Devotional: Happy Are The Lacking

In Matthew 5, we see that Christ’s first sermon was like a spiritual counselling session. In this new series, “Be Like Jesus”, we will learn a series of emotional and mental dispositions that Christ gives to the children of God. They are the pathways to the blessed life that He gives us. In this first sermon based on Matthew 5:3, we see that the ones who are most blessed are the ones who are poor. How can that be? Our spiritual poverty, lack and longing for God makes us receive the riches of the Kingdom of God.

Questions

1. Happy are the lacking. What have you tied your happiness to?
2. The word for “happy” in Matthew 5:3 is “makarios”, which translates to supreme, perfect happiness and divine joy. Why do you get this happiness when you are “poor”? Why not when you have everything?
3. When you are poor, you realize what you lack or what you need to survive. What does your soul always need more of? Have you trained your heart to realize your need for Christ?
4. The poor in spirit understand their weakness and their utter lack. Why is it a good thing to understand and even cherish your poverty and weakness? When do you find yourself needing God most and running to Him? What is the danger of thinking you do not depend on God?
5. The poor in spirit live with grateful flexibility. Who is responsible for the blessings? Who carries you through the bad times? How does giving God credit make you flexible throughout life’s ups and downs?
6. Children live happy, blessed, lives because they are free of responsibility when their parents provide everything for them. What about you? Have you become too rigid or “mature” to splash around in the rain? Have you been crushed by the weight of responsibilities?
7. Can you bring your hurts and lacks and all that weighs you down before the Father? Do you desire His supreme happiness above everything else? Will you tell Him how poor and empty your spirit is without Him? Are you ready to receive His supreme happiness and share His divine joy?