Day 21: Blessed are the poor in spirit

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Verse: Matthew 5:3
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
 
Thought
I often hear this as “Blessed are the poor”, but it is “poor in spirit”.    This isn't about financial economics but about spiritual economics. Being poor in spirit is not being lazy or indifferent. "Poor in spirit" describes the result of being overwhelmed by personal problems or going through a personal moral crisis in which I realise I have really messed up.  I have been there and this was an awful place to find my self.  It was when I felt furthest from God and most afraid. And all aspects of my life seemed to be breaking apart.  It was that tummy dropping moment of realising that I was spiritually empty.  There was nothing to run my faith on.  I know that only by depending upon God can I fill that emptiness.
A person who is poor in spirit has no sense of self-sufficiency and recognizes they are empty. God wants us to come to Him in the knowledge that we are spiritually bankrupt.  We need to be emptied of our self importance so that we can carry the importance of God.
It may help to think about the opposite of "poor in spirit." The contrast would be "proud in spirit;" self-sufficient, arrogantly independent. There are lots of my friends and people I know who aren’t Christians, but who are good people.  They feel they don’t need God to give their lives direction, they are happy with their own moral standards.  This is the modern spirit of humanism or a view of life that is centred on man and his capacity to build a worthwhile life for himself and his fellows here and now. The emphasis is placed on man's own intellectual and moral resources, and the notion of supernatural religion is rejected. This is all very worrying if you live by the standards set by modern society.
I find this a frightening, but increasingly real attitude.  There is no respect for our creator.  I recently wrote to the BBC to complain about the constant use of “OMG” and the actual phrase “Oh my God” that is used on Children’s TV.  And the response was essentially “get over yourself and back into reality.  That is how children speak”.  (All a little politer than that though.) As Christians we need to keep ourselves filled with Gods’ spirit and wisdom and not that of the world.
Prayer
Oh my Father God, I pray that you would help me maintain balance in my life.  I pray that I would recognise when I am losing sight of You and focusing on the standards of the world.  Please prod me when I am justifying my actions and excusing my behaviours.  Let me try to live as You would have me live.  Keep my spirit poor and Yours rich in me.