Holy Boldness

person who is at peace with God and shares His hopeful disposition even amid pain and seemingly contradictory conditions. The beatitudes are essentially a depiction of the inner life of Jesus as well as a description of all who follow Him. These eight attitudes are postures of humility, yielded-ness and longing. The righteousness of God is revealed to faith. The be-attitudes are “faith postures” which allow the truth of Jesus’ words to penetrate a person’s life and produce a harvest of righteousness. Cultivating these dispositions is in itself a pursuit of the fear of the Lord. Paul tells us in Romans 5 that “by faith, we have received access into this grace in which we stand and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” (v.2). To “rejoice in the hope” is itself an act of faith. To expect to see and experience the glory of God is the hope of the gospel. The glory of God is the goal of everything! Jesus came to lead “many sons to glory.” (Hebrews 2:10). We were predestined to be “unto the praise of His glory.” (Ephesians 1:12). The realm of glory, the beauty of holiness, conformity to the image of God in Christ calls out to believers in Jesus to come and be transformed. The Beatitudes describe the heart posture of one who is destined to enter into a place of blessing and transformation. 1st Beatitude: Blessed are the poor in Spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. What does it mean to be “poor in spirit” ? To be poor in spirit does not mean that one has poor self-esteem or is perpetually depressed. Poor in spirit is not another name for shallow negativism. It does not necessar ily mean that one is socially or financially poor. The poor in spirit are those who have seen the high call of God and are also aware of their inadequacy to attain it. To be poor in spirit is to recognize that humanity as a whole is bankrupt and cannot accomplish the will of God. It is the simple acknowledgment that all of mankind is in serious trouble if left without divine intervention. It is the ability to recognize the true plight of mankind. Awareness of need is the first step toward a remedy. The prophet Isaiah displayed this attitude when in chapter 6 of His great prophetic book he describes His encounter with the glory of God. Isaiah was poor in Spirit when he saw the Lord “high and lifted up”

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