Jesus Christ and all the writers of the New Testament call us to break free of mammon lust and live in joyous trust...They point us toward a way of living in which everything we have we receive as a gift, and everything we have is cared for by God, and everything we have is available to others when it is right and good. This reality frames the heart of Christian simplicity. It is the means of liberation and power to do what is right and to overcome the forces of fear and avarice.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of living simply and generously, trusting in God rather than material wealth.
In this quote, Richard J. Foster reflects on the teachings of Jesus and the New Testament regarding the relationship between material possessions and spiritual freedom. He advocates for a lifestyle of Christian simplicity, suggesting that true liberation comes from recognizing everything as a gift from God, which fosters generosity and a release from the fear of scarcity. This perspective encourages individuals to overcome greed and fear, nurturing a trust that allows one to live in harmony with others and the divine principle of sharing.
In practice
In a speech about charitable giving, one might use this quote to emphasize the joy of sharing.
Go another step. Try to live one entire day without words at all. Do it not as a law, but as an experiment. Note your feelings of helplessness and excessive dependence upon words to communicate. Try to find new ways to relate to tohers that are not dependent upon words. Enjoy, savor the day. Learn from it.
Love, not anger, brought Jesus to the cross. Golgotha came as a result of God's great desire to forgive, not his reluctance. Jesus knew that by his vicarious suffering he could actually absorb all the evil of humanity and so heal it, forgive it, redeem it.
Humility, as we all know, is one of those virtues that is never gained by seeking it. The more we pursue it the more distant it becomes. To think we have it is sure evidence that we don't.
When we determine to dwell on the good and excellent things in life, we will be so full of those things that they will tend to swallow our problems.
The Spiritual Disciplines are things that we do. We must never lose sight of this fact. It is one thing to talk piously about 'the solitude of the heart,' but if that does not somehow work its way into our experience, then we have missed the point of the Disciplines. We are dealing with actions, not merely states of mind.
Each activity of daily life in which we stretch ourselves on behalf of others is a prayer in action.
Although modesty is natural to man, it is not natural to children. Modesty only begins with the knowledge of evil.
A night of endless dreams, inconsequent and wild, is this my life; none more worth telling than the rest.
Dangerous acts can be done safely in a community which thinks and feels rightly, which would be the way to hell if they were executed by those who think and feel wrongly.
There is a Passion natural to the Mind of man, especially a free Man, which renders him impatient of Restraint.
Property is surely a right of mankind as real as liberty.
It is often in the name of cultural integrity as well as social stability and national security that democratic reforms based on human rights are resisted by authoritarian governments.
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