Bruce Carriker
10th December 2005, 03:00 PM (15:00)
As we consider...or have already considered...what we can "afford" to spend this Christmas, let us be informed by our theological forefather, John Wesley:
"Perhaps you say you can now afford the expense. This is the quintessence of nonsense. Who gave you this addition to your fortune, or to speak properly, lent it to you? To speak more properly still, who lodged it for a time in your hands as stewards, informing you at the same time for what purposes he entrusted you with it? And can you afford to waste the Lord's goods?...Away with this vile, diabolical cant!...This affording to rob God is the very cant of hell. Do not you know that God entrusted you with that money (all above what buys necessaries for your families) to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to help the stranger, the widow, the fatherless; and indeed, as far as it will go, to relieve the wants of all mankind?"
My wish for all of you this Advent season is that God's church will become as immersed in the preparation for the arrival of God's son, as we are in the preparation for the arrival of Santa Claus. Maybe we can't help it. Maybe we're just products of the culture in which we exist. Or maybe, with God's help, we can rise above it.
"Perhaps you say you can now afford the expense. This is the quintessence of nonsense. Who gave you this addition to your fortune, or to speak properly, lent it to you? To speak more properly still, who lodged it for a time in your hands as stewards, informing you at the same time for what purposes he entrusted you with it? And can you afford to waste the Lord's goods?...Away with this vile, diabolical cant!...This affording to rob God is the very cant of hell. Do not you know that God entrusted you with that money (all above what buys necessaries for your families) to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to help the stranger, the widow, the fatherless; and indeed, as far as it will go, to relieve the wants of all mankind?"
My wish for all of you this Advent season is that God's church will become as immersed in the preparation for the arrival of God's son, as we are in the preparation for the arrival of Santa Claus. Maybe we can't help it. Maybe we're just products of the culture in which we exist. Or maybe, with God's help, we can rise above it.