Archive for December, 2020

To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. 1 Corinthians 9:22

“We often expect from others more than we are willing to do ourselves. Why have we hitherto thought so intemperately about man and his frailty and temptability? We must learn to regard people less in light of what they do or omit to do, and more in light of what they suffer. The only profitable relationship to others — and especially to our weaker brethren — is one of love, and that means the will to hold fellowship with them. God Himself did not despise humanity, but became man for men’s sake.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Witness to Jesus Christ, edited by John de Gruchy (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1991) 262.

My word for the year was compassion. That means you got to study it too. Thanks for journeying with me. As Bonhoeffer put it, “We must learn to regard people less in light of what they do or omit to do, and more in light of what they suffer.” That’s the empathy part of compassion.

Then, we demonstrate “the will to hold fellowship with them.” That’s the love part, and perhaps the hardest. I find that we may not like people or even agree with them, but we get to choose to fellowship with them. This gives them a gift, and we always receive a greater blessing in return when we give it.

As the year draws to a close, consider how the relationships around you can be more profitable. It’s actually not by doing more but by loving well with empathy. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:32

Happy New Year! Give generously according to your ability to your church and a portfolio of ministries. Make a gift to GTP to help us expand our team and translate resources into many languages in 2021 for multiplying faithful stewards globally. And, stay tuned for the word for 2021. I will reveal it tomorrow.

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. 1 Corinthians 4:20

“It is not enough for the Corinthian Christians to stop quarreling with each other. The apostle calls them to follow him in serving the Lord. As their brother in Christ he has given them the message of life and peace. Now he pleads with them to avoid their disputes and to unite in doing deeds of compassion in the name of the Redeemer, “for the kingdom of God depends not on talk but on power.”

Larry Woodruff in Living Abundantly: Meditations on the Acts of the Apostles, the Letters of the Apostle Paul, Other Letters, and The Revelation to John (Bloomington: WestBow, 2017) 128.

We are living in a time when people quarrel and have disputes about everything from the pandemic to politics. The Apostle Paul would say we we must abandon the talk and get on with the walk. Instead, we should be characterized as people doing deeds of compassion.

How do we stay on track? For some, it might mean to unplug from the news on television. For others, it might mean fast from social media. For all of us, it will take shape when we seek first the kingdom of God so that His power will be manifest in and through our lives.

Pause. Think about what needs to change in your life. As God to help you change in the new year so the disputes stop and the compassionate deeds start. I am learning to say “No” to things so that I can say “Yes” to better things. It’s a process. God help me. God help us all.

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2

“None knows the weight of another’s burden.”

George Herbert as recounted by Sir John Templeton in Discovering the Laws of Life (West Conshohocken: Templeton, 1994) 20.

This short and sweet quote sums up what I have learned about compassion this year. We cannot know really the weight of the burdens of others. But to get a taste we can offer to bear them.

I say to my staff that the most important question they can ask me or others is simply, “How are you?” Life is hard. Asking this question is the first step to helping bear the burdens of others.

What really encourages me about the generosity of givers GTP is that together we are sharing the burden of lifting up those who struggle and suffer. We are helping them shape their futures.

While I don’t know what it is like in Francophone Africa, I plan to visit in 2021. Help this campaign get over the finish line. Click to make a gift today. It’s at $440 toward the goal of $2,000.

If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them. James 4:17

“Biblical orthodoxy without compassion is surely the ugliest thing in the world.”

Francis Schaeffer as recounted by Michael A. Milton in Oh, the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus (Eugene: Wipf and Stock, 2007) 16.

The photo above which I snapped of the Nile River in Egypt links to the Christmas story. Remember Egypt is the place where Mary and Joseph took Jesus to avoid Herod who wanted to take His life.

When I was growing up, I recall vividly a series of videos by Francis Schaeffer. They shaped my thinking and my living. They were entitled, “How Should We Then Live?”. Perhaps you have seen them?

Schaeffer cared deeply that our minds were aligned with Christian truth and that mindset shaped our daily practices. Good thinking alone is not only insufficient, it is ugly, really ugly.

Are you this kind of ugly? I think I am too often. So, what should we do? How should we then live in a broken world if we embrace biblical orthodoxy? 

We must not stop at Christian thinking. We must combine it with generous compassion because it is how Christ treated us. He saw our need and ministered to it.

The GTP regional campaign for the Caribbean is lagging. That’s a poor region that needs our help. It is only at $147 toward the goal of $1,000.

Click here to make a gift to help the Caribbean today with 4 days to go to meet the match.

When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So He began teaching them many things. Mark 6:34

“Christ literally walked in our shoes and entered into our affliction. Those who will not help others until they are destitute reveal that Christ’s love has not yet turned them into the sympathetic persons that the gospel should make them.”

Timothy Keller in Generous Justice: How God’s Grace Makes Us Just (New York: Penguin, 2012) 69-70.

As 2020 draws to a close, I realize I still have a lot to learn about my word for the year: compassion. One thing I have found is that Christ is the model for us.

He walked in our shoes, entered into our affliction, and loved us so much He did not leave us without direction. He gave us the teaching we needed to find the way to life.

As you think about your year-end giving, support the ones that help you become a sympathetic person. Give to those who help you identify with the hurting and who empower the needy with the teaching they need.

Support a portfolio of ministries that reflect the things Christ cares about. Start with your local church, include ministries in your region, and global organizations like GTP.

James, [Peter] and John, those esteemed as pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised. All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along. Galatians 2:9-10

“If you are a North American Christian, the reality of our society’s vast wealth presents you with an enormous responsibility, for throughout the Scriptures God’s people are commanded to show compassion to the poor. In fact, doing so is simply part of our job description as followers of Jesus Christ (Matthew 25:31–46). While the biblical call to care for the poor transcends time and place, passages such as 1 John 3:17 should weigh particularly heavy on the minds and hearts of North American Christians: ‘If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?’

Of course, there is no “one-size-fits-all” recipe for how each Christian should respond to this biblical mandate. Some are called to pursue poverty alleviation as a career, while others are called to do so as volunteers. Some are called to engage in hands-on, relational ministry, while others are better suited to support frontline workers through financial donations, prayer, and other types of support. Each Christian has a unique set of gifts, callings, and responsibilities that influence the scope and manner in which to fulfill the biblical mandate to help the poor.”

Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert in When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself (Chicago: Moody, 2014) 13-14.

Back on 24 August 2016, I wrote a blog entitled “Help That Never Hurts” on the CLA blog. It came to mind when I was reflecting on today’s Scripture this morning. In that blog I cited this quote by Corbett and Fikkert. My point in that piece was that the help that never hurts is remembering or showing compassion to the poor. With Corbett and Fikkert, I acknowledge that it looks different for each person as it links to our giftedness, resources, and situations.

People often ask me: how can I make sure to show love and compassion in my giving?

Here is a way to connect giving financially and showing compassion: make sure your giving builds disciples rather than creating ongoing dependencies. How can you tell the difference? Follow this rule: If I make this gift, will it just be a transaction that helps them to keep going another day or week. Or will it accomplish transformation, changing the person and empowering the organization to move to another level and to grow to bless others.

Many ministries focus on meeting needs and forget about building up people. On this note, Corbett and Fikkert say:

“Churches and ministries using a needs-based approach are often quick to provide food, clothes, shelter, and money to meet the perceived, immediate needs of low-income people…Pouring in outside resources is not sustainable only exacerbates the feelings of helplessness and inferiority that limits low-income people from begin better stewards of their God given talents and resources. When the church or ministry stops the flow of resources, it can leave behind individuals and communities that are more disempowered than before” (120).

Don’t leave people worse off than you found them. Give in a way that builds them up. Compassionate giving that transforms takes the form of a hand up rather than a just hand out. Or as the saying goes, “Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish, feed him for a lifetime.” As I reflect on the needs of this world in that light, giving that shows compassion is multiplying the ranks of fishing guides (or faithful stewards). That’s a description of what the work of GTP is all about. Please include us in your year-end giving. Make a gift here to multiply faithful stewards.

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Luke 2:10

The early church didn’t say, “Look what the world is coming to!” They said, “Look what has come into the world.”

Carl F. H. Henry as recounted by Brian Fikkert & Kelly M. Kapic in Becoming Whole: Why the Opposite of Poverty isn’t the American Dream (Chicago: Moody, 2019) 193.

Our pastor, James Hoxworth, opened the Christmas Eve service with this quote. He proceeded to remind us that Jesus came with three objectives.

Firstly, He came eating and drinking (Luke 7:34). He met ordinary people where they were at and enjoyed table fellowship with them. Don’t we all miss that during COVID.

Secondly, He came not to be served but to serve (Matthew 20:28). In so doing, He modeled the way of generous living, giving, serving, and loving for us.

Thirdly, He came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). That includes everyone apart from Christ because our sins separate us from God.

So if you are saying because of COVID, “Look what the world is coming to!” Perhaps change your tune. Celebrate “Look what has come into the world” because in Him we have fellowship, life, and, salvation.

All praise be to our generous God! Look what has come into the world. Happy Christmas everyone!

You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13

“There is a picture that hangs up over my fireplace, it says “Simplify Christmas – Celebrate Christ.” Those words are what I choose to remember each year – this year even more so… This year, I want to enjoy and appreciate…the season and all it represents. That God so loved you and I that He gave His very best gift. He gave us Jesus! That is reason enough to celebrate.

This year God is leading me to do some things different. To give more. And to give more gifts from the heart… These days, it seems everywhere we turn there are needs. But God is faithful and He always makes the way for the needs to be met…if we are willing to be that vessel…I have learned this; the more I seek God, the closer I get to Him, the more I want to give to others.

That is what Jesus Christ is all about. God loves us so much He gave… We should love God and His people enough that when He tells us to bless others, we don’t question it, we simply obey. We obey with joy and excitement at what the gift will mean to the recipient. Simplify Christmas – celebrate Christ. Bring Him glory this month! And let all you do be done in love. For after all…He is love.”

Kim Potter in “Simplify Christmas” blog post on 21 December 2020 by A New Thing Ministries. Thanks to my friend, Pat Warbington, who forwarded this post to me.

Our Christmas took a turn. In a way everything is more complicated, but in a way it is also more simplified. Our son was diagnosed with COVID. Our plans for getting together were cancelled. It has led me to focus on Christ.

I can identify with the feeling of helplessness that many talk about linked to COVID. So, to all those who are well, let us pray for, give generously to, and aid those who suffer. And let us all give thanks for Jesus, who is with us and loves us.

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her. Luke 1:38

“When the angel Gabriel came to Mary, he told her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” And she answered, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” It was in this submission, this surrender and obedience, that Christ was conceived. And it is the laying down of power that is revealed in his birth.…

He was born in a stable, at the mercy of Herod and the stark elements of cold and dirt. This pattern of complete abandonment of human strength in total surrender to God’s will is of vital importance for us. It was in the surrender of herself to God that Mary became the mother of Christ.

It was in her acceptance of Gabriel’s message that the great decisive event of history took place. And in our own lives, in our efforts to do right, what is decisive is that we accept and live by and surrender ourselves to a strength which is not our own, to the piercing white light of God’s love.”

Philip Britts in Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas (Walden: Plough, 2001) 109. Special thanks to Daily Meditations reader, Bill Crowe, for sharing this with me.

Think about what Mary surrendered. She gave up her body, her reputation, her entire future in saying “Yes” to the angel, Gabriel. And consider the generosity unleashed as a result.

Though we may not be visited by an angel, what might God be asking us to surrender the Christmas so that generous blessing can flow from our humble obedience?