Everything in life has basic beatitudes to it. Bob the bloodhound is a good tracker because he has the basic characteristics needed for the hunt.  Bloodhounds have a wrinkled face, drooping eyes, and long ears that help draw odors up from the ground. They were bred to track.

Christianity has basic characteristics and beatitudes to live a blessed life. To be “blessed” in the Bible means to have God’s approval, with the emotional and spiritual response of joy. Real and lasting happiness in the New Testament comes from a right relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It isn’t based on outward appearance. Christian basics have to do with inner attitudes.

3 inner basic beatitudes are what define a follower of Jesus. These 3 beatitudes are the foundation from which the entire Christian life is constructed. Bob and I look at them so that we might live into the sort of people were designed to be….

Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. He said:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
    for they will inherit the earth.” (Matthew 5:1-5, NIV)

Spiritual Beggars

What does it mean to be “poor in spirit”?  “Poor” comes from the word “beggar.” Why does a beggar beg?  Because he is need, he is desperate and destitute.  A beggar begs because he cannot help himself, is unable to pull himself up by his bootstraps, and has nothing to give in return.

Jesus was saying that true followers have a realization of their own poverty of spirit. They are spiritual beggars. We are spiritually bankrupt before God and stand in stark need of divine help.  We have nothing of worth to give or offer to God.

So, therefore, we realize our situation, take a position of humility, and look to God. To understand our poverty of spirit is to see that we are stripped of all self-righteousness. We absolutely need God. Knowing my spiritual bankruptcy is to see sin for what it really is in all its foulness and degradation.

How do you know if you are poor in spirit?

• You don’t make deals with God because you have nothing to bargain with.
• You don’t complain because you realize you don’t deserve anything. Instead, you praise God for such incredible grace to receive anything, at all.
• You pray a lot because a beggar is always begging. For the spiritual beggar, praying is a humble desperate plea – not merely an effective strategy to accomplish their agenda.
• You take Christ on his terms, not yours. You will do anything he says because you discern your situation as precarious. Poverty of spirit is an inner attitude of total dependence upon God. This beatitude is foundational to all the rest. Christianity requires humility. There is no room for the pride that says I can position myself to get what I want, because the spiritual beggar knows he has none of this.
• You realize the more you learn, the more you don’t know – that you are dependent on God and Scripture and not your own ideas, thoughts, convictions, and opinions. So, you listen instead of always talking.
• You know no enemies. The late Henri Nouwen said:

“Poverty is the inner disposition that allows us to take away our defenses and convert our enemies into friends.  We can only perceive the stranger as an enemy as long as we have something to defend.”

Those who are poor in spirit are not anxiously clinging to their stuff, their money, or their good name. Because they have nothing of their own; it all belongs to God.

Only the poor in spirit will enter the kingdom of heaven. The way is narrow. It is accessed by getting on our knees in humility. If we think we are above lowering ourselves, then we are on the broad road of destruction.

Mourners

Mourning is the emotional response to being poor in spirit. It is to weep and wail over sin – to see that shame destroys self and relationships. To mourn is to realize the awfulness of all that is wrong in this world.

“The Christian is to be the truest realist. He reasons that death is there and must be faced. God is there and will be known by all as Savior or Judge. Sin is there, and it is unspeakably ugly and black in the light of God’s purity. Eternity is there, and every living human being is rushing toward it.  God’s revelation is there, and the alternatives it presents will come to pass – life or death, pardon or condemnation, heaven or hell. These are all realities which will not go away. The person who lives in the light of them, and rightly assesses himself and his world in the light of them, cannot but mourn. He mourns for the sins and blasphemies of his nation. He mourns for the erosion of the very concept of truth. He mourns over the greed, the cynicism, the lack of integrity. He mourns that there are so few mourners.” – D.A. Carson

Mourners weep over sin. They realize people need a Savior. Those who do not mourn are hard-hearted. Transformation of heart occurs through seeing myself for who I am and seeing sin for what it is. Apart from this, there will no hungering and thirsting for righteousness, no mercy, no purity, and no peace in the world or the church.

Jesus told a parable to illustrate true righteousness versus self-righteousness, humility versus pride:

“One time there was a Pharisee and a tax collector. One day they both went to the Temple to pray. The Pharisee stood alone, away from the tax collector. When the Pharisee prayed, he said, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not as bad as other people. I am not like men who steal, cheat, or commit adultery. I thank you that I am better than this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I give a tenth of everything I get!’

“The tax collector stood alone too. But when he prayed, he would not even look up to heaven. He felt very humble before God. He said, ‘O God, have mercy on me. I am a sinner!’ I tell you, when this man finished his prayer and went home, he was right with God. But the Pharisee, who felt that he was better than others, was not right with God. People who make themselves important will be made humble. But those who make themselves humble will be made important.” (Luke 18:10-14, ERV)

The mourner will be comforted. She will find the remedy to sin and the answer to the world’s ills through Jesus.

The Meek

The result of a spiritual beggar mourning over sin is meekness or gentleness. Whereas poverty of spirit is more of a humility before God, meekness is humility toward other people. The meek are flat on their backs with only one way to look: up to God. And because of that position, there is no ability to look down on others.

“Meek” is the word used in ancient Greek literature for breaking a horse. Meekness changes us from a wild stallion who wants to go his own way, to a broken person who is gentle and allows others on his back without bucking.

How do you know if you are meek?

• You have a desire to put another’s interests ahead of your own because it is not about me.
• You are more concerned with edifying others than justifying yourself.
• You don’t care who gets the credit.
• You receive criticism well.
• You treat all persons with respect and dignity, both rich and poor, beautiful and ugly, intelligent and not so much, black and white, gay or straight. Every person is created in the image of God and deserves my honor and attention.

The meek will inherit the earth, not the aggressive who live by survival of the fittest – stepping on people to get what they want. Someone might protest saying, “But if I live as meek, I’ll be pushed around.”  Meekness does not mean to let people express unrestrained selfishness.

Rather, meekness is power under control. The meek deal with others without belittling, snobbish condescension, bullying, or microaggressions. They instead utilize a calm and gentle spirit, deliberately thoughtful words and actions which reflect their Lord.

Conclusion

The 3 basic beatitudes of spiritual poverty, mourning over sin, and meekness are foundational to all that Jesus says and does. They are central to being his follower. Without them, we live self-righteously, harming both ourselves and others.

Perhaps we have made more of ourselves than we are. Maybe we have taken a soft attitude toward sin, thinking it isn’t as bad as it is. It could be, we have paid attention to certain people while ignoring others. It’s possible we gossip and slander others because we believe we’re better than them.

A genuine follower of Christ lives the beatitudes of humility and repentance. The Apostle James said,

Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. (James 5:16, NRSV)

The way of Christ is the way of humility and community. Christians are not to live in isolation of others, always hiding behind a mask of outward conformity. Instead, we are to be real people, living as God intended in the way of spiritual poverty, mourning, and meekness.

May you take the narrow path leading to salvation. May we see each other on the trail of life.