Does anyone here really believe that the rich and the famous live happier lives than all the rest? Have you looked at some of their lives? Indeed, the wealthy can chase after every worldly pleasure. They can afford every bodily comfort. They can travel to exotic places. They can showcase and be ostentatious with all their possessions. And they sure look happy when they are interviewed or captured in photos. But not everyone who is rich and famous is happy. I think you know that. And you can run into some surprisingly happy people that are impoverished, face lots of hardships, and have been ignored by polite company. But that the rich and famous aren’t necessarily happy, don’t take my word for it. Take it from the testimony of one of the wealthiest and best-known men of his day…
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Grace Notes 2024-10-30In Wisconsin we are in the midst of voting. We are doing so in a contentious climate with elevated levels of polarity. The rhetoric is overheated. “This is the most consequential election of your life.” “The survival of the republic is at stake.” And on and on it goes.
Jesus taught in His Sermon on the Mount, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Mt 6:33). This admonition is in keeping with the First Commandment “You shall have no other gods.” And it is in keeping with a universal principle, namely, that in desiring a lesser good inordinately you will only forfeit that good while thereby excluding yourself from a greater good.
As Lutheran we speak of the “means of grace.” And this refers to how, or in what manner, the saving Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ comes to us. The benefits of what Christ accomplished on the Cross come to us and can claim and sustain us onto life eternal. We do well to pay attention to what these means are, and then make sure we are on the receiving end!