Scripture

But woe to you who are rich, for you have already recieved your comfort.

~Luke 6:24

Quote

The blessing is not in the condition {poverty or wealth} but in the Kingdom.

~Dallas Willard

Currently, I am preaching through the Beattitudes. Lord willing, I will be on the persecuted Sunday morning and the peacemakers Sunday light. One of my resources is Dallas Willard. He points out that Luke’s gospel has four beatitudes and four woe be’s, or in the NIV “woe to’s.” He said something that I questioned at first: the blessing is not in the condition but in the kingdom and I would say Jesus primarily, because He is the King of the kingdom. Let me explain: there is no blessing in being wealthy, but neither is there a blessing in poverty. The blessing is not in the condition. There is no sin in being rich; the sin is to trust in riches. Woe to those who do. Despite what the Benedictine Monks believe, there is no blessing in poverty either. The blessing would be poverty for Jesus sake, but never poverty itself.

Tevye, the Jewish milkman in Fiddler On The Roof said, “LORD, you must love poor people because You made so many of us.” Most believers are not rich. Understand that I am rich compared to the third world citizens but compared to others here in the States, I am definitely not rich. But happiness, that blessed state of hopeful joy, is not in the condition. Neither poverty or wealth can make you happy: only Jesus can make you truly happy. Never let your happiness depend on something you can lose and wealth can be lost quickly.

Extra

You have to love this weather. This week will probably zoom by as has the entire year. Can you believe we are on the brink of the 2nd quarter. Unbelievable! Easter is right around the corner. Trying to get some lose ends tied up: the strong wind in the storms a week ago blew a tree down on the barn where I park my tractor. We removed the tree yesterday but I have some damage that has to be repaired soon or the shed is going to fall in. All I really want to do is stay in the office or work in the yard, but there are some things that have to be done; if you know what I mean

Lord willing I am going with Michael and Wendy to the Alabama baseball game at Toyato Field tonight. I’m going to be in a shy-box with free food. Michael told me to lay off the snacks. Hard to do!

Have a great day and thanks for reading the blog.

Extra/Extra

In reading Weymouth, I’ve come across some strange English words that I have never heard or don’t remember: some of them you may guess but I had to look them all up.

• Dilatoriness
• Plethorg
• Aridity
• Ethicist
• Enervate
• Antinomy
• Tautology
• Provenance
• Culmuny
• Succoured
• Caprice
• Abeyance

If you knew them all, I would say you are a genius!