Poor in Spirit

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:3
The poor in spirit are those who consider themselves unworthy of God's love. The poor in spirit are convinced that God's blessings, love, and grace is not meant for them. But Jesus says blessed are those who feel they do not deserve to be blessed.
This is a great message for us to remember that we are called as the Body of Christ to participate in this announcement. We are called to bless those who feel unworthy of blessing.
I believe as we live out this Beatitude we are building treasure in heaven. In Matthew 6 Jesus calls us to not store up treasures on earth, but to store up treasure in heaven. The treasures of this earth will fall apart, get lost or stolen. These earthly treasures are temporary. Jesus says strive for storing up things that will last for eternity.
However, in that chapter he does not tell us how to store up treasures in heaven. So I looked in Matthew 19 and Luke 12 where Jesus does tell us how to store up treasures in heaven. In those chapters Jesus tells us that we build treasures in heaven by giving to the poor. This is not the only way to build treasure, but it is the way Jesus shares with us.
I do believe that as we serve the financially poor, the less fortunate, that our treasure is being built, but I also believe our treasure grows as we serve the poor in spirit. We are doing God's work and building the treasures of heaven as we live out this Beatitude, as we bless those who feel they do not deserve to be blessed. (Not that we only do this for the reward, but it is a nice byproduct.)
This Lent I hope you will join me in blessing the poor in spirit. We do this by expressing God's love and grace to those who feel they do not deserve it. We give the poor in spirit our time and attention. We give them invitations to join us in community. We let them know we do not deserve God's love either, yet he loves us anyway. This is the Gospel of Jesus, and the character of God. God's love and blessing is for all of us.
If you are poor in spirit, know God does want to bless you. God wants to touch all people with his love and grace. If you are not poor in spirit, then it is your task to give to the poor and the poor in spirit, so that they might know the love of God.