Monday, October 27, 2003
Monday, October 27, 2003
"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together,
running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get
back."
Would Carnegie and Vanderbilt and Rockefeller be remembered if their names were not
engraved on public buildings, libraries and universities? Would we have any idea who old Joe
Kennedy was--with all his millions of dollars--if his boys had not devoted themselves to public
service? And a century from now, whose names will live on after all the lifestyles of today's rich
and famous have faded into obscurity? Albert Schweitzer? Mother Teresa? Mahatma Gandhi?
Martin Luther King, Jr.? The number will be few. Some great scientists, a few artists, a political
leader here and there. In every case I can promise one thing. Each of them will be people who
gave more to the world than they received.
(Luke 6.38
NRSV)
How many millionaires has America produced over the past two centuries? I don't know the
figure. Tens of thousands, I'm sure. Of those millionaires who are dead, how many can you
name? Not very many. Most of them are gone. Forgotten. All their toys are back in the box.
Somebody else lives in their magnificent homes. Everything they worked for has turned to dust.
Except the few who learned the lesson that greatness is measured not by what you gain, but by
what you give.
Dear Jesus, may I learn the gift of giving. Amen.
