{{2009_09_02_t1.jpg}} {{2009_09_02_t2.jpg}} {{2009_09_02_t3.jpg}} [[http://www.jesusnetwork.eu/de/doku.php/jn_de_2009_09_02|Deutsche Version]] [[Start|| Wiki Start]] [[topics_collection_i|| Topics Collection i ]] ======Wealth and Poverty II - Valuable Things ...====== Wednesday, Sept 2, 2009. We talk about wealth and poverty this week. It is an important topic in the bible. Jesus is bringing several images about value, about wealth and poverty. There is for example the story of the man who found a very precious bead in a field. He sold all his possessions and bought the field to get the precious bead. It is a story about God's kingdom. Let us trace value today, in particular the value of God's kingdom. Why is it so valuable? Why is it more valuable than anything we could own on this planet? {{2009_09_02.jpg }} We need to talk a little bit more about what faith means and what God's kingdom means. Some people think that faith means to accept some facts, and that's all. Others think that faith is following some ideals, that faith is about ethics. In this conception a Christian would be someone who thinks that there is a God, then he acts in a particular way following the ethics of Christianity. Let's call this the "ethical approach to faith". What is the value of this type of belief? If this person gets the christian ethics right, then there is of course a lot of value. It is good to act in a good way - christian ethics is much more than a set of stupid rules. It is about truth, about reliability, about help and solidarity, about love, understanding and dedication. If you are treated fairly, thats good for you. If you are understood, loved, helped, that is all very good for you! So the ethical approach generates value for many people. And it also generates value for the person who acts. But christian faith is much more than ethics. Christian faith is about the living God. God is there as "the father", the eternal creator. He is there as "the son" Jesus. And God is there as the Holy Spirit. Faith means that we start a relation to God. Faith means that we start to interact with him, with his spirit, with his power, with his presence. Faith means that we start to live with him. It is like a new friend, like a new love, someone who fascinates us strongly. Love is always a value by itself. Love is the depth of a relation, it is the melting of two spirits. Many things happen in us and with us if we are in love. When we start to fall in love with God, it is even more intense and miraculous than love to a human partner. God's possibilities are so much larger than humans are. "God is love" writes the apostle John. Due to him meeting "love" in its inner core and meeting God is the same. It is an immersion into something new. That is why the New Testament speaks of the transformation of faith, it speaks of a new birth, the change of our existence. Who has experienced love knows what I am talking about. Love is just so great that it surpasses all other valuable things we have. People who love are willing to pay millions. People who love are willing to walk long miles. People who love are truely blessed. There is even more to say to all of this. Assume that God would be there, but without power. Assume that he would not be eternal. We could still love him. His character might be the same. We would be as fascinated by him as we are now. Jesus way to treat people has not been linked to power (except for the fact that he carried out wonders). But now we have the fact that God IS the eternal creator. He is the most powerful being we can ever imagine. Everything is possible to him. He is the future! He is hope. "His grace is new every morning" says the Psalm writer. If we talk about value, what could be more valuable than hope, than new possibilities. The power to overcome total destruction. The power to find water in the desert. The power to let strong walls fall under the sound of some trumpets. The possibilities and the hope of God is so full of value, how could we live without this, how could we stay bounded in the limits of a pure worldly view and life? The true realism is the realism of hope. There is not much value in the realism of death and destruction. We will continue tracing value. We will continue to talk about wealth and poverty, exploring the kingdom of God more over the next days. [R.W.E.P., jesusnetwork.eu] {{ 2009_09_02_2.jpg}} [[http://www.jesusnetwork.eu/en/doku.php/topics_collection_i|... more texts]]