What do these topics have in common?
Give up?
“Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 24:45-51 (NKJV).
This story of the unfaithful servant was the subject of our August 17 home vespers. Our leading questions for this study were: Why did the evil servant behave as he did? Is his behavior suggestive of complacent Christians today who may not, in a literal sense, beat up their fellow Christians or hang out at bars or taverns?
“We all tend to be infatuated with the idea of strength — but we fail to realize that all true strength is grounded in humility. We still relegate humility to the pale ranks of passive virtues and ornamental graces, whereas, in its legitimate development, it is a stout and soldierly quality. Humility, indeed, is simply a sense of reality and proportion. It is grounded upon a knowledge of the truth about ourselves and about God. ‘The reason why God is so great a lover of humility,’ says St. Vincent de Paul, ‘is because He is the great Lover of truth. Now humility is nothing but truth, whilst pride is nothing but lying.’”
E. Herman, quoted by Elisabeth Elliot, The Mark of a Man
Tonight in our home vespers we were discussing the Beatitudes. Later I ran across this statement, and liked how the author amplified the words of Matthew 5:3-5:
Christ’s Sermon on the Mount declares who are the truly blessed: “Blessed are the poor in spirit [those who are not self-exalted, but candid, and of a humble disposition, not too proud to be taught, not vain and ambitious for the honors of the world]: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn [those who are penitential, submissive, and who grieve over their failures and errors because the Spirit of God is grieved]: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek [those who are gentle and forgiving, who, when reviled, will not revile again, but who manifest a teachable spirit, and do not hold themselves in high esteem]: for they shall inherit the earth.” Those who possess the qualifications here enumerated will not only be blessed of God here in this life, but will be crowned with glory, honor, and immortality in His kingdom.
Our group was small in number tonight: only five. But we had a great discussion, covering a number of related areas.
One member shared how she worked herself into a frenzy trying to save money. She needed to buy a car. Finally she realized God wanted her to turn to Him — and that meant she was to stop working slavishly, and trust God to provide. She did, and before long she was able to buy a car. Moreover, it was a car she ordinarily wouldn’t have considered because of its price. The question was then raised, What does that story imply about how we ought to approach problems? Should be try to solve a problem first on our own, and if that doesn’t work, turn to God? Or should be just ask God from the start to work out the details, and not concern ourselves with it further?