Archives by: Gary Hoag

“True generosity implies an openhearted willingness to give freely, without thought of personal gain or return. It means we give because someone has a need, and we care about them. Sacrifice or inconvenience may be involved, but we don’t see it as a loss since this kind of sharing is inherently rewarding.

Surely, this describes a major aspect of what we do as parents. We give to our children because they need us, and we give to them even more during some of their most difficult stages, putting our own needs aside to meet theirs. If we hope to be rewarded by them in some specific or immediate way, we are likely to be disappointed…

The most important thing we can give our children is our presence and our attention. We must never forget that just being with our kids is nurturing to them at any age. However, sharing our time with them is sometimes the most difficult thing to do…We cannot make up for lost time. It is far more important to use the time we do have together in meaningful ways.”

Dorothy Law Nolte and Rachel Harris Children Learn What They Live: Parenting to Inspire Values (New York: Workman, 1998) 155-156.

When we generously and consistently give our children our presence and our attention, we not only nurture them. We teach them how to listen, love, and care for others. God help us do this well every opportunity we get, even though the older they get, often the more sacrifice and time it requires.

While Jenni remains in San Diego today helping Sophie get settled, I am spending the day with Sammy, assisting him as he leads a guided fly fishing outing for three men: John Van Drunen (my dear friend and EVP of ECFA), and Joel and Bo Kilby (John’s brother-in-law and father-in-law).

Lord, thanks for the gift of time with our children today!

“Go into the world filled with grace and generosity. Rejoice in the profusion [that is, the abundance] of creation and make peace. Be more than fair, showing the tender compassion of God who created and redeemed you. Amen.”

Gill Ambrose in “The Sending Out Prayer” in Prayer and Prayer Activities: For Worship with Adults, Children and All Ages (London: Canterbury Press, 2013) 49.

As Sophie gets oriented at San Diego Christian College and Sammy moves his things into his apartment at Colorado Christian University today, this prayer seemed fitting. Join me in praying it over those we serve and send out.

“When our children face life’s disappointments, they benefit by knowing we are on the sidelines giving our love and prayer support, understanding their struggles to the best of our ability, and believing they can and will work things through. These gifts will help equip them to get through their disappointments and determine how to best move forward. We can pray that God will give them wisdom as they make crucial choices, knowing His plan for them may not be the same as ours but will be what is best for them.”

Nancy Williams in Secrets to Parenting Your Adult Child (Bloomington: Bethany House, 2011) 108.

This week we are dropping Sophie off at college, and we will leave her with the gifts of love and prayer support. Why do this? These are the things she will need most in the days, months, and years to come. Whether you have grown children or not, join us in giving the gifts of love and prayer support to the next generation.

“Are we ready to bless our grown children by letting go of whatever holds us back and staying involved where we can be of most benefit, especially in the areas where God is inviting us to trust Him more? Through acknowledging God’s care and guidance over our adult children’s life choices, circumstances, and experiences, we can choose to open our hands and surrender to Him the fears, concerns, and anxieties to which we cling. In exchange, we’ll receive a greater measure of joy and the insight gained in letting go and staying connected.”

Debra Evans in Blessing Your Grown Children: Affirming, Helping, and Establishing Boundaries (Carol Stream: Tyndale, 2012) 73.

We can trust God to provide for our needs and to take care of our grown children. Thankfully, that includes Sammy in his second year at Colorado Christian University and Sophie in her first year at San Diego Christian College. What a great God we serve!

“Why are some people generous and others not? One church launched a study to determine what causes some members to be more generous than others. Much to the researchers’ surprise, it was neither the cleverness of the church’s appeals nor the power of the preaching. Instead, the most significant factor was whether the person had been taught generosity as a child. The impact of parents in teaching their children to give was the key that opened the world of giving. This is a powerful reminder to those of us who decry the lack of generosity today—what have we done to train our children in the ways of generosity?”

Dave Toycen in The Power of Generosity: How to Transform Yourself and Your World (Waynesboro: Authentic Media, 2004) 9.

Today Jenni and I give thanks for the generosity of our parents toward us, as well as the way in which our grown children have become conduits of God’s generosity. As we send them both off to college, we are realizing that we are not “done” but rather “experienced” and positioned to help other children grasp generosity.

“Adults in the congregation must recognize that their values and life choices influence younger generations. For example, it’s easy to frown on youthful materialism. But adults must always remember that young people’s materialism mirrors what they see permeating adults’ lives as well—the status placed on cars, where people live, the facilities in which people worship, and the ways people contribute their time and money.”

Eugene C. Roehlkepartain, Elanah Dalyah Naftali, Laura Musegades in Growing Up Generous: Engaging Youth in Living and Serving (Rowman & Littlefield: Alban Institute, 2000) 153.

How are you influencing generosity for the next generation?

“I can easily feel secure in and place my trust in what I can see. I can see money; therefore it is easy to trust in money. I can see the privileged position of power; therefore it is easy to trust in power. Nothing is wrong with either money or power unless my trust is in them. But trusting in what I can see creates such a need to control my life and such pressure! The “what I can see” approach promises what it cannot fulfill — meaning, purpose and hope for my life.

If sight cannot fulfill, what can faith offer? Can the invisible world of God be made visible to me with “spiritual” sightedness by faith? Stepping out in faith in Jesus opens my eyes to totally new vistas. The invisible becomes clear. Since Jesus is The Way, The Truth, and the Life — He can fulfill all that He promises. Security, satisfaction, and salvation are possible in God alone. Control of my life is replaced by a humble dependence on Him — sweet relief.”

Bob Snyder, M.D. in “Faith Versus Sight” blog post dated 13 August 2015.

It’s fitting that after considering God as our gracious and generous Healer yesterday to see what “the doctor orders” for living the generous life today. He nails the disease and diagnosis: Don’t trust in money but in Jesus to find life (and sweet relief)! “For we live by faith, not by sight.” 2 Cor 5:7

“The unknown author of The Book of Privy Counseling uses a basic analogy to speak of God’s healing activity: “Take the good gracious God just as he is, as plain as a common poultice, and lay him to your sick self, just as you are.”

There are several remarkable themes in this barest of statements. The first is that one does not need to do something special to gain God’s healing blessing. There is no list of preconditions. The second is that God does not need to do something special to be a healing presence. This is the way God is. God is the gracious and generous Healer. Third, take this God as you would medicine. Or in other words, bandage yourself with this God. This has to do with embrace. Take this God fully to yourself. And finally, God’s healing presence is not simply for a particular illness only, but for one’s sick self. Thus, the illness can be spiritual, physical, emotional, relational, psychological.

Clearly in the churches of the twenty-first century, and particularly in the West where so much of God’s action seems to be lost amongst us, we need to recover a vision of this healing God.”

Charles R. Ringma in Hear the Ancient Wisdom: A Meditational Reader for the Whole Year from the Early Church Fathers to the Pre-Reformation, excerpt from the December 4 reading (Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 2013).

The Book of Privy Counseling is a famous work from the 14th century written by an unknown author. Therein, the writer (thanks to Ringma) reminds us, especially in our suffering, to take the Lord as a poultice to our pain. A poultice is a balm or paste applied to the body to ease inflammation, help fight infection, or to treat an ailment. After a poultice is applied it is covered with a soft cloth.

Why reflect on God’s generous healing today? I am giving thanks for it in the midst of pain and suffering. I am putting him on “as a common poultice” because my heart aches.

This afternoon is the memorial service for my long-time friend. I just learned that a relative passed away back in Ohio. Two days ago I found out that a friend’s wife has cancer. Of course we are praying for all these loved ones but I want to offer them more, so I say, bandage yourself with God. Put God on whatever ails you, as He is a gracious and generous Healer. Beyond that, I’ve got nothing; but take that, and you’ve got everything you need.

LORD my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me. Psalm 30:2

“Christians living in the wealthiest and most powerful nation in the world, the powerhouse of global capitalism, are daily subjected to the most sophisticated enticements ever devised—enticements not just to buy certain products but to buy into a certain way of looking at and living life. It is a way of life that ascribes inordinate value to the acquisition of material goods and indeed thrives on the creation of the new “needs” and businesses’ cutthroat competition to fulfill those needs. If Christian ethics is following Jesus, it must involve a clear-eyed analysis and finally repudiation of an economic ethos that ratifies the deceitfulness of wealth and makes Mammon the national idol…

I think of lives ruined by this ethos: those who deteriorate into essentially soulless creatures pursuing the latest goodies with zombie-like intensity, going deep into debt to pay for what they do not need; those who have no access to adequate work and no way to provide for their families; those around the world who live in squalor and misery; those whose lives could be turned around by a small commitment on the part of unhappily prosperous people who will never pause from their quest for the latest redemptive gadget to consider the needs of the least of these. This is a condition that has been called “affluenza,” and according to Jesus, it is terminal. Even today, Jesus beckons us instead to seek first His kingdom and it’s justice, for our own redemption and redemption of the world is at stake.”

David P. Gushee in “The Economic Ethics of Jesus” in Faithful Economics: The Moral Worlds of a Neutral Science, ed. James W. Henderson and John Pisciotta (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2005) 129-130.

These words mark the conclusion of Gushee’s essay on “The Economic Ethics of Jesus” and “Amen!” seems like an inadequate response. Consequently, I resolve to model and teach others to adopt an alternative lifestyle: one that is Jesus-centered rather than Mammon-centered, simplicity-driven versus spending-driven, and one that challenges the rich to shift from serving themselves to serving the poor and needy in the name of Jesus.

“The Christian faith calls people to be others-interested as well as self-interested. Christianity validates the possibility of self-giving love. Christians’ primary model for love is the love that they experience from God and a key demonstration of that love occurred in the sacrificial life and death of Jesus. As people experience God’s love, they are called in turn to express that love in their own lives as they deal with others.”

Rebecca M. Blank in “Market Behavior and Christian Behavior” in Faithful Economics: The Moral Worlds of a Neutral Science, ed. James W. Henderson and John Pisciotta (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2005) 42.

What would people say about you? Are you others-interested as well as self-interested? Blank’s words echo the Apostle Paul who likewise proclaimed: Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Philippians 2:4

Yesterday went great! Today I will facilitate more team-building activities here at Asbury Theological Seminary with the advancement staff before heading home later. God help each of us (and the staff of ATS) be others-interested as well as self-interested, so that our lives reflect your sacrificial love.