The Prophet

I really have no background with this book. A friend recommended it. I read it. I disagree with some of it. I agree with some of it. Below are some quotes:

Gibran, Kahlil. The Prophet. Benediction Classics, 2013.

For what are your possessions but things you keep and guard for fear you may need them to morrow?

Page: 12

 

You often say, “I would give, but only to the deserving.” The trees in your orchard say not so, nor the flocks in your pasture. They give that they may live, for to withhold is to perish.

Page: 16

 

 

You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts; And when you can no longer dwell in the solitude of your heart you live in your lips, and sound is a diversion and a pastime.

Page: 36

 

 

You [the community] have been told that, even like a chain, you are as weak as your weakest link. This is but half the truth. You are also as strong as your strongest link. To measure you by your smallest deed is to reckon the power of ocean by the frailty of its foam.

Hoarding

Hoarding money or possessions is a serious sin in God’s eyes.

What, after all, are the Israelites being tested in if not to hoard? Deuteronomy 6:10 – 12 will warn them not to hoard in the Promised Land either and will predict that growing wealth will tempt them to forget their God.

Blomberg, Christians in an Age of Wealth

Build wealth

“To give generously is not to lose wealth but to build wealth, establishing a firm basis on which to start life in heaven.”

Samuel M. Ngewa, “1 & 2 Timothy and Titus” in Africa Bible Commentary (Nairobi: Hippo Books; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009), 164. (Quoted in Blomberg, Christians in an Age of Wealth)