“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3)

Jesus said, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10b) The question is, how do I find both life and abundant life? Living through this life seems, many times, to take life from us where we find emptiness instead of abundance. Jesus also said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” (Matthew 5:3a) Now He seems to be telling us the way to abundance is through our poverty. How can that be?

The answer is found in the realization of our need. Without Christ, we do not have life. We have death because we are sinners. As sinners we receive the wages for our sin. Paul says, “the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 3:23a) When we come to Christ by faith, we are given “the gift of God.” (Romans 3:23b) God’s gift to us is life, both abundant and eternal.

Receiving life, Jesus calls us blessed. Our blessing comes to us through our poverty of the spirit, we are poor in spirit. Jesus comes to fill our poverty with His Spirit, the Holy Spirit. “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” (John 14:16-18)

When Jesus begins His work in our lives, He fills our lives with His life. When He does, He begins to produce His character in our lives. Jesus would describe this to the Disciples. “Abide in me, as I also abide in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must abide in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you abide in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:4-5) The fruit which is produced in our lives is the fruit of the Spirit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23)

The more we walk with Jesus Christ and experience His transformation in us from those poor in the spirit to those filled with the Holy Spirit, we know the kingdom of heaven is ours. Growing in our relationship with Him, He produces in us an expectation of eternity where we will live forever with Him as those who are blessed. “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.” (Revelation 22:14)

As we experience what God is doing in our lives, we want others to know what He can do and what He is preparing. This comes because we know the poverty of the spirit in ourselves, but now through Christ we have His abundance which will last forever.

“When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 14:54-58)

In the Love of Jesus,

Michael Block