SUNDAY, August 1 10 Pentecost

Read our Editor's note from the August/September/October 2010 print issue of Forward Day by Day here.

Luke 12:13-21. For one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.

It has always been easy to make the mistake of supposing that a man’s life consisted in the abundance of the things he possessed, because to tell how much his possessions were worth was the easiest way for other people to judge him. It was a simple standard by which his fellows could estimate him. So in most ages of the world’s history, including our own, the things a man owned have been taken to be the most significant fact concerning him, for they determine whether he shall be comfortable, prosperous, envied, and influential, or just the opposite. Hence the ordinary answer to the familiar question “How much is he worth?” is “About half a million,” or whatever the amount may be.

But Jesus points out that you cannot estimate personality in terms of quantity. A human soul is not to be assessed in terms of dollars and cents or of lands and acres. A person’s life—the true inner self—the soul and heart of a person, is all that counts in the long run, and that can be judged only in terms of quality. The first question and the true question is not “How much?” but “Of what sort?” Not “What does he own outside himself?” but “What is he like inside himself?” (1955)

PRAY for The Scottish Episcopal Church and the Diocese of St. Andrew’s Dunkeld and Dunblane

Ps 107:1-9, 43 and Hosea 11:1-11 –OR– Ps 49:1-11 and Ecclesiastes 1:2,12-14; 2:18-23; Colossians 3:1-11

View the daily Lectionary Readings at Satucket.com.
Or view the Bible passages at Biblegateway.com.

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