Archive for June, 2022

Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, as it is written: “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.” 2 Corinthians 8:13-15

“At present we find ourselves in a world where, as a matter of fact, few people are rich and powerful, while many are poor and weak. Some who are well-off often have actively wronged their neighbors to get or keep their wealth; others wrong their neighbors by allowing them to suffer rather than share with them. There is an obvious inequality in the distribution of the goods needed for life, and much of the inequality is a reflection of injustice.”

Dallas Willard in Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives (New York: HarperCollins ebooks) 195.

Willard nailed it. There is much inequality in the world, but the Spirit is stirring significent efforts right now in places like Hong Kong and Malawi.

Imagine the rich giving to help create equality through sharing that not only alleviates suffering but unleashes grassroots local giving!

If you want to know about the Hong Kong efforts, reply and I can connect you with Roger Lam, a catalyst in the HK$10,000 Reasons movement.

And check out what the Malawi National News says about the Palmful of Maize (POM) vision led by GTP and STUM (Sunday School Teachers United Movement).

POM has been funded by a few wealthy givers. Their contributions have helped national workers build a generosity curriculum and spread it nationwide.

Also check out this video from a church in rural Euthini, Malawi. The children are celebrating that they can give a palmful of maize to God to share with the poor.

Click here to make a gift to GTP to share in a way that helps bring equality in some of the poorest places like Malawi and soon to nearby Zambia and Zimbabwe.

We are praying for 70 more givers by 30 June 2022, as a foundation has challenged us to broaded our support base. If we can do it, they plan to make a major gift.

This will help us build capacity to bring equality to some of the most difficult situations on the planet. Please consider prayerfully making a gift today.

No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Matthew 6:24

“Jesus speaks to the question of economics more than any other single social issue. If, in a comparatively simple society, our Lord lays such strong emphasis upon the spiritual dangers of wealth, how much more should we who live in a highly affluent culture take seriously the economic question.

The Epistles reflect the same concern. Paul says, “Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and hurtful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction” (1 Tim. 6:9). A bishop is not to be a “lover of money” (1 Tim. 3:3). A deacon is not to be “greedy for gain” (1 Tim. 3:8). The writer to the Hebrews counsels, “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, ‘I will never fail you nor forsake you’” (Heb. 13:5). James blames killings and wars on the lust for possessions: “You desire and do not have; so you kill. And you covet and cannot obtain; so you fight and wage war” (James 4:1-2). Paul calls covetousness idolatry and commands stern discipline against anyone guilty of greed (Eph. 5:5; 1 Cor. 5:11). He lists greed alongside adultery and thievery and declares that those who live in such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Paul counsels the wealthy not to trust in their wealth, but in God, and to share generously with others (1 Tim. 6:17–19).

Having said all this, I must hasten to add that God intends that we should have adequate material provision. There is misery today from a simple lack of provision just as there is misery when people try to make a life out of provision. Forced poverty is evil and should be renounced. Nor does the Bible condone an extreme asceticism. Scripture declares consistently and forcefully that the creation is good and to be enjoyed. Asceticism makes an unbiblical division between a good spiritual world and an evil material world and so finds salvation in paying as little attention as possible to the physical realm of existence.

Asceticism and simplicity are mutually incompatible. Occasional superficial similarities in practice must never obscure the radical difference between the two. Asceticism renounces possessions. Simplicity sets possessions in proper perspective. Asceticism finds no place for a “land flowing with milk and honey.” Simplicity rejoices in this gracious provision from the hand of God. Asceticism finds contentment only when it is abased. Simplicity knows contentment in both abasement and abounding (Phil. 4:12).

Simplicity is the only thing that sufficiently reorients our lives so that possessions can be genuinely enjoyed without destroying us. Without simplicity we will either capitulate to the “mammon” spirit of this present evil age, or we will fall into an un-Christian legalistic asceticism. Both lead to idolatry. Both are spiritually lethal.

Descriptions of the abundant material provision God gives his people abound in Scripture. “For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land…a land…in which you will lack nothing” (Deut. 8:7–9). Warnings about the danger of provisions that are not kept in proper perspective also abound. “Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth’” (Deut. 8:17).

The Spiritual Discipline of simplicity provides the needed perspective. Simplicity sets us free to receive the provision of God as a gift that is not ours to keep and can be freely shared with others. Once we recognize that the Bible denounces the materialist and the ascetic with equal vigor, we are prepared to turn our attention to the framing of a Christian understanding of simplicity.”

Richard Foster in Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth (Perfectbound 20th Anniversary Edition) 83-85.

I explored my word for the year (share) in this classic work and came on this long section on simplicity.

I won’t add much except this thought. Without simplicity, which is the proper relationship with money and possessions, we cannot practice generosity. It helps us reorient our lives.

If part of this long reading struck you, reflect on it with Jesus. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what the Father wants you to learn in order to grow more into Christlikeness.

May God help each of us excel in simplicity to enhance our generosity so we enjoy and share His blessings for His glory.

Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. Luke 12:32-33

“A more reasonable estimate of human costs and values will lead us to think that no labour is better expended than that which explores the way to the treasure-houses of the Spirit, and shows mankind where to find those goods which are increased by being shared, and which none can take from us.”

William Ralph Inge in Personal Religion and the Life of Devotion (London: Paternoster, 1924) 18.

Sit in this idea: that the Spirit gives us goods that are increased by being shared. It’s countercultural, counterintuitive, counter everything we’ve ever been taught to think. Welcome to life in the Kingdom!

I was reading Dallas Willard’s classic work, Spirit of the Disciplines, when I saw he quoted Inge. Thankfully, I was able to locate this old book that inspired Willard. So, I bought a copy of the 1924 hardcover for $2.56 plus shipping on Amazon.

I will to give it to my wife, Jenni. She’s the most wonderful person on earth. She points people to the Treasure-houses of the Spirit, where goods are increased by being shared.

If this sounds crazy then all I can say is to put the idea into practice to figure it out as you live it out, that you won’t end up empty by sharing generously but you will be enriched in every way!

Hear me (or really Inge) again. “No labour is better expended than that which explores the way to the treasure-houses of the Spirit.” Focus on gathering and sharing spiritual riches today.

God might just make you a conduit of divine love like Jenni is, and like I am learning to be. But I have a lot to learn. There’s hope for the rest of us!

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. 1 John 3:1

“[Salvation] is the change from being confident about our own efforts to the state in which we despair of doing anything for ourselves and leave it to God.

I know the words “leave it to God” can be misunderstood, but they must stay for the moment. The sense in which a Christian leaves it to God is that he puts all his trust in Christ: trusts that Christ will somehow share with him the perfect human obedience which He carried out from His birth to His crucifixion: that Christ will make the man more like Himself and, in a sense, make good his deficiencies.

In Christian language, He will share His “sonship” with us, will make us, like Himself, “Sons of God”…Christ offers something for nothing: He even offers everything for nothing. In a sense, the whole Christian life consists in accepting that very remarkable offer.

But the difficulty is to reach the point of recognising that all we have done and can do is nothing. What we should have liked would be for God to count our good points and ignore our bad ones.”

C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity (New York: HarperCollins 1980) 128.

This post is about generosity and the good kind of despair.

Whether we like it or not, we want God to count our good points and ignore our bad ones, and what God desires is that we despair of doing anything for ourselves.

The gift that everyone gets who chooses this despair is “everything for nothing.”

That’s a gift that should be shared widely with others. It’s truly a remarkable offer. Where can you find that from marketers and merchandise peddlers? Nowhere.

While this post does not relate to financial giving, it has everything to do with the best kind of giving.

The gift, as the professor so eloquently puts it, is “perfect human obedience” which Christ carried out and wants to grant to us. God help us put this gift to use and share it with others.

I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. Philemon 1:6

“If you have any faith, give me, for heaven’s sake, a share of it! Your doubts you may keep to yourself, for I have plenty of my own.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) in Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers, compiled by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert (New York: Wilbur B. Ketcham, 1895) 223.

As I consider where I will dig next in deeper study, I am returning to my word for the year: share.

Today, the Apostle Paul reminds us that when we share our faith we grow to understand more fully all the good things we have in Christ. And Goethe reminds us that if we have faith, for heaven’s sake we must share it for the benefit of those around us, while keeping our doubts to ourselves.

The world is filled with doubts and troubles. As every generation has hard times, let’s lift up those around us by reflecting on the good things we have in Christ and share all we discover generously.

Elisha said, “Get a bow and some arrows,” and he did so.“Take the bow in your hands,” he said to the king of Israel. When he had taken it, Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands. “Open the east window,” he said, and he opened it. “Shoot!” Elisha said, and he shot. “The Lord’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram!” Elisha declared. “You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek.” Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and the king took them. Elisha told him, “Strike the ground.” He struck it three times and stopped. The man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.”

Elisha died and was buried. Now Moabite raiders used to enter the country every spring. Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man’s body into Elisha’s tomb. When the body touched Elisha’s bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet. 2 Kings 13:15-21

“Two episodes appear respectively in which the dying Elisha performs a symbolic act to ensure Jehoash’s victory over the Arameans, and which relate the miraculous resurrection of a dead man who is cast into Elisha’s tomb.

Both episodes emphasize the power of the prophet, but they also related to the overarching theme of Aramean oppression in Israel in the Omride and Jehu periods… The first episode presents Joash’s visit to the dying Elisha…

By shooting an arrow out the eastern window of the house where Elisha resides, Joash dramatizes the arrows that he will shoot against Aram and effectively make his shot an “arrow of victory” over Aram…

The second episode provides another example of the prophet’s extraordinary power by portraying the resurrection of a man whose body came into contact with that of the prophet… The resurrection motif is characteristic of the Elijah and Elisha traditions.”

Marvin A. Sweeney in I & II Kings: A Commentary (Old Testament Library; Louisville: WJKP, 2007) 358-360.

This is an interesting set of stories at the end of the life of Elisha and after his death. What unites them in my mind is the touch of the prophet. In the one instance, Elisha touches the hands of the king and the “arrow of victory” flows from it. In the other case, a dead man touches his bones and experiences healing. But how does this relate to us?

The touch of God’s worker brings victory and gives life. This is the message we can’t miss and the end of the life of Elisha.

Sure there’s an odd human element in the two episodes. But there’s a lesson in that layer too. In the first part, Elisha gives the king some arrows and says “Shoot” and he stops after three. God’s worker got upset with him because He did not do as instructed.

But we do that, don’t we? We walk with God and then maybe we stop reading the Word or stop doing the things we know we need to do.

Then the raiders do as they should not do (raiding, that is) and yet the touch from even the bones of God’s worker brings life. What’s the point? Life is found in God for everyone. Again, the touch of God’s worker brings victory and gives life!

We will only experience victory to the measure of our faith (like the king), and the life we find in God is for everyone, not just the deserving people (such as raiders). So, the last message of Elisha should inspire us to serve others in a way that brings a holy touch that points people to grow in faith and have victory. And may our legacy after we are gone, still be life giving to those who are touched.

This concludes my exploration of the life of Elijah and Elisha. I am in a season of service where I feel I can relate to them so I studied them closely. I pray you too have been touched by the lessons they have taught me which I have tried to share generously. With you!

“At dusk [the four lepers] got up and went to the camp of the Arameans. When they reached the edge of the camp, no one was there, for the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army, so that they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!” So they got up and fled in the dusk and abandoned their tents and their horses and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives. The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp, entered one of the tents and ate and drank. Then they took silver, gold and clothes, and went off and hid them. They returned and entered another tent and took some things from it and hid them also. Then they said to each other, “What we’re doing is not right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let’s go at once and report this to the royal palace.” 2 Kings 7:5-9

“As he had done when Elisha was surrounded at Dothan, God defeated his enemies with an unseen army.

Imagine the look on the faces of this leprous quartet as they sneaked to the edge of the enemy camp! There, spread before them, was enough food and water to feed an army. And not just food, either. There was enough of everything an army needs to wage war: tents, horses, donkeys, weapons, armor, silver, and gold. But the whole camp was quiet and still. Not one single soldier was stirring.

So the lepers blinked, looked at one another with wide eyes, and realized taht they were rich beyond their wildest dreams!

The experienced – and this is the first point to draw from this passage – the surpassing joy of finding good news… The lepers ran from tent to tent, looting with abandon. It was like the world’s biggest shopping spree. They must have been deliriously happy – rummaging through the sacks, trying on clothes, munching on snacks, guzzling wine. “Hey look at this!” one might have said as he opened a purse of God. “these must be worth a fortune!” Or, “Check this out! I’ve been needing a new robe.”

The whole giddy experience can be summarized in a single phrase full of spiritual significance: “This is a day of good news”… Good news is meant to be shared. Consider: when was the last time you heard really good news and kept it to yourself? Probably never.

Good news always travels fast, which is why the lepers started to have second thoughts… If the king ever found out that they had kept the good news to themselves (not to mention the plunder), their lives would be forfeit… These men realized that keeping good news to oneself is a sin and thus they felt the urgent necessity of sharing good news.”

Philip Graham Ryken in 2 Kings (REC; Phillipsburg: P & R Publishing, 2019) 138-140.

This is such a powerful scene. God defeats another enemy with an unseen army. Then, indescribable wealth and untold favor fall upon the least likely characters: four lepers.

Don’t miss what happens. They label it good news and resolve that the only right thing to do is to share the news (and the spoils) with others. This is a great lesson of generosity.

We need to be like those lepers. We are undeserving. So, as God supplies us with wealth, though our proclivity may be to keep it for ourselves, to honor the King the only right thing to do is enjoy and share it.

Assess your situation? Do you have more than enough? Pick a person or ministry with whom you might choose to share more generously today. Celebrate this situation as good news and share generously!

The company of the prophets said to Elisha, “Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us. Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to meet.” And he said, “Go.” Then one of them said, “Won’t you please come with your servants?” “I will,” Elisha replied. And he went with them. They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees. As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. “Oh no, my lord!” he cried out. “It was borrowed!” The man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float. “Lift it out,” he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it. 2 Kings 6:1-7

“Miracles are done to be a sign, indicator, a witness to so great a salvation that comes only in Christ our Savior. The ensign in this episode with Elisha is that it was the wood of a tree that was cut off (a representation of the work of Christ) that was the key to resurrecting the iron from the depths of the river Jordan. The same portrait of wood that we can see when the children of Israel thirsted in the wilderness, and the Lord told Moses to cast a tree (same word) into the poisoned water to make it sweet and drinkable (Exodus 15:25). The wood stick of the tree represents the efficacious power of Christ in the water whereby Christ redeems it making it clean. Elisha, a type of Christ, uses this same stick cut off so that the axe head can be redeemed from being lost. In other words, it was because of the stick cast into Jordan (representing death) that the iron did float and thus could be retrieved by God’s servant.”

Tony Warren in “The Miracle of Elisha and the Floating Axe Head.”

This miracle illustrates the work of Jesus Christ for us on the cross. What does it have to do with generosity?

The tree serves as a sign, indicator, and witness to the payment of the debt we could not repay, that is, generous deliverance from death to life.

Notice how Elisha tossed the tree on the spot where the axehead fell. Likewise, may our generosity go toward lifting the lost as a sign, indicator, and witness to our faith.

For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah. 1 Kings 17:16

“See the faithfulness of divine love. You observe that this woman had daily necessities. She had herself and her son to feed in a time of famine; and now, in addition, the prophet Elijah was to be fed too. But though the need was threefold, yet the supply of meal wasted not, for she had a constant supply. Each day she made calls upon the barrel, but yet each day it remained the same. You, dear reader, have daily necessities, and because they come so frequently, you are apt to fear that the barrel of meal will one day be empty, and the cruse of oil will fail you.

Rest assured that, according to the Word of God, this shall not be the case. Each day, though it bring its trouble, shall bring its help; and though you should live to outnumber the years of Methuselah, and though your needs should be as many as the sands of the seashore, yet shall God’s grace and mercy last through all your necessities, and you shall never know a real lack. For three long years, in this widow’s days, the heavens never saw a cloud, and the stars never wept a holy tear of dew upon the wicked earth: famine, and desolation, and death, made the land a howling wilderness, but this woman never was hungry, but always joyful in abundance. So shall it be with you.

You shall see the sinner’s hope perish, for he trusts his native strength; you shall see the proud Pharisee’s confidence totter, for he builds his hope upon the sand; you shall see even your own schemes blasted and withered, but you yourself shall find that your place of defence shall be the munition of rocks: “Your bread shall be given you, and your water shall be sure.” Better have God for your guardian, than the Bank of England for your possession. You might spend the wealth of the Indies, but the infinite riches of God you can never exhaust.”

Charles Haddon Spurgeon in Morning and Evening, Evening Reading for 28 February.

It’s been rewarding to mine the stories of Elijah and Elisha in the thinking of classic writers and biblical commentators. In a time of famine God constantly supplied.

Here Spurgeon reminds us that trusting God to provide our daily necessities for sharing and enjoyment is putting our confidence in a guardian better than the Bank of England.

We only figure it out when we live it out that the infinite riches of God can never be exhausted. Like the prophet we discover that we don’t end up empty but perpetually enriched.

Do most Christians rest assured or do they appear as restless? Does their stewardship reveal that they live in fear of scarcity rather than practicing and promoting the joy of abundance?

Next time you see the sand by a seashore remember this. Though your needs seem to outnumber the grains of sand, you shall never know real lack, because in Christ you have all you need.

My time with Rob and Bev Martin has been priceless, sharing stories, celebrating God’s faithfulness, and testifying to His goodness. I pray God gives me a double portion of Rob’s faith.

Elisha saw this and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his garment and tore it in two. Elisha then picked up Elijah’s cloak that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. He took the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and struck the water with it. “Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over. 2 Kings 2:12-14

“It is not wrong to depend upon Elijah as long as God gives him to you, but remember the time will come when he will have to go; when he stands no more to you as your guide and leader, because God does not intend he should. You say – “I cannot go on without Elijah.” God says you must.

Alone at your Jordan – Jordan is the type of separation where there is no fellowship with anyone else, and where no one can take the responsibility for you. You have to put to the test now what you learned when you were with your Elijah. You have been to Jordan over and over again with Elijah, but now you are up against it alone. It is no use saying you cannot go; this experience has come, and you must go. If you want to know whether God is the God you have faith to believe Him to be, then go through your Jordan alone.”

Oswald Chambers in My Utmost for His Highest reading for 11 August.

Sometimes God gives us people in our lives for a season to mentor and guide us, to coach and counsel us. And sometimes he removes them.

I’m on a short trip to the Midwest, meeting with a foundation and some GTP supporters in Michigan and Illinois this week. One person I will meet with today is Rob Martin. If I am Elisha, He’s been like an Elijah to me helping launch GTP. Of course his wife Bev, and my wife, Jenni, have been a huge help too. More recently Rob stepped down from the board as he is getting up in years, but I want to spend some quality time with him.

Perhaps you can relate? So, what do we do, if we want to follow in the footsteps of people in our lives who remind us of Elijah. The answer is to learn what we can from them and then boldly go through our Jordan alone with confidence that the God who was with them will be with us too.

Let us give thanks for such people as our generous God gives them to us, and when He removes them from our lives, we follow the example they set for us and serve generously.