Matthew 5:3

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Various versions of the Bible say…They who know their spiritual poverty; Who recognize they are spiritually helpless; Those who are destitute in spirit; People who know they have great spiritual needs. Do you ever feel that way about yourself? About your sin? About your need for forgiveness?

Jesus is not calling us to walk around in sackcloth and ash everyday mumbling, “Woe is me. I’m just a pathetic sinner.” But He is calling us to a sober-minded and on-going understanding that without God’s mercy and forgiveness, we would be utterly destroyed and hopeless. The spiritual reality is that without His grace, we could not be saved from hell. Without His Spirit, we could not hope to live the Christian life. Without His mercy, our daily mistakes would doom us over and over again.

Charles Spurgeon advises a way of understanding this spiritual poverty that is worth contemplating. “Learn this lesson—not to trust Christ because you repent, but trust Christ to make you repent; not to come to Christ because you have a broken heart, but to come to him that he may give you a broken heart; not to come to him because you are fit to come, but to come to him because you are unfit to come. Your fitness is your unfitness. Your qualification is your lack of qualification.”

If you understand this teaching, then you truly understand the Gospel and the Kingdom of Heaven is yours. If it doesn’t resonate in your heart, then you are in real trouble, friend, and your view of yourself is not aligned with spiritual reality. I pray that you see the truth.