Nov 14 Sat
Does Jesus really expect his followers to be broke?
To follow Christ, one must have a soul free from shackles, especially from the love of oneself and excessive concern for health, the future, riches, and material possessions.
In his travels through cities and small villages, Jesus asked some individuals, in particular, to renounce everything completely so He could use them more fully.
He did so with the apostles, and the rich young man. And He has done the same over the course of centuries with many others who would find their treasure and riches in him. Christ requires of all who seek to follow him an effective detachment from self and from all that the individual owns and uses. If this detachment is real, it will show itself in many facets of ordinary life.
Since God's world is so good, our hearts can get a bit too attached to things and creatures. But the Lord promises a great joy that comes with spiritual poverty and not being tied down by possessions.
The poverty that the Lord asks for is a state of soul in which a person's treasure is in God, using other things merely as means.
Christians have to be “poor” in this life, even when they have many possessions, because their treasure has to be in the Lord. Human resources are just tools, playing a secondary role. The amazing prize Christians have found is Jesus Christ, who teaches us to share what we have with others.
Rather than a social condition, this poverty is the expression of a religious attitude of being devoid of means and being humble before God. You are poor when you turn to God to be saved, not because you deserve it, but by trusting only in his mercy. This requires real detachment from material possessions and frugality in making use of them.
The religious concept of poverty already had a long-standing tradition in the Old Testament. It clearly echoes throughout Revelation.
In the early books of Sacred Scripture, there seems to be an exaltation of material things as a gift from God. Poverty and shortages are seen as evil, a punishment. But with the unfolding revelation, the relative value of the presence and absence of possessions emerges more and more clearly. It is understood with ever greater clarity that although the things of this world may be good in themselves, they can lead us to forget God due to excessive reliance on them and the sense of self-sufficiency to which they give rise.
Furthermore, to truly live frugally, a follower of Christ needs to willingly embrace and even seek out conditions of poverty, not because they have to, but because they want to. You're not "poor in spirit" just because you're having money troubles or tough social circumstances; you are so only if you also choose to accept that poverty. The poverty Jesus asks for goes beyond just not having money. It might also mean a lack of health or feeling lonely or misunderstood.
Jesus also had rich friends, yet they found their real riches in Him, had their hearts detached from material goods, and they were generous when sharing them with others.