I know a little of what it means to be poor. I grew up as one of five kids in a missionary family. Being the fourth in line, I don’t ever remember wearing a piece of hand-me-down clothing that hadn’t been passed down the line two or three times before it finally got to me. I spent my junior high and senior high school years as a pastor’s kid, and learned quickly that my dad was not, in fact, in this line of work for the money! I remember times when he would use part of his own paycheck to give back to a particular financial need in the church. And now I find myself currently serving on staff with a support-based parachurch ministry (Kingdom Building Ministries), where I depend on the contributions of others to supply the needs of my own family. I’m grateful for my heritage as well as the place God has me in during this season of my life. I’m glad that I’ve learned how to go without the luxuries of life and live simply with the daily necessities. And I think I’m a better person because of it.

When we think of the word “poor” we typically think of it in terms of material wealth, or rather the lack thereof. But that’s not the way Jesus meant to use the word in the first beatitude of the Sermon on the Mount. He spoke not in terms of a person’s social or economic status, but in terms of his or her spiritual condition. So when Jesus used the phrase “poor in spirit,” He was referring to a state of brokenness or humility – a spiritual poverty of sorts. It is the opposite of being full of yourself. A person who is “poor in spirit” is someone who recognizes that he or she has no basis to boast before God, but realizes that he or she is totally dependent upon Him! But Jesus went further to say that the blessing of being this kind of a person is that if you willfully take on this form of spiritual poverty your inheritance will be the kingdom of heaven.  And the idea here is not just a future inheritance when we get to heaven, but the reality of a present day inheritance of all the spiritual blessings made available to us in Christ—today!

-Jim Vermilya

If you ever find yourself in a state of being "poor," remember how Jesus used the term in the Sermon on the Mount and live your life accordingly.