
The real issue is not whether you’re poor or rich, hungry or full, weeping or laughing, reviled or respected. The real issue is what both the prophet and the psalmist have pointed to: What do you love and trust above all else? If it is God, you’re happy, regardless of your circumstances. If it’s mere mortals, yourself, or the things of this world, you’re cursed, perishing, and woeful, regardless of your circumstances. You may not know it now, but there will come a day of reckoning, a day when the mere mortals fail you, when you fail yourself, and when the things of the world fail you. And, then, woe to you. You have reaped what you have sown.
The circumstances of life change, but the love, mercy, and compassion of God are eternal. We have already been blessed in Christ with every spiritual blessing. Let us, then, entrust our lives to God, conform our lives to God’s values, and depend on God as we face life’s challenges, so that we may be like trees planted by streams of water, our leaves green and supple, our fruit ripe and juicy, and our branches waving in the breeze with holy happiness. Amen.
FULL SERMON HERE