If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 1 John 3:17
“If we want to understand God’s goodness in God’s gifts, then we must think of them as a responsibility we bear for our brothers and sisters. Let none say: God has blessed us with money and possessions, and then live as if they and their God were alone in the world. For the time will come when they realize that they have been worshiping the idols of their good fortune and selfishness. Possessions are not God’s blessing and goodness, but the opportunities of service which God entrusts to us.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) in A Testament to Freedom as recounted in The NRSV Daily Bible: Read, Meditate, and Pray Through the Entire Bible in 365 Days (HarperCollins, Kindle Edition) 569-570. Special thanks John Cochran for sharing this meditation with me.
Jenni and I have safely returned home from Hong Kong. In reflecting on our experience this morning, I think this is a perspective that can be spotted both in the East and the West: people can treat material blessing as an idol or as an opportunity for service. How will you view the material possessions entrusted to you? We cannot live like we are alone in the world. As John writes, if we see someone in need, we get to show God’s love by helping them.