The Game

So I was reading some thoughts online and biographies of some of the great Christian thinkers in history, or I guess I shouldn't use the phrase "Christian" there, but rather followers of Christ...people with enormous minds capable of spinning me in circles and laughing. It kind of stemmed from my earlier post of William Booth's quote, and for some reason lately I have become quite fascinated with the history and reformation...so I stumbled across this little nugget...

"Among the rich you will never find a really generous man even by accident. They may give their money away, but they will never give themselves away; they are egotistic, secretive, dry as old bones. To be smart enough to get all that money you must be dull enough to want it." G.K. Chesterton

The last line struck me immediately, it stood out and jumped off the page. Only the dullest man sits and dreams of being filthy rich. I think of the end of Mr. Deeds here when he's asking all the rich people, "What did you want to be when you were a kid?" Everyone begins to shout out their former dreams ranging from astronaut to pro athlete to weirdo etc. But it's true, no child ever says I want to be rich, only the dullest of minds cannot reach a greater dream than that one.

But as my mind mulled over the quote another part sat in my stomach like I had swallowed a fourteen pound bowling ball belonging to Curtis "The Legend" Thibault. They will NEVER give themselves away; they are egotistic, secretive, dry as old bones. Essentially, they care about nothing but themselves, live in darkness, and are, for the most part, dead. This sheds a whole new light on the interaction between Jesus and the rich young ruler whom He tells to "sell everything you have and follow me." We are beginning to see that maybe Jesus wasn't a lunatic here, that He knew this guy was dead and in order for that dried up heart to beat again he had to surrender that which had killed him in the first place. Intriguing no?

Side note: I bet you never thought you would see a day or blog where Mr. Deeds and G.K. Chesterton were quoted within sentences of each other...write that down.