Did your school do Red Ribbon Week? It was HUGE in my schools. All the way from Kindergarten to senior year, there were dress-up days, assemblies, fun competitions during the lunch hour, and so much more. In high school, one of our teachers held a Drunk Goggle Mario Kart tournament. We would wear these goggles that looked like safety goggles but they warped your vision to something similar to what it would look like with a BAC anywhere between 0.8. and 1. 5. (Jury’s still out on whether or not that was appropriate, but it was dang sure fun! And it was hilarious to watch my classmates get super frustrated every time they smacked into the wall in the Coconut Mall or fell into the oblivion of space on Rainbow Road).
The whole point was that when our vision was altered, focusing on the track was basically impossible. We weren’t looking at the screen appropriately, so chaos ensued.
Jesus is very conscious of this paradigm. Most of us just want to be like our friends, to go the way they’re going and be like them because not being accepted is one of our greatest fears. We abhor the thought of what it would mean to be an outcast, so we compromise to get what we want. And people get hurt. A lot.
The whole world is full of this. Everybody wants to be like everybody else, but nobody knows how to quit all the pain and hurt. And though Jesus does have a solution, most of us aren’t going to like it very much.
“Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it.”
Matthew 7:13-14 CSB
As a high schooler, I didn’t have very many friends. At the time, I thought it was because I took the high road most often and everybody else just settled for cheap fun at parties out in random corn fields getting drunk and doing stupid stuff because there was, in their minds, nothing else to do. In reality, I was a self-centered, stuck up Pharisee who literally thought I was a better person simply because I didn’t get drunk along with them.
Matt Chandler said once, “If you say the right thing the wrong way, you’re still wrong.” That was me. See, I thought I was taking Jesus’s narrow road by staying away from the parties and letting everybody know how wrong they were for going. But the truth is all of us were wrong. We all thought we knew what was best, and we decided in our own hearts that our way of doing things was the right one; that the things we said were most valuable really were the most valuable and important things, and everybody else had better go along with us or they’re wrong. But that’s not what Jesus is saying. He’s saying that there’s only one way to find life, to find growth, to find good, and it’s Him.
My dad owns a lawn care company, and in middle school and high school, I worked for him in the summers. Whenever we had a large, open field to mow, he trained me to find something at the end of the field, dead ahead of where I was supposed to mow, and look at it the entire time I made a pass down the field. If I didn’t look away, my line that I had just cut would be straight, and would look beautiful. If I didn’t focus, the lines would be so off-kilter that the mistake would be visible for weeks.
When we have a target to focus on, the results lead to good things, life, and blessing. The problem for us is sin. It literally means missing the mark. To be a sinner literally means “to be one who missed the target.”
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,”
Titus 2:11-12 ESV
Jesus is that grace of God that appeared and brought salvation for all people. He died in your place because of your self-centeredness and is offering you the gift of a relationship with Him-direct access to the God of the universe. And in Titus’s words, the only way there is to realize we’re living our lives enslaved to anything but God, without self-control, and beaten down. We’re poor in Spirit. If we don’t get that we miss everything.
Jesus’s target is simple, and it’s been saturated throughout the Sermon on the Mount: trust God over yourself and you will find life. Anything else will destroy you. According to Jesus, lots of people miss this line. You and your friends are on one of these two paths: you either trust that Jesus is wiser than you and y’all follow His lead, or you don’t. That’s it. Every decision that you and your friends make about what you will do, what you will say, how you will treat others, and so much more, is filtered through this dichotomy. How are you doing? How are your friends doing?
Take a look through these two lists of fruits, or results, and ask yourself: which of these do I see in my life and the lives of the people around me? What’s most common?
FAKE FRIENDS:
“Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I am warning you about these things—as I warned you before—that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Galatians 5:19-21 CSB
REAL FRIENDS:
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”
Galatians 5:22-26 CSB
So what is it? Where do you and your friends fall? Are you really being authentic, genuine friends to each other, or are you using each other? Are you being a real friend or a fake friend? When you look at the people around you, it shouldn’t be too hard to see.
“Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.”
Matthew 5:3 CSB
People who think they’re rich in spirit are only looking at themselves. Sure, they may look around at the people near them every once in a while, but then it’s right back to them. When you’re looking at yourself, it’s easy to think you’re rich in spirit because you are small. Ever heard the phrase, “You’re missing the forest for the trees”? A mature oak tree can produce 10,000 acorns and has an average of 200,000 leaves every year. That’s a lot to look at and to focus on if you only look at the one tree. But a forest is much more interesting than 10,000 acorns. There are beautiful birds, peaceful deer to watch (or eat if you’re into it), silly raccoons and squirrels to laugh at, awesome views in clearings and along trails to take in, and sometimes there’s cozy cabins to hunker down in or maybe even towering waterfalls to swim under. But you miss all of that when you’re focused on the oak tree. When you look up, you realize that this tree is just a small part of something much bigger and more beautiful than itself. Fake friends don’t get this. Fake friends focus on themselves so Fake Friends think they’re rich in spirit.
People who know they’re poor in spirit aren’t looking at themselves; they’re looking at Jesus. They realize there’s a lot more going on in the world than just them and they want to be a part of it. So they wake up every morning with a desire to quit looking at themselves and start looking at Jesus. They do what it takes to remove the distractions that are always trying to pull them onto the wide path. And the best part? They find life every time they get their eyes off themselves and look to Jesus.
Look at the fruit of your life. Galatians makes it clear. When you’re focused on Jesus, you’ll see a lot more love. When you’re looking at the Father instead of yourself, joy rules the day, even in hard times. With the Holy Spirit as your target for your attention, you will find yourself peaceful even in the craziest, most terrifying moments. Kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; all of it will be evident more and more every day. When you’re looking at yourself, you’ll see hatred sabotaging your friendships. When you’re self-centered with your attention, your anger will explode and hurt you and your friends. Looking at you and only you will bring in all kinds of selfish ambitions, dissensions, envy, promiscuity, and so much more (not to mention sexual immorality, drunkenness, and all the like). Look at your friends and ask yourself if you genuinely want what they have.
If it’s not Jesus, it’s only going to destroy you. You need to be willing to trust Him on that or you will be seriously hurt by sin one day.
He loves you so much He didn’t want to leave you stuck without a way to focus on Him and be with Him. So TRUST Him! Realize you’re poor in Spirit and let Him fill that emptiness with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, & self-control.
Ty Hirsch 