A reflection on conversations with my spiritual guides on 29 January 2007

Money.

Wealth is the main considerable challenge in our efforts to live out the life of the Kingdom. The human inclination towards possessiveness of our wealth and the fear of insufficiency are the things that provoke our deepest insecurities when we think we may be sacrificing a greater proportion than others are sacrificing in our community.

The Kingdom life can never take place in an absence of community, because the nature of God can be truly represented only within the dimension of community life. Any individualistic claims for a solely personal faith in God is at best a convincing counterfeit of authentic Christianity.

And yet, living in community challenges our deepest values which would have otherwise remained unconfronted if we had settled for a non-kingdomic life. It is relatively easy for a Christian to live a religious life which is centred around the church institution; how Christian we truly are in the deepest core of our being is tested only when we subject ourselves to community life beyond the church institution.

When we find ourselves giving to others who seem to have very little to offer in return, and such giving has to be sustained in the long run, that's when our true selves are revealed. It's easy to say "I trust in God" or "God is my Provider" when everything I have belongs to me. But when everything I have becomes vulnerably subject to the needs of the community, faith in God's providence is truly tested.

"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven". Because in heaven, no one claims anything to be his own possession - everything is shared in harmony and everyone lives for the happiness of the other. I'm not sure a rich man would even want to find himself there.

God or mammon - we can only serve one and hate the other.

Wealth and the Kingdom - to possess one, you must disown the other.