Good Morning Pioneer Baptist!

In Matthew 5:3 (KJV) Jesus, in His famous Sermon on the Mount (so called) said this “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” As humans, we could have a broken spirit for Christ, which is a good thing, (Psalm 51:17) “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” or we could be just broken hearted and down with our life situation (Proverbs 17:22) “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.” I would like to comment on the second possibility, that of the Proverbs 17:22 “broken spirit.” And we might add Proverbs 18:14 into our discussion, which tells us “The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but ‘a wounded spirit’ who can bear?”

As Christians, we have every reason to be happy, and we are taught to be just that, but there are times when this life does get very tough, and it can wear us down. Our hearts go out to those impacted by the current virus, and to all who are going through tough times of any sort. Sometimes those times relate to illnesses, sometimes to personal heartaches, sometimes to life dreams gone awry, and money can jump into the equation in a moment’s notice and become the exponential factor. We all need money! Today in America, people have been laid off, furloughed, or simply fired. Millions have applied for unemployment benefits. People are struggling to put food on the table and to pay their bills, and they are either praying for, or simply counting the days until, that stimulus check comes in. No doubt, they’re hoping it will stimulate their spirits as well as their stomachs!

And God cares! Way back in Leviticus 19:9-10, God put this program in place for those who were without “And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest. And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God.” If God cares that much, (and He obviously does) those of us who are not struggling must care as well. Perhaps we could volunteer at some help center, helping that outreach to be a haven for those in need, or perhaps we can reach out to someone by giving them either a bite to eat or a bit of cash. And at the very least, we can pray, never forgetting the truth of James 2:16 “And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?”

The poor in spirit shall indeed have the Kingdom of Heaven, which is Christ’s coming Kingdom, but what about the “broken and wounded” right now? Let’s try and make our walk match our talk. 1 John 3:17 "But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? "

Love and Prayers to you all,

Pastor