Blessed are the poor [in spirit not wealth]

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Jesus). There are some that mistake this teaching to mean that one has to be poor in order to inherit the kingdom, but, in my opinion, they are incorrect in their understanding of this scripture. First of all, Jesus was talking about the poor in spirit, not the poor; there is a difference. Being poor in spirit, like the rest of the beatitudes Jesus spoke of, is a quality that a Christian should have. Hopefully we all know that a Christian is simply a person who follows the teachings of The Christ and has accepted Jesus as Immanuel, as the Son of God and Lord of all.

With that said, let’s look at this first quality Jesus had mentioned to His disciples and to the multitude that followed Him. “Blessed are the poor in spirit”; Blessed by definition means welcome, pleasant, or appreciated; connected with God, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary; poor in spirit [not simply poor] means that we knowingly and purposely depend on God and not ourselves, because we understand that we do not have the ability within ourselves to please God (Walvootrd & Zuck, 1989).  

As a Christian, we must understand and accept the fact that we are human and therefore fallible; we are imperfect and don’t have all answers to all questions. We need God in our lives in order to learn and understand His righteousness. We need to continually seek His will in our lives and continue to live our lives as Jesus taught and as Jesus lived while on this earth. Well, what about the scripture that says “ Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Jesus, p. Matt. 5:48) . The perfection spoken here does not mean without blemish; none of us are without blemish or without sin; “(Paul, p. Ro. 3:23).  What it means is that we need to continuously seek Him and make it a purpose in our lives to live the way Jesus taught us to live; to continuously strive to be like Him; to seek His righteousness. In doing so, we then become perfect in regard to the relationship we are to have with Him and the behavior we are to have as followers and believers in Jesus The Christ and Son of God. Being poor in spirit is knowing that we must continuously strive to learn what God’s will is for us in our lives; to continuously put Him first so that we can learn to live the way Jesus did and the way Jesus told us and taught us to live. Poor in spirit has nothing to do with money or physical possession; but has everything to do with having the understanding that we need Jesus in our lives. Blessed [happy] are those [of us] who are poor in spirit [who constantly seek Him because we cannot go it alone]. Accepting Him, living as He taught us to and acknowledging the need of Him in our hearts and life, bring us closer to the kingdom of heaven and the understanding of the kingdom.

Jesus. (n.d.). The Beattitudes. In Matthew, The Nelson Study Bible NKJV (p. 1583).

Paul. (n.d.). The Nelson Study Bible NJKV.

Walvootrd, J. F., & Zuck, R. B. (1989). The Life of Christ Commentary. Wheaton: SP Publications, Inc.