Archive for January, 2019

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. Colossians 4:2-6

“In the intercourse of social life, it is by little acts of watchful kindness recurring daily and hourly — and opportunities of doing kindnesses if sought for are ever starting up — it is by words, by tones, by gestures, by looks, that affection is won and preserved. He who neglects these trifles, yet boasts that whenever a great sacrifice is called for, he shall be ready to make it, will rarely be loved. The likelihood is, he will not make it; and if he does it will be much rather for his own sake than for his neighbor’s.”

Perkins in Day’s Collacon, compiled and arranged by Edward Parsons Day (New York: IPPO, 1884) 475.

Sala uses a good term “watchful kindness” to describe how we have opportunities all the time to show kindness to others, and to reveal our others-centered Christian faith.

For those seeking to grow the kindness in their generosity, he offers a good list: words, tones, gestures, and looks. With these devices we can dispense kindness.

What’s interesting about this is that when we “neglect these trifles” as Sala puts it, we reveal that maybe our actions are really just for ourselves rather than others.

The Apostle Paul would suggest to add prayer to the mix. This way, the Spirit of God will guide you and bless others through you as you serve as an agent of watchful kindness.

Since God chose you to be the holy people He loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Colossians 3:12

“What does kindness do at home? It makes the mother’s lullaby sweeter than the song of the lark, the care-laden brows of the father and the man of business less severe in their expression, and the children joyous without being riotous. Abroad, it assists the fallen, encourages the virtuous, and looks with true charity on the extremely unfortunate.”

A. Perkins in Day’s Collacon, compiled and arranged by Edward Parsons Day (New York: IPPO, 1884) 476.

Here’s something to think about when you get dressed. Clothe yourself with kindness (among other traits). As Perkins notes, it changes everything at home and brings harmony and joy.

Kindness also shapes the world around us. It lifts up the fallen, encourages the virtuous to stay the course and gives the broken and hurting exactly what they need, a helping hand.

Remind yourself as you get dressed each day to put on kindness. Perhaps say it to yourself every time you put on your socks to remind you to include kindness with every step you take.

Imagine if you left kindness in your clothing closet. You could go about your day and do many things that you think might be generous, but how would they be received without kindness?

Put on kindness at home and abroad.

But let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know Me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD. Jeremiah 9:24

“Have any of us ever come to the place where we have honestly ceased to glory in our own possessions? Never, I believe, until we have been deprived of them. Human nature is so constituted that while it possesses anything, it can hardly help glorying in it. As long as the Christian feels wise or strong or rich in spiritual things, that Christian will almost inevitably glory in his strength, wisdom, or riches. But if these are taken away, he will be driven to glory in the Lord alone, simply because there will be nothing else to glory in.”

Hannah Whitall Smith in Daily Secrets of the Christian Life: A One-Year Devotional (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001) reading for 4 June.

In what do you glory? I’ve returned home from teaching. My students learned that when we retain material or spiritual wealth, we will inevitably glory in it. Pride overcomes us. We can’t handle it. When we release all, and trust in God’s abundant provision, all glory goes to God when He supplies.

Let me ask you again. In what do you glory? For years I felt good about my finances. I was content with my Christian faith. Candidly, I functioned as if I thought I had things pretty much sorted. Looking back, my understanding of glory was off, and I was not dispensing His kindness.

Now that you see what I am talking about, consider the question one more time. In what do you glory? Your bank account(s) and your calendar answer the question truthfully. What’s this have to do with kindness and generosity?

Only when obey the teachings of Jesus and deploy all that we are and all that we have, are our lives positioned to bring God glory. It’s the narrow way that most people miss. On that path, His kindness, justice, and righteousness are made known through us.

And, it’s more beautiful and glorious than anything any human can muster.

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:6-7

“In our desire after God let us keep always in mind that God also hath desire, and His desire is toward the sons of men, and more particularly toward those sons of men who will make the once-for-all decision to exalt Him over all. Such are these precious to God above all treasures of earth or sea. In them God finds a theater where He can display His exceeding kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. With them God can walk unhindered, toward them He can act like the God He is.”

A. W. Tozer (1897-1963) in The Pursuit of God, excerpt chapter 8, entitled, “Restoring the Creator-Creature Relation.” Click to download the PDF of this classic work.

Tozer reminds us that God views each of us who chooses to exalt Him over all as a theatre, a place to display His exceeding kindness before a watching world.

Would people say that watching you is like seeing a blockbuster or box office bomb? This is a serious question to consider as God’s reputation is at stake through how we, as so-called Christians, live our lives.

Notice that when God sees people who are sold out for Him, He works through them and walks with them. In that sense, He handles the writing and production work. So, what is our role in the process?

Our role is to exalt Him. That’s been the highlight of my Faith and Finances course this week. I had students from past years share testimonies from their stewardship journeys, but I never dreamed what would happen as a result.

In theatre terms, my past students were “smash hits” who captivated current students and convinced them to obey even the more difficult financial teachings of Jesus. God has written and produced an amazing story this week.

Don’t ever underestimate your influence and impact. You are God’s theatre.

“Now I commit you to God and to the word of His grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus Himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.'” Acts 20:32-35

“To bear the burden of the other person means involvement with the created reality of the other, to accept and affirm it, and, in bearing with it, to break through to the point where we take joy in it. This will prove especially difficult where varying strength and weakness in faith are bound together in a fellowship. The weak must not judge the strong, the strong must not despise the weak. The weak must guard against pride, the strong against indifference. None must seek his own rights. If the strong person falls, the weak must guard his heart against malicious joy at his downfall. If the weak one falls, the strong one must help him rise again in all kindness. The one needs as much patience as the other.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) in Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community (New York: Harper & Row, 1954) 101-102.

In God’s providence, I located a free PDF copy of this book for download. Click to access it. I commend it to all Daily Meditations readers. If you have not read it, it’s a classic to add to your reading list this year!

We have been looking at kindness for only one week and found rich insights to shape our generous living. Today is no exception. Bonhoeffer brings kindness to the center of all interaction between the weak and the strong.

This came up in a conversation with a student this weekend. She’s doing her thesis on a topic that is widely misunderstood by Christians. As she gains wisdom I urged her to kindly aid those who are receptive to listen.

When we look honestly into our own hearts, we find that we are all strong in some areas and weak in others. That’s God’s design and the fellowship in which He has placed us. It also reveals why we must relate with kindness.

Kindness opens the door for relationship. How might kindness shape your interaction with people this week? As I shift from the classroom to financial counseling sessions, I’m choosing to bring kindness to my meetings.

I meet with each of my Faith and Finances students, as individuals or as couples (if they are married), to help them get their financial houses in order. I am finding that kindness inspires them to take courageous and obedient steps.

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:32

“Kindness is a beautiful human attribute. When we say, “She is a kind person” or “He surely was kind to me,” we express a very warm feeling. In our competitive and often violent world, kindness is not the most frequent response. But when we encounter it we know that we are blessed.

Is it possible to grow in kindness, to become a kind person? Yes, but it requires discipline. To be kind means to treat another person as your “kin,” your intimate relative. We say, “We are kin” or “He is next of kin.” To be kind is to reach out to someone as being of “kindred” spirit.

Here is the great challenge: All people, whatever their color, religion, or sex, belong to humankind and are called to be kind to one another, treating one another as brothers and sisters. There is hardly a day in our lives in which we are not called to do this.”

Henri J. M. Nouwen in Bread for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith (New York: HarperCollins, 1997) 4 February.

Nouwen astutely reveals the key to extending kindness: discipline. It requires discipline to see others, especially people that are very different from us, as fellow humans and as next of kin. Our tendency is to emphasize how we are different rather than to celebrate what we have in common.

Paul reminds the Ephesians (and all of us) what brings all people together. Sure we can point fingers and judge how sinful one person is because of what they have done, but the reality is that all humans are equally bad, and all can only find forgiveness from our Lord Jesus Christ. The cross makes the way for kinship.

I am still in Chicago to meet with students (pictured above) individually or as couples (if they are married) to discuss their financial houses and how the biblical instruction helps them put them in order. We will also consider together how the truth sets them free to be kind and generous.

Are you disciplined? Will you adopt a humble perspective in your mind and have compassionate love in your heart for others that propels a person to action that is beautiful? If you think it’s hard, then reflect on what Christ has done for you. Gratitude to God will serve as fuel for your kindness.

The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 4:7-11

“Those were weeks I shall never forget, and the more I think of them, the more I realize that I must certainly owe the [family that hosted me] for more than butter and milk and good nourishing food for my body. I am indebted to them for much more than the kindness and care they showed me, the goodness and the delicate solicitude with which they treated me as their child, yet without any assertive or natural familiarity. As a child, and since then too, I have always tended to resist any kind of possessive affection on the part of any other other human being — there has always been this profound instinct to keep clear, to keep free. And only with truly supernatural people have I ever felt really at my ease, really at peace.”

Thomas Merton in The Seven Storey Mountain (New York: Harcourt, 1998) 63.

Now I am turning from favorite professors to fellow monks whose lives and writings have shaped my own life to understand “kindness” in 2019.

Thomas Merton was a Trappist monk, which means he followed the Rule of Benedict in a cloister. He lived at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky the last 27 years of his life. When Merton traveled, he relied on the kindness of others to provide a home away from home, much like I did on my recent trip to Egypt. That’s what came to my mind when I recounted this excerpt from his classic work.

For another example, when I teach at Northern Seminary, my needs are met by a dear woman named Linda Owens. She oversees student services and ranks in the category of supernatural people. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, she shows kindness by anticipating and addressing the needs of others without grumbling. Her kindness touches all beneficiaries and shapes the whole campus environment.

Peter understood the recipe for kindness too. We must be alert to pray, eager to love deeply, ready to extend hospitality joyfully, and everyone plays a part. Notice in today’s Scripture, whether speaking, like I have been doing as the visiting professor, or serving, like Linda has been doing to host Faith and Finances, our use of our giftedness shows kindness, creates peaceful settings, and results in praise to God.

Father in heaven, by your Holy Spirit make us into supernatural people whose kindness shapes the lives of those around us and creates peaceful places. Hear my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.

No servant is able to serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and he will love the other, or he will be devoted to one and he will despise the other. You are not able to serve God and mammon. Luke 16:13

“Money has power, spiritual power, to win our hearts. Behind our coins and dollar bills or whatever material form we choose to give our money are spiritual forces. It is the spiritual reality behind money that we want so badly to deny. For years I felt that Jesus was exaggerating by fixing such a huge gulf between mammon and God. Couldn’t we show how advanced we are in the Christian life by giving each his due, God and mammon? Why not be joyful children of the world just as we are joyful children of God? Aren’t the goods of the earth meant for our happiness? But the thing I failed to see, and the thing that Jesus saw so clearly, is the way in which mammon makes a bid for our hearts. Mammon asks for our allegiance in a way that sucks the milk of human kindness out of our very being.”

Richard J. Foster in The Challenge of the Disciplined Life: Christian Reflections on Money, Sex, and Power (New York: Harper SanFrancisco, 1985) 26. I am safely in Chicago, IL, where I will teach “Faith and Finances” at Northern Seminary through Tuesday.

Foster keenly alerts us to the spiritual power behind mammon. It’s sobering to think that allegiance to mammon “sucks the milk of human kindness out of our very being.” But what does that mean in plain terms as we think about kindness and generosity?

When we serve mammon, it leads our hearts to focus on worldly desires rather than be guided by God to accomplish His purposes. This is not insignificant. We become just like the masses in an unkind world. It makes us unkind.

When, instead, we live as faithful stewards and joyful children of God, our aim is higher and our impact greater. We serve God and use money to accomplish His purposes. We do kind things, large and small, that shape our being and touch others deeply.

So, now the connection to generosity comes into view. Only those who serve God and use money faithfully are free from the spiritual power of mammon to be agents of kindness. Will that be you? The only way forward is to put to work what you have in obedience to the teachings of Jesus.

Our tendency is to rationalize disobedience. We say, “But my heart is right!” Foster would say we are fooling ourselves into thinking we have advanced so far in the Christian life to say we can hold on to both. We serve whatever we are holding on to, and we can’t hold on to both God and mammon.

Father, use biblical truth to set my 27 Faith and Finances students free from slavery to mammon this weekend. Make this true for all Daily Meditations readers too. As we serve You rather than mammon, show Your kindness through us to an unkind world. Hear this prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Luke 12:32

“Lord Jesus Christ, we are so thankful that You have said, “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” We are so thankful for the ease with which You walked upon this earth, the generosity and kindness You showed to people, the devotion with which You cared for those who were out of the way and in trouble, the extent to which You even loved Your enemies and laid down Your life for them. We are so thankful to believe that this is a life for us, a life without lack, a life of sufficiency. It’s so clear in You, the sufficiency of Your Father and the fullness of life that was poured through You, and we’re so thankful that You have promised that same love, that same life, that same joy, that same power for us. Lord, slip up on us today. Get past our defenses, our worries, our concerns. Gently open our souls, and speak Your Word into them. We believe You want to do it, and we wait for You to do it now. In Your name, amen.”

Dallas Willard (1935-2013) in Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23 (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2018) xiii.

Today’s post comes from another great professor. I’ve read many of his books and got to spend time with him on one unforgettable occasion. This prayer opens the book that beckons us to live in light of the realities of Psalm 23. I think it’s a great prayer for starting 2019. Read it again. What stirs within you?

Do you desire to walk with ease on the earth and show generosity and kindness? Do you believe there is such a thing as life without lack? Have you taken hold of the love, life, joy, and power of Jesus? Read the prayer again, and read Psalm 23 too.

We cannot walk with ease and show kindness to others until we have taken hold of the fact that in Jesus we have everything need. Life still has troubles, but we have a Good Shepherd to guide us. Once we get this, we can thrive and bless others with kindness as He did. Take two minutes to express your gratitude today.

This morning I fly to Chicago to teach “Faith and Finances” at Northern Seminary this weekend. I aim to touch 27 lives with the truth, kindness, and generosity of Jesus. Most have fears, so Jesus, empower me to help them grasp life without lack so they will serve as conduits of truth, kindness, and generosity. Amen.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you really know Me, you will know My Father as well. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him.” Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

Jesus answered: “Don’t you know Me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in Me? The words I say to you I do not speak on My own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in Me, who is doing His work. Believe Me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 

Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in Me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in My name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask Me for anything in My name, and I will do it.” John 14:6-14

“Jesus ends His testimony to Himself, “Do the works that I do.” We know from the ancient story what His works are: He healed the sick; empowered the lame, blind, and deaf; cured lepers; and welcomed the poor. His work is practical bodily transformations for well-being, most especially among those left behind… The new way, the new truth, the new life is a way of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience, and above all, love. Self-giving love is the hallmark of gospel life. The radical call of baptism into Jesus is a continuing process of putting off old behavior and putting on new conduct. No more business as usual!”

Walter Brueggemann in Gift and Task: A Year of Daily Readings and Reflections (Louisville: WJKP, 2017) 46.

Notice for a moment where I went to start learning about kindness in 2019. Yesterday, we began the year by sitting at the feet of C.S. Lewis, one of the greatest professors of all time. Today, we heard from Brueggemann, maybe the most prolific biblical scholar in our day. Yesterday we learned that kindness was unusual. Today we learn why. Only those who say “No more business as usual!” reflect it.

Kindness has absolutely nothing to do with our old way of living. It’s only exhibited in the new way of Jesus. As we follow Jesus, we see him do little things like touch a person who is broken and hurting and they are healed. His little steps appear as big acts of kindness. When we go and do likewise, empowered by God’s love, our kindness leaves those we serve better than we found them.

As we go about our day, it’s the little things that make a big difference. A kind word can give a person hope. It can open the door to sharing with them the reason for our hope, that is, about Jesus who is is the way, the truth, and the life. Kindness opens the door for even greater things like helping people go from slavery to freedom, from blindness to sight, from limping along to running the race set before them.

Jesus, we exalt you as the way, the truth, and the life. Provide the strength we need to serve the weak, the wisdom we need to guide those who wander, and the love we need to heal the broken. Sustain us and cause your grace and kindness to flow through us in the little things so that it transforms all we touch for Your glory. Make it so in 2019 and beyond. Hear our prayer in Your mercy. Amen.