My brother has a drawing of an obviously poor person, hung in his home. Underneath is a quip that says, "I have nothing, therefore everything is mine." It is paradoxical of course, but it matches the words of Christ during the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Luke, "Blessed are the Poor, for yours is the Kingdom of Heaven." The poor possess all things in Christ. "The rich, He has sent empty away." Compared to the people of Haiti in all of the tragedy that is occurring there, not to mention large portions of the world, I am very rich. Great spiritual caution is set out for us wealthy. It is NOT wrong to be wealthy, but it is just a dangerous thing to ones spiritual health.
In the great Anglican offertory Sentence,
"...All the heavens and the earth are Thine, all things come of thee and of Thine own have we given Thee,"
we are confronted with the spiritual truth that we actually possess nothing. We are stewards; stewards not just of material things, but also of those we are blessed to love as family, those we are called to love as friend and stranger, AND stewards of our own bodies and souls.
In reality, (that is Truth) I possess nothing: I only think I do, I only can pretend to have something. All is the LORD's.
LORD in your mercy, Brian+
A Prayer from Parish Prayers, by Frank Colquhoun
O Thou, in whom we live and move and have our being: We offer and present unto Thee ourselves, all that we are and have, our thoughts and our desires, our words and our deeds, to be a living and continual sacrifice. We are not our own; therefore we would glorify Thee in our bodies and our spirits, which are Thine; through Jesus Christ our LORD. AMEN (William Knight)
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