Revelation 3:17-18
For you say, ‘I am rich and affluent and have no need of anything,’ and yet do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich, and white garments to put on so that your shameful nakedness may not be exposed, and buy ointment to smear on your eyes so that you may see.

Those who are wealthy are not bad people because of their wealth. The question is…what is their top priority? Our first motivation must be to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves. But wealth does make this challenging. It’s easy for wealth to blind us to the needs of the poor and make it appear that we are doing just fine without God as well. The book of Revelation is rich in symbolism. The writer says we all need God’s grace and spiritual healing…so that we can see as God sees. God scolds us to change our ways as a parent whose motive is love. God wants to save us…not punish us. God wants us to experience the wholeness of living as our true selves. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says: “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.” Jesus showed us how to “die to ourselves”…to let go of our ego’s desires. He showed us that such dying always leads to new life. How am I lost? What “affluence” is blinding me to those in need of my compassion? How is this blocking me from living as my true self? Like gold from a refiner’s fire…it sometimes takes an experience of suffering before we are able to drop our attachments to things that don’t matter…so that we can attend to the things that do.

Suggested song of the day– “Come to Jesus” on the Live to Love album.
Hear free clips of Bill’s songs by clicking on Bill Tonnis’ Music on iTunes to the right.
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Remember…God loves you!