Invest with the Lord

Does this quote by Paulinus of Nola trouble you?  

We have no right to our possessions; they have been entrusted to us for the good of all. Let us then invest with the Lord what he has given us, for we have nothing that does not come from God: we are dependent upon God for our very existence. And we ourselves particularly, who have a special and a greater debt, since God not only created us but purchased us as well; what can we regard as our own when we do not possess even ourselves? 

It troubled me when I first read it.  It think it is because the Western Church has become entwined in Western Politics and Western Philosophy.  We place more emphasis on our rights as Americans than on our responsibilities as Christians.  The early church did not.

All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:44-47

Which one of us can say that we have anything, anything at all, that we have not been given by God?  Every second, every minute, every breath, every meal, and every material thing is a gift.  Not earned.  Not deserved.  That is unsettling to all of us who pride ourselves because we believe that we ourselves have accomplished so much.  "Self made men and women" is what we think.  No, we are all blessed to have everything we own, everything we possess.  If I can get myself to start thinking that way, I just might start thinking like Paulinus of Nola.  What do you think?  


Paulinus of Nola was a Latin poet and letter-writer, and a convert to the Christian faith. His renunciation of wealth and a senatorial career in favour of a Christian ascetic and philanthropic life was held up as an example by many of his contemporaries, including Augustine, Jerome, Martin of Tours, and Ambrose.

Sheep, Goats and Doing Without

Jesus said in Matthew 25:

 

Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

_________________________________________________________________________
 

C.S. Lewis said:

     Charity—giving to the poor—is an essential part of Christian morality: in the frightening parable of the sheep and the goats it seems to be the point on which everything turns. Some people nowadays say that charity ought to be unnecessary and that instead of giving to the poor we ought to be producing a society in which there were no poor to give to. They may be quite right in saying that we ought to produce this kind of society. But if anyone thinks that, as a consequence, you can stop giving in the meantime, then he has parted company with all Christian morality.

     I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc. is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little.

     If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charities expenditure excludes them. I am speaking now of “charities” in the common way. Particular cases of distress among your own relatives, friends, neighbors or employees, which God, as it were, forces upon your notice, may demand much more: even to the crippling and endangering of your own position.

     For many of us the great obstacle to charity lies not in our luxurious living or desire for more money, but in our fear—fear of insecurity. This must often be recognized as a temptation.

Too Harsh?

Basil of Caesarea wrote: 

“When someone steals a person’s clothes, we call him a thief. Should we not give the same name to one who could clothe the naked and does not? The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry; the coat hanging unused in your closet belongs to those who need it; the shoes rotting in your closet to the one who has no shoes. The money which you hoard up belongs to the poor.”

Rice Night

Well...here you go....This is tough stuff.

An Ohio pastor's wife blogs the following:

"We started “rice night” in our home as a way to consistently remember those who do not have what we have. Our children LOVE food. And, well, so do their parents. So we really needed to pause each week and think about what a huge blessing our food really is and how we should be eating to nourish our bodies to do God’s work and not just eating for the self-gratification of it. So we decided that on Saturday nights (our Sabbath/day of rest), we would eat nothing other than a bowl of rice for dinner. We use that time to talk about and pray for the many children/people around the world who eat nothing but rice… if even that. We share letters/news from children and missionaries we support as well and talk about what their daily lives must be like. After dinner is our family worship time which I’ll talk more about another time, but concludes with praising God for the blessings He’s given us so that we can do a great work for Him.

It’s a great way to open the eyes of our children to see beyond their little worlds and to open their hearts to love those less fortunate as Jesus would."

Once a WEEK!!  Are any of us not too chicken to try this even once a month or once a year?  I can't even imagine what my family would say if I suggested this.  Dare we try this?

Which Rich Person am I?

From What is so Amazing about Grace Blog

Rich Man 1 - Luke 18

Respected official
with great morals
openly speaks to Jesus
When challenged chooses His money over Jesus

Rich man 2 - Luke 19

Zacchaeus
despised tax collector
cheat & crook
Too scared to talk to Jesus so watches from afar.
Freely offers his money without even being asked.

Which one am I?

Recently I have read some scary statistics that suggest that much of the western church has become the first rich man. I've read of good churches where 50 percent of people never give anything and the percentage of people who tithe is in the teens!

What I do know is that in our consumeristic western society if God has not got your wallet he has not got your heart!

Lord, teach me to be generous.

Lord, teach me to be generous.

Teach me to serve you as you deserve;
to give and not to count the cost,
to fight and not to heed the wounds,
to toil and not to seek for rest,
to labor and not to ask for reward,
save that of knowing that I do your will.

- Ignatius, 1491-1556