Archives by: Gary Hoag

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. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Luke 12:33-34

“The proper aim of giving is to put the recipient in a state where he [or she] no longer needs our gift. We feed children in order that they may soon be able to feed themselves; we teach them in order that they may soon not need our teaching. Thus a heavy task is laid upon this Gift-love. It must work towards its own abdication. We must aim at making ourselves superfluous. The hour when we can say “They need me no longer” should be our reward.”

C.S. Lewis in The Four Loves (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1960) 76.

We should serve those who need our help like we launch children: leading them from a place of dependency to discipleship.

For a time, they depend on us. We help them. Then we become superfluous. The reward is that we have reproduced ourselves.

This is God’s design. Regardless of what others are doing, use what you have to build up recipients, so they do the same for others.

This is not about giving a hand-outs but about giving hand-up. And there are eternal implications to this. We can anticipate an unfailing reward.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

“Don’t worry (you may of course pray) about being brave over merely possible evils in the future. In the old battles it was usually the reserve, who had to watch the carnage, not the troops who were in it, whose nerve broke first. Similarly, I think you in America feel much more anxiety about atomic bombs than we do: because you are further from the danger. If and when a horror turns up you will then be given grace to help you. I don’t think one is usually given it in advance. “Give us our daily bread” (not an annuity for life) applies to spiritual gifts too; the little daily support for the daily trial. Life has to be taken day by day and hour by hour.”

C.S. Lewis in The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume 3: Narnia, Cambridge, and Joy, 1950 – 1963 (New York: HarperOne, 2007) 348.

I am convinced that a leading hindrance to generosity is the “annuity for life” mentality. This way of thinking tries to secure one’s future with some flow of money. It is rooted in fear of “possible evils in the future” and avoiding them by stockpiling money. Worst of all, it shuns the biblical mandate of relying upon God.

In this letter, Lewis reminds an American, far from the frontlines of military battle, that the grace to face challenges is daily support from God. We don’t locate peace through worry. We only find it by prayer. And it is certainly not secured through assuring some level of income.

If we are worried about the future, we are focused on the wrong realm. The future is in God’s hands and not ours to try to control or worry about. Instead, we must live life “day by day and hour by hour.” So, what do you worry about? It is an important question to ask yourself.

Every possible horror in life has only one antidote. It is the grace of God. The more we sit back and watch life happening around us the more anxiety we will feel. Don’t let that be you. Don’t let fear immobilize you or hinder your generosity. Live life generously day by day by faith.

What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Mark 8:36

“It is the magician’s bargain: give up our soul, get power in return. but once our souls, that is, ourselves, have been given up, the power thus conferred will not belong to us. We shall in fact be the slaves and puppets of that to which we have given our souls.”

C.S. Lewis in The Abolition of Man (Quebec: Samizdat University Press, 2014) 36.

When it comes to the human pursuit of power, pleasure, and possessions, we become slaves and puppets to whatever we think conquer with competitive aggression. I have found this to be true in my life. Perhaps you would concur?

Lewis calls it “the Magician’s Bargain” because it we get fooled. No one is immune to this. In a materialistic society, we are owned by things or possessions we possess. For those who collect a ‘bucket list’ of experiences, the same is true. As they tick off the items on the list, each gives less satisfaction than anticipated. The quest consumes them. And for the person who endlessly pursues knowledge (admittedly I am such a person), Solomon’s words ring too true. The pursuit is exhausting.

Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them. Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body. Ecclesiastes 12:12

So, how should we relate to power, pleasure, and possessions? With Lewis, I would argue, see them neither as bad (to be avoided) or good (to be collected), but tools (to be useful). Only when used rightly do they help us accomplish our purpose. That is, in the words of Milton, “to know God and out of that knowledge to love and imitate Him.” How have you been fooled by the Magician’s bargain? It’s not too late choose another course. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Colossians 3:12

“My feeling about people in whose conversation I have been allowed to play a part is always mixed with awe and even fear: such as a boy might feel on being first allowed to fire a rifle. The disproportion between his puny finger on the trigger and the thunder and lightning which follow is alarming. And the seriousness with which the other party takes my words always raises the doubt whether I have taken them seriously enough myself. By writing the things I write, you see, one especially qualifies for being hereafter “condemned out of own’s own mouth.” Think of me as a fellow patient in the same hospital who, having been admitted a little earlier could give some advice”

C.S. Lewis in “Letter to Sheldon Vanauken” dated 22 April 1953 in A Severe Mercy (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1977) 134.

I got to shoot a long-range rifle last week in South Dakota at a friend’s ranch. The target was 450 yards away. I was simultaneously excited and scared to pull the trigger.

Imagine the extremes. That’s what Lewis is trying to get us to grasp.

God is giving me perspective on life and work. He is calling me to a deeper place of humility. It’s hard to describe which is why I identify with how Lewis uses the rifle and hospital motifs.

As kindness was my word last year and compassion this year, it interesting that humility is often coupled with these traits. Perhaps that will be my word for next year? Undoubtedly, these traits are interconnected.

Lest our words and actions condemn us, we need to pause to discern how we ourselves are clothed.

As we start another week, I want to remind us all that if we are generous or help others grow, we must avoid thinking to less or too much of ourselves. We are not the message but only His messengers.

And if we do offer advice, let’s do it like this: “Think of me as a fellow patient in the same hospital who, having been admitted a little earlier could give some advice”

Therefore openly before the churches, show them the proof of your love and of our reason for boasting about you. 2 Corinthians 8:24

“In God there is no hunger that needs to be filled, only plenteousness that desires to give… God, who needs nothing, loves into existence wholly superfluous creatures in order that He may love and perfect them.”

C.S. Lewis in The Four Loves (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1960) 175-176.

God gives love because He is love. Giving flows out of who He is. The same is true with us. As we receive God’s love and as He perfects us, giving flows from who we are.

God needs nothing from us. We need to give. When we do, we become who we already are in Him and reflect His love to the world. If this sounds confusing, hang with me.

Too much of giving is based on ‘needs’ in a backwards way. Most ministry communications sound like God’s workers have a deficiency because people are not supplying.

What’s wrong with this picture? Everything. God is the Supplier and His work never lacks. Messages should call God’s people to ask God to supply and to participate as God leads.

The idea of ‘needs’ should be directed heavenward, because as Lewis states, “In God there is no hunger that needs to be filled, only plenteousness that desires to give.”

Our plenteous God wants us, as superfluous creatures, to bring every need to Him. As we receive His love, our giving and participation is the proof that He is perfecting us.

Then He said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:23

“When He [God] talks of their losing their selves, He only means abandoning the clamour of self-will; once they have done that, He really gives them back all their personality, and boasts (I am afraid, sincerely) that when they are wholly His they will be more themselves than ever.”

C.S. Lewis in Screwtape Letters: Letters from a Senior to a Junior Devil (Samizdat University Press: Quebec) 26.

Denying yourself is setting aside your desires.

A good practice for this is fasting. Take a few meals a week and skip them to fast from food. In those moments, ask the Spirit to show you what the “clamour of self-will” looks like and root it out. God won’t do it for you.

It’s like weeding the soil of our hearts, and we all get weeds. All of us.

This shapes our generosity because when self-will is rooted out, we become more the people God desires us to become. His Spirit in place of self-will, makes us into generous conduits of spiritual and material blessing.

The tricky part is that self-will looks different for all of us.

We tend to desire different things. Except if we walk into an In-N-Out Burger, then we may be on the same page. Anyway, when we exchange our self-will for what God’s desires, we become better selves and more wholly His.

God, we set aside our desires. Make us wholly yours and more ourselves than ever. Amen.

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

“If human life is in fact ordered by a beneficent being whose knowledge of our real needs and of the way in which they can be satisfied infinitely exceeds our own, we must expect a priori that His operations will often appear to us far from beneficent and far from wise, and that it will be our highest prudence to give Him our confidence in spite of this.

C.S. Lewis in “On Obstinacy in Belief” in  The World’s Last Night: And Other Essays (New York: Harper Collins 1959) 24.

Most Christians say they trust God, but their lives demonstrate that they really believe it is their job to look after themselves rather than trust in His beneficence.

Honestly, we all struggle with this at times. We overcome it by remembering that when God became flesh and dwelt among us, He said, “Seek God first.” He’s got us.

God, help us live like we believe You are caring deeply for us, even in hard times. Help us make our highest prudence be to put our confidence in You! Amen.

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

“Friendship is the greatest of worldly goods. Certainly to me it is the chief happiness of life. If I had to give a piece of advice to a young man about a place to live, I think I should say, ‘sacrifice almost everything to live where you can be near your friends.’ I know I am very fortunate in that respect.”

C.S. Lewis in The Letters of C.S. Lewis to Arthur Greeves (1914-1963) (Springfield: Collier, 1986) 477.

I just spent quality time with old friends and new ones in South Dakota. As topics came up, we would share advice. Advice is a gift we can share generously, but we must avoid giving it in unsolicited ways. We can navigate this by asking good questions to demonstrate we really care. So, think of good questions and give advice generously.

Consider the value of friendship, especially during COVID. It’s really hard to get together with people. If this is something that you are fortunate to enjoy, be sensitive to the needs of others as many are lonely and suffering during COVID. Many are really missing those they love. Reach out to people in friendship and find happiness in return.

Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere him. Psalm 33:8

“When we want to be something other than the thing God wants us to be, we must be wanting what, in fact, will not make us happy. Those divine demands which sound to our natural ears most like those of a despot and least like those of a lover, in fact marshall us where we should want to go if we knew what we wanted.

He demands our worship, our obedience, our prostration. Do we suppose that they can do Him any good, or fear, like the chorus in Milton, that human irreverence can bring about “His glory’s diminution”? A man can no more diminish God’s glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word “darkness” on the walls of his cell.

But God wills our good, and our good is to love Him (with that responsive love proper to creatures) and to love Him we must know Him: and if we know Him, we shall in fact fall on our faces. if we do not, that only shows that what we are trying to love is not yet God — though it may be the nearest approximation to God which our thought and fantasy can attain.

Yet the call is not only to prostration and awe; it is to a reflection of the divine life, a creaturely participation in the divine attributes which is far beyond our present desires. We are bidden to “put on Christ”, to become like God. That is, whether we like it or not, God intends to give us what we need, not what we now think we want. Once more, we are embarrassed by the intolerable compliment, by too much love, not too little.”

C.S. Lewis in The Problem of Pain (Samizdat University Press: Quebec, 2016) 29-30.

What do worship, obedience, and prostration have to do with generosity? Everything. Our God is so good, “whether we like it or not, God intends to give us what we need, not what we now think we want.” Our only right response is worship, obedience, and prostration.

Think of how this comes into view in our relationship with Him and then with others. He gives us the grace and forgiveness we need, so we get to dispense it to others. He lavishes us with love, so we get to shower it on others. He wants us to be like Christ in the world, so what are we waiting for?

Today I return home from Sioux Falls where I have had meetings with amazing people the last few days. I’ve tried to take a posture of worship, obedience, and awe while traveling. What if we dispensed so much love and generosity that we embarrassed people wherever we went?

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” Isaiah 30:21

“God gives His gifts where He finds the vessel empty enough to receive them.”

C.S. Lewis in “Williams and the Arthuriad” as recounted in The Quotable Lewis, edited by Wayne Martindale and Jerry Root (Wheaton: Tyndale, 2012)  272.

In response to a recent quote by C.S. Lewis that posted here this week, my friend Doug Christensen sent me today’s Scripture. Soak in it for a while. It was a gift to me.

If you are not sure what to do in life, remember that God is with you leading and guiding. We must be attentive to what He says and receive whatever He gives.

Generous givers are people who empty themselves to receive what is good and true and right. And upon receipt, they realize that their job is to enjoy and share God’s blessings.

Father, I empty myself. Exchange my will and desires for yours. By your Holy Spirit, fill me with the fullness of your love. Hear my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.