How Poor Are You?

Sometimes you never really know how poor you are.

When I was a child, I remember eating peanut and butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner.  I didn't think anything of it.  I just thought it was cool eating PB&Js for dinner.

What I didn't know was at the time we didn't have any other food.  We couldn't afford it. While Timmy down the street enjoyed roast and carrots, we were munching on peanut butter, jelly and bread.  My mom didn't even eat dinner, just to make sure there was enough food to last the week.

Now, we were never destitute.  I didn't go homeless.  We had television and telephones and electricity.  However, at the time, I didn't know how poor we really were.  My parents did a good job of protecting us from that knowledge.

Jesus asks us to examine our own depravity in Matthew 5:3.  The first beatitude we encounter is "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

If you are poor, you are without resources.  You require something outside of your means.  That could be money or housing or food.  It could be as simple as air.  We are all poor in something.

What Jesus wants us to consider is how poor we are spiritually.  We cannot get to God on our own.  We can't earn a relationship with the Creator.  We will never be good enough or smart enough or do enough good deeds.  Nothing is enough.

We are spiritually bankrupt.  We need help for our problem.

So, God intervened.  Jesus came, lived a perfect life, died for us and rose again.  Only by committing our life to him can we have a relationship with God.  Only Christ can meet our "poor" need.

First, though, you have to realize how poor you are.  You have to realize how much you need a relationship with God and how far from that relationship you really are. 

I never knew how little money we had.  Sure, I knew I didn't have all the gadgets and gizmo's my friends had.  I didn't have stylish clothes.  Yet, I was content in my poor existence.  I didn't know any better.

We can be the same way in our spiritual lives.  He can live our life never knowing how far from Jesus we really are. 

Take a moment.  Examine your own spiritual walk.  When you do, you will see that you too are poor in spirit.  You need something only Jesus can fulfill. When you recognize that, you become poor in spirit and through Jesus, the kingdom of heaven can be yours.

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