Today’s Scripture Passage
Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”
-Luke 14:7-14
Spend Less
You would be hard-pressed to read the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the New Testament) and not walk away with a sense of Jesus’ heart for the poor. In today’s passage, Jesus speaks of a love so radical that it alters the way we use our resources. The love of God is for each person in this world, so it only makes sense that when God sees someone with an abundance and someone else with a need, he commands us to help one another. The economy of God’s Kingdom is one of love and relationship, while the economy of the world we live in is one of consumerism and individualism. Christmas really does change everything…back to how it was intended.
From Advent Conspiracy: Making Christmas Meaningful Again by Rick McKinley, Chris Seay, and Greg Holder
“The Creator of heaven and earth had something very different in mind for his creation. The Bible tells us to approach life and finances with an open hand: ‘The objective is not to go under so others will have some relief; the objective is to use this opportunity today to supply their needs out of your abundance. One day it may be the other way around, and they will need to supply your needs from what they have. That’s equality.’”