The Beginning Of God’s Blessings

Read Proverbs 28

God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

Matthew 5:3

As a way of highlighting some of the key proverbial statements that Jesus made, we will focus once a month on the Beatitudes. Most of them are found in the opening verses of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7). For the purposes of these reflections, beatitudes are promises given by Jesus that attach God’s blessing to a specific action or attitude on our part.

The sequence of the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount describes the process of transformation that people experience when they pass from darkness to light, death to life, and separation from God to union with God.

The first beatitude describes those at the starting point: people who realize their need for God. They have stopped wondering if they need God; they know they do. They freely and honestly admit their deep spiritual poverty. There is no clearer, more life-changing moment of truth than when we acknowledge before God our utter spiritual bankruptcy and accept his grace. God blesses that conviction with a gift—the Kingdom of Heaven!

A WORD FOR TODAY

We never grow beyond needing God.

Dear Lord, today I acknowledge my poverty of spirit in the following ways: ___________. Thank you for the freedom to approach you with my needs.