Give out an image:
Give out a thought and an action:
Meditate upon the following verse and questions. Then spend time, writing your response to the questions.
Consider yourself blessed when you’re poor, hungry, sorrowful and persecuted. Consider yourself in danger when you’re rich, well fed, full of levity and popular…. (Luke 6:20-26)
Are we who are rich, which by global standards is the majority of us, careful to heed this warning and to not get life from our riches?
Are we who are rich, which by global standards is the majority of us, careful to heed this warning and to not get life from our riches?
Have I adjusted my lifestyle so I can generously share my wealth with the poor, feeding the hungry, comforting the sorrowful?
If I wasn’t a follower of Jesus how would my life look any different than it does now in terms of how I steward my resources?
What actual difference is following Jesus making in my life? (Greg Boyd)
This is indeed a challenging passage of scripture and one that we can not just pretend is not there. We get the full meaning of this passage in Matthews recording of Jesus’ words found in Matthew 5:3-10, Scripture interprets Scripture.
ReplyDeleteHere we see that it is blessed to be poor in spirit, realising that we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s standards as opposed to the Pharisees of Jesus’ day who considered themselves spiritually rich by their religion and traditions. It is when we morn in repentance that we will find comfort in Salvation. Of course Jesus goes on to challenge us to hunger and thirst for righteousness, a lack of this is true poverty.
The biggest poverty that any nation faces is spiritual poverty and the only answer for that is salvation through Jesus. Of course Jesus also calls us to work for Justice and the poor but to put that first is like putting the cart before the horse.
Dear Anonymous - Jesus does not treat social justice and salvation as a "cart before horse" situation. He puts them together. When he heals 10 lepers he does not ask any of them to join his group. The parables of Lazarus (Luke 16) and Sheep and Goats (Matthew 25) show that our treatment of the poor is a condition of our salvation. Jesus make it very clear - it is not a horse and cart - it is a whole vehicle bringing fullness of life.
ReplyDeleteIan