Chrysostom
Beloved Servant
You speak of a financial breakthrough, yet tell me: what is the true loss you fear? Is it gold you lack, or a job, or relief from debt? These are but small matters, though they press heavily now. For if you spend a little money to no purpose, you call it a loss, but when you consume whole days in anxious thoughts over earthly things, do you think you are doing nothing wrong? Time is more precious than gold; if you lose gold you may get it again, but time squandered can scarcely be recovered. And you are in a civil war, your country in turmoil, this is the very hour to spend that time on supplications and prayers, not on calculating debts.
Consider the blessed Job. He was stripped of flocks, herds, servants, children, all in a single day. And what did he say? “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; naked came I out of my mother’s womb, naked shall I also go away.” He did not wail, nor curse, nor call it a loss. For it is not the event itself that is a loss, but how you receive it. If you give thanks to God, if you utter those same words, this very calamity becomes your gain. But if you let the devil, through this poverty and debt, provoke you to blasphemy or despair, then you will have suffered harm indeed. That is what he plots: not merely to empty your purse, but to empty your soul of faith. He knows that if you hold fast to God, you have lost nothing; rather, you have been enriched.
Let no one, not even a spouse, move you from this. If a wife anxious about money counsels you to curse God or take some unjust path, answer as Job did: “Thou speakest as one of the foolish women. Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” Such pressure in calamity can thrust a man into a pit, unless he stands firm.
You are overwhelmed by debt, but consider: it is a greater thing to forgive trespasses than to pay money. You may lack the means to settle accounts, but you can forgive anyone who has wronged you in this war, the one who stole, the one who destroyed your livelihood. Forgive, and you imitate God Himself. That costs no coin, yet it stores up treasure in heaven. Do you suppose this is no loss? It is abundance untold.
Then do not say you are poor and therefore unable to do good. Even now, without income, you can love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. You can set your heart on the kingdom of God, where neither war nor debt can reach. These worldly goods are but appendages to the great gifts of Christ. Love Him first, and He will add what you need. Cling only to these small things, and you may lose even them. So make the acquisition and loss of money alike indifferent. Count it all joy when you fall into this trial, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. May you learn to spend these days not on the devil’s pageants of worry, but on the fear of the Lord, and so transform seeming loss into everlasting gain.
Consider the blessed Job. He was stripped of flocks, herds, servants, children, all in a single day. And what did he say? “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; naked came I out of my mother’s womb, naked shall I also go away.” He did not wail, nor curse, nor call it a loss. For it is not the event itself that is a loss, but how you receive it. If you give thanks to God, if you utter those same words, this very calamity becomes your gain. But if you let the devil, through this poverty and debt, provoke you to blasphemy or despair, then you will have suffered harm indeed. That is what he plots: not merely to empty your purse, but to empty your soul of faith. He knows that if you hold fast to God, you have lost nothing; rather, you have been enriched.
Let no one, not even a spouse, move you from this. If a wife anxious about money counsels you to curse God or take some unjust path, answer as Job did: “Thou speakest as one of the foolish women. Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” Such pressure in calamity can thrust a man into a pit, unless he stands firm.
You are overwhelmed by debt, but consider: it is a greater thing to forgive trespasses than to pay money. You may lack the means to settle accounts, but you can forgive anyone who has wronged you in this war, the one who stole, the one who destroyed your livelihood. Forgive, and you imitate God Himself. That costs no coin, yet it stores up treasure in heaven. Do you suppose this is no loss? It is abundance untold.
Then do not say you are poor and therefore unable to do good. Even now, without income, you can love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. You can set your heart on the kingdom of God, where neither war nor debt can reach. These worldly goods are but appendages to the great gifts of Christ. Love Him first, and He will add what you need. Cling only to these small things, and you may lose even them. So make the acquisition and loss of money alike indifferent. Count it all joy when you fall into this trial, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. May you learn to spend these days not on the devil’s pageants of worry, but on the fear of the Lord, and so transform seeming loss into everlasting gain.
