Charles Caleb Colton: Give away your wealth while living or you will pass on your selfish soul to your heirs!

“Posthumous charities are the very essence of selfishness, when bequeathed by those who, when alive, would part with nothing…and those who, when dying, impoverish their relations, by leaving their fortunes to be expended in masses for themselves, have been shrewdly said to leave their own souls to their heirs.”

Charles Caleb Colton (1780-1832) was an English cleric and author of Lacon of Many Things in a Few Words: Addressed to Those Who Think (1820) reprinted by Kessinger Publishing, LLC (2004). CCCXLI, 145.

“Never acquire for yourself anything that you might hesitate to give to your brother if he ask you for it, for thus you might be found a transgressor of God’s command. If anyone asks, give to him, and if anyone wants to borrow from you, do not turn away from him.” (cf. Luke 6:30)

Abbot Agatho as recounted by Thomas Merton in The Wisdom of the Desert (New York: New Directions, 1970) 47.

“Abbot Anastasius had a book on very fine parchment which was worth eighteen pence, and had in it both Old and New Testaments in full. Once a certain brother came to visit him, and seeing the book made off with it.

So that day when Abbot Anastasius went to read his book, and found that it was gone, he realized that the brother had taken it. But he did not send after him to inquire about it for fear that the brother might add perjury to theft.

Well, the brother went down into the nearby city in order to sell the book. And the price he asked was sixteen pence. The buyer said: Give me that book that I may found out whether it is worth that much.

With that, the buyer took the book to the holy Anastasius and said: Father, take a look at this book, please, and tell me whether you think I ought to buy it for sixteen pence. Is it worth that much?

Abbot Anastasius said: Yes, it is a fine book, it is worth that much. So the buyer went back to the brother and said: Here is your money. I showed the book to Abbot Anastasius and he said it is a fine book and is worth at least sixteen pence.

But the brother asked: Was that all he said? Did he make any other remarks? No, said the buyer, he did not say another word. Well, said the brother, I have changed my mind and I don’t want to sell the book after all.

Then he hastened to Abbot Anastasius and begged him with tears to take back his book, but the Abbot would not accept it, saying: Go in peace, brother, I make you a present of it. But the brother said: If you do not take it back I shall never have any peace. After that the brother dwelt with Abbot Anastasius for the rest of his life.”

Abbot Anastasius’ story as recounted by Thomas Merton in The Wisdom of the Desert (New York: New Directions, 1970) 30-31.

“I will try this day to live a simple, sincere, and serene life; repelling promptly every thought of discontent, anxiety, discouragement, impurity, and self-seeking; cultivating cheerfulness, magnanimity, charity and the habit of holy silence; exercising economy in expenditure, generosity in giving, carefulness in conversation, diligence in appointed service, fidelity to every trust, and a child-like trust in God.

In particular, I will try to be faithful in those habits of prayer, work, study, physical exercise, eating, and sleep, which I believe the Holy Spirit has shown me to be right.

And as I cannot in my own strength do this, nor even with a hope of success attempt it, I look to thee, O Lord God my Father, in Jesus my Savior, and ask for the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

“A Morning Resolve” reprinted and distributed in 2013 by Tom Assmus. From Prayers for All Occasions compiled by Francis John Moore (Forward Movement Publications 1964) 17-18, and adapted from original work of John H. Vincent in The Expositor 1914 edition, 16:640.

“Lazarus sometimes makes his way to our door step. We toss him a coin and go on our way. We give our charities but we do not give ourselves.” (Cf. Luke 16:19-31)

Albert Edward Day (1884-1973) as quoted by Jeff Haanen in Christianity Today “This is Our City” article on 1.15.13: “Pay-What-You-Can Restaurants Dish Up Dignity in Denver”

“Trusting God with our money feels different at forty than it did at fourteen. But that discipline is a lifetime measure of our confidence in God. Generosity makes our faith bigger in every stage of life.”

Andy Stanley in Deep and Wide: Creating Churches Unchurched People Love to Attend (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012) 147.

“Every faculty you have, your power of thinking or of moving your limbs from moment to moment, is given you by God. If you devoted every moment of your whole life exclusively to His service you could not give Him anything that was not in a sense His own already. So that when we talk of a man doing anything for God or giving anything to God, I will tell you what that is really like.

It is like a small child going to it’s father and saying, ‘Daddy, give me sixpence to buy you a birthday present.’ Of course, the father does, and he is pleased with the child’s present. It is all very nice and proper, but only an idiot would think that the father is sixpence to the good on the transaction. When a man has made these two discoveries God can really get to work. It is after this that real life begins. The man is awake now.”

C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) in Mere Christianity (New York: HarperCollins, 2001) 192.

“Instead of the tithes which the law commanded, the Lord said to divide everything we have with the poor. And he said to love not only our neighbors but also our enemies, and to be givers and sharers not only with the good but also to be liberal givers toward those who take away our possessions.”

Irenaeus of Lyons (130-202) in Against Heresies 4.13.3.

“You are not making a gift of your possessions to the poor person. You are handing over to him what is his. For what has been given in common for the use of all, you have arrogated to yourself. The world is given to all, and not only to the rich.”

St. Ambrose (330-397), archbishop of Milan, as cited by Thomas Aquinas in Summa Theologiae Vol. 38: Injustice (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006) 282.

“Jesus said [cf. Matthew 25:31-46] whatever you do to the least of these, my brothers, you’ve done it to me. And this is what I have come to think. That if I want to identify fully with Jesus Christ, who I claim to be my Savior and Lord, the best way that I can do that is to identify with the poor. This I know will go against the teachings of popular evangelical preachers. But they’re just wrong.”

Rich Mullins (1955-1997), from a concert clip quoted in The Right Church by Charles Gutenson (Nashville: Abingdon, 2012) 155.