by St. John of Kronstadt.
Many
Christians experience times of need and material hardship
throughout their life. It can be said that the majority of
true Christians do not possess a great surplus of material
goods - they should not even have them. The Lord has
commanded us: “Sell that ye have and give alms” (Luke 12:33).
Thus Christians should act according to the words of the
prophet King David: “He has given away to the poor; his
truth remains unto the ages.”
The Lord usually refrains from showering His
servants with riches which pose danger for them (“a rich man
shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven”). Apostle Paul
writes to Timothy: “And having food and raiment let us be
therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into
temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful
lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.”
As St. John of Kronstadt says: “God could have
made everyone well-off, even wealthy, but then most people
would have fallen away from God, and pride, envy and other
sins would have increased. If God had made you a saint, you
would have thought highly of yourself. But in the same way
that sin humbles you, showing you your great frailty,
iniquity and constant need of God and His grace, so a poor
man is humbled by his poverty and need of other people. If
beggars were to be made rich, many of them would forget God
and their benefactors, would lose their souls amid the
luxuries of this world. So destructive is wealth and so it
blinds the spiritual eyes. It makes the heart coarse and
thankless.”
