Archives by: Gary Hoag

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

“Endings are not only part of life; they are a requirement for living and thriving, professionally and personally. Being alive requires that we sometimes kill off things in which we were once invested, uproot what we previously nurtured, and tear down what we built for an earlier time. Refraining, giving up, throwing away, tearing down, hating what we once cherished—all are necessary.

Endings are the reason you are not married to your prom date nor still working in your first job. But without the ability to do endings well, we flounder, stay stuck, and fail to reach our goals and dreams. Or worse, we remain in painful and sometimes destructive situations. Endings are crucial, but we rarely like them. Hence the problem. Why We Avoid Endings.
Endings are necessary, but the truth is that we often do not do them well. Although we need them for good results to happen in life and for bad situations to be resolved, the reality is that most of us humans often avoid them or botch them.

We hang on too long when we should end something now… We are afraid of the unknown… We have had too many and too painful endings in our personal history, so we avoid another one. When they are forced upon us, we do not know how to process them, and we sink or flounder. We do not learn from them, so we repeat the same mistakes over and over.”

Henry Cloud in Necessary Endings: The Employees, Businesses, and Relationships That All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Move Forward (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 2011) 15-16.

I am back from Asia. And I feel pretty good. Reply if you want to read my trip report.

In my travels, I have been reading this book. My counselor recommended it for my sabbatical reading and transitioning from President & CEO to Founder. And the deeper reason is to help strengthen my emotional health. As I read it, I also see connections to generosity.

Solomon reminds us that there’s a time for everything.

And as a steward aspiring to faithful and generous service, you know that to say yes to living, giving, serving, and loving, you need to end some things so you can fully engage with others.

Just this week, a friend in Ukraine shared that with the war waging on for four years and counting, he has to say ‘no’ to more things. I am praying for him.

Recently another friend had change forced upon him. I can’t imagine how hard that must have been. But he’s sitting with the Lord trying to discern his next steps.

On this note I must honor my wife. I see what she does (or does not do) so she can support me, do her seminary supervision, have countless soul care sessions with people, help with the granddaughters 3 days a week, do national and international speaking and teaching, and more. I see her at the beginning of each year determine the things she will continue or end to have perpetual margin for what is most important.

For the rest of us, maybe we have flexibility to choose the things we continue or end, but maybe we have put off making such assessments. Here’s what I say today. Don’t put this off. Ask Jesus to help you as it will not be easy.

And it will only increase your generosity.

But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33

“How could such a person not be a fool when for the sake of things that cannot profit him – ‘For a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things that he possesses’ (Luke 12:15) – he gives up what is most profitable of all? He fails to become a wise merchant, selling even necessities, so far as possible, and in this way adding to the capital of a truly bountiful and gainful form of commerce or husbandry – a husbandry, indeed, which even before the harvest time multiplies a hundredfold that which was sown, thus foreshowing that the profit to come and the harvest shortly to be reaped will be indescribable and unimaginable.

And the curious thing is that the smaller the storerooms the seed comes from the larger will the harvest be. Hence there is no justification in aspiring to become rich even for a good cause. The truth is that people are frightened of being poor because they have no faith in Him who promised to provide all things needful to those who seek the kingdom of God (cf. Matt. 6:33). It is this fear that spurs them, even when they are endowed with all things, and it prevents them from ever freeing themselves from this sickly and baneful desire. They go on amassing wealth, loading themselves with a worthless burden or, rather, enclosing themselves while still living in a most absurd kind of tomb.”

Gregory Palamas (1296-1359) was a monk of Mount Athos and later archbishop of Thessalonica in “To the Most Reverend Nun Xenia” in The Philokalia V4.305.

I am sitting in Manila while typing this. It will post when I am over the Pacific.

I marvel that after mining classic writings of the Christian faith, like The Philokalia, for 16.5 years and posting more than 6,000 Daily Meditations, I never cease to find gold. I never stop finding the most profound quotes of saints reflecting on Scripture. Please read this post again! It’s so good!

These discoveries happen because there is no better quest than seeking the Kingdom with saints through the centuries.

Today, Gregory writes Xenia saying that he can’t understand why, despite the explicit warning of Jesus, people fail to sow to reap a harvest that is both indescribable and unimaginable.

Instead they amass wealth and live in an absurd kind of tomb. If you have wealth on earth, that’s you! Stop doing it! And hear me pointedly, I concur with Gregory who explains why this happens.

The truth hurts: “people are frightened of being poor because they have no faith in Him who promised to provide all things needful to those who seek the kingdom of God.”

Don’t let your actions testify against you. I am not trying to rob you but help you.

And I will need your help in an ongoing way as this sabbatical continues to unleash many new kingdom-advancing ideas and opportunities.

Seriously, I just spent time in China and, among other efforts, had the privilege of leading three people to faith in Jesus Christ.

This will cost them everything but the gain will be indescribable and unimaginable. The 60+ workers I empowered may experience persecution or even martyrdom, but they thanked me.

They said that that the time they have will be exponentially more productive. I wept with my wife on FaceTime yesterday while trying to process my experiences on the trip.

I must conclude by saying that this “curious” statement struck me: “the smaller the storerooms the seed comes from the larger will the harvest be.”

I thank a few God for a few humble people who sent me to China following God’s leading. They did it from their limited resources. When they get to the kingdom, they will meet three people who made it there because they sent me.

And, in Jesus name, countless others through the ministries of those I served.

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

“He who dwells in solitude and depends on charity for his food must accept alms in seven ways. First, he must ask only for what is needful. Secondly, he must take only what is needful. Thirdly, he must receive whatever is offered to him as if from God. Fourthly, he must trust in God and believe that He will recompense the giver. Fifthly, he must apply himself to keeping the commandments. Sixthly, he must not misuse what is given to him. Seventhly, he must not be stingy but must give to others and be compassionate. He who conducts himself thus in these matters experiences the joy of having his needs supplied not by man but by God.”

Gregory of Sinai in The Philokalia: The Complete Text: Volume 4, compiled by St. Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain and St. Makarius of Corinth (London: Faber & Faber, 1979) 256.

In continuing my exploration of what is ‘needful’ in The Philokalia, I appreciated this straightforward instruction for me as I trust God to supply my needs and for the needs of my family.

Read it again. It drives me to pursue contentment, simplicity, dependence on God, trust in God, obedience to God, stewardship, and generosity. Join me. This is what is needful on our part.

And when we do this we can trust God to meet our needs!

I posted this prior to entering China. Before traveling home to USA, I have stopped in Manila (pictured above) to meet with a very special friend, Anjji Gabriel.

Assuming travel goes on schedule, I will return to Denver on Thursday afternoon.

But I want to pause to give thanks for how God supplied what was needful for my trip: prayers for God to work in power, strength to serve, financial resources to travel, and more.

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ Luke 18:13

“A brother named John came from the coast to Father Philimon and, clasping his feet, said to him: ‘What shall I do to be saved? For my intellect vacillates to and fro and strays after all the wrong things.’ After a pause, the father replied: ‘This is one of the outer passions and it stays with you because you still have not acquired a perfect longing for God. The warmth of this longing and of the knowledge of God has not yet come to you.’

The brother said to him: ‘What shall I do, father?’ Abba Philimon replied; ‘Meditate inwardly for a while, deep in your heart; for this can cleanse your intellect of these things.’ The brother, not understanding what was said, asked the Elder: ‘What is inward meditation, father?’ The Elder replied: ‘Keep watch in your heart; and with watchfulness say in your mind with awe and trembling “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me.” For this is the advice which the blessed Diadochos gave to beginners.

The brother departed; and with the help of God and the Elder’s prayers he found stillness and for a while was filled with sweetness by this meditation. But then it suddenly left him and he could, not practice it or pray watchfully. So he went again to the Elder and told him what had happened. And the Elder said to him: ‘You have had a brief taste of stillness and inner work, and have experienced the sweetness that comes from them. This is what you should always be doing in your heart: whether eating or drinking, in company or outside your cell, or on a journey, repeat that prayer with a watchful mind and an undeflected intellect; also chant, and meditate on prayers and psalms. Even when carrying out needful tasks, do not let your intellect be idle but keep it meditating inwardly and praying.

For in this way you can grasp the depths of divine Scripture and the power hidden in it, and give unceasing work to the intellect, thus fulfilling the apostolic commando “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). Pay strict attention to your heart and watch over it, so that it does not give admittance to thoughts that are evil or in any way vain and useless. Without interruption, whether asleep or awake, eating, drinking, or to company, let your heart inwardly and mentally at times be meditating on the psalms, at other times be repeating the prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy
upon me.”

Abba Philimon in The Philokalia: The Complete Text: Volume 2, compiled by St. Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain and St. Makarius of Corinth (London: Faber & Faber, 1979) 347.

I am scheduled to depart from China today. Abba Philimon reminds me to finish well, to carry out needful tasks but also to pray nonstop.

I found the names here interesting. Why? I am typing the the day before entering China and I am going to serve a pastor named John who lives on the coast in Qingdao, China.

I feel God telling me to remind him of this truth so that he remembers the things I share with him and does not forget them. He can remember by praying nonstop.

I have learned that I am speaking far more than planned. And they have asked me to teach them all about the Apostolic Fathers. The disciples discipled by the disciples.

Pray with me that the examples of the Apostolic Fathers will inspire them to carry out needful tasks and pray nonstop despite the reality and prospect of persecution.

Pray the testimonies of these saints will inspire them to live out the teachings of Jesus without fear and with great power and peace. Here is a simple list of the main Apostolic Fathers and key writings:

– Clement of Rome (Bishop of Rome)
– Ignatius of Antioch (Bishop of Antioch)
– Polycarp of Smyrna (Bishop of Smyrna)
– Papias of Hierapolis (Bishop)
– Quadratus of Athens

Key Writings of the Apostolic Fathers

– The Didachē (Also known as “Teaching of the Twelve Apostles”)
– The Shepherd of Hermas
– The Epistle of Barnabas
– The Letter to Diognetus
– The Martyrdom of Polycarp
– First and Second Letter of Clement
– Seven Letters of Ignatius
– Letter of Polycarp to the Philippians

They were not included in the New Testament canon as these people did not meet Jesus but were disciples of disciples. But their lives point people to Jesus and Scripture in powerful ways.

But today I am freeing you from the chains on your wrists. Come with me to Babylon, if you like, and I will look after you; but if you do not want to, then don’t come. Look, the whole country lies before you; go wherever you please.” However, before Jeremiah turned to go, Nebuzaradan added, “Go back to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has appointed over the towns of Judah, and live with him among the people, or go anywhere else you please.” Then the commander gave him provisions and a present and let him go. Jeremiah 40:4-5

“I am not arguing here that He who feeds the birds of the air and clothes the lilies of the field with such glory will
certainly provide also for us if we pursue holiness; for those who are still far from real faith in God cannot as yet be
persuaded by this argument. But who, when asked, will refuse to give what is needful to one who lives a holy life?
The barbarous Babylonians who took Jerusalem by force showed respect for the holiness of Jeremiah, and provided him abundantly with all his bodily requirements, giving him not only food but the vessels with which it was the custom to serve guests.

Neilos of Sinai in The Philokalia: The Complete Text: Volume 1, compiled by St. Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain and St. Makarius of Corinth (London: Faber & Faber, 1979) 211.

Notice that sometimes God supplies “provisions and a present” through the least likely sources.

In this scene, the Babylonians have conquered the Jewish people and rather than harm the holy man, they help him. Rather than deprive him, they delight to show him kindness.

It teaches us that God can do anything. His ways are not our ways. His thoughts not our thoughts.

And so my focus is to trust God to supply provisions and a present while pursuing holiness on my last full day in China. Join me wherever you are. And thanks for your prayers for safe travel tomorrow from Qingdao to Manila.

And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. Luke 10:41-42

“Keep to a sparse and plain diet, not seeking a variety of tempting dishes. Should the thought come to you of getting extravagant foods in order to give hospitality, dismiss it, do not be deceived by it: for in it the enemy lies in ambush, waiting to tear you away from stillness. Remember how the Lord rebukes Martha (the soul that is over-busy with such things) when He says: ‘You are anxious and troubled about many things: one thing alone is needful’ – to hear the divine word; after that, one should be content with anything that comes to hand. He indicates all this by adding: ‘Mary has chosen what is best, and it cannot be taken away from her’. You also have the example of how the widow of Zarephath gave hospitality to the Prophet (cf. 1 Kings 17:9-16). If you have only bread, salt or water, you can still meet the dues of hospitality. Even if you do not have these, but make the stranger welcome and say something helpful, you will not be failing in hospitality.”

Evagrios the Solitary in The Philokalia: The Complete Text: Volume 1, compiled by St. Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain and St. Makarius of Corinth (London: Faber & Faber, 1979) 32.

Notice what Evagrios is saying to us.

To “keep a sparse and plain diet” and to not seek “a variety of tempting dishes” is about mortifying the desires of the flesh or controlling your wants so they do not control us.

He adds “one should be content with anything that comes to hand.”

I pray this for myself in China this week and for readers wherever you are. May God help us “choose what is best” and offer hospitality that aims at giving something better than food – words that are “helpful.”

Praying my preaching today is “helpful” for all who hear.

Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. Matthew 23:26

“The texts of the Philokalia are, then, guides to the practice of the contemplative life. They constitute, as St Nikodimos puts it in his introduction, ‘a mystical school of inward prayer’ where those who study may cultivate the divine seed implanted in their hearts at baptism and so grow in spirit that they become ‘sons of God’ (John 1:12), attaining through such deification ‘the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ’ (Ephesians 4:13).

The emphasis is therefore on inner work, on the cleansing of ‘the inside of the cup and plate, so that their outside may also be clean’ (Matthew 23:26). This does not mean that what one might call outer work – the keeping of the commandments and the practice of the moral virtues – is of no importance. On the contrary, such work is a pre-condition of that purification without which no real progress in inner work can be made.

Indeed, in this respect outer and inner complement one another. Atrophy or defeat follow only when outer work is practiced as an end in itself, and the one thing needful – the inner practice of guarding the intellect and of pure prayer – is neglected. St Nikodimos himself remarks that such neglect is only too common: many there are who wear their whole life away in outer work, with the result that grace diminishes in them and they fail to realize the illumination of consciousness and purity of heart which are the goal of the spiritual path that the Philokalia charts for us.”

E. Kadloubovsky and G. E. H. Palmer in the “Introduction” to The Philokalia: The Complete Text: Volume 1, compiled by St. Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain and St. Makarius of Corinth (London: Faber & Faber, 1979) 14.

I have shifted from Meister Eckhart to Nikodimos and Makarius in The Philokalia to gain insight and inspiration for my service in China and to equip and inspire you for your service wherever God has you.

Nikodimos reminds us that it is needful to give attention to “the inner practice of guarding the intellect and of pure prayer.” We tend to neglect these things. It’s like we say to God, “I can take it from here.”

If we want God’s grace to abound in and through us. If we want our good works and generosity to grow in strength and power and blessing, we must focus on the inside and the outside will take care of itself.

Thanks for your prayers for me ministering in Qingdao, China this week. May God bless you wherever He has you serving and as you “guard your intellect and pray” leaving the rest up to Jesus.

“I have received full payment and have more than enough. I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.” Philippians 4:18

“St. Gregory writes of four things needful for a man who hears the word of God and keeps it.

The first is that he should have mortified himself to all stirrings of the flesh, and having slain all transient things in himself, should himself too be dead to all transient things. The second is that he should be wholly and entirely raised up in God with knowledge, with love and with true inwardness. The third is that he should never do to anyone what he would not like to have done to him. The fourth is that he should be bounteous both with material things and with spiritual goods, giving both generously.

Many a man appears to give, but in reality gives nothing at all. These are people who give their goods to those whose possessions are greater than their own, where their gift is perhaps not wanted, or they give it where they obtain some service for their gift, or where they are given something in return, or where they expect to be honored. Such people’s gifts can more properly be called begging than giving, for in truth they give nothing.

Our Lord Jesus Christ was free and poor in all the gifts that He bounteously gave us: in all his gifts He never sought His own: rather did He desire only the praise and glory of the Father and our salvation, and He continued suffering and giving himself for true love until his death.

If now a man wants to give for the love of God, let him thus give away material goods purely for God’s sake, with no eye to profit or exchange or any transitory honor, and let him seek nothing for himself, but only God’s honor and glory, and to help his neighbor in God’s name, if through need he lacks something.

And so too he should give spiritual goods, wherever he knows that his fellow Christian is willing to receive them in order to better his life for God’s sake – and for this he shall not seek any thanks or reward from that man or any advantage, nor should he want any reward from God for this service, but only that God may be glorified. In this way he should be free in his giving as Christ was free and poor in all the gifts He gave us. If a man gives thus, that is true giving. Whoever has these four things may truly have confidence that he has heard God’s word and kept it.”

Gregory of Sinai as cited by Meister Eckhart (c. 1260-1328) in “Sermon Eighty-Nine” in The Complete Mystical Works of Meister Eckhart, translated and edited by Maurice O’C. Walshe (New York: Crossroad, 1987) 432-433.

I am praying my service to Pastor John and the Chinese church in Qingdao, like Epaphroditus to Paul and the church in Philippi, is a “fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.”

Read today’s post again. It’s so rich. So deep. So powerful.

I pray God helps you grasp the four things needful and serve as a conduit of true giving. I pray this for me today and for each one reading this wherever you are.

Reading Gregory of Sinai, directs me to see what is ‘needful’ in The Philokalia next. His writing are found there.

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 1 Corinthians 15:10

“This is the word of St. Paul. He says, “All that I am, I am by the grace of God.” Now this sermon seems to rise above grace and being and understanding and will and all desire – so how can St. Paul’s words be true? The answer is that St. Paul’s words are true: it was needful for the grace of God to be in him, for the grace of God effected in him that the accidental in him was perfected as essence. When grace had ended and finished its work, Paul remained that which he was.”

Meister Eckhart (c. 1260-1328) in “Sermon Sixty-Two” in The Complete Mystical Works of Meister Eckhart, translated and edited by Maurice O’C. Walshe (New York: Crossroad, 1987) 424.

Each of us, like St. Paul, are what we are by the grace of God.

This word ‘grace’ means by the undeserving favor of God lavished on us through Jesus Christ, we are what we are. We are tools in His hand. We are conduits of His matchless love. We are messengers of divine hope. We are teachers of life-giving truth.

We are what we are because of Him. So, let us pause to worship.

Father in heaven, thanks for what you have made each of us by Your grace. Through Your Holy Spirit cause Your mercy, generosity, and love to flow through us. Make it so for me in China and readers everywhere. Hear our prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3

“To be poor in spirit, a man must be poor of all his own knowledge: not knowing anything, not God, nor creature nor himself. For this it is needful that a man should desire to know and understand nothing of the works of God. In this way a man can be poor of his own knowledge.”

Meister Eckhart (c. 1260-1328) in “Sermon Sixty-Two” in The Complete Mystical Works of Meister Eckhart, translated and edited by Maurice O’C. Walshe (New York: Crossroad, 1987) 423.

This post contains a profound paradox that is needful for all of us to grasp.

We must not try to figure God out. We must only trust Him. In so doing, His generosity of spirit replaces our poverty of spirit. We get the kingdom!

I have traveled halfway around the world to teach people about a God we cannot even begin to understand.

Someone said to me, “I am praying for the safety of the people you serve after you leave, Qingdao.” This is what those I will served have told me in advance.

“Gary, don’t worry about what will happen to us. Give thanks for what you will teach us. It will make what time God gives us more productive for the kingdom.” Pray with and for me that God will do His best work and convey living truth through me.

He wants to do it through you too. Surrender yourself in poverty of spirit. Watch His generosity work!