The Poor In Spirit 

   “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.” (Matt 5: 3) 

   “No one can serve two masters.  He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mammon.  (Matt 6: 24) 

   We are to be poor in spirit, to serve God, not mammon.  Though mammon may refer to riches, it is anything that one prizes over God.  It is, in effect, a false god.

   There are many things that could be construed as mammon; self-defined gods that take the place of the one true God in people’s hearts.  It may be money, but it can be many other things as well.  For instance, gluttony, an unreasonable desire for too much food is a form of mammon.  It doesn’t even have to be a want of too much food but may be a desire for the “right” food, that which is the tastiest and most pleasing to the senses.

   It could be fashion sense; the need to have the newest fashions in all things, whether it be clothes or the newest television or mobile phone; one without the newest bells and whistles just won’t suffice.

   In my case it was new cars.  I thought I “needed” a new car every two or three years even though the one I had was in great shape.  It had nothing to do with need, it was purely misplaced desire, serving mammon rather than God.

   It doesn’t much matter how much or how little we have if God remains first in our heart.  To serve God rather than mammon, to be poor in spirit, means that if all of my earthly possessions are gone tomorrow, but I still have God,  I am rich in what really matters.