Riches to Rags

"God blesses those who realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is given to them." Matt. 5:3

This is the New Living Translation of the beatitude, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (NIV) I have never heard the NLT translation but when I read this during my study this morning the verse really opened up for me. For me, "poor in spirit" has been sort of undefined and I would read over it quickly as I read the beatitudes.

With the NLT translation I started thinking about the opposite of poor which of course is rich, an abundance of...

There are so many ways we display our riches as we walk through life. Riches do not reside in our bank accounts, they reside in our hearts. When we look onto the situation of others and determine we would handle it a different way, we display our wealth of judgement. When we refuse to apologize and forgive someone who has hurt us deeply we display our wealth of pride. When we turn to means of comfort other than God we display our wealth of disloyalty.

To be poor in spirit is to give away all of these things that prevent us from experiencing the kingdom of heaven on earth - joy from the indwelling of God within us. The kingdom of heaven comes to us by exchanging all of our riches, whatever they may be, and trading them for r.a.g.s. (realizing always God's sovereignty)

Don't be like the rich young ruler who walked away saddened when Jesus told him he must give everything away to the poor to enter the kingdom of heaven. Turn your riches into r.a.g.s and experience the greatest wealth ever attained.