He is one God (True Christian Religion 24), that He is human (Divine Love and
Wisdom 11), and that all love, wisdom and use emanate from Him alone.
Those who were not raised in the Church, and are not taught anything
about the Lord while on this earth, are not judged for this. When they arrive
in the spiritual world they will be taught about the Lord by angels so that they
can have an opportunity to know Him and acknowledge Him as well and thus
love Him. (Arcana Coelestia 10205, 3704.6)
Beyond recognizing the Lord as the one true God, we can express words
of affirmation to Him through thanks and praise. Giving thanks to the Lord
signifies acknowledging that everything comes from Him. (Apocalypse
Explained 686, Apocalypse Revealed 522)
2. Gifts
Gifts are thought of as tangible symbols of love. While gifts are frequently
physical tokens of appreciation, we can give of ourselves – our time, our talents
or our resources.
In a New Testament story Jesus saw affluent people placing large
contributions into the offertory in the temple, and also a poor woman who
put in two copper coins. Jesus explains to His disciples that this woman’s gift
is larger than the donations of the wealthy, because she gave all that she had.
(Mark 12:41-44; Luke 21:1-4) Are we asked to give all that we have to the Lord?
Spiritual poverty, in essence, is recognizing that all goodness and truth
come from the Lord alone: “To be spiritually poor, and yet to be rich, is to
acknowledge in heart that one has no knowledge nor understanding nor
wisdom from himself, but that he knows, understands, and is wise wholly
from the Lord.” (Apocalypse Explained 118)
Reminding ourselves that the goodness in our lives and the truth that
we know are not our own, and in fact belong to the Lord, is what is being
asked of us here. We should understand that we are spiritually poor because
we own nothing good of our own. In understanding this we can become wiser.
Choosing to recognize our spiritual poverty opens the person’s mind toward
heaven, allowing him or her to progress to a higher state of innocence, wisdom
and love to the Lord. (Arcana Coelestia 10227:2)
How can we give anything to the Lord when He already is everything that
is good and true? The Lord is not the receiver of gifts, as He actually is the
creator of all gifts. He wishes for us to give Him gifts as though they were ours
to give so that we can remember their true source:
Gifts and presents were said to be made to Jehovah, though Jehovah, that is,
the Lord, is not the receiver of gifts or presents, but the giver of them, freely to
everyone. Even so, His will is that they should come from a person as though they
did so from that person himself, provided the person acknowledges that they do
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