Archive for March, 2014

“Humble my heart before thee, and replenish it with thy choicest gifts. As water rests not on barren hill summits, but flows down to fertilize lowest vales, so make me the lowest of the lowly, that my spiritual riches may exceedingly abound. When I leave duties undone, may condemning thought strip me of pride, deepen in me devotion to thy service, and quicken me to more watchful care. When I am tempted to think highly of myself, grant me to see the wily power of my spiritual enemy; Help me to stand with wary eye on the watchtower of faith, and to cling with determined grasp to my humble Lord; If I fall let me hide myself in my Redeemer’s righteousness, and when I escape, may I ascribe all deliverance to thy grace.”

Lenten Prayer for Humility from The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2003) as recounted in Journey to the Cross: Readings and Devotions for Lent by Kendal Haug & Will Walker (Austin: Providence, 2013) 49.

Lest pride strip us of any progress this Lent, let’s start this week together asking God to humble our hearts so that our service and care flow from the proper posture, devotion rooted and empowered by God’s grace.

“In Lent we focus on getting away from the life of flesh and into the life of the Spirit, denying our ways and embracing God’s. The point of giving things up is not to be reminded of how much we miss them, but rather to be awakened to how much we miss God and long for his life-giving Spirit. This means, of course, that Lent is not only about giving up things. It is also about adding things, God-things.”

Kendal Haug & Will Walker in Journey to the Cross: Readings and Devotions for Lent (Austin: Providence, 2013) 14.

Candidly, I love coffee and often joke about the strength it gives me. In cutting back to one cup a day this Lent I have frequently found myself calling out to God for strength.

One thing I am learning this Lent, experientially-speaking, is an appreciation of the reality that I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. What God-things are you adding this Lent?

Today I am officiating my niece’s wedding, where Scott Stanick and Joni Hoag will be united as one in Jesus Christ. And though it’s long, read this thoughtful exposition that plays on this phrase from their vows.

“We most often hear this phrase, “for richer or for poorer” in wedding vows, but I believe this phrase may also be used to describe a core issue for us in regards to our giving. Let me explain.

I have observed over the years that one of the most compelling disincentives to people’s giving is a nagging sense of loss from what they give away. Many feel that if they give, they will become “poorer” in the same proportion as the recipient of their gift becomes “richer.”

In other words, “someone else’s gain is at my expense.” So, they think, “I need to evaluate how much I can afford to lose in my giving – how much poorer I am willing to become – in order to determine how much I am willing to give.”

May I suggest that this kind of thinking, common as it is, is the absolute opposite of what the Word of God teaches us about giving…

There is a repeated phrase in the New Testament that I believe most of us have not carefully considered. The phrase ”lay up treasure(s)” is used in Matthew 6:20, Luke 12:21, and 1 Timothy 6:19.

It is interesting that the Greek word for “lay up” is related to the root word for “treasure.” So, you could literally translate the phrase, “treasure up treasures.” We read, for example, in Matthew 6:20 that we are to be “lay(ing) up treasures in heaven.”

What seems to have escaped our notice is the two other words that are in the middle of this phrase – “for yourselves.” Jesus says, “lay up treasures for yourselves in heaven.” These treasures are not being laid up in heaven for God, or for the poor or for the lost. We are laying them up for ourselves.

We are not losing them, we are simply transferring readily liquid and immediately available assets into an account that is not immediately liquid nor readily available, but will be of great value to us in the future. And every gift (transfer) we make in this life is being credited to our account in heaven – every one of them, no matter how great or how small.

In 1 Timothy 6:17-19, Paul reiterates this same idea when he is writing to Timothy about the affluent Christians under his spiritual care… These affluent Christians are not being commanded to divest themselves of their material treasures, they are being commanded to lay up their treasures for themselves – for later enjoyment – “for the coming age” – an eternal retirement plan or equity position…

Do you see yourself as being poorer after you write the check or make the gift? Do you feel like you have lost and someone else has gained? Do you sense that you are worse off than you were before you gave? Perish the thought! You are richer! You have just laid up for yourself more treasures in heaven.

You are now more blessed and your future more secure than before. You have willingly transferred some readily available, immediately liquid assets to another account that will be waiting for you when you finally “retire” from this life and move on to the next one – the best one. And in that day you will be glad you invested so generously with a long view of life and eternity.”

Jay Link in “For Richer or For Poorer” blog post dated 2 December 2010.

So next time you attend a wedding and hear this phrase “for richer or for poorer” remember the profound truth that in the economy of God, we don’t become poorer but richer when we give.

“Christ says, ‘Give me all. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want you. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don’t want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked–the whole outfit. I will give you a whole new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours.'”

C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity (New York: HarperCollins, 1980) 196-197.

Lent is half over. Are we learning to die to self? Are we discovering the gift God offers us when we learn to die to self. The gift is Himself. Will we take it? Will you?

“If I sow generosity, it’s going to come back to me, and I’m going to reap generosity. Every farmer knows this. A farmer has sacks of seed in his barn and he looks at his empty field. He doesn’t complain, “There’s no crop! I wish there was a crop!” He just goes out and starts planting seed. When you have a need, plant a seed.

It seems illogical that when I have a need, I should give. Why did God set it up this way? Because God is a giver. He is the most generous giver in the universe, and God wants you to learn to be like him. He wants to build character in you.”

Rick Warren in “Daily Hope with Rick Warren” blog post dated 18 October 2011.

Our stewardship is based on what we have. If we’ve got seed, what keeps us from sowing generosity?

“When we realize that everything that we have is a gift from God, it becomes possible for us to give in a radical way. As we realize God’s grace, we also understand that our earthly possessions are expendable. We are also fed physically and spiritually when we engage in this kind of Christ-like generosity.”

Tim Keller in “Radical Generosity” sermon dated 10 November 1991.

This Lent I sense God drawing me to a deeper grasp of His grace as a basis for transforming my generosity? How is your understanding of God’s grace shaping yours?

“In my own life I know how hard it is for me to trust that I am loved, and to trust that the intimacy I most crave is there for me. I most often live as if I have to earn love, do something noteworthy, and then perhaps I might get something in return…

Do I really believe that I am loved first, independent of what I do or what I accomplish? This is an important question because as long as I think that what I most need I have to earn, deserve, and collect by hard work, I will never get what I most need and desire, which is a love that cannot be earned, but that is freely given.

Thus, my return is my willingness to renounce such thoughts and to choose to live more and more from my true identity as a cherished child of God.”

Henri Nouwen in “Returning to Trust” Reflections on the Third Sunday of Lent, email from Henri Nouwen Society on 23 March 2014.

Once I come to realize that what I most need can only be found in Christ, is freely received by grace, and comes to me not because I earned it, can I become a conduit that freely gives to others. God help me grasp your gracious generosity to me and extend it to others in a manner that brings you glory.

Freely you have received, freely give. Matthew 10:8

“What is your motivation for giving? Is it to freely give or to give expecting something in return? This is an ongoing tension for the generous giver. We give… time… expertise… money… friendship…commitment; we give our very life, with what expectation in mind? Disappointment follows gifts with strings attached, but gifts given freely lead to fulfillment…

You may ask, “What about my stewardship in giving gifts responsibly?” Wise givers give prayerfully and responsibly, but not to the exclusion of the Spirit’s leading. If the Lord is leading you to invest time and money in a person, ministry, or church, then obey and trust Him with the outcome. Everything we have is His; so He is ultimately responsible for the fruit of generosity.”

Boyd Bailey in “Wisdom Hunter” blog post for March 2, 2013.

I like how Bailey reminds us that the fruit of any generosity we participate in belongs to the One who provided the resources for the generosity to begin with. For us to find fulfillment in all this, it will be because we realize that we get to be a part of the cycle of provision and blessing, a cycle He invites all of us to participate in. God help us find fulfillment as conduits of spiritual and material blessings. May we lavish Your love everywhere we go with no strings attached.

“The nature of giving is best illustrated in the life of our blessed Lord, who one day was approached by a leper who asked for healing. The gospel tells us that our Lord stretched forth his hand and touched the leper. Jesus could have healed without the touch, as he healed the servant of the centurion at a distance.

Why, then, in the face of one of life’s greatest miseries and a disease from which the healthy often recoil, did the Lord cure with a touch? The Son of God made man touched the leper in order to annihilate distance between the Giver and the receiver, between Lover and the beloved, to prove sympathy by contact, to identify himself with with the woes of others.”

Fulton J. Sheen in Lent and Easter Wisdom from Fulton J. Sheen (Liguori, MO: Liguori, 2004) 10.

God did not snap his fingers or send someone to show love for him. He himself became man. He touched those suffering in horrible misery. In antiquity, Gentiles with wealth or the capacity to assist such people were instructed not to care for those who could not render service back to Rome. Additionally, Jewish leaders would have labeled such people unclean. This act of Jesus displays God’s radical generosity.

What does this have to do with us? As the hands and feet of Christ today, may we not recoil from getting our hands dirty, despite the cultural labels affixed on those who suffer for countless reasons. May we “annihilate distance…to prove sympathy by contact.” Cross this line today. Show God’s love to someone who is suffering or in difficulty through an act of generosity. Ask the Spirit to guide you or give you eyes to see this person in need.

“Blessed is he who is considerate to the needy and the poor. Generous is the man who is merciful and lends. All day the just man is merciful and lends. Let us lay hold of this blessing, let us earn the name of being considerate, let us be generous.

Not even night should interrupt you in your duty of mercy. Do not say: Come back and I will give you something tomorrow. There should be no delay between your intention and your good deed. Generosity is the one thing that cannot admit of delay.

Let us visit Christ whenever we may; let us care for him, feed him, clothe him, welcome him, honor him, not only at a meal, as some have done, or by anointing him, as Mary did, or only by lending him a tomb, like Joseph of Arimathaea, or by arranging for his burial…

The Lord of all asks for mercy, not sacrifice, and mercy is greater than myriads of fattened lambs. Let us then show him mercy in the persons of the poor and those who today are lying on the ground, so that when we come to leave this world they may receive us into everlasting dwelling places, in Christ our Lord himself, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

Gregory of Nazianzen (330-390) in Oratio 14, De Pauperum amore, 38. 40: PG 35, 907. 910.

As I read the Early Fathers during Lent I find that they frequently urge Christ-followers to show mercy. Our culture suggests that such generosity be directed only to “worthy” causes or those that may be “deserving” of support. I am so thankful that even though I did not deserve the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ, He extended it to me. God help me grow in my eagerness to extend mercy to everyone day and night.