📜 What does it mean to be poor? by Kevin

To some, it’s the lack of financial buying power. Others, it’s their self-perception. The dictionary defines poor as “having little or no money, goods, or other means of support”. For me, I think someone is poor only if they believe and think they are poor themselves. Don’t get me wrong, I do not disagree with the economical definition of poverty, but I do argue that the thought of “being poor” is related to our own perception, and more importantly, realisation.

Someone who lacks nothing, but doesn’t have much might not think they are poor. They may appreciate that they are not well off, but maybe not ‘poor’. On the contrary, someone who has much yet thinks they lack a lot might call themselves ‘poor’, as they realise they don’t have what they desire.
And so I ask, are you ‘poor’? Easily we think of the materialistic definition of being poor, but if I were to ask “are you poor emotionally?”, would that make more sense?

2020 has been a difficult year for all of us. No matter where you have been, whatever your profession, the stage of life you are in, it’s been a “different” year to say the least. For me at least, it sent my system into shock and made me realise how ‘poor’ I was – how poor I became in my relationships, with brothers and sisters, family, friends, and colleagues; and how I longed for our physical fellowship again, to be in the physical presence with each other. But just like how this pandemic made me realise how poor I’ve become in my relationship with brothers and sisters, so too am I reminded of how poor we can easily become in spirit – in our relationship with our Heavenly Father.
So easy is it to not recognise how poor our relationship with God is, especially when all goes swimmingly well. But when uncertainty hits (like in 2020), do we still recognise how our relationship is with our saviour?

2021 has just started, and we may all be looking towards a year where we can recover the things we have been deprived of in 2020. But lest we forget, that we are poor in spirit, and focus our sights upon our Father in this new year ahead.

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2021 客途●天路 #seecuk #seec2021
Kevin