But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ Luke 12:20
“Wherefore do you applaud yourself in those vain and silly conceits, as if you were withheld from good works by fear and solicitude for the future? Why do you lay out before you certain shadows and omens of a vain excuse? Yea, confess what is the truth; and since you cannot deceive those who know, utter forth the secret and hidden things of your mind. The gloom of barrenness has besieged your mind; and while the light of truth has departed thence, the deep and profound darkness of avarice has blinded your carnal heart. You are the captive and slave of your money; you are bound with the chains and bonds of covetousness; and you whom Christ had once loosed, are once more in chains. You keep your money, which, when kept, does not keep you. You heap up a patrimony which burdens you with its weight; and you do not remember what God answered to the rich man, who boasted with a foolish exultation of the abundance of his exuberant harvest: “Thou fool,” said He, “this night thy soul is required of thee; then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” Why do you watch in loneliness over your riches? why for your punishment do you heap up the burden of your patrimony, that, in proportion as you are rich in this world, you may become poor to God? Divide your returns with the Lord your God; share your gains with Christ; make Christ a partner with you in your earthly possessions, that He also may make you a fellow-heir with Him in His heavenly kingdom.”
Cyprian of Carthage (190-258) in his Treatise 8. On Works and Alms, 13.
Cyprian has a way with words.
Today he points out that fear and solicitude seem logical but they limit our generosity and guide us down a path of foolishness and disobedience.
Instead, he beckons us to do the opposite of what the world teaches us.
He says, “Divide your returns with the Lord your God; share your gains with Christ; make Christ a partner with you in your earthly possessions, that He also may make you a fellow-heir with Him in His heavenly kingdom.”
As we approach Lent, it takes shape as a season to learn to divide and share.
The more we do it, the more we realize that it loosens the chains and bonds of covetousness and puts us on a path of freedom and joy. Stay tuned as I will invite you to do Lent together.
And pray for me as I travel to Newark today to connect to Grand Cayman in the morning tomorrow.
GTP has been invited to come do a “Stewardship and Standards” launch event to form a working group who will draft standards and start a peer accountability group (like ECFA in USA) for Cayman Islands.