tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326792094287325881.post364647584253504721..comments2023-10-20T07:44:46.583-05:00Comments on a long way from home: Minor Leagues of MammonEvan D. Garnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395940526434441825noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326792094287325881.post-32026164473893151132011-04-08T11:57:46.565-05:002011-04-08T11:57:46.565-05:00So it's not just a material competition. The m...So it's not just a material competition. The material world and the spiritual world intersect more than we might realize. Good point, John. Where does one stop? As Jim Burns, a Lenten speaker from two years ago, said, money is a spiritual issue. When we have it, we feel confident and powerful. When we don't, we feel weak and scared.Evan D. Garnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05395940526434441825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3326792094287325881.post-67803288111841167882011-04-07T06:45:36.558-05:002011-04-07T06:45:36.558-05:00Evan,
I'm with you 100% and appreciate the wa...Evan,<br /> I'm with you 100% and appreciate the wake-up call. I would offer that the trap really closes on us (perhaps fatally if we don't wake up!) when we start to think that our standing in the game stems from being "better" than than the rest of the competition. Even more damning (a word I chose precisely), that our relative position in the game is a reflection of God's favor on us because of our good works! (call it the pharisee syndrome). The warning to watch out for pride sounded for me most clearly when I first read C.S. Lewis. I struggle with it constantly. I do think some can take this too far by claiming that you have to be miserable to be a "good" Christian (Gnosticism??)but then maybe they are in the same trap as me, beating their chests about how they are "winning" the competition of piety . . . <br />- John<br />P.S. GREAT title!!John Chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13539368133500393750noreply@blogger.com