Confession #29: A New Spiritual Gift on the Market

In all insincerity, I think there is a new Spiritual gift on the market in today's society. What is that, you may ask?

1) On the Market: Being Poor.

HOW ON EARTH IS THAT A GIFT? Well, it isn't a gift directly but in a subtle indirect fashion, it is a gift. I'm not referring to absolute poverty yielding starvation and malnourished stomach-babies. I am referring to the poor in Spirit kinda deal.

2) How to obtain said gift:

You see, most people believe that being poor, or poverty, is something one is born into. Not in this case. POOR IN SPIRIT is one poverty that one can not be born into.

The irony is that being poor in Spirit requires one to come to the realization that they are Spiritually bankrupt. Someone who is P.I.S realizes that they have nothing to offer God that He is in need of other than their devotion to Him

Poor people resort to begging. In the same manner someone who is P.I.S will beg of the Lord to experience Him on a weekly, daily, hourly basis. It causes you to look upon God with a reliance deeper than a new-born child has on its mother. It causes us to step out in a Faith that makes the lame walk, the blind see, and the demons-- cower in defeat.

Perfect examples of men who have exemplified "being poor"

1) Gideon - Gideon (whose story may be found in Judges 6) began as a "nobody" and the Lord, in turn, made him a somebody. His story reminds me of a statement Martin Luther made, "God created out of nothing. Therefore, until a man is nothing, God can make nothing out of him."

2) Moses- Moses spend the first 30 years of his lift trying to be somebody. After he realized he is nothing in comparison to "I am" (or in Hebrew, "HE BE"), he spent his life trying to be a nobody. "But Moses said, "O Lord, please send someone else to do it. Exodus 4:13"

3) Paul- Paul was another one of those who started off as a somebody and became a nobody when the "poor in Spirit" was bestowed on him.

All these men realized the distinct difference between God needing to use us for His Glory, and God wanting to use us for His Glory.

3) The Gift: The Kingdom Of Heaven

Being Poor in Spirit requires a supernatural humility that Christians learn as they truly follow Christ. The Gift, is the Kingdom of Heaven.

Someone once told me that there is no room for pride before the throne of the Lord. Makes sense, because you have to come before Him as a beggar, pleading for His grace and thanking Him for His Faithfulness.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Matthew 5:3