8月4日 提防贪欲 Guard Against Greed

8月4日

提防贪欲

Guard Against Greed

你们不能又事奉神，又事奉玛门（“玛门”是“财利”的意思）。

——马太福音6:24

You cannot serve two masters: God and money.

—Matthew 6:24 (TLB)

告诉我你是怎么看待金钱的，我就会告诉你你是怎么看待神的，因为这两者是密切相关的。一个人的心比任何东西都贴近他的钱包。一个惊人的事实是，在过去的几年里，人们花在奢侈品和非必需品上的钱是他们花在所有慈善和宗教事业上的十倍。这是一个对我们空洞肤浅的宗教信仰的注解。

虽然圣经警告我们不要贪婪和自私，但却鼓励勤俭节约。即使是耶稣，在喂饱众人之后也对门徒说：“把剩下的零碎收拾起来，免得有糟蹋的。”尽管我们的主有创造的能力，他自己却过着节俭、毫无奢侈的生活。约翰·卫斯理有个关于金钱的哲学三段论。他说：“尽你所能去挣钱，尽你所能去节省，尽你所能去捐献。”我们大多数人都尽己所能去挣钱，尽己所能去花钱，尽己所能去借钱，献给神的却如此微薄。

Tell me what you think about money, and I will tell you what you think about God, for these two are closely related. A man’s heart is closer to his wallet than anything else. It is a staggering fact that for the past few years people have spent ten times as much for luxuries and non-essentials as they have for all charitable and religious purposes. This is a commentary on our shallow and superficial religious faith.

While the Bible warns us against greed and selfishness, it does encourage frugality and thrift. Even Jesus said to His disciples after He fed the multitude, “Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.” Although our Lord had the power to create, He Himself lived frugally and without luxury. John Wesley had a threefold philosophy about money. He said, “Make all you can; keep all you can; and give all you can.” Most of us get all we can, spend all we can; borrow all we can; and give meagerly to God.

今日祷告

主啊，赐予我一颗慷慨的心，好让别人知道你的爱和怜悯！

Prayer for the day

Lord, give me a generous heart so that others may know Your love and compassion.