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Help for the Poor in Spirit, May 10
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for their’s is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:3
.
All who have a sense of their deep soul poverty, who feel that they
have nothing good in themselves, may find righteousness and strength
by looking unto Jesus.
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite
heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”
Psalm 51:17
. Man must be emptied
of self before he can be, in the fullest sense, a believer in Jesus. When
self is renounced, then the Lord can make man a new creature.
When man has sinned against a holy and merciful God, he can
pursue no course so noble as to repent sincerely, and confess his errors
in tears and bitterness of soul. This God requires of him; He accepts
nothing less than a broken heart and a contrite spirit.
The proud heart strives to earn salvation; but both our title to heaven
and our fitness for it are found in the righteousness of Christ. The Lord
can do nothing toward the recovery of man until, convinced of his own
weakness, and stripped of all self-sufficiency, he yields himself to the
control of God. Then he can receive the gift that God is waiting to
bestow. From the soul that feels his need, nothing is withheld. He has
unrestricted access to Him in whom all fullness dwells.
The only reason why we may not have remission of sins that are
past is that we are not willing to humble our proud hearts and comply
with the conditions.
God is very pitiful, for He understands our weaknesses and our
temptations; and when we come to Him with broken hearts and contrite
spirits. He accepts our repentance, and promises that, as we take hold of
His strength to make peace with Him, we shall make peace with Him.
Oh, what gratitude, what joy, should we feel that God is merciful!
The offering most sweet and acceptable in God’s sight is a heart
made humble by self-denial, by lifting the cross and following Jesus.
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