From Tony Campolo in Ekkelsia, " a revelation in the midst of the economic collapse "...
As our economic system collapses, I am coming to realise for the first time in my life that Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount are the most sensible words ever spoken. He said:
No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today.
I must confess that I had previously thought these words were for the likes of saints such as St Francis or Mother Theresa. As I read these words, I understood why Darbyites, with their Scofield Reference Bible, tried to assign this way of life to some future dispensation as not viable for this present age. But now, as my retirement funds evaporate while the Stock Market plummets, I wish I had taken Jesus’ words seriously and “taken no thought for the future” as to what I would eat and how I would live. Living more by faith and trusting less in Mammon now seems like the wisest course of action and the one I should have taken.
I increasingly feel a regretful kinship to that man I read about in the Bible, who built a barn and filled it with those things that would provide for his retirement (Luke 12.16-20). He then reflects, perhaps in light of inflation, that he ought to tear down that barn and build a bigger barn to provide even more security for his future. As he is about to launch into a life of leisure, the Lord says, “Thou fool.” Having worked hard to set up 401Ks and IRAs, I can hear the Lord saying the same thing to me as I watch these funds evaporating daily. Over the years, I thought I had been a generous giver to the poor. Now I wish I had given far more.
