A place we call home

Tertullian (c. 160–c.220)
Born in Carthage, Tertullian lived a permissive life until he became a Christian in his thirties. Then he devoted his life to the defense of the Christian faith against heresy and immorality. His solid education in Greek and Latin and the practice of law prepared him to be one of the church’s leading apologists. The work excerpted here, Octavius, sets up a dialogue between a pagan and a Christian. It is one of the oldest church documents we have that was originally written in Latin.

Octavius (the pagan) charges:

Look: some of you, the greater half (the better half, you say), go in need, suffer from cold, from hunger and toil. And yet your god allows it, he connives at it; he will not or he cannot assist his own followers. This proves how weak he is—or wicked.

Minucius Felix (the Christian) answers:

I now come to the accusation that most of us are said to be poor; that is not to our shame, it is to our great credit. Men’s characters are strengthened by stringent circumstances, just as they are dissipated by luxurious living. Besides, can a man be poor if he is free from want, if he does not covet the belongings of others, if he is rich in the possession of God? Rather, he is poor who possesses much but still craves for more.

And so it is that when a man walks along a road, the lighter he travels, the happier he is; equally, on this journey of life, a man is more blessed if he does not pant beneath a burden of riches but lightens his load by poverty. Nevertheless, we would ask God for material goods if we considered them to be of use; without a doubt, He to whom the whole belongs would be able to concede us a portion. But we prefer to hold possessions in contempt than to hoard them: it is rather innocence that is our aspiration, it is rather patience that is our entreaty; our preference is goodness, not extravagance.

Copyright © 1987 by the author or Christianity Today/Christian History magazine.

William Burns - " If a man have Christ in his heart," he used to say, " heaven before his eyes, and only as much of temporal blessing as is just needful to carry him safely through life, then pain and sorrow have little to shoot at.... To be in union with Him Who is the Shepherd of Israel, to walk very near, Him Who is both sun and shield, comprehends all a poor sinner requires to make him happy between this and heaven." - quoted from the Memoir by the Rev. Islay Burns

Scripture directs us to set our minds on heaven --

Therefore if you have been raised with Christ [to a new life, sharing in His resurrection from the dead], keep seeking the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind and keep focused habitually on the things above [the heavenly things], not on things that are on the earth [which have only temporal value]. - Colossians 3:1-2