“Blessed [are] the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:3 (NKJV)
Beginning from verse one of this chapter we have what’s known as the Beatitudes or blessednesses. These are blessings that pertain to a certain godly spiritual state.
Someone termed the beatitudes ‘be attitudes’ or attitudes we ought to be.
There’s no kind of poverty that’s good or godly be it financial, physical, mental or spiritual. So when Jesus says blessed are the poor in spirit, He’s not approving of spiritual poverty since He came that we may have and enjoy the abundant life physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
When Jesus came, all of us; which is the entire human race were spiritually bankrupt. We were dead and lost in sin. Yet He brought us the Everlasting and Abundant Life. But even in our fallen, barren, and bankrupt state we thought we had something good in us; that is in our own self will and effort that we could give to God in exchange for the good and godly life that He offers. This is the religious works mindset also called keeping the law in order to be made right, which simply put is “I can be and do good in my own strength and get God to be and do good to me”
But this doesn’t work. The good and godly life from God cannot be earned with dead self-righteous acts or attitude. We have to acknowledge that we are sinners in need of a Savior.
This is what being poor in spirit means. It’s like saying blessed is the sick person who agrees that he’s sick and therefore in need of a physician and treatment; because only then can this sick person get help. It’s only when we agree with God that we are helpless in and of ourselves that we can then get the help from above that only God can give. To be poor in spirit means to be in need of Jesus, to be in need of the life, light, love that He alone gives. It’s when we acknowledge that we need a Savior, Healer, Shepherd, Deliverer, Provider, Counselor that Jesus is that we can receive all of that in Him. Now that’s a blessedness or a blessing beyond measure. When we receive Jesus then the Kingdom of Heaven is automatically ours. The salvation, help, peace, gladness, and wholeness of Heaven are ours.