A Cocktail of Blessing and Judgment Part 1: When Christ Disciplines His Church:
“ You can tell what God thinks of money by the kind of people He gives it to! ” This is typical wit from the 19th Century Baptist preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon. We could probably say the same thing about fame, power, and many talents and abilities which enable people to get on in the world. The things by which we measure success frequently come at a great cost to character. As the old adage puts it “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. The pursuit of worldly riches often advances at a great expense to the soul. But not always. There are examples of people who have used their wealth and power sacrificially and with tremendous generosity for the benefit of others. There are also poor people who are bitter and selfish. So are wealth, power, and gifting a blessing or a curse? The truth of the matter is that there are no absolute blessings or absolute judgments in this world. Absolute blessing and absolute curse are reserved for eternity, for heaven and fo