Christian Reflection and Prayer

"When a man has had a great deal given him, a
great deal will be demanded of him; when a man
has had a great deal given him on trust, even more
will be expected of him" (Luke 12:48).

There is a short story in which a self-centered old
man dreams that he died and went to hell. In the
midst of his anguish, he looks heavenward and
cries out for a second chance. A voice from above
asks him what he had done in his earthly life to
merit a second chance. After much soul-searching,
all the man can remember is that while walking in
the woods one day, he saw a spider and did not kill
it. At once, the thin, silvery thread of a spider web
is lowered to within his reach. He eagerly grabs hold
of the thread, and it begins to rise and lift him out of
his misery. Whereupon, two of his fellow prisoners
grab onto his feet, hoping to escape. Fearing that the
thread will break, the man cries out, "Let go! Let go!"
-- whereupon the thread breaks, and all three fall back
into hell. And the self-centered old man realizes that
although the thread was strong enough to lift all
together, it could not bear the burden of a selfish soul.

Again and again in the Gospels, Jesus speaks of our
fulfillment in terms of unselfishness and other
centeredness. "My Kingdom is not of this world,"
Jesus said. This means that the Kingdom of Christ is
not established like other kingdoms. Christ's Kingdom
does not rest upon constitutions and edicts and guns
and terror, nor even upon some vague "social contract."
No, Christ's Kingdom is established upon a covenant of
love. "This is My commandment," Jesus says, "that
you love one another as I have loved you."

(excerpts from The Staff and editors of Sunday
Sermons Online)

(Note= It has been said that we live in a time that holds
the happiness of the individual paramount. That is to say,
we live in the times of "What's in it for me?" We live in
the times of "Will it pay off?"
People weigh the cost. People weigh the efficiency.
People weigh the end-product. People calculate. People
are preoccupied with money as the end-result)