Jesus Christ and all the writers of the New Testament call us to break free of mammon lust and live in joyous trust...They point us toward a way of living in which everything we have we receive as a gift, and everything we have is cared for by God, and everything we have is available to others when it is right and good. This reality frames the heart of Christian simplicity. It is the means of liberation and power to do what is right and to overcome the forces of fear and avarice.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of living simply and generously, trusting in God rather than material wealth.
In this quote, Richard J. Foster reflects on the teachings of Jesus and the New Testament regarding the relationship between material possessions and spiritual freedom. He advocates for a lifestyle of Christian simplicity, suggesting that true liberation comes from recognizing everything as a gift from God, which fosters generosity and a release from the fear of scarcity. This perspective encourages individuals to overcome greed and fear, nurturing a trust that allows one to live in harmony with others and the divine principle of sharing.
In practice
In a speech about charitable giving, one might use this quote to emphasize the joy of sharing.
Go another step. Try to live one entire day without words at all. Do it not as a law, but as an experiment. Note your feelings of helplessness and excessive dependence upon words to communicate. Try to find new ways to relate to tohers that are not dependent upon words. Enjoy, savor the day. Learn from it.
Love, not anger, brought Jesus to the cross. Golgotha came as a result of God's great desire to forgive, not his reluctance. Jesus knew that by his vicarious suffering he could actually absorb all the evil of humanity and so heal it, forgive it, redeem it.
Humility, as we all know, is one of those virtues that is never gained by seeking it. The more we pursue it the more distant it becomes. To think we have it is sure evidence that we don't.
When we determine to dwell on the good and excellent things in life, we will be so full of those things that they will tend to swallow our problems.
The Spiritual Disciplines are things that we do. We must never lose sight of this fact. It is one thing to talk piously about 'the solitude of the heart,' but if that does not somehow work its way into our experience, then we have missed the point of the Disciplines. We are dealing with actions, not merely states of mind.
Each activity of daily life in which we stretch ourselves on behalf of others is a prayer in action.
It [feminism] is mixed up with a muddled idea that women are free when they serve their employers but slaves when they help their husbands.
Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.
King of the animals — as thou hast described him — I should rather say king of the beasts, thou being the greatest — because thou hast spared slaying them, in order that they may give thee their children for the benefit of the gullet, of which thou hast attempted to make a sepulchre for all animals; and I would say still more, if it were allowed me to speak the entire truth.
Just as King Midas turned everything to gold, Stalin turned everything to mediocrity.
The Soul is the voice of the body's interests.
Go anywhere in England where there are natural wholesome, contented and really nice English people; and what do you find? That the stables are the real centre of the household.
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