And a voice came out of the heavens; “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well pleased”-Mark 1:11

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”                     Matthew 5:3, 5, 9

And he said: “Truly I tell you. Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.–Matthew 18:3

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.-Ephesians 4:2

 

I Am Well Pleased

Lord, help me to come to you as the children,
Poor in spirit, and meek in all my ways.
Lord, I seek to live your holy scriptures
That I may be sincere in all my praise.
Lord, help me to love all my brothers,
That I might be worthy of the grace you give.
Allow me to create peace, Lord
When I think, when I speak, in the way I live.
Please put me lord, where I am needed
Where I can use my talents in your name.
I pray Lord, for each soul to whom you send me,
Their life might be better because I came.
And finally Lord, when my work is done here
When you call me home and I am freed,
I pray that when you review my life, Lord
I will hear, “Beloved child I am well pleased.”
©Linda Troxell 07/03/2017

 

Jesus’s famous sermon which became known as the Sermon on the Mount and which contains the Beatitudes can be found in Matthew chapter 5. The Beatitudes are eight proverbs like statements that Jesus spoke in this sermon many of them about the righteousness of those who will repent and enter the Kingdom of Heaven. For many of us this scripture is difficult to understand; particularly verses 3 and 5 which refer to the kingdom of heaven belonging to those poor in spirit, and to the meek inheriting the earth.

Meekness and poverty of spirit are not traits that most of us think of as attractive. Therefore, we might find them difficult to strive for. However, Jesus is not using these terms in the way we are accustomed to thinking of them. We hear the terms according to worldly definitions. Whereas, Jesus’s use of the words is according to the spiritual definitions. Most of us have been taught that success lies in the very opposite of what Jesus is asking us to be in this sermon. That is because we think of meekness as weak, tame, or lacking in courage, all things that we, especially in America, strive not to be. However, in the Bible Moses was described as the meekest man on earth, (Numbers 12:3) and Jesus described himself as meek and lowly,(Matthew 11:29). Would we ever think of Moses or Jesus as being weak, tame or lacking courage? Probably not.

God calls us, in His word, to let go of our pride and be humble. Proverbs 1:12 tells us pride brings disgrace but humility brings wisdom; Ephesians 4:2 tells us to be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.  Philippians 2:3 exhorts us to, in humility, value others above ourselves; Romans 12:16 asks us to be willing to associate with people of low position and James 4:10 promises that if we humble ourselves before the Lord, He will lift us up. Those are but a few verses advising us to be humble. That is because those poor in spirit, the meek, and the humble trust God and do not rely on their own strength; and they are not easily provoked to anger, these are qualities that God favors.

When Jesus talks about the poor in spirit, the humble and the meek he is not referring to individuals that are weak, tame or lacking in courage. Meekness, and humility, as Jesus uses them, refer to an attitude or quality of heart that willingly accepts and submits without resistance to the will of God. Someone who is meek is someone who is not self-willed but is willing to put himself in second place and submit himself to achieve what is good for others.

The meek have a different kind of power. It comes with the willingness to refuse to inflate their own self-estimation. To be meek is to accept our strengths and limitations for what they truly are, instead of always competing to present ourselves in the best possible light; those who are meek have a servants heart and exercise their power for the benefit of all people, not just themselves. To be poor in spirit is not to live one’s life without vitality, nor is it to be weak. It is to live in humility. Those who judge the poor in spirit as weak are judging by the world’s standards, by sight. But God judges according to the things not seen, the Kingdom’s standards. Consider this description of what it means to be poor in spirit from Emmett Fox’ commentary on The Sermon on the Mount.

To be poor in spirit means to have emptied yourself of all desire to exercise personal self-will; and what is just as important, to have renounced all preconceived opinions and prejudices in the wholehearted search for God. It means to be willing to set aside your present habits of thought, your present views, and prejudices, your present way of life if necessary, to jettison, in fact, anything and everything that can stand in the way of you finding God.-Emmett Fox

 Many people believe that when Jesus said, in Matthew 18:3 that unless we become as little children we would not ever be in the Kingdom of Heaven that he was referring to the innocence and purity of a child. However, He was not saying we need to be as innocent or pure as a child in order to enter the Kingdom, but that we need to have a child’s unconcern for social status, social honor, the rules and judgments of society, or anything that distracts from focusing on the desires of our Father in Heaven. In order to please God, we must be able to admit our sinfulness. To admit our sinfulness we must let go of ego and pride and depend wholly on God for everything.  But, as long as we are focused on how we stack up to society’s ideas of being acceptable, or being successful, as long as we are living a carnal life, ego and pride will be our master and we will be powerless to resist it.

But when we are unconcerned with status, as a child is, when we are truly poor in spirit, when we are meek and when we are humble, we can ignore pride and ego and follow God’s lead. It is only then that we can become a peacemaker in the name of our Father. For, to be a peacemaker is more than a commitment to live among others in harmony; it requires a heart to work at all times for reconciliation, among spouses, among neighbors, and among nations, insofar as the matter is up to us.

 

Points for Prayer and Pondering

1. The scriptures containing The Sermon on the Mount where Jesus delivers the Beatitudes are among the most widely read of the Bible. But most people are confused by terms that Jesus used in the sermon. What has been your experience with this? Were you confused? Did anyone ever explain to you what Jesus meant by the terms meek and poor in spirit? Did you think to ask anyone? Write a short paragraph about your experience in this area.

2.  Did reading this piece help you to better understand the Beatitudes? Do you feel that you now understand what Jesus meant when he told us to be meek and poor in spirit? Explain. Do you feel like you now understand why Jesus says they will inherit the earth and the kingdom of Heaven? Explain.

3.  How far have you come on the path to becoming poor in spirit, meek and humble? Rate yourself 1-10 or any way you see fit to measure it. Do you strive to be a peacemaker? Explain what you have done toward that goal. What do you think it means in the last line of the reading when it says, “insofar as the matter is up to us.”?