Familiarity breeds comtempt they say. I have to add, it always is pretty nifty at producing complacency. It is at this point where I should tell a pleasent anecdote about how I took something in life for granted, then when I lost it, I realized how much it was worth... um... yeah.
So nothing is coming to mind. My apologies.

Now that we have that out of the way, let me cut to the chase.

Durring the summer, I had the blessing of going to a college age group Bible study. One of the nights, we discussed the Beatitudes. Now, I have heard the Beatitudes backward and forward since I was a wee child who didn't understand them. As I grew older, I am pretty sure I had to memorize them for Sunday school, when I could understand what the words meant. As I headed into late teen-hood, I would hear them and understand every concept in the verses and everything in the universe for that matter. Now, as I head right into a brickwall, I realize how little I understand.
One of the verses hit a chord with me. A very strong chord.

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

This verse has baffled me in the most profound, almost life changing way. I will admit now, that I don't understand it. I don't know what it means to be "poor in spirit" but I have a feeling it has to do with being humble. I don't know what it means to have "the kingdom of heaven" but I am more then willing to guess that is a pretty sweet piece of realestate. While I can't understand the verse, I struck a chord with another verse that came to mind. These two passages together got my head spinning. The second passage was Galtians chapter 5.

Galatians 5:19-21 "Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God"


Now, looking at that list of sins, I know I can claim more than one of them, as I am sure you can as well. Especially if we are looking at the depth of these sins and their implications. Idolatry: putting anything before God in your life. Jealousy: not being satisfied with what God has given you in life. etc...
This list that Paul provided covers an extremely broad amount of sin. Now have always just look at these sins, and contrasted them agains the latter half of the chapter, saying "these are the bad things that are the fruit of our flesh and those are the good fruit of the spirit. Simple enough.

But something hit me. A basic logical syllagism..

These sins =/= getting the kingdom of heaven.
Being poor in spirit = kingdom of heaven
Therefore, being poor in spirit =/= these sins.

Essentially, if we are completely bankrupt in spirit, we won't sin. Now, I know that Jesus is the only One who could ever be completely poor in spirit, but He is our example after all, isn't He?

I believe it is possible to over extrapolate ideas from Scripture, but I believe I have extrapolate this with the contexts of the verses in mind; I also believe that this conclusion is in line with the rest of scripture.

So where does this leave me?
I don't know what it means to inherit the kingdom of heaven. I am not quite sure what it means to be "poor in spirit", but I do know my sin. I know my heart and even better know that it needs a lot of work. I don't fully understand the implications of these passages, but know they have great truth in them.
I don't know what it means to be poor in spirit, but I know that I want to know. I what to know the depths of it's meaning, but even more so, I want to be it.



I don't have a spell check on this computer, so I apologize for any spelling errors. I am too tired to proof read, so I apologize for any grammatical errors.