Chapter One - "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Jesus starts his sermon on the mountain with a very strong statement: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven”, Matthew 5:2. The first question that comes to mind is: What is to be poor in spirit? And why our inheritance in the Kingdom is directly connected to that? To be poor in spirit means to recognize your own spiritual poverty; that we were deprived of God from the day we were born (Rom 3:23), recognize that the essence of the Kingdom means to put aside our self dependence, self reliance and lay ourselves at His mercy and grace. It’s not by works, self righteousness, but by dependence in Him.
Dependence is not a word we like to use, as proud humans we like to think that our achievements are solely done by our own “competence” and efforts. In the Kingdom is the total opposite. The less you depend on your self the more space will be for the Holy Spirit to work on you. The Lord Jesus is the ultimate example of that. He came to earth, as man and God, but the Bible says that He unclothed Himself of His glory, becoming man like you and me. The path that would lead Him to the cross was the path of humility. Like a lamb going to the slaughter so was our Lord to the cross.
Satan tried to tempt Jesus with pride. If you take a look on the chapter 4 of Matthew you will see that Satan continually tried to bring doubt into Jesus’ heart about His divinity, His power and glory. He was constantly saying if you are the Son of God…tempting Him to use His own power and stop relying in the plan that had already been laid out before Him. Jesus had the power to do whatever He wanted but He didn’t dare to take the short cuts that Satan had presented Him. He chose the way of Humility, put aside His own will and let the will of the Father be done.
In order for us to understand or start grasping the thinking process of the Kingdom we must do as our Savior. The bible says: Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God! Do we want to understand the heart of God? We start by humility, putting aside our pride and allowing ourselves to depend on Him. That’s why the world can’t understand the kingdom of God because their values are based on the spirit that rules their system. Satan started out his rebellion against God allowing pride to be born in his heart, he wanted to place his throne above God’s but the Bible tells us that God does not trade His glory with no one.
I believe that sin itself comes out of a prideful heart, an attitude of self reliance and independence. When we decide that we are the rulers of our own life, we say that we do not need anyone else, we then enter the path of self righteousness, loosing the ability to see the grace offered to us through the humbling sacrifice of the Creator of the universe. To understand the Kingdom, we must enter the door of humility, following the same path and example as our Lord and savior. Only then we will be ready to see grace as it was intended to be seen, feel His mercy in the way it is supposed to be felt, like the prophet Ezekiel as He was exposed to God’s glory, knelt down, humbled himself, recognized his inadequacy. Only through that we will be able to learn the code of the Kingdom. The journey to the heart of God starts with humility, as He humbled himself so we, as His new children, citizens of His Kingdom, ought to do the same. Humility is not a sign of weakness but a sign of God’s character in our lives. As we apply humility in our daily lives we become blessed because we start absorbing in our hearts the character of God, we start the process of becoming like Him. Humility is not a curse but a blessing.
“Theirs is the Kingdom of heaven”, Jesus said. When we apply humility as part of ourselves we create a sense of belonging and identity, a sense of possession. In order to belong to the Kingdom, to be heirs of His riches, to have access to the privileges, we must know that it is our responsibility to make the decision of choosing humbleness as the first step in this journey into the heart of God.
Dependence is not a word we like to use, as proud humans we like to think that our achievements are solely done by our own “competence” and efforts. In the Kingdom is the total opposite. The less you depend on your self the more space will be for the Holy Spirit to work on you. The Lord Jesus is the ultimate example of that. He came to earth, as man and God, but the Bible says that He unclothed Himself of His glory, becoming man like you and me. The path that would lead Him to the cross was the path of humility. Like a lamb going to the slaughter so was our Lord to the cross.
Satan tried to tempt Jesus with pride. If you take a look on the chapter 4 of Matthew you will see that Satan continually tried to bring doubt into Jesus’ heart about His divinity, His power and glory. He was constantly saying if you are the Son of God…tempting Him to use His own power and stop relying in the plan that had already been laid out before Him. Jesus had the power to do whatever He wanted but He didn’t dare to take the short cuts that Satan had presented Him. He chose the way of Humility, put aside His own will and let the will of the Father be done.
In order for us to understand or start grasping the thinking process of the Kingdom we must do as our Savior. The bible says: Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God! Do we want to understand the heart of God? We start by humility, putting aside our pride and allowing ourselves to depend on Him. That’s why the world can’t understand the kingdom of God because their values are based on the spirit that rules their system. Satan started out his rebellion against God allowing pride to be born in his heart, he wanted to place his throne above God’s but the Bible tells us that God does not trade His glory with no one.
I believe that sin itself comes out of a prideful heart, an attitude of self reliance and independence. When we decide that we are the rulers of our own life, we say that we do not need anyone else, we then enter the path of self righteousness, loosing the ability to see the grace offered to us through the humbling sacrifice of the Creator of the universe. To understand the Kingdom, we must enter the door of humility, following the same path and example as our Lord and savior. Only then we will be ready to see grace as it was intended to be seen, feel His mercy in the way it is supposed to be felt, like the prophet Ezekiel as He was exposed to God’s glory, knelt down, humbled himself, recognized his inadequacy. Only through that we will be able to learn the code of the Kingdom. The journey to the heart of God starts with humility, as He humbled himself so we, as His new children, citizens of His Kingdom, ought to do the same. Humility is not a sign of weakness but a sign of God’s character in our lives. As we apply humility in our daily lives we become blessed because we start absorbing in our hearts the character of God, we start the process of becoming like Him. Humility is not a curse but a blessing.
“Theirs is the Kingdom of heaven”, Jesus said. When we apply humility as part of ourselves we create a sense of belonging and identity, a sense of possession. In order to belong to the Kingdom, to be heirs of His riches, to have access to the privileges, we must know that it is our responsibility to make the decision of choosing humbleness as the first step in this journey into the heart of God.
posted by Dennis Da Silva @ 12:34 PM
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