Matthew 5:1-12, the Beatitudes explained
1. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
In Jesus day, those that were poor in the Bible were those that had few possessions, the oppressed and those who had little hope. Many thought that when the Messiah came he would change all of that. And he did, but not in a way that people thought. In his sermon on the mount, Jesus preached that those who were poor in spirit were those who were humble before God. And by humbling themselves, I mean repented of their sins and have come to see that they are hopeless sinner. There is more to this story about the customs of the Jews and how this plays into the story of the sermon on the mount, but suffice it to say that those who were humble saw no self-righteouness in themselves and that salvation was a gift from God. And so this applies to everyone - the poor would not be excluded from heaven because of poverty and the rich cannot buy their way in. We are all equal before the Lord and must humble ourselves in order to be part of the kingdom of heaven.
And so how do we live this our in our lives today. It is the first step in the 12 Steps as well as Celebrate Recovery. As addicts or those dealing with hurts, hangups, etc, we must humble ourselves before God and repent of everything!
And second, we need to live our lives in obedience to Christ's ways. This repentance is not a one time "thing" to get into heaven. It's accepting a way of life through humility, obedience and prayer. God will supply all of our needs.
