Archives by: Gary Hoag

Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. John 12:24

“I gaze lovingly at my dinner plate filled with gifts from the earth. I am touched, overwhelmed at the truth that everything I eat has in some way had to die so I could live. It is the way of the earth, and I do not completely understand it. Ponder over the truth for a while. It may bring tears to your eyes. And if it does, I encourage you to welcome them. They could be healing. I gaze more lovingly still. Gratitude overflows! I ask my heart a hard question: What is it in me that must die before I can truly give life to others?”

Macrina Wiederkehr in Seasons of Your Heart: Prayers and Reflections, Revised and Expanded (New York: HarperCollins, 1991) 129.

We ate a full plate of food yesterday for Thanksgiving. Perhaps you did too? So this is a perfect thought to ponder. Everything on that plate had to die so that you and I might eat it and have life.

May this thought fill you with gratitude and propel you to generosity. I pray it also inspires you to soak in this question: “What is it in me that must die before I can truly give life to others?”

Today is Black Friday in USA. It’s the day marketers offer us deals to get us to spend as much money as possible. Buy what you need, for sure, as you may get necessities at great prices.

In dying to consumerism and instead choosing generosity we set an example for others which just might help them grasp the life that is truly life, which is what they are looking for while shopping anyway.

If you are looking for a place to give to spread this kind of thinking worldwide, support the “give a gift that grows” effort. Click here to learn more.

He replied, “You give them something to eat.” They answered, “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all this crowd.” Luke 9:13

“You give them something to eat. It seems that a significant amount of doing ministry involves figuring out what you’ve got and then figuring out how to give it and who to give it to. You see, God gave you something wonderfully unique and specific, somthing that only you can give. It may feel like only five loaves and two fish among so many, but in His hands it is more than enough to satify a multitude and still have some left over.

“You give them something to eat,” Jesus is saying. “Because I gave you something that only you can give. First give it to me, and then I will give it back to you in abundance. Only then will you be able to give it to them, whoever your ‘them’ may be. And in the giving of ‘it’ to ‘them’ you will find that there is enough to feed you as well.” Incredible.

There is one other small thing to notice in the text however, and it is really not small at all. Once we are willing enough and courageous enough to give Jesus our little loaves and fish, he does something really amazing with it. He takes it, then He blesses it, then He breaks it, and then He gives it. Now all of that sounds pretty great except the breaking part.

Because, it seems, in Jesus’ economy we can’t be multiplied enough to be given, we can only be broken enough to be given. It is in the breaking that the abundance comes. It is in the breaking that the multiplying occurs, just as it will be for each of us. If we really want to have something of depth and substance to give to those around us, it will usually involve some sort of breaking.”

Jim Branch in Reflection on “Give Your Life Away” in The Blue Book: A Devotional Guide for Every Season of Your Life (Scotts Valley: CreateSpace, 2016) 348-349.

Happy Thanksgiving.

I hope today’s reading encourages you to do more than break bread and share a meal with thankfulness in your heart to God. I pray it inspires you to give God whatever you have so it can be broken and distributed widely in abundance.

How will you respond?

If you have giftedness, I pray you put it to work by giving yourself to God in service. If you have financial resources, I pray you put them in play so that God can multiply them to care for many. But don’t forget the lesson from Branch in so doing.

Hold this close to your heart.

You will be blessed in putting your giftedness to work. You will be refilled in abundance for putting the money that you steward in play. You will be renewed and refreshed. But it only happens after you act and allow God to break it.

May your day be blessed as you return thanks by giving!

So that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Matthew 6:4

“When we remember that we are, overall, as needy as those we serve and that to receive is not as blessed to give, our deeds of giving will naturally be low-keyed and unassuming. Perhaps we will find ways in which we can meet needs without anyone knowing the source, as Matthew 6:4 says “so that our giving may be in secret.” One way to gain such understanding is to experience the life of the poor in some further measure—though we must never give in to the tempation to act as if we are poor when we are not. No adequate elaboration of practical strategies can be undertaken here. But, depending upon our family and other circumstances, we might, as earlier suggested, do some of our ordinary business in the poorer districts of our community. It may even be as simple as getting out of our cars and onto public transportation. One of the great social and economic divisions in many parts of the world is between those who must ride in public transportation and those who can transport themselves.”

Dallas Willard in The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives (New York: HarperCollins, 1988) 213.

Got to go to the Van Gogh experience yesterday! Vincent was a low-key and unassuming guy, and some might say he was eccentric. Furthermore, his contributions to the art world, such as Almond Blossoms (pictured above), did not become widely known in his lifetime, only later.

What if our generosity was low-keyed and unassuming and largely unknown by others? What if we did whatever work God gifted us to do in a prolific way, never seeking recognition? What if we did business in poorer districts? All this runs counter to what the world tells us to do.

The world says to run with the wealthy, to avoid public transport, to drive the newest and nicest car. Hear me. We need to be gracious with each other. At coffee with my friend, Rich Haynie, yesterday, I was reminded that we must not condemn each other but keep watch over ourselves. We will all answer to God for our stewardship.

So what’s the lesson for us? Let’s live, give, serve, and love generously in low-keyed and unassuming ways. Let’s run with the ordinary and even among the poor, like Jesus did, remembering that to receive is not as blessed to give. And, let us give generously in secret.

But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you —see that you also excel in this grace of giving. 2 Corinthians 8:7

“Stewardship is bigger than just our individual organizations. Yes, that is our first priority as a professional. After that I believe God is using each one of us to champion the “cause” of teaching stewardship and development to the church and the world.

Our cause is about changing the world. As each person becomes a giver, more generous, and a steward, the world changes. As each person learns that to God it is more blessed to give than to receive, the world changes. As each steward grows in the grace of giving, the world changes.

May you be encouraged today that you do more than raise money, you embody the role of stewardship in the world and today YOU changed the world through your ministry of stewardship and development.”

John R. Frank in “Where is Stewardship in our World?” in 60 Great Stewardship & Development Ideas (PDF) 42-43.

I was reading a PDF written by my friend, John R. Frank, and needed this shot in the arm today.

Why should every pastor, ministry administrator, CEO, or staff member encourage faithful and generous stewardship of God’s resources, especially in a season where most people are thinking about spending?

It changes the world. It does. Our living, giving, serving, and loving impact our context and those around us.

So, from what you have, give generously in this season of Thanksgiving and on Giving Tuesday. I pray you include GTP on your list. John did. Thanks mate, for the gift and for this PDF with 60 great ideas.

Email me if you want to read the PDF. I’ll connect you with the author. And, please, go change the world everyone by encouraging generous stewardship.

For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. John 1:16

“Do you, therefore, and My other servants, carry yourselves with true patience, with grief for your sins, and with love of virtue for the glory and praise of My Name. If you act thus, I will satisfy for your sins, and for those of My other servants, inasmuch as the pains which you will endure will be sufficient, through the virtue of love, for satisfaction and reward, both in you and in others. In yourself you will receive the fruit of life, when the stains of your ignorance are effaced, and I shall not remember that you ever offended Me.

In others I will satisfy through the love and affection which you have to Me, and I will give to them according to the disposition with which they will receive My gifts. In particular, to those who dispose themselves, humbly and with reverence, to receive the doctrine of My servants, will I remit both guilt and penalty, since they will thus come to true knowledge and contrition for their sins. So that, by means of prayer, and their desire of serving Me, they receive the fruit of grace.”

Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) in The Dialogue of Catherine of Siena, trans. by Algar Thorold (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd., 1907) and ed. by Harry Plantinga (1994) 17.

Meet Grace St. Catherine. Collected her from the breeder in Montrose, Colorado, just yesterday. Just before picking her up, I read this section from St. Catherine’s classic work. Let me highlight four words from it.

Firstly, consider the ‘disposition’ with which you receive gifts from God. Do you consider blessings earned? Or do you with knowledge of your sins, humble yourself and give thanks for His mercy an anything He supplies?

Secondly, ponder His ‘gifts’ to you. One of those is doctrine. It’s a big word for right thinking in Jesus. Once you were lost; now you are found. God’s love was free to you and for everyone to be enjoyed and shared generously with others.

Thirdly, we get to ‘dispose’ ourselves with reverence. In plain terms, we receive gifts from God and we remit all we are and all we have in response to magnify Him on the earth. We become generous.

Fourthly, we receive ‘grace’ to serve by prayer. This fruit from God empowers us to do whatever task He sets before us with confidence and strength. He satisfies our every need and fills our every longing.

And today, we celebrate receiving “grace upon grace” from God. Grace from Him carries me through daily life. And this puppy, Grace St. Catherine, will aid us on our journey of living, giving, serving, and loving generously.

Grace will require us to walk a lot (which gives us exercise and space to pray). She will provide companionship. She will help provide food to eat (looking forward to hunting pheasant together) and so much more.

Father in heaven, we set our disposition to receive your gifts and dispose ourselves by your Spirit to remit them richly to others, ever mindful of your grace to us sinners. Hear our prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.

And thanks for Grace St. Catherine. Teach us through her like you did with Joy St. Clare.

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! Isaiah 26:3

“Is your mind stayed on God or is it starved? Starvation of the mind, caused by neglect, is one of the chief sources of exhaustion and weakness in a servant’s life. If you have never used your mind to place yourself before God, begin to do it now. There is no reason to wait for God to come to you. You must turn your thoughts and your eyes away from the face of idols and look to Him and be saved (see Isaiah 45:22).

Your mind is the greatest gift God has given you and it ought to be devoted entirely to Him. You should seek to be “bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ…” (2 Corinthians 10:5). This will be one of the greatest assets of your faith when a time of trial comes, because then your faith and the Spirit of God will work together.

When you have thoughts and ideas that are worthy of credit to God, learn to compare and associate them with all that happens in nature— the rising and the setting of the sun, the shining of the moon and the stars, and the changing of the seasons. You will begin to see that your thoughts are from God as well, and your mind will no longer be at the mercy of your impulsive thinking, but will always be used in service to God.

“We have sinned with our fathers…[and]…did not remember…” (Psalm 106:6-7). Then prod your memory and wake up immediately. Don’t say to yourself, “But God is not talking to me right now.” He ought to be. Remember whose you are and whom you serve. Encourage yourself to remember, and your affection for God will increase tenfold. Your mind will no longer be starved, but will be quick and enthusiastic, and your hope will be inexpressibly bright.”

Oswald Chambers in My Utmost for His Highest reading entitled “Is Your Mind Stayed on God?” for 11 February.

For the next week or two, I have decided to revisit my word for the year: remember. I feel this is fitting for a season of thanksgiving, especially when I am praying for God’s provision for GTP to add staff.

Let me elaborate on what I think pastors and ministry workers around the world need to remember to be stayed and not starved. God is our faithful Provider. We find peace in that reality. And if we don’t we grow weary. It happens to me.

In real-time, two major groups have offered to fund half of the cost of two new GTP program staff. What a gift from God! And while we have a Giving Tuesday effort to get the remaining funds, I am reminding myself to trust God to supply.

Perhaps you can relate? You have so much work to do, and you have real needs, by you can lose the battle in your mind. So what should you do? Wake up and remember whose you are and whom you serve.

When you do this, Chambers adds, that you will be “quick and enthusiastic, and your hope will be inexpressibly bright.” So, to bring hope to others in this season of Thanksgiving, minister humbly and keep your mind stayed on God.

Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. 2 Timothy 1:14

“If the soul receives favours and caresses from our Lord, let it examine carefully whether it rates itself more highly in consequence; unless self-abasement increases with God’s expressions of love, they do not come from the Holy Spirit. Inevitably, when they are divine, the greater the favours, the less the soul esteems itself and the more keenly it remembers its sins. It becomes more oblivious of self-interest: the will and memory grow more fervent in seeking solely God’s honour with no thought of self. It also becomes unceasingly careful not to deviate deliberately from the will of God and feels a keener conviction that instead of meriting such favours, it deserves hell. When these results follow, no graces or gifts received during prayer need alarm the soul which should rather trust in the mercy of God, Who is faithful and will not allow the devil to deceive it; but it is always well to be on one’s guard.”

Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582) in Interior Castle 3.11 (Grand Rapids: CCEL) 109-110.

As I moved to 2 Timothy today, this Scripture stood out as important. Most people guard financial deposits and we need to guard the spiritual deposit entrusted to us with the help of the Holy Spirit. Few people write about this.

Seriously, I scanned at least a dozen classic works and few said anything. Then I read this excerpt from Teresa. It was eye-opening. We need to always balance two things. The good deposit alongside our badness.

Think about it. When our sinfulness and self-interest take over, we will not only deviate from God’s will, we will advance our own. So, we must be on guard. This relates to generosity in two ways.

On the positive side, when we do the will of God with the resources we have, we will appear as gracious, generous, humble conduits of unfathomable blessing. That’s God’s design and desire.

On the negative side, when we rate ourselves more highly than we ought, such as by taking credit for our giving, we emerge instead as prideful and pathetic. To avoid this, we must guard the good deposit entrusted to us by grace.

Speaking of Grace…heading to Grand Junction, Colorado today to pick up Grace St. Catherine tomorrow. Can’t wait to bring this German Shorthair Pointer home to start puppy training.

Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order to provide for urgent needs and not live unproductive lives. Titus 3:14

“You never learned the mystery of contentment unless it may be said of you that, just as you are the most contented man, so you are also the most unsatisfied man in the world. You will say, ‘How is that?’ A man who has learned the art of contentment is the most contented with any low condition that he has in the world, and yet he cannot be satisfied with the enjoyment of all the world. He is contented if he has but a crust, but bread and water, that is, if God disposes of him, for the things of the world, to have but bread and water for his present condition, he can be satisfied with God’s disposal in that; yet if God should give unto him Kingdoms and Empires, all the world to rule, if he should give it him for his portion, he would not be satisfied with that. Here is the mystery of it: though his heart is so enlarged that the enjoyment of all the world and ten thousand worlds cannot satisfy him for his portion; yet he has a heart quieted under God’s disposal, if he gives him but bread and water. To join these two together must needs be a great art and mystery.”

Jeremiah Burroughs (1600-1646) in The Rare Jewel Of Christian Contentment (Preach the Word) 23-24.

As we move through Paul’s letters we come to Titus. Two times in the third chapter of this letter, we see Paul urge Titus to make sure that God’s people learn to devote themselves to doing what is good. This is a learning process for all of us.

Burroughs writes at length about how we must learn contentment to be released to the good works that God has prepared in advance for us to do. We must learn to have our heart quieted under God’s disposal.

In that place, we have learned to be content with what God supplies, such as simple bread and water. Simultaneously, we are not satisfied by anything that the world offers. So, what’s the lesson for us today to grow in generosity?

Make your resources and time at God’s disposal. See what happens. Also, as we enter a shopping season. The world will tell you, buy this, or get that. These messages will contain promises of satisfaction. Don’t listen to them.

Instead, buy what you need, and find contentment in God alone. Our hearts are always seeking contentment and they can only find it God. And, with contentment comes joy when we make ourselves and resources available at God’s disposal.

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. 1 Timothy 6:17-19

“Our Lord Jesus is ever giving, and does not for a solitary instant withdraw His hand. As long as there is a vessel of grace not yet full to the brim, the oil shall not be stayed. He is a sun ever-shining; He is manna always falling round the camp; He is a rock in the desert, ever sending out streams of life from his smitten side; the rain of His grace is always dropping; the river of His bounty is ever-flowing, and the well-spring of his love is constantly overflowing. As the King can never die, so His grace can never fail. Daily we pluck His fruit, and daily His branches bend down to our hand with a fresh store of mercy.”

Charles Haddon Spurgeon in Morning and Evening: Daily Readings (Grand Rapids: CCEL) reading for 16 May.

Our trek through Paul’s letters afresh brings us to 1 Timothy and one of my favorite texts, the command to the rich. It’s not a suggestion. It points the way to life. We are commanded not to idolize comfort or serve as containers but be conduits of blessing as never fails to fills us with a fresh store.

Today, Spurgeon gives us so many word pictures that illustrate this. Manna falling, grace dropping, rivers flowing, and even wells overflowing. Each one shouts of God’s abundance. So why do we hoard it? We fear we will end up empty. But we are commanded to give so that we learn by experience that He will re-supply.

If you are looking for a place to be generous this year, as the rich have gotten richer, and the poor are needing help and service more than ever. Give to GTP. Click here to see how your gift will keep on giving to help add staff to empower national workers around the world to grow local giving.

And do this with thankfulness in your heart for how abundantly God has blessed you. As He never fails to provide a fresh store, I pray you give more generously than ever and see what happens. To grasp life in the process is to discover by doing it that participating in dispensing His fruits is why we are on this round ball called earth.

I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your love for all His holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus. I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ. Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people. Philemon 4-7

“The wise man has said, indeed, that there is a time to speak, and a time to keep silence; and, assuredly, it will be better for us to stand aloof from doubtful company, than to turn preachers and reprovers, bidden or unbidden, wherever we go. But still let us remember that Christian love, in its highest exercise, will be the best guide as to what our social duties are, and the best prompter of that word in season which the wise man again has pronounced so emphatically good.

Let us love not in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth, wisely, generously, with high aims, and from worthy motives, like the best and ripest Christians,—or, better still, let our love be modeled after the pattern of Christ’s own love who never rested from His great work, who taught and healed men as He went along the world’s highway, but laboured in travail night and day that He might save them.

And then our difficult task will grow easier; we shall not speak rashly for fear of being silent sinfully; and as our own graces grow, and our own character for sincerity is established, we shall find that men will bear from us, if we speak in charity and in faith, what we fancied in early days would bring down a storm of indignation on our heads.”

John Hampden Gurney (1802-1862) in his sermon “Words and Deeds” in Christian Almsdeeds and Faithful Stewardship (London: Rivingtons, 1862) 8.

In our walk through Paul’s letters, we come to Philemon. In this short letter, Paul remembers what refreshed and uplifted people, namely, the Christian love of Philemon. It encouraged and blessed everyone he touched.

The challenge Gurney faced in the mid-1800’s, as English society was booming, appears similar to the challenges of those whose cultures flourish today. Someone needs to stand up and exhort people to consider their social duties. But this can be unpopular. It makes people uncomfortable.

The best guide for us is love in action and the model to follow is not our fellow man or woman but Jesus Christ. If we go along the world’s highway as He did it will be hard, for sure, but the journey will become easier over time.

And at some point, because of God’s grace at work, people will shift from shunning us to embracing us. All the while we must move about with charity and faith and do everything in love.

That said, the rich have gotten richer and the poor have gotten poorer during this Covid season. What is the social duty of those who abound? Don’t give handouts that create dependencies but a hand up and build up disciples. And do this with grace and love.

Do this, and I am confident, like Philemon, your love will refresh and uplift all those you serve for God’s glory.