Not, how much of my money will I give to God, but, how much of God’s money will I keep for myself?
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes a mindset of stewardship rather than ownership, urging individuals to consider how they use resources entrusted to them.
John Wesley's quote challenges conventional thinking about wealth and generosity. It provokes reflection on the relationship between personal finance and faith, suggesting that rather than simply deciding how much to give away, individuals should consider how much of what they possess is truly theirs, as it all ultimately belongs to God. This calls for a sense of responsibility towards the resources we have, encouraging a more thoughtful approach to money and generosity.
In practice
During a church service when discussing financial stewardship.
I continue to dream and pray about a revival of holiness in our day that moves forth in mission and creates authentic community in which each person can be unleashed through the empowerment of the Spirit to fulfill God's creational intentions.
I plainly felt that, had God given me such a retirement with the companion I desired, I should have forgotten the work for which I was born and have set up my rest in this world.
I asked long ago,'What must I do to be saved?' The Scripture answered, 'Keep the commandments, believe, hope, love.' I was early warned against laying, as the Papists do, too much stress on outward works, or on a faith without works, which as it does not include, so it will never lead to true hope or charity.
Prayer is where the action is.
I saw that giving even all my life to God (supposing it possible to do this and go no further) would profit me nothing unless I gave my heart, yea, all my heart, to Him.
In using all means, seek God alone. In and through every outward thing, look only to the power of His Spirit, and the merits of His Son. Beware you do not get stuck in the work itself; if you do, it is all lost labor. Nothing short of God can satisfy your soul. Therefore, fix on Him in all, through all, and above all...Remember also to use all means as means-as ordained, not for their own sake.
If dandelions were rare and fragile, people would knock themselves out to pay $14.95 a plant, raise them by hand in greenhouses, and form dandelion societies and all that. But, they are everywhere and don't need us and kind of do what they please. So we call them weeds and murder them at every opportunity
Problems are the outward signs of unused inner possibilities.
Curse the blasted, jelly-boned swines, the slimy, the belly-wriggling invertebrates, the miserable soddingrotters, the flaming sods, the sniveling, dribbling, dithering, palsied, pulse-less lot that make up England today. They've got white of egg in their veins, and their spunk is that watery it's a marvel they can breed.
Language is the biggest barrier to human progress because language is an encyclopedia of ignorance. Old perceptions are frozen into language and force us to look at the world in an old fashioned way.
Do you know what we call opinion in the absence of evidence? We call it prejudice.
The true mystic is always both humble and compassionate, for she knows that she does not know.
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