April 27, 2008

what you really need
has already been provided
for you through
The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost

I have heard a lot lately about
the idea that Christians need not to deny themselves
but that God wants the very best for us
so having a lot of money and a lot of things is not just OK,
but it is God's will.

When the Lord said that He wants the very best for us
He was not talking to us about what the world has to offer.

"Then Jesus said to his disciples,
"If anyone would come after me,
he must deny himself and
take up his cross and follow me.
For whoever wants to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
What good will it be for a man
if he gains the whole world,
yet forfeits his soul?
Or what can a man give
in exchange for his soul?"
- Matthew 16:24-26 NIV

And, some say, as long as you put Him first,
you can have anything your heart desires.

There are very, very few men and women,
if any,
that can serve the Lord
while they enjoy the world's pleasures
as if it is their divine right.

"'No servant can serve two masters.
Either he will hate the one
and love the other,
or he will be devoted to the one
and despise the other.
You cannot serve both God and Money.
'The Pharisees, who loved money,
heard all this and were sneering at Jesus.
He said to them,
'You are the ones who
justify yourselves in the eyes of men,
but God knows your hearts.
What is highly valued among men
is detestable in God's sight.'"
- Luke 16: 13-15 NIV

"But, dear friends,
remember what the apostles
of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold.
They said to you,
'In the last times there will be scoffers
who will follow their own ungodly desires.
"These are the men who divide you,
who follow mere natural instincts
and do not have the Spirit.'"
- Jude 1:17-19 NIV

"Each of us will one day
be judged by our standard of life --
not by our standard of living;
by our measure of giving --
not by our measure of wealth;
by our simple goodness --
not by our seeming greatness."
- William Arthur Ward

"The ability to simplify means
to eliminate the unnecessary
so that the necessary may speak."
- Hans Hofmann
(Introduction to the Bootstrap, 1993)

"Frugality is one of the most beautiful and
joyful words in the English language,
and yet one that we are culturally cut off from
understanding and enjoying.
The consumption society has made us feel
that happiness lies in having things,
and has failed to teach us
the happiness of not having things."
- Elise Boulding

"Our affluent society contains those of talent and insight
who are driven to prefer poverty,
to choose it,
rather than submit to
the desolation of an empty abundance.
- Michael Harrington

"You have succeeded in life
when all you really want
is only what you really need."
- Vernon Howard