul was a humble servant, God gave him a kingdom, but when Saul began to throw his weight around and run things his own way, then he lost his kingdom. How did David get his kingdom? By being a nobody. This is how Jesus Christ secured His kingdom: “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name” (Philippians 2:9). This is the paradox of the Christian life: We surrender that we might reign. This leads to authority, liberty, and adequacy.
Cultivation
How can we cultivate this grace of humility? How is it possible to succeed in this difficult world while seeking to be poor in spirit?
I believe the first step is to accept God’s estimate of yourself. You had to do this to become a Christian, and you have to do this to grow in the Christian life. When Christ first confronted you with the gospel, you perhaps had a difficult time agreeing with His estimate of your life. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). “There is no one righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10). “You must be born again” (John 3:7). Once you accepted God’s estimate of yourself, it was easy to accept God’s remedy for your sins. You had to humble yourself, and then God lifted you up.
“For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you” (Romans 12:3). Paul is not suggesting that we not think of ourselves, because that would be impossible. He is warning us not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to; and I believe we ought to include less highly as well. There is a false humility that degrades as much as does a proud spirit. I suggested early in this chapter that true humility means knowing myself, accepting myself, and being myself to the glory of God. This means accepting God’s estimate of me on the basis of the gifts and the faith He has given me.
For example, Moses argued with God when God called him to go to Egypt (Exodus 3–4). Moses used every excuse he could find, all of them centered on his own weaknesses. Gideon made the same mistake when God called him to deliver the people from the power of Midian. Imagine God calling a fearful farmer a “mighty warrior” (Judges 6:12)! Imagine Jesus Christ calling Simon a “rock” (Matthew 16:18)! When Moses, Gideon, and Simon accepted God’s estimate and acted upon it by faith, they accomplished great things for God. They found their kingdom by humbly yielding to God and daring to believe what He said. Every victory they won was the result of their faith in God’s Word.
As you read your Bible, notice what God says about you as a child of God. Accept what He says and act upon it. When Moses, Gideon, and Simon argued with the Word of God, it led to defeat. When they accepted the Word and acted upon it, the result was victory. God does not say to us, “Obey, and I will bless you.” Rather, He in effect says, “I have already blessed you with all spiritual blessings in Christ; now, draw upon this wealth, believe what I say, and live like a king!” (See Ephesians 1:3).
The second step is to yield yourself to God daily and draw your strength from Him. “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Many Christians find it helpful to get up early enough in the morning to spend uninterrupted time in prayer and meditation on God’s Word. What digestion is to your body, meditation is to your soul, and what food is to digestion, the Word of God is to meditation. “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). The Word of God taken into your inner person releases power. The Bible is the scepter by which you reign in life. Spend time daily in quiet communion with God and carry the power of that experience with you all through the day. We do not read that King Saul was a great man of prayer or that he meditated on the Word, but in the Psalms we constantly meet King David talking to God and listening as God talked to him.
The Word of God will transform your mind (Romans 12:2) so that you will have “the mind of Christ,” the same attitude Jesus had when He laid aside His glory and came to earth as a servant (Philippians 2:5–7). You were not born with the attitude of a servant; you were born with the attitude of a rebel. It is only as the Word transforms the mind that we can ever cultivate true humility and poverty of spirit.
The third step is this: Focus on Christ and His blessings. Too many people believe humility comes from studying their own sins and failures, but that is not true. It is not the badness of people that leads to repentance but “the goodness of God” (Romans 2:4 KJV). If you conduct too many “spiritual autopsies,” you may bleed to death. There is nothing wrong with honest self-examination, provided that you look to Christ. However, too many Christians spend too much time looking into the mirror when they ought to be “fix[ing their] eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of [their] faith” (Hebrews 12:2). The more you contemplate the goodness of God, the lower you will sink before Him. “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?” prayed King David (1 Chronicles 17:16).
Peter’s experience with the Lord in Luke 5 is a good illustration of the truth that humility comes from contemplating God’s blessings and not our own failures. Peter had fished all night and caught nothing when Jesus entered his boat and used it for a platform as He taught the multitudes. Peter was a captive audience and had to listen to the Word, but this Word was preparing him for a miracle. (“Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ” [Romans 10:17].) When Jesus commanded Peter to launch out into the deep, the fisherman protested weakly but obeyed, and the result was a great catch of fish. “When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, ‘Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!’ ” (Luke 5:8). It was not his night of failure that drove Peter to his knees but the great success that Jesus gave to him. Anybody can say, “I am sinful” when he or she has failed, but it takes an honest, humble heart to say this when he or she has succeeded. It was the goodness of God that led Peter to repentance, and if you and I will only meditate on His goodness, we, too, will grow in humility and poverty of spirit.
Next comes the fourth step: Look for opportunities to serve others. Humility and service go together. The proud look for others to serve them, whereas the humble look for ways to serve others. “Consider others better than yourselves” (Philippians 2:3). “Serve one another in love” (Galatians 5:13). “But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you” (Philippians 2:17). Sacrifice and service are the twin children of humility. It is important to note that this sacrifice and service must often go unnoticed and unrewarded. “They have their reward!” If we blow a trumpet every time we help somebody, we will only nourish our pride and starve our humility. A cup of cold water for Jesus’ sake is all that He asks.
Do not look for big opportunities “worthy” of your abilities. Those will come in due time. The great saints of the Bible started as servants, not rulers, and they were faithful over a few things before God made them kings. Moses tended sheep; Joseph was a steward; David was a shepherd; Jesus was a carpenter. Live with the eye of God upon you and forget the praise of others. Serve faithfully in the hidden place, and in due time God will lift you up. Every opportunity for service is an opportunity to exercise sovereignty in Christ. We reign in life by living to serve, to the glory of God.
The sin of pride has ruined more lives than perhaps any other sin. It is the sin that invites Satan to rule. It is the sin that cost King Saul his character, his crown, and, ultimately, his life. Humility is the grace that made David a king.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”