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Christianity Today, June, 2007 |

REFLECTIONS

Poor in Spirit

Quotations to stir heart and mind.

Compiled by Richard A. Kauffman | posted 6/27/2007 08:40AM

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BLESSED are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:3

[R]IGHT at the beginning of his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus contradicted all human judgments and all nationalistic expectations of the kingdom of God. The kingdom is given to the poor, not the rich; the feeble, not the mighty; to little children humble enough to accept it, not to soldiers who boast that they can obtain it by their own prowess.
John R. W. Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount

JESUS KNOWS all about the others, too, the representatives and preachers of the national religion, who enjoy greatness and renown, whose feet are firmly planted on the earth, who are deeply rooted in the culture and piety of the people and molded by the spirit of the age. Yet it is not they, but the disciples who are called blessed—theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

GOD DOES NOT force his kingdom upon anybody but gladly gives it to all who know they're losers without him and humbly seek his help.
Clarence Jordan, Sermon on the Mount

IT IS REALLY only the poor in spirit who can, actually, have anything, because they are the ones who know how to receive gifts. For them, everything is a gift.
Simon Tugwell, The Beatitudes: Soundings in Christian Traditions

THE KINGDOM of God can only be received by empty hands. Jesus warns against (a) worldly self-sufficiency: you trust yourself and your own resources and don't need God; (b) religious self-sufficiency: you trust your religious attitude and moral life and don't need Jesus.
Michael H. Crosby, Spirituality of the Beatitudes: Matthew's Vision for the Church in an Unjust World

WE ARE to be spiritually poor only for the sake of becoming spiritually rich, detached from what we can own so that we can be attached in a different way to what we cannot own, detached from consuming so that we can be consumed by God.
Peter Kreeft, Back to Virtue

IT IS a theological mistake to seek suffering for its own sake. Nor does this beatitude mean that to live a pious life is to embrace the ultimate form of delayed gratification—suffering now in the hope that God will provide the reward once one is dead. The words of the Beatitudes are in the present tense: "Theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
Daniel P. Sulmasy, A Balm for Gilead: Meditations on Spirituality and the Healing Arts

HUMILITY, or poverty of spirit, is not a matter of thinking low thoughts about ourselves. It is not a matter of groveling in the dust. It is simply a matter of knowing ourselves as we really are. And when we see ourselves as we really are, we will see that we are poor.
John W. Miller, The Christian Way

Related Elsewhere:

Recent Reflections columns include:

Spring | April 24, 2007

Resurrected Life | April 2, 2007

Suffering God | March 5, 2007

Winter | January 29, 2007

Signs of the Church | January 8, 2007

Christmas Sermons | December 18, 2006

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June 2007, Vol. 51, No. 6

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joy in the light

Posted: June 29, 2007 9:35 AM

We have found great riches when we are Called by Jesus and recognize His voice; we realize that we have found the Kingdom: All the heavenly riches of the Kingdom are worth selling our material goods for, in order to buy the exceeding great spiritual knowledge and joy and wisdom of the Kingdom of Heaven. We then, in trust, hand over our material goods to Jesus, who returns to us wealth-unmeasureable in heavenly realms where moth and rust and thief cannot get it. Those material goods which Jesus then gives back to us to use, we then steward as belonging to Jesus. Us remaining poor butg with his goods to look after. We use it to bring seed into the Kingdom, spreading the message of the Kingdom so that others can find it too! And to bless others and to be generous in the way Jesus wants us to be generous. We are never to see ourselves as having permission to live as if we are kings who are given power over others, especially the weak and the poor. In all this is joy, exceeding all money.

Mike	Posted: June 27, 2007 10:36 PM


I am nothing without Him and that is when he can use me or anyone else for His Kingdom. This article makes that clear.

Paul Skumar

Posted: June 28, 2007 12:30 AM

Those who committed themselves to God, they all become wealthy or rich. By the Grace of God, we are all rich. There is no partiality to God. God sees his inner heart only, not by looking into the richness or scholor or high power. In His sight, we are His children(theirs is the kingdom of heaven). Those who pity on poor will lend to God. IF we really help the poor & needy persons in this world, will get benefit or gift from our Lord.