Admitting My Poverty

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matt 5:3 NIV)

God offers Himself to us. His promises are astonishing. He has made His entire kingdom available to us that we might receive eternal life. But nothing can be received from Him until we recognize our need for what He offers.

Every human heart is naturally deficient. We are incapable of attaining true and eternal life. There is a coldness and deadness within us. It is this incapability to sustain life that is our primary weakness. If we are left unaided, we will certainly die.

God uses our fallen world to teach us of this innate weakness. He allows sin, pain and trouble to awaken us to our need. It is often when disaster strikes that we realize how fragile our lives are and how powerless we feel to sustain them. This is why the law short circuits our attempt to establish ourselves as worthy of life. We are invited to fulfill the law through perfect obedience, yet the law alone will only prove our great failure to keep it. Through the law, all are proven to be sinners and incapable of maintaining the motives and choices of the heart that are necessary to sustain eternal life. We have all sinned and, without God’s help, we will surely die. So Jesus teaches us that those who recognize their need, they are blessed. When I admit that I am blind, suddenly He makes me able to see. Those who humble themselves and admit their spirit is dead and broken are the very ones who become alive and whole. 

I believe one of the most powerful truths in my relationship with God is that I am in desperate need of Him. This fact pervades every part of my being. It is one of my deepest convictions. I cannot express the depth of my need for God. This understanding is the root of hunger. It is the motivating power to seek after God. It is the gnawing feeling in the depth of your soul that says “I must have God. I must know Him. It’s not a choice. I must lay down my life that I might devote myself to Him!” As Job said, “I want God more than my necessary food!” It is not food that sustains me; it is God who sustains me. It is not money, pride, lust, or power. It is God who upholds me.

In one of Jesus’ greatest teachings, He starts with pointing to our need. I call to all my brothers and sisters who have discovered their great poverty of spirit and say to you, we are blessed! Those who admit their poverty and need will continually cry out to the God who has promised the remedy; the One who has promised to us His kingdom. It is our great God who has offered His presence to resurrect our spirits. We are born again. It is our Savior who has revealed to us His will. We know Him. It is our Father who has promised us power to live and to live abundantly. We have eternal life. Let us continue to humble ourselves before Him and confess our sins. Let us acknowledge our deep need for His grace, mercy, and power.

Let us admit our poverty that we might become rich in Him.