Archives by: Gary Hoag

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 2 Corinthians 1:8-9

“Pain is not only immediately recognisable evil, but evil impossible to ignore. We can rest contentedly in our sins and in our stupidities; and anyone who has watched gluttons shovelling down the most exquisite foods as if they did not know what they were eating, will admit that we can ignore even pleasure. but pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

C.S. Lewis in The Problem of Pain (Quebec: Sazimat University Press) 57-58.

When I don’t understand why God allows pain in my life or in the lives of those around me, I give thanks that His Word offers answers. Notice in today’s Scripture that Paul despaired of life itself but realized that the suffering was to teach Him to rely on God.

Lewis portrayed pain as a megaphone to get our attention. Does God have your attention? I am praying today that as we add compassion to our generosity, that God will teach us to give thanks in all circumstances (including pain) and to rely solely on Him to help us through it.

If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. James 2:16-17

“Not one time do we ever find Jesus being moved with sympathy; but every time He was moved with compassion something powerful was about to happen—a miracle was on the way. That’s because sympathy identifies with the problem, but compassion gets up, looks up, and says, “I need to do something about this.”

Brian Houston in Daily Readings from Live Love Lead: 90 Days to Living, Loving, Leading (New York: FaithWords, 2016) Reading entitled “Sympathy vs. Compassion” for Day 44.

Why do I feel like for much of my life I have shown sympathy rather than compassion? I think society taught me to rationalize sympathy as sufficient.

The trainings are going well in Guatemala. In part, I think, because of the “do something” part. At GTP we are doing something to train local workers.

I posted a new header photo of Mayan ruins at Mixco Viejo to illustrate that compassion is like rebuilding ruins, doing something about brokenness.

Too often we feel for people but do nothing. For James, the half-brother of Jesus, such faith was not faith at all. Do you show sympathy or compassion?

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 3:16-18

“We must understand that the Lord is not only tender and merciful and full of compassion, but He is also the God of justice, holiness, and wrath.

Many Christians have a caricature of God. They do not see God in all of His wholeness. We glibly quote John 3:16, but we forget to quote the following verses: “he who does not believe has been judged already” (v. 18 NASB).

Compassion is not complete in itself, but must be accompanied by inflexible justice and wrath against sin and a desire for holiness.

What stirs God most is not physical suffering but sin. All too often we are more afraid of physical pain than of moral wrong. The cross is the standing evidence of the fact that holiness is a principle for which God would die.

God cannot clear the guilty until atonement is made. Mercy is what we need and that is what we receive at the foot of the cross.”

Billy Graham in Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2010) reading for 23 April.

I don’t know about you, but when I read this post, I read it again, and then sat and confessed. Sometimes I function with a caricature rather than a clear picture of God in my mind. I am learning more about compassion than I bargained for.

Ponder the three points. Inflexible justice means that no one gets a free pass; all are equal at the foot of the cross. Wrath against sin means that it must be dealt with, and we could not do it on our own so God did it for us. A desire for holiness drives us to be people of mercy and compassion.

Father in heaven, help us have a fear of moral wrong over pain. Holy Spirit, empower us to extend mercy to those around us rather than judgment. Jesus, grow generous compassion in each of us so we look like You to the watching world. In Your mercy, hear our prayer. Amen.

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. Matthew 7:12

“To keep the Golden Rule we must put ourselves in other people’s places, but to do that consists in and depends upon picturing ourselves in their places.”

Harry Emerson Fosdick in “Forbes Magazine” (1940) 45-46: 28.

Yesterday I visited four ministries served by Generation to Generation Network in Guatemala. It was so encouraging to see these ministry workers applying biblical and practical training and growing local giving.

In visiting them I pictured myself in their places and facing their challenges. Some of them face circumstances I could never imagine facing. We can’t be generous to people if we don’t know their situations.

He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Isaiah 53:3

“We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer in “After Ten Years,” in Letters and Papers from Prison, ed. E. Bethge (London: SCM, 1971) 10.

When I think of others less in terms of what they do and omit to do and more in light of what they suffer, it changes me.

It forms in me a heart of compassion. If you are on this journey and you want a tool for growing, here it is: get familiar with pain.

Do this and, I guarantee it, you will become more like Christ, and you will become more generous.

Today I am visiting blind, suffering, and orphan children served by Generation to Generation Network.

I have helped the founder, Edgar Güitz, grow giving for this work, and I am want to meet those he serves first-hand to re-tell their story.

What would it look like for you to get familiar with those in pain? To be like Jesus is to be despised, rejected, and linked to suffering.

Have full sympathy with one another. Do not give your mind to high things, but let humble ways content you. Do not be wise in your own conceits. Romans 12:16

“There is poetry and there is beauty in real sympathy; but there is more — there is action. The noblest and most powerful form of sympathy is not merely the responsive tear, the echoed sigh, the answering look; it is the embodiment of the sentiment in actual help.”

Octavius Winslow in Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers, compiled by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert (New York: Wilbur B. Ketcham, 1895) 574.

The greatest form of sympathy and compassion is actual help. I find that when I serve others with a listening ear and a helping hand it provides exactly what they need. What do you think?

This is my prayer for this week of service in Guatemala. That God will help me show real sympathy and not offer what I think anyone needs, but listen, discern, and then offer actual help.

Make it so Lord Jesus for all of us!

Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Ephesians 4:32

“Ingratitude and compassion never cohabit the same breast. . . There never was any heart truly great and generous that was not also tender and compassionate.”

Robert South in “A Sermon Preached at ChristChurch before the University on 17 October 1675” in Thirty Six sermons and Discourses, on Several Subjects and Occasions (Dublin: Joseph Leatbly, 1720) 150.

In his message to university students, South noted that we must be grateful and tender to have a generous impact. How would you rate?

I think I am a grateful person but I surely have room for growth in being tender and compassionate. Hence, compassion is my word for the year.

The best part about this exploration of compassion linked to generosity is that God desires it for us more than we do. He does.

My first visit to El Salvador could not have gone better. And I got to visit a volcanic sandy beach (pictured above). It was so beautiful.

Off today for Guatemala. Grateful for God’s tender care.

Thus has the Lord of hosts said, ‘Dispense true justice and practice kindness and compassion each to his brother.’ Zechariah 7:9

“I choose kindness… I will be kind to the poor, for they are alone. Kind to the rich, for they are afraid. And kind to the unkind, for such is how God has treated me.”

Max Lucado in Let The Journey Begin: God’s Roadmap for New Beginnings (Nashville: Countryman, 1999) 51.

I love the verb “dispense” in today’s Scripture as it implies that we are merely the distributor of what God supplies. We get to dispense true justice. That means we give the good things He supplies to everyone, not just our friends.

Then, I notice the verb “practice” linked to my word for 2019, kindness, and my word for 2020, compassion. We figure it out as we live it out that all the rich blessings from God are ours to enjoy and share to shape the lives of those around us.

As Lucado notes, we practice kindness and compassion because those we serve are alone, afraid, and just as needy as we are. How will you practice kindness and compassion today?

I will make myself available to do this in El Salvador. You do it where you are. Together, let us choose kindness and compassion.

Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains! For the Lord comforts His people and will have compassion on His afflicted ones. Isaiah 49:13

“The distance between the aspirations and the physical realities of humanity can be the stuff of the ridiculous, the cynical, and the tragic but at the same time be filled with compassion, faithfulness, heroism, and creativity. In short, that distance is life as we know it.

Yet, as creatures go, we are different. We are made for higher things. Our aspirations hint of such a truth. The age-old distinction between the body—the physique—and the person—the soul, spirit, mind—is rooted in the contrast between the unconscious physical facts of our lives, which sometimes shock or shame us, and our “conscious” life, our experiences, interests, meanings, thoughts, intents, and values. And it is the nature of our conscious life that separates us from other creatures, putting an odd distance between our innermost being and the dust heap we also truly are.

When God made us He made creatures capable of astonishing presumption. We humans can almost forget that we are dust. Perhaps we must in some measure forget it in order to carry on. Yet, as we breathe and eat and sleep, we also think and aspire—and that is amazing. In that paradox, that puzzle in which the pieces do not truly fit together, we can either applaud ourselves for such a rare and amazing accomplishment or we can begin to understand that we are touched by powers beyond ourselves.”

Dallas Willard in The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives (New York: Harper Collins, 1999) 46-47.

Two phrases struck me as we prepare to lead a Journey of Empowerment (JOE) today in El Salvador. “We are made for higher things” and “We are touched by powers beyond ourselves.”

The God of the heavens has compassion on us. So we get to make know this God to the world. This is only possible with His help. I will generously make Him known in El Salvador today. Will you do likewise where you are?

Don’t do it because the puzzle pieces of life fit together. Do it because they do not. Life is ridiculous, cynical, and tragic. It’s also, thanks to God’s generosity, filled with compassion, faithfulness, and much more.

We are made for higher things. We get to point others to God. Let God stretch you out of your comfort zone. Rely on the powers only He can provide outside yourself. You got this. God’s got you!

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act. Do not say to your neighbor, “Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you”—when you already have it with you. Proverbs 3:27-28

“The good that we must give to our neighbor means practical aid for an economic or physical need. It is striking that hte text adds that this is not simply a matter of charity but is your neighbor’s due. To not care for them when they are in need is not merely a lack of charity; it is injustice. Put bluntly: If you have things you neighbor doesn’t have, share them, because he or she has a right to the part of the world over which God has made you a temporary steward.”

Timothy and Kathy Keller in God’s Wisdom for Navigating Life: A Year of Daily Devotions in the Book of Proverbs (New York: Viking, 2017) reading for 27 January.

Special thanks to dear brother and Daily Meditations reader, John Ranheim, for sharing this post with me. It’s great to be reminded that we are only temporary stewards.

The implications of this are significant. For example, it leads me to view the car God has supplied as hired and the townhouse I get to live in like a hotel. They are not my things. I am only a temporary steward.

The key is not to treat anything as our own. We are not permanent owners. Such people often hold back from giving because they think they own the assets under their management. We own nothing.

As God grows our hearts in compassion this year, let’s not wait until tomorrow when we have the power to act today. When we see needs and have resources, let’s meet them.

I made it safely to El Salvador with Juan Callejas and Ereny Monir. Yes, that’s a nearby volcano pictured above from my hotel. Pray with us that our teaching time today effectively raises up faithful stewards.