“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48). There is no other perfection, only that of love. So be aware of the things that thwart this love: property and worry! Wherever possessions are heaped up while elsewhere people go hungry and cold, there is no love. So gather no wealth for yourself. Do not worry. Worriers build life on wealth just as much as the wealthy. Look at the birds and flowers, and believe in the loving God, the Father who provides everything.
- Eberhard Arnold
March 26,2026
- Eberhard Arnold From a letter, July 1922Our inner fire, yes, even our enthusiasm, our inspiration, and soul, and Eros—everything that is fire and love—must flow together with the one great light, with the holy Agape, with the heart of God, with Jesus Christ; and being born out of Him, it must gain new life in purity and power. It is quite clear that this means that everything which is greed, desire for possession, despotism, the demand of the individual, is consumed and completely spent in this sun fire. The one—the old world with its greed for possession—perishes, and the other—the new creation with its divine life that dedicates, embraces, and pours itself out in joy—is born.
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The first Christian community in Jerusalem was more than a historical happening: rather, it was here that the Sermon on the Mount came to life.…Jesus prophesied a kingdom, a rule of God that will overturn every unjust condition in the present order of the world, and make it new. To acknowledge this and to live according to it – this is God’s command for the hour.
- Eberhard Arnold
Never burden yourself by looking far ahead. Always live one day at a time. If you can do this, you will live like children, birds, and flowers. For them each day is a lifetime. Every day unfolds new joy, new hope, even if every day may have brought you new shadows and new nightfall. Every day you may have broken down in guilt and failure. Every day may have shown you your helplessness a thousandfold. Yet each new day brings new sun, new air, and new grace.
- Eberhard Arnold