I am a Jesus pusher!!! The first Beatitude of the Sermon on the Mount focuses on the poor in spirit. It is the strongest concept for poverty in the Scriptures. Jesus does not qualify its use, and offers no conditions regarding this poverty. He does not speak of activities accomplished or not accomplished. He does not distinguish between those who keep the law or are found guilty of breaking the standard. The poor are not those lacking in the observance of ceremonies or sacrifices. This state of helplessness is unqualified; it is not poverty that results from being handicapped. A person was not poor because he did not have proper parental upbringing, or because he did not have proper advantages as a teenager. The state of poverty is simply not qualified.
Since this reference to the poor is unqualified, and individual does not produce it. It is a condition in which he finds himself! His part is to recognize his state. If it is recognized and embraced in his spirit, everything changes. His entire perspective of life is altered. Being poor in spirit opens him to utter abandonment to Jesus, the Kingdom of Heaven. Spiritual helplessness is acceptance of all provisions found in Jesus. He becomes an unashamed beggar of Jesus who supplies the Kingdom. The great hindrance of this is self-resource. Why would anyone depend on Jesus when they can do it themselves? We live out of our own resource instead of His. Could this be the reason for our personal disasters? The recognize our personal need is to respond in openness to Jesus. Jesus is my total resource! I am a Jesus pusher!!!