. POVERTY. "Do not live for money; be content with what you have; for God Himself has said, 'I will never leave you or desert you', and so we can take courage and say, 'The Lord is my helper, I will not fear; what can man do to me?" (Heb 13:5,6 NEB).
BE CONTENT WITH WHAT YOU HAVE. "Do not set your hearts on the Godless world or anything in it. Anyone who loves the world is a stranger to the Father's love. Everything the world affords, all that panders to the appetites or entices the eyes, all the glamour of its life, springs not from the Father but from the Godless world. And that world is passing away with all its allurements, but he who does God's Will stands for evermore." (1 John 2:15-17 NEB). "Listen, my friends. Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the Kingdom He has promised to those who love Him?" (James 2:5 NEB). "Store up treasure in heaven, where there is no moth and no rust to spoil it, no thieves to break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Matt 6:20,21 NEB). "But if a man has enough to live on, and yet when he sees his brother in need shuts up his heart against him, how can it be said that the Divine love dwells in him?" (1 John 3:17 NEB).
CARING FOR OUR BROTHERS IN NEED. "My brothers, what use is it for a man to say he has faith when he does nothing to show it? Can that faith save him? Suppose a brother or a sister is in rags with not enough food for the day, and one of you says, 'Good luck to you, keep yourselves warm, and have plenty to eat', but does nothing to supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So with faith; if it does not lead to action, it is in itself a lifeless thing." (James 2:14-17 NEB). The Lord "has no favourites at the poor man's expense, but listens to his prayer when he is wronged." (Eccus 35:13 NEB). (1) PERDITION: The fate of those in hell, eternal death.
|