Blessed are the poor in spirit . . . —Matthew 5:3
Beware of thinking of our Lord as only a
teacher. If Jesus Christ is only a teacher, then all He can do is frustrate me
by setting a standard before me I cannot attain. What is the point of
presenting me with such a lofty ideal if I cannot possibly come close to
reaching it? I would be happier if I never knew it. What good is there in telling
me to be what I can never be— to be “pure in heart” (Matthew 5:8),
to do more than my duty, or to be completely devoted to God? I must know Jesus
Christ as my Savior before His teaching has any meaning for me other than that
of a lofty ideal which only leads to despair. But when I am born again by the
Spirit of God, I know that Jesus Christ did not come only to teach— He came to make me what He teaches I should be.
The redemption means that Jesus Christ can place within anyone the same nature
that ruled His own life, and all the standards God gives us are based on that
nature.
The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount
produces a sense of despair in the natural man— exactly what Jesus means for it
to do. As long as we have some self-righteous idea that we can carry out our
Lord’s teaching, God will allow us to continue until we expose our own
ignorance by stumbling over some obstacle in our way. Only then are we willing
to come to Him as paupers and receive from Him. “Blessed are the poor in spirit
. . . .” This is the first principle in the kingdom of God. The underlying
foundation of Jesus Christ’s kingdom is poverty, not possessions; not making
decisions for Jesus, but having such a sense of absolute futility that we
finally admit, “Lord, I cannot even begin to do it.” Then Jesus says, “Blessed
are you . . .” (Matthew 5:11).
This is the doorway to the kingdom, and yet it takes us so long to believe that
we are actually poor! The knowledge of our own poverty is what brings us to the
proper place where Jesus Christ accomplishes His work.
(Taken from Oswald Chambers – “My Utmost
for His Highest” July 21)