“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets. Luke 6:24-26
“But it will be well to note what class of people takes comfort in the thought of God. Surely not that perverse and crooked generation to whom it was said, ‘Woe unto you that are rich; for ye have received your consolation’…
It is meet that those who are not satisfied by the present should be sustained by the thought of the future, and that the contemplation of eternal happiness should solace those who scorn to drink from the river of transitory joys…
In that day those who set not their hearts aright will feel, too late, how easy is Christ’s yoke, to which they would not bend their necks and how light His burden, in comparison with the pains they must then endure.
O wretched slaves of mammon, you cannot glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ while you trust in treasures laid up on earth: you cannot taste and see how gracious the Lord is, while you are hungering for gold. If you have not rejoiced at the thought of His coming, that day will be indeed a day of wrath to you.”
Bernard of Clairvaux (c. 1090-1153) in On Loving God (CSD) excerpt from chapter 4, page 7.
In today’s Scripture, Jesus proclaims the woes on the rich. Later, He offers further explanation. His followers cannot serve God and mammon. Few, however, connect the dots and declare the judgment on those who trust in riches like Bernard of Clairvaux.
Let me explain how I believe this relates to generosity.
Rather than pursue transitory joys, the fruit of God’s work in followers of Christ is generosity. We serve not as containers but rather conduits of blessing. But, one of the leading hindrances to generosity is the desire for money and the hunger for gold.
This hunger takes shape as wanting an income stream or measure of wealth to sustain a standard of living. This is yoking with mammon. Those who do not only miss out on the easy yoke of Christ. For Bernard, they get the reward of the unrighteous, that is judgment.
Growing in generosity is about learning to trust that Christ’s yoke is easy and His burden is light. It’s about discovering that He’s the only thing that satisfies in a world field with transitory joys. Unfathomable blessings await the obedient.
Bernard would add that endless disappointment follows those who trust in mammon.
So, if you want to grow in generosity, set your heart right. Pursue God rather than transitory pleasures. Find your joy in God and not in the gifts He supplies. But do this one step at a time. That’s why we taste and see how good and gracious is our God.