My Grace Is Sufficient
[B]ut he said to me,
"My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness."
I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of
Christ may dwell with me. Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships,
persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then
I am strong. 2 COR 12:9-10
“But seek first the Kingdom
of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. Do
not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a
day is its own evil." Matthew 6:33-34
Piety
If I were a rich man,
Yubby dibby dibby dibby dibby
dibby dibby dum.
All day long I'd biddy biddy
bum.
If I were a wealthy man.
I wouldn't have to work hard.
Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba
bubba deedle deedle dum.
If I were a biddy biddy rich,
Idle-diddle-daidle-daidle man.
I'd build a big tall house with
rooms by the dozen,
Right in the middle of the
town.
A fine tin roof with real
wooden floors below.
There would be one long
staircase just going up,
And one even longer coming
down,
And one more leading nowhere,
just for show.
Study
As I inch closer to completing
my 62nd revolution around the sun, thoughts turn more to retirement
planning than to worry about the next restricting at the office. Have we saved enough? What will we do for healthcare? Where will we
live?
Years ago, we worried about saving
for the college educations of our daughters.
Or paying off the car loan or refinancing the mortgage at a lower rate
to save money. Or shopping at Costco to make the grocery bills go further.
Yet today, we are warned not to
worry about such things. This is like that part of the Gospel where Christ warns
the rich man that he has to give up everything he owns for the Gospel.
Yikes! I even know retired priests who
have retirement homes near the beach.
These are – for me – some of
the hardest passages of the Gospel to comprehend. It’s not like we can all run
away and live our retirement in a monastery or convent.
As Tevye says: You
made many, many poor people. I realize,
of course, it’s no shame to be poor. But it’s no great honor either. So, what
would have been so terrible if I had a small fortune?
Action
Most Americans
vastly underestimate how rich they are compared with the rest of the world. After
adjusting for cost-of-living differences, a typical American still earns an
income that is 10 times the income received by the typical person in the world.[i]
According to the research done
for the above reference, the average U.S. resident estimated that the global
median individual income is about $20,000 a year. In fact, the real answer is
about a tenth of that figure: roughly $2,100 per year. Similarly, Americans
typically place themselves in the top 37 percent of the world’s income
distribution. However, the vast majority of U.S. residents rank comfortably in
the top 10 percent.
In light of facts like these,
it makes it a little easier to contemplate a future without money woes here
than if living at an average salary somewhere else around the world.
However, we also need to square our financial performance with the Gospel and develop a sense of justice with what we do with our vast fortunes. Even today, the average sermon
only touches on money when the pastor or bishop is making a pitch for the
Bishop’s Lenten Appeal or some other need of the church. We skip over the broader implications of today’s
Gospel.
How can we more fully rely upon
God and His sufficient grace and less on the Social Security Administration or Vanguard or Bank of
America or Wall Street?
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