Vincent Mercado Supporter Skeptic turned believer, Catholic, father of 3

Certainly, this is not a romanticizing of economic poverty or demonization of wealth, but rather, a formula for detachment. A variant rendition of this verse could be "How blessed are you if you are not attached to material things - if you have not placed the goods that money can buy as the center of your concern."

If the Kingdom of God is the center of your concern, not only will you not become addicted to material things, you will able to use them with great effectiveness for God's purposes.

We sense within ourselves an infinite longing for God. We attempt to fill it up with something less than God. And so necessarily, we are frustrated. In our frustration, we convince ourselves that we need more of that finite good. But it is never enough. At some point we find ourselves experiencing a sort of spiritual panic, obsessively turning around some finite good that, in principle, can never make us happy.

We have a modern term for this - addiction. What Jesus is saying is this, "Do not be addicted to wealth."

May 07 2014 • 2 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

letty nkosi Supporter

The kingdom of God is for the humble. When the bible says, 'blessed those who are poor in spirit', it means that God blesses those who depend on him. When you are rich, how can you can you depend on someone? When you are poor, it means you are in need. 

God wants people who will need him. God is spirit and he want us to be poor in spirit so that it will be easy for him to provide us. These days we Christians sometimes think we are spiritually rich, and then we no longer listen to God. That is why sometimes when we seek god in our most difficult times, it seems like he is far from us. It because we know much, we are not depending in him. 

When we look at Abraham he was wealthy and rich, but spiritually he was poor; he was blessed in every aspect of his life cause he only depended on god. Even when he was tested by killing his child as an offering, he didn't question god or he didn't have opinion, options or doubt; he just humbled himself and looked forward to god's plan.

September 10 2015 • 2 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Mary JaniceOwens Supporter

The poor in Spirit will inherit the Kingdom of God. This is a true statement; we must totally trust,rely and have faith in God to supply all of our needs. God created us to live in love peace and harmony and he would supply all of our needs.

September 10 2015 • 1 response • Vote Up • Share • Report