Archives by: Gary Hoag

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word. 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

“When you make your work your identity … if you’re successful it destroys you because it goes to your head. If you’re not successful it destroys you because it goes to your heart — it destroys your self-worth … Faith gives you an identity that’s not in work or accomplishment, and that gives you insulation against the weather changes. If you’re successful, you stay humble. If you’re not successful, you have some ballast.”

Tim Keller as cited by interviewer, Joseph Sunde, in “Timothy Keller on Work as Service vs. Idolatry” in the Acton Institute Blog dated 12 December 2012.

My weekend men’s retreat at Camp Spofford on Faith & Work wrapped up nicely, but we had flight complications, so Jenni and I were stuck in Hartford, Connecticut, last night. Lord willing, we will return safely home to Colorado on an early flight this morning.

As today marks the start of another work week, I want to remind you to place your identity in Christ as a basis for serving as a generous worker. If your identity is in your work, it will destroy you, but when it is Christ, you are positioned for generous service empowered by the grace and strength of God.

May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us – yes, establish the work of our hands. Psalm 90:17

“Most of the teaching on the integration of faith and work emphasizes the importance of cultivating personal righteousness in the context of our daily labor. That’s understandable given the considerable ethical perils of the contemporary workplace…In this setting, [the righteous] seek to heed the Apostle Paul’s call to “shine like stars in the universe” through their intentional, diligent, prayerful pursuit of holiness (Philippians 2:15)…

Other times, the greatest challenges on the job relate less to persecution and trial than to the temptation to follow success. As believers enjoy promotions, the worldly rewards of labor increase. Salaries go up. Titles and offices become more prestigious. Such earthly joys can beguile congregants’ hearts, dulling resistance to pride, consumerism, and self-indulgence. Congregational leaders must warn their flocks of these dangers.”

Amy Sherman in Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good (Downers Grove: IVP, 2011) 52-53.

To integrate our faith and work means that we avoid the ethical perils on the job, while also avoiding the pitfalls that come with success. The former are easier traps to spot than the latter ones. As the retreat draws to a close, I send the men forth with the blessing from today’s Scripture and to charge them to avoid both traps as they return to work. Warn those you serve of these traps as well, as both will seek to hinder generosity. One pitfall seeks to thwart our service for God and the other tries to limit our support of the things God cares about.

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Psalm 100:1-2

“The desire for success is the most visible motivator in the work culture today. We all drive to achieve, to be successful. We want to provide well for our families, no doubt, and we enjoy the recognition that comes from winning. From our bounty, we will be generous with those who are less fortunate. But the drive for success is pretty selfish at its heart. It’s about me, me, me…

I believe that the only sustainable motivation for selfless behavior is gratitude. Let me say that again a different way. Only gratitude motivates us to care about others over the long term. Other emotions will motivate us for a little while, but they won’t motivate us for the long pull. And making disciples is a long-term process that requires selfless action over a long period of time…

So if gratitude is it, then let’s explore three major sources of gratitude. There may be others, but let’s talk about the big three that are central to the Christian: (1) Gratitude for forgiveness… (2) Gratitude for blessings and protection… (3) Gratitude for the Cross… Are you ready to turn it up a notch? Do you have a clear understanding of the Good News? Are you ready to start exporting your faith and making disciples?

If you are motivated to take your faith to work by anything other than gratitude, spend some time reflecting on the blessings God has given you… Make a list of the things you are grateful for – special people, special experiences, material blessings, unique protections that He has provided, forgiveness for your failures, your salvation, your adoption into His family, His volunteering to be your perfect Father. Keep adding to the list as long as it keeps coming…

I believe that the grateful heart is the inexhaustible fuel cell for becoming a workplace minister.”

Regi Campbell in About My Father’s Business: Taking Your Faith to Work (Colorado Springs: Multnomah, 2009) 50-54.

Father in heaven, may our work be selfless service filled with gladness and gratitude because of all that Christ has done for us. Empower us to serve as workplace ministers by your Holy Spirit we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Today at the men’s retreat Sam Huggard and I will explore the work Christ has done for us and how that sets us free to serve as workers for Him. We will also look at ten workers for God in the New Testament world.

Thanks for your prayers for us. Reply to this email if you want a copy of the presentation notes.

Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun: I saw the tears of the oppressed — and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors — and they have no comforter. Ecclesiastes 4:1

“I love what I do. I rarely have a bad day at the office. My work environment couldn’t be any better suited for my gifts and personality. I love to go to work. And like you, I have more to do than I can ever hope to get done. Every afternoon when I leave the office, there are loose ends: phone calls I didn’t return, meetings I cut short, and people I didn’t get to spend time with who need and deserve my undivided attention.

At the same time, I love my wife and kids. I love to go home. And like you, there’s more to do at home than will ever get done. Never once have my kids looked at me and said, “Hey, Dad, we’ve played enough. Why don’t you run back in the house and see if you can get some work done?” Never once has [my wife] complained about me coming home too early or doing too many things to help her around the house…

So let me take some pressure off. Your problem is not discipline. Your problem is not organization. Your problem is not that you have yet to stumble onto the perfect schedule. And your problem is not that the folks at home demand too much of your time. The problem is this: there’s not enough time to get everything done that you’re convinced — or others have convinced you — needs to get done.

As a result, someone or something isn’t going to get what he wants from you…what she needs from you…what he deserves from you…certainly not what she expects from you. There’s no way around it. There’s just not enough time in your day to be all things to all people.”

Andy Stanley in When Work and Family Collide: Keeping Your Job from Cheating Your Family (Colorado Springs: Multnomah, 2011) 12-14.

For many people, work feels oppressive when there seems like more work to be done than there are hours in a day. As a result, marriages and families can get squeezed out. When this occurs, the last thing on any worker’s mind is being generous. There’s no margin for giving to others.

Does it have to be this way? Stanley suggests that workers pause to acknowledge that we will never get all our work done and learn to live with margin so we can appropriately give to our spouse, our children, and others. Work will only consume each of us if we let it.

There’s always work to be done and never enough time to do it. If you want to be generous, you must learn to stop working so you can deploy your attention and your resources to other things that may be more important than your work.

I’d appreciate your prayers as I speak on faith and work at the men’s retreat this weekend at Camp Spofford in New Hampshire and share ideas like these. Thank you.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Colossians 3:23-24

“Creating value really transcends making money. Not that money isn’t important. It is. But building up the Kingdom is even more important, and for that we must be Christ for others…To create eternal value, try these ideas:

1. Pray for people. Remember, every individual with whom we come in contact at work is an opportunity. Pray that God will lead their hearts toward Him, and that our humble efforts will be multiplied.

2. Look for opportunities to serve. The spectrum of human need is enormous, and we need to view these needs as opportunities to serve others. Although it seems paradoxical, the times people are often most open to Christ is when they are experiencing the greatest challenges in life. Especially during these times, look for ways to be a means of grace to them.

3. Make small sacrifices. One of the best ways to draw us closer to God is to make small sacrifices that only He knows about. This not only reminds us of our dependence on His grace, but it also helps us to appreciate the trials others face. Forgoing that second cookie at dessert and “offering it up” won’t trouble anyone else, but it becomes a powerful tool in keeping our spirit receptive to God at all times.

4. Be generous. God loves a generous giver, and He can’t be outdone in generosity. Consider using money as one way of investing in others rather than ourselves – This can be an antidote to the rampant materialism that surrounds us. After all, how can worldly trinkets compare to the treasures of heaven?”

Kevin Lowry in Faith at Work: Finding Purpose Beyond the Paycheck (Huntington: Our Sunday Visitor, 2012) chapter 2.

Work is often defined as creating value. As I prepare to lead a retreat this weekend at Camp Spofford (pictured above) on faith and work for a large group of men, part of my aim is to raise their gaze heavenward so they build God’s Kingdom through their work, or so they create eternal value.

When I came across Lowry’s four action steps, I resonated with them. What about you? What if you prayed for your co-workers, looked for opportunities to serve, made small sacrifices, and resolved to be generous? How might they see Christ in and through you?

Lowry puts work in the right perspective: “Not that money isn’t important. It is. But building up the Kingdom is even more important.” As you put your work clothes on and head off to work today, focus not merely on creating value. Think about how God has put you there to create eternal value.

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through Him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:12-13

“There are two sets of values that live on two separate planes — one visible and the other invisible. On the visible plane we have wealth and poverty. On the invisible plane there is abundance and scarcity. A person can be financially wealthy yet be possessed by scarcity to such a degree that they might as well be in poverty. In other words, there are many rich people in the world (on the outside) who live like poor people (on the inside). To the contrary, there are many poor people in the world (on the outside) who live from an incredible place of abundance (on the inside). Wealth and poverty are the external, visible circumstances while scarcity and abundance are the internal, invisible realities. Paul gets this and gets at it in today’s text . . . Abundance has nothing to do with how much or how little we have.”

J. D. Walt in “The Sad Truth Behind So Many Rich People” posted as the Seedbed Daily Text on 25 September 2017.

Which plane, which internal, invisible reality guides your life? Is it abundance or scarcity?

Workers who think money is the answer to all their problems work really hard, often at the expense of marriage and family. These people amass large sums of money, but it is never enough. In the end, their lives exhibit poverty and scarcity.

Alternatively, workers who realize along with the Apostle Paul that it’s not about having lots of money or possessions, but about grasping that Christ is all that people need. These people reflect true richness, abundance, and generosity.

As I prepare to talk about faith and work this weekend with a large group of men at Camp Spofford, I am prayerful because I don’t know what invisible plane they are on. Regardless of what mindset they bring to camp, I want them to leave having taken hold of abundance.

How does a person grasp a life of abundance? Jesus points the way in Matthew 6:33. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

In plain terms, when we seek and submit to the reign of God in every aspect of our lives (including our work) and pursue His right way of living, the rest takes care of itself. We learn experientially that having God is having everything we need or will ever need.

This does not mean life will be easy, but it will be abundant! Remember the Apostle Paul was in chains when writing today’s text, and still was content and confident because he had Christ. And let me remind you, a beautiful byproduct of abundance is generosity, but the latter is impossible to exhibit without grasping the former.

A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. Luke 22:24-26

“If we let Christ reign in our soul, we will not become authoritarian. Rather we will serve everyone. How I like that word: service! To serve my king and, through Him, all those who have been redeemed by His blood. I really wish we Christians knew how to serve, for only by serving can we know and love Christ and make Him known and loved.”

Josemaría Escrivá in Christ is Passing: Homilies by Josemaría Escrivá (New York: Scepter, 1974) 276.

This weekend I get to serve a large group of men. They are workers whom I will exhort to grow as workers for God. My call to them will not be for them to leave their occupations, whether they be school teachers, accountants, or manufacturers, but to remain in those roles as workers for God whose greatest testimony is their humble, sacrificial service.

Why do this? It is precisely what Jesus did in His day with His disciples. So their lives would exhibit generous service, His disciples had to identify and get rid of the world’s way of thinking focused on amassing great wealth, position, and power, and instead, focus on service.

Serve generously today. Go the extra mile. Don’t focus on what you can get but focus on how you can give through your role. Remember that authoritarian thinking is not becoming of followers of Christ. Empty yourself in service to others and watch Christ enrich you. Make Christ known through your life at work.

By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on the seventh day He rested from all His work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done. Genesis 2:2-3

“The God who didn’t need to rest chose to rest after creating the universe in six days. After doing all the work He intended to do, God stopped.

I love that God just stopped working when He’d done enough. So many times I think of one more adjustment, refinement, tweak that I can do to my project or task. Or I think of my long master to-do list and know there’s more I cold do. It’s a perfectionist’s nightmare, as it’s hard to feel like anything is finished to my satisfaction.

For years I’ve lived with an underlying sense that rest needed to be earned. Only when I’d gotten everything done, and done well, could I take a break. And if I rested before I’d deemed myself “worthy,” then guilt would steal my rest.

However, rest is not earned; it is a gift. The only contingency is we must accept it as God designed it. If we twist it so it fits our definition of rest, it’s really camouflaged work.”

Glynnis Whitwer in Doing Busy Better: Enjoying God’s Gifts of Work and Rest (Grand Rapids: Revell, 2017) excerpt from chapter 5 entitled “God’s Gift of Rest.”

Jesus declared rest as a gift for us with this proclamation.

Then He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27-28.

But we must accept it the gift made special for us by our Lord.

Today, Jenni and I are receiving the gift of rest. She’s served a group of women all weekend. I am coming off a busy season of travel. What about you? When was the last time you rested?

A generous life without rest is a life that forgets the source of refilling and refreshment.

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Colossians 3:5

“What are we to make of Paul’s explicit comparisons of greed with idol worship in Colossians 3:5 and Ephesians 5:5? In what ways are greed and idolatry alike? Over the centuries three answers to this question have been suggested. Whereas most twentieth-century interpreters see love as the point of similarity, the Reformer Martin Luther identified trust and the Church Father Chrysostom service. Do the greedy person and the idolater love, trust and serve their money and their idols respectively? All three are in fact correct.

The Bible underscores love, trust and service as three core responses of the believer in relation to God, and faults both the idolater and the greedy person for foolishly misdirecting these same three. Both idolaters and the greedy “set their hearts” on inappropriate objects. Both “rely on,” “trust in,” and “look to” their “treasures” for protection and blessing. Both “serve” and “submit to” things that demean rather than ennoble the worshipper . . . Greed is idolatry in that, like the literal worship of idols, it represents an attack on God’s exclusive rights to human love, trust and service.

Material things can replace God in the human heart and set us on a course that is opposed to Him, even arousing His jealousy . . . Economists may recommend greed, politicians rely on it and celebrities flaunt it, but in the end like all idols money fails to deliver on its promises. If the root cause of materialism is misdirected religious impulses, then the ultimate solution is still faith in the true and living God who alone gives the security and satisfaction that each of us craves.”

Brian Rosner in “Greed as a False Religion” in the Ridley Melbourne Principal’s blog dated 12/09/13.

Largely-speaking, I have found in my stewardship teaching that there are four groups of people in the audience. Those who are slaves to debt (and overwhelmed with it), those who struggle with greed and the love of money (so they find their security in stockpiling it), those beset with both maladies (they somehow have huge amounts of debt and large retirement accounts so they are doubly enslaved), and those who are financially free (to live, give, serve, and love like Jesus). On this Lord’s day, think about where you fit in that picture.

What do you rely on, trust in, or look to for protection and blessing? Our love, trust, and service must only be directed to God. If you struggle with placing your trust in God rather than possessions, consider the gracious words of our Lord Jesus Himself in Matthew 6:19-34. After telling us not to store up treasures on earth, He reminds us “do not worry” for just as He cares for the birds and flowers, He can be trusted to care for us. And I am thankful in real-time that He is caring for my wife this weekend as she leads the women’s retreat up at Camp Spofford!

Do not worry, friends! Direct all love, trust, and service to God rather than to things or money, which fail to deliver on their promises. Thus, I echo Rosner’s conclusion, “the ultimate solution is still faith in the true and living God who alone gives the security and satisfaction that each of us craves.”

Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Luke 9:23-25

“In reality, although following Jesus and leaving everything go hand in hand, it is necessary first of all to follow Christ in order to be able to leave everything. Indeed, only to the extent that I follow Him, that I walk in His footsteps so as to become His disciple little by little, do I discover how cluttered my life is, how much I need to be set free. At the beginning…we are ready to make radical sacrifices. We would like to leave everything, give everything. But, very quickly, we discover that God always asks of us something that we had not thought of, sometimes even apparently insignificant things of which we are incapable of letting go.

To follow Jesus, therefore, is to embark on a veritable discovery of oneself; a discovery of all those secret attachments, those unconfessed refusals, those secret wounds. We would have liked to leave everything, we were aspiring to freedom, and here we discover, with a sort of disillusionment that can sometimes lead to despair or turn into cynicism, that we are caught in our own trap. And if we are somewhat lucid and honest with ourselves, we can dare to acknowledge that following Jesus, leaving everything for Him, is beyond our capacity…But, paradoxically, this realization of our resistance, of inability to respond to His call, is perhaps, in reality, the most precious fruit…For when we have consented to our own poverty, then God can finally begin to work within us.”

Dom Jean-Charles Nault in “Follow Me” Aleteia blog post dated 21 September 2017. Special thanks to John Stanley for alerting me to this profound reading.

Think about it! Following Jesus is about learning all the things we need to let go of so that we can experience life in Him. It takes us on a journey of discovery about ourselves. We find “those secret attachments, those unconfessed refusals, those secret wounds” that hold us back. The acknowledgement that following Jesus is “beyond our capacity” is the most beautiful proclamation because only in our humble poverty do we begin to understand life in the kingdom (cf. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” Matthew 5:3).

I am praying for Jenni today as her teaching at the women’s retreat at Camp Spofford is aimed at helping about 150 women grasp life in God more deeply.

Jesus is not trying to keep us from gaining good things. He’s giving us the most generous advice possible. We must let go of clutter to take hold of Christ. We don’t realize all the areas of our lives that are filled with clutter. If He revealed them all to us at once, it would overwhelm us. Today’s post is not a call to generosity, but rather, a call to following that precedes generosity. Father in heaven, show us what clutters our lives and hinders the generous work of your Spirit in and through us. Give us courage to leave it today and follow You. Amen.