The Beatitudes

I just started a study on the The Beatitudes (Matthew 5). As a part of the study, I am listening to a sermon series by John Piper during my morning walks. This morning Piper preached on "the poor in spirit." He reminded me that the world teaches that "real joy and fulfillment in life are to be found in the pursuit of self-reliance, self-confidence, self-determination, and self-esteem ... [but] the Biblical answer to the paralysis of low self-esteem is not high self-esteem; it is sovereign grace." He used the example of God telling Moses to go to Pharoah to free the Israelites. Moses basically said he couldn't do it. God, in essence, told Moses to stop looking at himself and look to God. He didn't tell Moses "you can do it, you have it within you, etc." He told Moses that He would be with him and He would work through him. We as Christians should not be about promoting "self-esteem". We need to take our eyes off of ourselves and look to God. By grace, He is our Help and He is our Redeemer.