“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
“[The Apostle Paul] left us a weighty example in his manner of life, as he testifies that he not only wrought what would supply his own bodily wants alone, but also what would be sufficient for the needs of those who were with him: those, I mean, who, being taken up with necessary duties, had no chance of procuring food for themselves with their own hands. And as he tells the Thessalonians that he had worked to give them an example that they might imitate him, so here too he implies something of the same sort when he says: I have showed you all things, how that so labouring you ought to support the weak, whether in mind or body; i.e., that we should be diligent in supplying their needs, not from the store of our abundance, or money laid by, or from another’s generosity and substance, but rather by securing the necessary sum by our own labour and toil.”
John Cassian (360-435) in Institutes, Book 10, Chapter 18 “That the Apostle wrought what he thought would be sufficient for him and for others who were with him.” What a joy to participate in the Stewardship Summit in Phoenix this week! Like the Apostle Paul, the speakers and participants are peers that have served as weighty examples to me.
John Cassian would encourage each of us to be like Paul. Are you a weighty example? Does your life challenge others to work hard, to care for your personal needs as well as the needs of others? Do you urge those who can work to get to work? In 2017 and beyond, let us commit to serving as weighty examples so that others will be inspired to live, give, serve, and love like Jesus when they look at us.