The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. –Matthew 5:3

"Before the Lord God made man upon the earth He first prepared for him a world of useful and pleasant things for his sustenance and delight. In the Genesis account of creation these are called simply “things.” They were made for man’s use, but they were meant to be external to be subservient to him. In the deep heart of the man was a shrine where none but God was worthy to come. Within him was God; without, a thousand gifts which God had showered upon him.

But sin has introduced complications and has made those very gifts of God a potential source of ruin to the soul.

Our woes began when God was forced out of His central shrine and things were allowed to enter. Within the human heart things have taken over the human heart. Men have now by nature no peace within their hearts, for God is crowned their no longer, but there in the moral dusk stubborn and aggressive usurpers fight among themselves for first place on the throne. "

A.W. Tozer; The Pursuit of God (p. 21-22)