Archives by: Gary Hoag

“Coming to the town one day to sell his wares, [Abba Agathon] encountered a sick traveller lying in the public place without anyone to look after him. The old man rented a cell and lived with him there, working with his hands to pay the rent and spending the rest of his money on the sick man’s needs. He stayed there four months till the sick man was restored to health. Then he returned in peace…”

Abba Agathon (c. 4th century) as cited by John Chryssavgis in In the Heart of the Desert: The Spirituality of the Desert Fathers and Mothers (Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom) 25.

“Agathon” means “good” in Greek. When Christianity had become the religion of empire, the desert fathers surface in North Africa. With humility they worked with their hands in solitude, and with sincerity they lived out their faith in community. In this account, I marvel how Agathon welcomed inconvenience like the “Good Samaritan” (cf. Luke 10:25-37). Life experiences continue to teach us that this is a “good” way to live.

For example, Jenni and I “did not have time” this Summer to counsel a young, searching couple who desired to get married, but we agreed to meet with them. We prayed and God filled our hearts with compassion. Even better, the Spirit drew their hearts to God. Our sessions were Scripture-filled and enriching. Tonight is the rehearsal dinner and tomorrow is their wedding. Our journey with Markes and Kimberly has been one of the highlights of our summer.

Father, give us eyes to see opportunities to do good. Make us into a people, by your Holy Spirit, who welcome inconvenience with humility and sincerity. Fill our hearts with compassion for those in need so that our service looks like Jesus, in whose name we pray, Amen.

“Whether it be a friend or an enemy, a believer or an unbeliever, do good to the person in need.”

Theodore of Heraclea (d. c. 355) in Fragment 38, comment on Matthew 5:43, as cited in Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: Matthew 1-13, edited by Manlio Simonetti (Downers Grove: IVP, 2001) 120.

To be worldly is to selectively extend assistance to those we judge deserving. To be Christian is the opposite. Don’t be selective! That’s what the greatest commandment is all about (cf. Luke 10:25-37)!

“When you are unattached to things, then you easily acquire virtue.”

Abba Zosimas as cited by John Chryssavgis in In the Heart of the Desert: The Spirituality of the Desert Fathers and Mothers (Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom) 25.

Got this from Dave Rowland, a friend and former student. If you ever come across profound thoughts, please pass them along! God help us all live unattached to things! Seriously, have you ever met a generous person who was attached to things?

“Craig Groeschel is the pastor of LifeChurch.tv in Edmond, Oklahoma…By 2005, the church had grown so much that people were beginning to request his sermons and were willing to pay money to get them. The church investigated the proper way to handle this issue. As the pastor, Craig would own the rights to the sermons and receive royalties from their sales. The opportunity for income was significant.

In a meeting to discuss what to do with the sermons, one of his fellow pastors, Bobby Gruenewald, asked, “What would happen if we just gave them away?” The silence was stunning. Why would anyone suggest he give away something of so much value to him. The ship had come home. The opportunity was there…

In that moment, Craig felt like the Holy Spirit breathed upon him: this was the right thing to do—just give them away. He said, “My only real hesitation was not actually that I wouldn’t get the money, but what if we couldn’t afford to keep giving our sermons away? As a church, we did not have extra at that time—we were actually at the peak of our debt.”

Craig continued, “That moment changed us—the church and I. Generosity became one of my top values.” For the first time, he was giving away something of great value to him and he was giving to people who would never give back…from that moment on, giving became contagious.

It became to penetrate every corner of their church. As they developed resources, it became standard to just give them away. Generosity became a value. As Craig said, “Generosity is not something we do—it is something we are.”

Today, they’ve given away for than five million resources to over one hundred thousand church leaders…One of their most significant gifts has been YouVersion, the world’s most popular Bible application with more than 150 million downloads around the world…Today one of the tenets of their church reads as follows:

We will lead the way with irrational generosity because we truly believe it is more blessed to give than to receive [Acts 20:35].”

Craig Groeschel as recounted by William High in The Generosity Bet: Secrets of Risk, Reward, and Real Joy (Shippensburg, PA: Destiny, 2014).

What I like most about this story is that the idea to be generous was a suggestion from a friend. Next time you see someone who has been blessed richly, encourage them to consider being generous.

God’s abundance flows through ordinary people who are willing to make hilarious, unthinkable choices that the world might deem crazy but make perfect sense according to the teachings in God’s Word!

Read Bill High’s book if you want to be inspired to follow suit.

“If I have enough for myself and family, I am steward only for myself; if I have more, I am but a steward of that abundance for others.”

George Herbert (1593-1633) Anglican Priest in Forty Thousand Quotations, Prose and Poetical, compiled by Charles Noel Douglas (London: George G. Harrap & Co., 1917) 13.

As God blesses our work, he does this so that we can care for our families and be conduits of blessing to others. Has God provided abundantly, or “more than enough” of something for you today? How might you steward that abundance for others to reflect life in God’s economy today?

“Christians should be known to be generous, and in the workplace this expresses itself in many ways. As business managers, they can be generous with their time and investment in their employees and customers. As small business owners, they can take less personal profit in order to give customers better value and employees better pay. As citizens they can be discernibly generous with their time and money, giving away more of their income than others in their economic position. They can consider living modestly, below their potential lifestyle level, in order to be financially generous with others.”

Timothy Keller in Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work (New York: Penguin, 2012) 219.

While preparing for today’s book discussions on faith and work with pastors and lay leaders at EFCA Camp Spofford, I came across this quote by Keller. Essentially he posits that at every turn our Christian faith causes us to be generous and others-centered rather than greedy and self-centered. Literally, the Scriptures warn us not to be “greedy for selfish gain” (cf. Psalm 119:36). This does not mean that businesspersons don’t pursue making a profit. It means they live and work differently with the people around them and they use profit they make to have something to return to God, care for their family, and reflect God’s love and kindness to the world.

“Property is a divine trust. Things are tools not prizes. Life is not for self-indulgence but for self-devotion. When, instead of saying, “the world owes me a living,” men shall say, “I owe the world a life,” then the kingdom will come in power.

We owe everything to God but our sins. Fatherland, pedigree, home-life, schooling, Christian training. All are God’s gifts. Every member of the body or faculty of the mind is ours providentially. There is no accomplishment in our lives that is not rooted in opportunities and powers we had nothing to do with achieving.

“What hast thou that thou didst not receive?” If God gives us the possibilities and the power to get wealth, to acquire influence, to be forces in this world, what is the true conception of life but divine ownership and human administration? “Of Thine own we render Thee.” All there is of “me” is God’s estate, and I am his tenant and agent.

On the day of our birth a new lease is signed. On the day of our death accounts are closed. Our fidelity is the interest on God’s principal. “That I may receive mine own with interest,” is the divine intention. So live, that when thy summons comes to give an account of thy stewardship, it may be done with joy, and not with grief!”

Maltbie Davenport Babcock (1858-1901) American clergyman in Forty Thousand Quotations, Prose and Poetical, compiled by Charles Noel Douglas (London: George G. Harrap & Co., 1917) 1675. Babcock was the author of the famous song, This is My Father’s World.

I am speaking on faith and work in God’s economy in New Hampshire tonight. Pray for me as I connect with New England pastors and lay leaders at EFCA Camp Spofford. Faithful stewardship is at the core of my message, and it is aptly summed up by this zealous clergyman, Babcock, who ministered in New England many years ago.

“If any man is rich and powerful, he comes under the law of God by which the higher branches must take the burnings of the sun, and shade those that are lower; by which the tall trees must protect the weak plants beneath them.”

Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) American Congregationalist clergyman, in Forty Thousand Quotations, Prose and Poetical, compiled by Charles Noel Douglas (London: George G. Harrap & Co., 1917) 1675.

This reading struck me this morning as I am in D.C. and going to a Washington Nationals game this afternoon with Dan Busby, Randy Kung, and Cameron Doolittle. They are Christian brothers who represent the generations before and after me.

God, as we flourish financially, grant us the strength and grace to provide shade and shelter for others, so that those beneath us grow strong so as to provide shade for others someday. Amen.

“We can set our deeds to the music of grateful heart, and see to round our lives into a hymn—the melody of which will be recognized by all who come in contact with us, and the power of which shall not be evanescent, like the voice of the singer, but perennial, like the music of the spheres.”

William Mackergo Taylor (1829–1895) an American Congregationalist minister in Forty Thousand Quotations, Prose and Poetical, compiled by Charles Noel Douglas (London: George G. Harrap & Co., 1917) 886.

I am flying today. From Chicago to Denver, then back to Washington Dulles. When I fly I listen to music on my iPhone, but today’s reading let me to think about what music my life makes. What do people hear as they “listen” to the hymn of my life?

If we want to change the tune of our lives, Jesus (and likely Taylor) would say, have a grateful heart. Lord, give us grateful hearts, so that people don’t hear us, the singer, but hear You through us.

“Work was made for man, and not man for work. Work is a man’s servant, both in its results to the worker and the world. Man is not work’s servant, save as an almost universal perversion has made him such.”

Josiah Gilbert Holland (1819-1881) in Forty Thousand Quotations, Prose and Poetical, compiled by Charles Noel Douglas (London: George G. Harrap & Co., 1917) 1984.

We don’t work for money; we work to bring glory to God. Wages are but a by-product. Work was made for us, before the fall of man, as part of God’s design, His economy of all things (cf. Genesis 1:28; 2:15).

Let’s resolve to work today in way that reflects His generosity, His kindness, His love (cf. Colossians 3:17, 23-24).

Then, at the end of the day, let us take time for prayerful, personal reflection (cf. The Daily Examen of Ignatius) in order to detect God’s presence and discern his direction for our work.

Our daily work may be our greatest platform for exhibiting Christian generosity.