“Honor and dishonor, praise and blame, are alike our lot: we are the impostors who speak the truth, the unknown ones whom all know; dying we still live on; disciplined by suffering, we are not done to death; in our sorrows we have always cause for joy; poor ourselves, we bring wealth to many; penniless, we own the world.” II Corinthians 6:8-10 REB

During one of my more impoverished years, I was living in an apartment building and having car trouble. I’d asked a neighbor, who knew far more about cars than I did, for help.

He quickly concluded my battery cables needed to be cleaned, and was working on it, when I started complaining about being poor. I was going through a difficult time, and without the help of people in my church, it would have been even more difficult.

In the midst of my litany of woes, my neighbor paused, looked up at me and said, “You’re not poor, you have the Lord.”

Paul writing to the people of Corinth, relating both hardships and joy of his ministry, ends his thought by saying, “Penniless, we own the world. “

I wish I could say, that I’ve always looked at my life in a similar manner.  Yet what a precious gift it is to be embraced by the love of God.  It is God’s sustaining love that gets us through hard places, and challenges us to live our lives in holy and righteous ways.

My neighbor was right, “To have the Lord,” is to be enriched. To know God’s love in a genuine and real way, is priceless . . .  An encouragement, whenever I am troubled, challenged, or feeling defeated, for I know God is not going away. God’s love is constant, ever-present, to guide and strengthen any who put their trust in God’s compassionate and grace-filled care.

The apostle Paul knowing all of this, could say with confidence, “Poor ourselves, we bring wealth to many; Penniless we own the world.”