BEGGARS

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they will inherit the kingdom of heaven." - Jesus

Jesus said the "poor in spirit" are blessed but what does that mean? For me this phrase brings to mind words like downcast, dejected suffering, and solemn. Is that what Jesus is asking of us? A.W. Tozer has helped me a great deal in better understanding what Jesus might have meant when he spoke these words.

I think a great deal of the confusion comes about because of the connotation "poor" carries today. We use poor to describe a performance, outlook on life, or turnout at an event so to us it means "bad" but to the Greeks and Jews of Jesus day, poor literally meant "beggar".

So now the verse reads,"Blessed are the beggars..." That doesn't help much does it? Being blesses by God sounds less appealing than before. Let's stop and think more about what Jesus is asking. He's not saying we must be poor in order to be blessed, but that we must have the attitude or the "spirit" or a beggar. In essence, we must come to realize the paradoxical truth that everything in this world from the shirt on our backs to the air we breath is not ours. It belongs to the Lord. 1 Corinthians 4:7 says it like this, "What makes you different than anyone else? What do to have that God did not give you?" The answer to this questions, if you and I were to truthfully answer, is nothing. Everything we see, own and think we possess isn't really really ours, it came from and belongs to God. We depend on him for our food, breath and entire livelihood. We are beggars are we not? Jesus said that the person who realizes this, the true reality of our humble place before God, will be blessed. A sobering though to say the least.

Maintaining the attitude of a beggar is a difficult task amongst the world of stuff and things that we live in. Our stocked pantries and stock market accounts can easily deceive us into thinking we're in control and and control our own destiny but the truth is that we don't. All it take is an unexpected death or earthquake to remind us of that.

When you find yourself slipping from beggar to big time this or that just take a deep breath and remember who gave it to you. Then thank God for the day and all he has given you. If you do this, I think you'll find that your life will be blessed. Not because you walk around with a solemn and somber countenance on your face but because you understand how much of a lucky beggar you are.