Well, to live in the West is to be immersed in a world that is obsessed with wealth and status

and money and greed and gambling and luxury. That's why we've dedicated so much time here to discuss

money and shopping and the prosperity gospel and what it

means to live a wartime lifestyle in the midst of such a money-loving culture.

These perennial topics take up as much space in the APJ book as any other for that reason.

You can see my digest on pages 95 to 121.

There's a lot to say.

And if you're reading your Bible with us using the

Navigator's Bible Reading Plan, Saturday we read Jesus' woes to the rich and the well-fed and the

comfortable in Luke 6 versus 24 to 26. So is this a condemnation of the comforts of our own

middle-class Western life?

It's a great question, and it comes from Lee in North Carolina.

Dear Pastor John and Tony, I am a longtime listener to the podcast, and I want to thank you for

providing me 10 minutes of spiritual nourishment during my hundreds of morning commutes.

That's wonderful, wonderful the year.

It has literally changed the course of my

days as I drive to work. This morning, I was reading through the Beatitudes in Luke 6,

verses 24 to 26. They struck me like never before. Verse 24 says,

woe to you who are rich. I am rich by all global standards. My wife and I do not live

beyond our means or spend frivolously. However, we do have good incomes and savings.

Verse 25 says, woe to you who are full now. I have never been truly hungry in my life apart from voluntary fasting.

Verse 26 says, woe do you who laugh now? I have a joyful life and try to laugh often. Can you help put Jesus' woes into perspective,

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