If we take the Beatitudes as a model of “how to live,” it urges us to ask ourselves what it would mean to be poor in spirit, meek, and to hunger and thirst for righteousness. What would it look like to be merciful? To be pure of heart? Volumes have been written on the meaning of each of these Beatitudes, but eventually we have to ask these questions in light of our own lives. For example, what does it means to be poor in spirit? Some have said, “To be poor in spirit is to recognize that all we have is God’s gift: our very existence, our families, our health, our talents, our situations in life. And Christ goes even further—even our successes.”1 It is to realize that “We recognize our need for God. We depend on God. The poor in spirit know that God is more important than anything else in life.”
Often it can be difficult to recognize that all is a gift from God. We get so caught up in the stress of life, work, and relationships that days meld into each other. So then, how can we recognize our life as gift? Being poor in spirit urges us to challenge the mantra that we depend solely on ourselves, and to instead place our trust in the God who created us. To trust that there is a plan that is larger than our own, and that God is constantly initiating a relationship with us, calling us to listen, to become more attentive to his voice.
What would it mean to live life as if we depended on God?
Adapted from Word on the Go, a downloadable resource from RENEW International.