Day 20

Matthew 5:1-3 And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him.Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying; 3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
In what appears to be his first what I would call a sit down sermon Jesus preaches some very exciting news; the first being that all men can be blessed, defined as having "divine joy", or "perfect happiness" by being poor in spirit. Being blessed was a largely a foreign concept to the people of the day. You see to them having divine joy or perfect happiness were things reserved only for the gods, the dead, or great leaders, common man was not worthy of such status. Needless to say this promise brought great joy, hope, and admiration for the one who was speaking these new truths. He then doubles their joy by saying that it is the "poor in spirit", or humble who will receive such blessings, and I dare say that the common man of this day was indeed by and large very humble. After all they were for the most part servants, people under great forced submission, people under Roman rule. However a more accurate translation of "poor in spirit" for us would look something like this; being honest enough with ourselves to admit our shortcomings, build upon our strengths, and seek to please God thus bringing glory to His name. You see it is not the same picture that the world paints, no the world would have us believe that humility is more like being the 90 pound weakling that everyone picks on and kicks sand in his face. However by God's standards humility is great strength. By knowing and admitting who we truly are, by understanding and avoiding our fleshly weaknesses we become strong. Why, because we no longer fail, but rather walk in victory. The result Jesus promises is, that we will be "blessed." Jesus is making a promise to us that if we will walk in Godly humility we will have divine joy, inner peace, and perfect happiness. I don't know about you but that's a wow for me! Think about it, we all know people who put on this act like they have their lives so together, they are never wrong (in their eyes), yet they continue to have the same behavior. They complain because nothing ever goes right for them, you hear things from them like, "I deserve better", or "what about me"? Is it of little wonder why their blessings seem to be cut off? They have built a dam of pride, how about you, are you willing to admit your imperfections and shortcomings? The payoff from God for true humility is far greater than the false praise of man received on this earth.
Daily prayer: Father God, teach us to walk in Godly humility, show us the power of such obedience, and Lord please accept our plea for forgiveness for those times we have failed. Amen.
"Great joy is behind the door and true humility holds the key"
Gene Burroughs Servant