WORLD'S MATERIAL COMFORTS OR GOD'S MATERIAL COMFORTS
"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.' But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.' " [Luke 16:22-26]
In these passages we all see here the consequences of all selfishness. Insulated by all of those material comforts of life, this rich man had never ever taken inventory of his very deepests needs and sins. Because he was hardhearted and so very selfish, refusing to feed the beggar Lazarus, he was so consigned to hell. Lazarus, on the other hand, lacked the very basic needs and he had suffered very physcial pain in his lifetime, but he was prepard for eternity. Death proved to be the greated equalizer, effecting s reversal of fortune for these two people. THE ANSWER: God wants us to have the proper attitude toward money and possessions and to have us use them undelfishly to help others. Final Thought here: Jesus Christ has exposed a very wealthy young man's dependencies on all of his possessions. Jesus Christ brought him face to face with all human problems - misplaced Devotion. We don't know whether or not that this man ever repented of his own heavy attachments to his belonging's, but each of us is alway's faced with the same choice. Ony by renouncing our unhealhy, fulfilling relationships with first of all w ith God, then ourselves, then all other's. God will hold us all accountable for our sins (Eze.18:30); We should hold each other accountable (Luke.17:3,4);We are Accountable in what we believe(John. 3:17,18,19,God will examine our actions (2Cor.5:10); Armor for physical battles (1Sam. 17:38); Weapons cannot stop God's power ( Eze. 38:4); Spiritual armor prepares us for life (Ro.13:12);Righteousness is a spiritual weapon (2Cor.6:7);God's weapons conquerors Satan's strongholds (2Cor.10:4); Put on the Armor (Eph.6:11-18) Jesus Is the Highest Authority (Matt.28:18) ;Choose a postive attitude (Hab.3:17-19) Bad attitudes hurts our relationship with God (Gen.4:6,7); Bad attitudes leads to poor decisions (Num.14:1-4) ;God gives christian a new attitude (Hab.3:17-19) More Than Conquerors (Ro.8:37)Christians should always rejoice (Phil.4:4) i_amgodschild@yahoo.com.
