Balances
If you were to get a statement from your spiritual bank account, what would it show?
As water extinguishes a blazing fire, so almsgiving atones for sin. Those who repay favors give thought to the future; when they fall they will find support. - Ecclesiasticus 3:30-31
Today's reading from Ecclesiasticus talks about building up our treasures in heaven by giving to those in need here on earth.
Jesus says the same thing to his followers, and in a way, it is sounds like it is not about helping others out of love for them, but helping ourselves.
But maybe that is how we want to hear it, because deep down, we care about us first.
Yet just as it feels good to see your bank balance grow from month to month, doing good for others has the same effect. The more we do, the better we feel, and in time, it becomes a habit.
It becomes our ministry.
For many, though, the idea of a ministry can be off-putting, so consider your good works as investments in the future instead.
At some time in the future we may need to draw on that balance, to pay down a debt of transgression or to work off a judgment.
Maybe though, imagining such a bank statement may make us less likely to want to draw it down. If we like seeing our balances rise, we may choose to stay the course and not go where trouble may lead, thus saving up for another time.
The wisdom here is brilliant.
Unfortunately, it is based on the principle of saving up to spend later, something we rarely do anymore. We tend to buy on credit, so we pay later for what we do now.
But if we could go back to saving up before buying, we might just change the world for the better.
We would offer our help before we need help ourselves, and then al of us would have a positive balance in our accounts.
How cool would that be?
We might just never need to draw down.
More to come...