Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. [Luke 6-20 NIV]
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. [Matthew 5:3 NIV]
Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount by speaking of being poor.
Matthew thought him to mean spiritually poor.
Luke does not make that differentiation.
This verse speaks to me of humility.
I think that we are blessed when we are humble.
Our lives reflect the kingdom of heaven when we are humble.
Humility is rooted in the idea that we are poor and in need of help.
Help from God to make it spiritually.
Help from people to make it physically.
In a sense, all blessings begin with humility.
In truth humility is acknowledging our poverty.
We are blessed when we walk humbly with God.
Lord, help me to be recognize my poverty. And to walk humbly.
... this devotion is part of the Red Letters series. Click here to read more.
Yep. I'm blogging more, as well. Thanks for the reminder!
ReplyDeleteA new year presents lots of good ideas and intentions. I plan to be more faithful and thoughtful in my "Thoughts for Sunday".
ReplyDeleteI think the best service come from the deepest humility.
You can make an entire month of prayers, an entire life of prayer around the Beatitudes. We can continually examine ourselves on our humility, poverty of spirit, meekness, etc.
ReplyDeleteGood start to the year!
Poor in this case means a beggar, one who is completely lacking in sustenance. In other workds, to have a broken spirit, void of self, so we can see Jesus. Without this brokenness, humility is virtually impossible. But it is often a tough prayer to ask God to break us. Asking for humility is doing just that. But there is no better place to start.
ReplyDeleteMay God grant your prayer and mine too, for humility.
My word for last year was "vulnerable" and boy did 2010 show how very vulnerable I and my family are.
ReplyDeleteI look forward with great hope, faith and anticipation to 2011 and look forward, as always, to visit your blog. I, too, hope to be a little more consistent this year about blogging. I think fb becomes an interruption to more serious thought that blogging requires.
i, too have the great need to learn how to be humble. I can't surrender myself. In church I always silently criticize the people on the pulpit. I just can't surrender myself to God's will. I always assert myself
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