Grace Notes 2024-10-23
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.
C.S. Lewis writes of this general law in his essay entitled “First and Second Things.” He describes it in the following manner. “Every preference of a small good to a great, or a partial to a total good, involves the loss of the small or partial for which the sacrifice was made.” So, what does that leave you!
The love of money is a prime example. Earthly wealth is small potatoes compared to heavenly riches. And when we crave wealth, it becomes an idol. An idol is a false god. Now it is not the only idol, but it certainly is one of the most common of the idols. When our chief aim is to become rich and enjoy wealth, it is almost certain that it won’t make us happy. When goods increase, our appetite for more goods increases faster. So, we will not only not enjoy wealth in this life, but when we die, we will leave it all behind. Every bit of it!
In our pursuit of wealth, our devotion to God will necessarily be compromised. There is only one object worthy of our wholehearted devotion. And that is the Lord our God who is worthy of our worship, and whose promises are full and true.
When money is handled as a tool and our use of it reflects our love of God and our neighbor, as an added bonus we may very well enjoy some slight and momentary pleasure as our temporal needs are met. It is all a matter of having the right priorities.
Since You Asked…
Why Is the Pastor Using cruets to both fill the Communion Chalice and then to cleanse it afterward?
You may have noticed the Pastor using a little water from a cruet poured into the chalice, swirled around to mix with the remaining drops of wine, and consumed by the Pastor at the conclusion of administering Holy Communion. This is one way to reverently handle the remaining communion element of the cup. And there is a practical benefit. The longer wine sits in precious metal vessels, the more it begins pitting the surface. By adding wine when needed to the chalice, and then consuming soon after the slight remains with a little water, the metal is preserved.