Spiritual Poverty helps us Grow

To come to know Jesus and have faith in Him, we must first admit we are broken. Spiritual poverty therefore, is required for saving faith. No one can become a Christian who does not admit, at some level, that they are lost and hopeless to free themselves from the bondages and penalty of sin. (See Romans 3:22-23). However, what often happens is that we accept Christ as Savior because of our brokenness, and then we live our Christian lives as if we were whole. Just as much as we have God dwelling inside us, every one of us still has unfinished parts that need to become mature and complete. This is the process of being sanctified that is, set apart, and become more like Jesus in righteousness and holiness. This is why the Bible teaches us to continue in the faith walk as we began it: “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him” (Colossians 2:6). Spiritual poverty is a rich part of the spiritual growth process. Here is how:

Poverty drives hunger. Spiritual poverty develops a hunger for God. Spiritual poverty drives us to find solutions for our neediness and ultimately, to develop a total dependence on God. Those who know they are truly needy are more motivated to look beyond themselves to the Lord. For example those in need often become humble in spirit because of their difficulties. For them, it is a short step to finding God in many ways. There is a strong correlation between those who are humble and those who seek God. You can’t stop a needy person from grasping onto God, while many people in less severe circumstances easily fall away. This is a paradox in the Bible: the more broken we are, the more God can grow us up. Spiritual poverty helps us to establish a loving and worshipful relationship with God and His ways.

Relationship is the fuel of life. Spiritual poverty keeps us living relationally with others. One of the blessings of spiritual poverty is that it helps restore to us God’s design of a relationally based life. Spiritual poverty and brokenheartedness drive us to emotional connectedness, both to God and to safe people. We grow when we maintain deep, vulnerable relationships with others. We need to internalize great amounts of relationship throughout our lifetime to persevere and to grow.

Either we are moving forward or backward. Spiritual poverty does not allow us to stay shallow. We don’t “arrive” in the faith, though we do mature and change. Spiritual poverty helps us grow deeper into truth. As we grow with a thirst and hunger for God and connecting with others, spiritual poverty provokes us to move beyond spiritual immaturity into a deeper walk of faith. This deeper walk takes us into many areas: the mysteries of God’s nature, the wonders of the Bible, the complexities of our own character, personality, and issues: and the intricacies of the intimate relationships with others. Spiritual poverty guides us to specific growth areas. God makes seekers out of us. Seekers tend to look in many directions for answers and help. They pray and ask God for insight and wisdom about their condition. They search the Bible. They ask mature people for counsel. Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened” (Luke 11:9-10). God promises those who seek will find what they are looking for, all in His timing.