We Don't Have to Pretend We Have it All Together

June 21, 2024

Matthew 5:3, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

This means nobody gets into heaven pridefully. It's all by grace.

What does it mean to be “poor in spirit?”

This verse not talking about physical poverty. He's not talking about physical poverty. He's talking about spiritual poverty... recognizing my sinfulness, recognizing my helplessness, recognizing my hopelessness.

Another translation of this verse says, "Blessed are those who recognize that they are spiritually helpless." That's what he's talking about... spiritually helpless.

I ADMIT I NEED HELP.

I've got to face the truth about me. I've got to stop living in denial. Jesus said, "The truth will set you free." So I have to face the truth about me.

The problem is that, the truth can be painful. It feels a whole lot safer to NOT handle the truth about me. The truth sets me free, but first it makes me miserable when I realize what needs changing in my life. So, I have to humbly admit that I need help. That's being honest.

The good news is our habits and our hurts and our hang-ups can be healed. The bad news is it takes humility.

We've got to humble ourselves and swallow our pride. 

James 4:16 (NIV) "God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble." 

What is grace? Grace is the power we need to change. It isn’t going to happen by will power. Will power doesn't work. Because we get tired. What we need is the grace of God. 

There are things that we need to admit about ourselves if God's going to bless our life.

I NEED TO ADMIT I AM BROKEN. 

Why? We live in a broken world and in a fallen world nothing works perfectly. The weather doesn't work perfectly, the economy doesn't work perfectly, our relationships don't work perfectly, our marriages don't work perfectly. Everything is broken. 

Have you noticed your body doesn't work perfectly? Even our DNA is broken. God never intended for there to be deformities in the world, physical deformities, emotional deformities, mental deformities. But we live in a broken world. We're all in the same boat. Nobody is perfect. I'm broken. It takes humility to admit that.

I NEED TO ADMIT IT'S MY PRIDE AND FEAR THAT KEEP ME STUCK.

Proverbs 28:13 “People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy”

Genesis 3 Adam in the Garden of Eden right after he sins he says "I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid." What's the first fear? The fear of exposure that somebody's going to find out what I'm really like on the inside.

People have been hiding ever since. But, we can never find true healing when we are hiding our real selves. When we won't even admit who we really are, we rob ourselves from the full power of God's grace. 

The truth is, we're all in the same boat. We are all broken. The first thing we have to do if we are going to be poor in spirit is humbly admit that we don't have it all together. None of us do. 

Let's stop pretending we have it all together.

The world needs to see more Christians willing to admit that they don't have it all together. Because, when the world sees that we are all in the same boat, and that it's actually God's grace that makes the difference, they can have hope. Why? Because they'll see that they don't have to get it all together before coming to him. And, that's good news.