Transitioning into a new year brings with it an almost universal desire for some kind of divine favor to attend our lives, our families, our work, and our country in the coming year. As 2023 became history, America’s digital devices were beeping, buzzing, vibrating, and exploding with animated fireworks to notify us of someone’s hopes and prayers that we have a blessed new year. But the messages don’t usually tell us what “being blessed” actually means in terms of our day-to-day lives. 

Definitions Presumed ~
Most of us unconsciously inject a variety of unspoken definitions, which include things like being happy, prosperous, healthy, safe, or fulfilled. All that sounds really appealing, and we’d gladly embrace any or all of them as defining characteristics of our lives for the whole year. But suppose we got a New Year’s greeting that imparted a prayerful wish that sounded something like this, “May your life be blessed in 2024 with a special kind of personal poverty.” We’d probably be a little perplexed, especially if we discovered that it came from the Son of God Himself. 

The fact that our human nature finds nothing about poverty appealing, in almost any context, would generate some concerns. Living in a culture that is universally motivated by a quest for wealth leads most of us to associate the idea of blessing that includes economic security. Because of that, it seems incongruent to incorporate blessedness with poverty. And though our imagined greeting isn’t exactly what Jesus said, He did deliver a proclamation that pictured the two conditions working in concert with one another. 

A Familiar Proclamation ~
The declaration we’re referring to is found in His familiar dissertation in Matthew 5-7. We call it the Sermon on the Mount, and it begins with a unique list of blessings most of us recognize as the beatitudes. In the first one, Jesus delivers an astounding promise in two brief statements. He said:

Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:3 NKJV)

Being offered the kingdom of heaven sounds beyond incredible. Who wouldn’t want to engage 2024 with the assurance of being blessed like that? But Jesus’ words leave us a little perplexed. To begin with, what He means when He refers to the kingdom of heaven isn’t all that clear – and there are other questions that also emerge like,

• • What is spiritual poverty?
  • How is being spiritually destitute somehow a good thing? 
  • And if this poverty gives direct access to the kingdom of heaven, how do I achieve it? 

A Suggested Restatement ~
One thing that might help is to rearrange the wording a bit and restate the beatitude. Instead of saying Blessed are the poor in spirit, suppose we said it this way: Blessed are those who have the spiritual perspective of someone who is poor. It might seem like a simple alteration, but applying that perspective in our approach to God and to day-to-day living can have a powerful impact on several levels. For instance … 

• • What if we make a practice of looking at our list of priorities and our most important possessions and honestly consider how quickly and easily that list could be dramatically rearranged or be trashed altogether? 
  • How long would the value they represent hold up if a tornado destroyed our home and everything in it? 
  • Would our priorities remain intact if we were diagnosed with a rapidly advancing disease with a terminal prognosis? 
  • And how much would change if some unexpected financial disaster suddenly reduced us to a state of abject poverty? 

An Enlightening Perspective ~
I think we’d begin to experience some profound changes if we adopted that approach. For instance, our self-image and how we react to things would be affected. We’d discover that poor people are forced to approach life differently. Terms like dependence, necessity, success, achievement, and hope would have different definitions. We’d learn that poor people evaluate things differently. The value of simply having food to eat would trump any concern about what store it came from, what brand was on the packaging, and whether it’s organic. Our shopping patterns in every area would change, too. We’d see why poor people don’t obsess about the brand, or the style, or whether it’s last year’s fashion when they look for clothing. They just want to find something they can afford and hope it comes close to a size that actually fits. 

But thankfully, Jesus’ declaration is not an encouragement to divest ourselves of everything and live on the street. It’s an encouragement for us to come before God and to approach life spiritually in the context of the abject poverty that does, indeed, define us in His sight. Though our nature tries to claim otherwise, the truth is that when it comes to this world’s goods, in God’s sight we own nothing. In and of ourselves, we have no asset to offer Him, no leverage with which to negotiate with Him, no currency with which to pay the incalculable debt we owe Him. The reality is that we own neither our bodies nor the life they represent. God made that crystal clear through the Apostle, Paul, who said:

…Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. (1 Corinthians 6:19–20 NKJV)

Our fallen nature promotes the delusion we are the authority in charge of our lives and that all the possessions we claim to own are under our control. Sorry, but that lie is one of Satan’s most deceptive, and most effective, talking points. The truth is that every physical possession and earthly attribute we claim can be stripped away in an instant. There’s no wealth that can’t be stolen, no position that can’t be lost, no fame that can’t be forgotten, and no beauty that won’t fade. Even if we don’t lose them here, every material possession, position, and power will be left behind when we breathe our last breath. 

An Unexpected Impact ~
God’s sovereignty and ownership make it perfectly reasonable to come before Him as having no earthly benefit to offer. And Jesus revealed that embracing that attitude has a profound effect on God’s reaction. In addition to the assurance that a spiritual attitude of poverty grants participation in the kingdom of heaven, Jesus had this to say about the Father’s attitude when He grants it: 

Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. (Luke 12:32 NKJV)

 2024 confronts us with fears and anxieties everywhere we turn, so why not come before God as already having lost everything? Why not admit that without Him we’re helpless against the tsunami of evil engulfing the world? Why not confess that we have nothing He doesn’t already own and nothing to compensate for the failures we’ve endured and the grief we’ve caused? Why not tell the truth and allow Him to open the doors and begin to pour out love that will overcome every fear, joy that will defy pain, hope that will dispel grief, and a rock to stand on when the world is crumbling? 

Not Something Coming Later ~
Jesus said to the poor in spirit, the kingdom is yours. He didn’t say it was gonna be, might be, or could be. It’s present tense. That means the kingdom wasn’t something they had to wait for. It was already theirs, and beyond that, the King they serve loves them, and He loves dispensing every benefit of the Kingdom to them when they need it. 

And why wouldn’t He? Those who recognize their spiritual bankruptcy, abandon their sins, and trust Jesus as Savior aren’t just participants in the Kingdom. The King adopts them as His children and manages a trust fund on their behalf that will never expire. So, instead of obsessing about the state of our material assets and how to preserve them, why not consider our possessions as borrowed items to be used and cared for – and then proceed to live 2024 in a Kingdom where politicians can’t own control over us and the markets never crash?

“TWEETABLES” ~ Click to Tweet & Share from the pull quotes below. Each quote links directly to this article through Twitter.

• • • “When it comes to this world’s goods, in God’s sight we own nothing. We have no asset to offer Him, no leverage with which to negotiate, no currency with which to pay the incalculable debt we owe Him. The reality: We own neither our bodies nor the life they represent.” @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
    • “Our fallen nature promotes the delusion we are the authority in charge of our lives and that all the possessions we claim to own are under our control. Sorry, but that lie is one of Satan’s most deceptive, and most effective, talking points.” @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
    • “The truth is that every physical possession and earthly attribute we claim can be stripped away in an instant. There’s no wealth that can’t be stolen, no position that can’t be lost, no fame that can’t be forgotten, and no beauty that won’t fade.” @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)  
    • “Those who recognize their spiritual bankruptcy, abandon their sins, and trust Jesus as Savior aren’t just participants in the Kingdom. The King adopts them as His children and manages a trust fund on their behalf that will never expire.” @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet) 

Check out Ron’s book, “Right Side Up Thinking in an Upside Down World ~ Looking at the World through the Lens of Biblical Truth” 

 The Kindle e-version is just $1.99. No Kindle device is needed. E-book readers are included on most computers, tablets, and smartphones. If you don’t have one, the free Kindle app can be easily downloaded directly from the Amazon site on almost any device.

Click here for a “Look Inside” preview at Amazon.

© 2024 Gallagher’s Pen, Ronald L. Gallagher, Ed.S.  All rights reserved.