As I begin 2019 with the rest of you, I’m determined to not make any more silly resolutions and watch myself, yet again, fail to meet my expectations with lesser pounds, more work/life balance and less waste of time or money. Just to be clear, I want you to know, I’m limited and fully human being. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of working against my limitations; and I’m trying to focus less on myself, what the world expects of me and to draw my attention on ‘being with’ my Eternal Father.
So what does it mean to ‘be with’ Him? Well, typically when I run, I usually listen to music or podcasts to help me not to listen to myself breathe (yes, breathe, which causes me to stop) or to keep myself from feeling bored. However, the other day, on this particular run, I found myself listening to a podcast and almost without awareness realized I was reciting a Scripture over and over in my head. I kept saying, “Blessed are the poor in Spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Now, you must know me…I don’t just go around reciting Scripture in my head; especially, repeatedly and for Heaven’s sake, not on a run. But, as I kept running and reciting I found two things happening simultaneously. One, I realized this was a form of ‘being with’ God. And two, I realized I had no idea what the Scripture truly meant. So after my run, I quickly decided to take my post-run, sweaty self to my Bible.
The Scripture I was repeating was from Matthew 5:3, where Jesus is giving His Sermon on the Mount. But like I said, I really had no idea what the Scripture meant. So, I decided to break it down.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (NIV)
Blessed (happy, fortunate, well-off) are the Poor (destitute, without) In Spirit (wind, breath)
For theirs (we own it) is (I am, I exist) the Kingdom (royalty, realm) of Heaven (power, eternity).
Although, I feel a little better, I’m still dense. So, I decide to look at my Biblehub.com to get more commentary on the subject. Benson Commentary says, “To bear a state of poverty and want with a deposition of quiet and cheerful submission to the divine will.” Barnes’ Notes of the Bible states, “To have a humble opinion of ourselves; to be sensible that we are sinners and there is real enjoyment in thinking of ourselves as we are, rather than being filled with pride and vanity. To be willing to be where God places me, to bear what He lays on me, to go where He bids me to go, to die when He commands; to be willing to be in His hands, and to feel I don’t deserve any favor from Him; and to be opposed to pride, ambition, and vanity of myself.”
Whoa! That’s sobering and as I contemplated this I felt God and I start to do an eternal dig on my heart. I asked myself:
How happy am I when I’m humble?
Where does my self-serving, ego-desiring self need to go?
Am I willing to stay humble daily here so I get to live an eternally, royal life?
What’s in it for me? (Can you tell, I’m dense?)
From past experience, I know I feel better about myself when I’m not being grandiose about myself or my accomplishments. I recognize my joy increases when I choose to stay out of my wicked heart desires and follow Him. When my cares for this world are diminished and my sense of purpose in Christ becomes much greater, I feel relief and get lost into what He wants for me rather than what I get out of the experience.
“Well-off is my spirit when I’m humble, for I receive royalty for eternity.” (Sally’s human translation)
And that, my friend, IS truly a great find when you are on an eternal heart dig with God and yourself.
