Luke 12:15-23 (NIV) 15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” 16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ 18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ 21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.” 22 Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.
II Corinthians 8:2-5 (NIV) 2 In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, 4 they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people. 5 And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us.
The belief that brings poverty is called “covetousness.” There are two Greek words for covet. One means “to fix passion upon,” and the other means “to have more.” A fair definition of covetousness is “to fix our passions upon having more.” Covetousness believes that “more” will satisfy. We are kept in a life of perpetual poverty by this belief that life does consist in the abundance of our possessions, and by the demand that we somehow deserve that abundance. This dulls our mind to poverty we inflict on ourselves.
What can break that cycle so that we can see the truth and receive those things that meet our real needs and bring a measure of joy and happiness to our life? The cycle of poverty is broken by the grace of God. The life of poverty believes “I must have, and I deserve.” The life of grace believes “I have received and I can share.” Grace and giving go together like humor and laughter, like a back rub and the sigh of pleasure. Grace can prompt our giving, or giving can prompt our experience of God’s grace. Every time we give, we let go of the belief that we must have. We subdue the demanding spirit. We recover from our dull narcissism. Some part of us may still believe that life does consist in the abundance of possessions, but we act on the belief that we have been gifted with the goodness of life. Our giving keeps open the window so that the joy of grace can blow gently into our life.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope November 1, 1992
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell
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