Archives by: Gary Hoag

“We–or at least I–shall not be able to adore God on the highest occasions if we have learned no habit of doing so on the lowest. At best, our faith and reason will tell us that He is adorable, but we shall not have found him so, not have “tasted and seen.”

Any patch of sunlight in a wood will show you something about the sun which you could never get from reading books on astronomy. These pure and spontaneous pleasures are “patches of Godlight” in the woods of our experience.”

C.S. Lewis in Letters to Malcomb: Chiefly on Prayer (Orlando: Harcourt, 1963) 91.

To adore God is to exalt Him in the highest while humbling ourselves to the lowest. That is our posture on Ash Wednesday: humble repentance. It’s the posture called for in the heart of the Lord’s Prayer. Father in Heaven, “forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us” (Matthew 6:12).

While the observance of Lent is optional, the three disciplines practiced in Lent are not. Thankfully in Matthew 6 (among other texts), the instructions of Jesus are clear. “When you give alms…when you pray…when you fast…” In our Lenten journey we will explore these texts and thoughts from saints through the centuries on them.

For now, let’s start with adoration and repentance. This is the first step to learning new habits linked to giving, prayer, and fasting. My prayer is that we will see “patches of Godlight” together. And I hope you like the new “Daily Meditations” image. It’s from the woods at Trinity College Bristol, UK, a place I’ve seen “patches of Godlight” many times.

“When it comes to choosing between my wants and the needs and wishes of others, it’s easy to prioritize the things that I desire. Thanks to sin, being selfish is our default mode. Selfishness is the “virus” that often prevents us from loving others with the same focus and intensity that we love ourselves…

Defeating sin requires the intervention of the Holy Spirit. The season of Lent, beginning Feb. 18, can be a time when we allow ourselves to be transformed from self-centered to other-centered people. My prayer is that I can get out of the way and allow the Great Physician to change me. I pray the same for you.”

Connie Fabor, editor of Christian Leader magazine, in the letter from the editor, January/February 2015.

I echo Connie’s prayer…that Lent will be a time when the Holy Spirit convicts each of us of sin and transforms us from self-centered to other-centered people. Over the next forty days (plus seven feast days and the seventh feast day is Easter) we will explore three disciplines: prayer, fasting, and giving to the poor. Our journey begins tomorrow.

“I have much more confidence in the charity which begins in the home and diverges into a large humanity, than in the worldwide philanthropy which begins at the outside of our horizon to converge into egotism.”

Anna Murphy Jameson (1797-1860), art historian, essayist, in Day’s Collacon compiled and arranged by Edward Parsons Day (New York: IPPO, 1884) 95.

Lent is a personal and communal journey that starts in each of us and permeates outward. For Jameson, practicing the disciplines of prayer, fasting, and sharing with the needy, are the kinds of things that should shape our lives and impact how we extend charity our neighbor who is right beside us. Perhaps this is a good framework for us to think about Lent.

Father, by your Holy Spirit, show each of us what it looks like to carve out time for communion with you (prayer), guide us to what we should remove from our lives for a season (fasting), and direct us in deploying Your resources in response to the needs of those around us (giving), so that all might see and know the love of Jesus. Amen.

“Those deeds of charity which we have done shall stay forever with us, and that wealth which we have bestowed we only keep, the other is not ours.”

Thomas Middleton (1580-1627) in Day’s Collacon compiled and arranged by Edward Parsons Day (New York: IPPO, 1884) 95.

Today’s post concludes my recent exploration of wealth with a simple truth: for eternity we will only possess that which we have stored up in heaven through giving and sharing. That which we store up for ourselves on earth will be lost forever.

Tomorrow we turn our attention to preparing for Lent, the time set aside to practice the disciplines of prayer, fasting, and giving to the needy. If you have wealth socked away on earth, during Lent, ask the Owner of those resources what you should do with them.

“Finally, by a high paradox, God enables men to have a gift-love towards Himself. There is of course a sense in which no one can give to God anything which is not already His; and if it is already His, what have you given? But since it is only too obvious that we can withhold ourselves, our wills and hearts, from God, we can, in that sense, also give them. What is His by right and would not exist for a moment if it ceased to be His (as the song is the singer’s), He has nevertheless made ours in such a way that we can freely offer it back to Him. “Our wills are ours to make them Thine.” And as all Christians know there is another way of giving to God; every stranger whom we feed or clothe is Christ.”

C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) in Four Loves: An Exploration of the Nature of Love (New York: Harcourt, 1960) 128-129.

On this Valentine’s Day, I am most thankful for the love of God. I have come to learn about this love, from my Lord Jesus and from the love of my life, Jenni, who teaches me about God’s love as she explores the depths of it daily and shares it freely.

In gratitude, I gift-love myself back to Him anew and afresh today. Would you join me? Even as He loved us when we were unlovable, He directs us to love the unlovable, to feed the hungry and clothe the naked (cf. Matthew 25:31-46). It’s precisely how we are to love Him.

“It commonly happeneth that those men which enjoy most wealth are most vexed with the avaricious desire of getting more, and mightily molested with fear, lest they should lose what they have already gotten.”

Augustine (354-430) Bishop of Hippo in Day’s Collacon compiled and arranged by Edward Parsons Day (New York: IPPO, 1884) 55.

If you enjoy wealth sometimes more than you should, if are occasionally “vexed” with the desire for more, and if you would admit to feeling “mightily molested with fear”, then Lent is coming at just the right time.

There’s nothing like a season of focusing on prayer, fasting, and giving to help us grow beyond our worldly ways, our avarice and the fears that accompany it (cf. Romans 12:1-2). Whether you’ve embarked on the Lenten journey before or not, give it a go in 2015!

And regardless of whether you need inspiration or not, check out this wonderful three-minute video which chronicles some cool highlights from Lent last year. It was produced by the folks at Stewardship: 40acts 2014

“Avaricious men are the greatest lovers of generosity–in everybody but themselves.”

George D. Prentice (1802-1870) American journalist in Day’s Collacon compiled and arranged by Edward Parsons Day (New York: IPPO, 1884) 316.

In less than a week we will enter the season of Lent.

Lent is the time the Church makes space to grow in our understanding and practice of the disciplines of prayer, fasting, and sharing with the poor. We do this not to get brownie points with God but so that these traits become a way of life. What sacrifices will you make? What will you say “no” to so that you can say “yes” to these disciplines?

Father, if there are avaricious areas of our lives, by your Holy Spirit, convict us this Lenten season. Uproot the weeds of greed and selfishness and produce the fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in each of our lives for your glory (cf. Galatians 5:22-23)!

“Seeing with the eyes of Christ, I can give to others much more than their outward necessities; I can give them the look of love which they crave.”

Pope Benedict XVI in God is Love–Deus Caritas Est: Encyclical Letter (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2006) 22.

As we have explored life for the wealthy, another phenomenon is the way they often view the poor: as a problem to be solved. Christ treated the poor as people in need of love.

Father, thank you for the love you have extended to each of us in Jesus. Give us the eyes of Christ to see others (rich or poor) the way you see them, by your Holy Spirit, we pray. Amen.

“What we call liberality is seldom more than the vanity of giving; we are fonder of the vanity than the generosity of the action.”

François de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) in Day’s Collacon compiled and arranged by Edward Parsons Day (New York: IPPO, 1884) 505.

Another issue the wealthy face is vanity. The Greeks described it as “love of glory” and in antiquity (NT times) it was the primary motivation for giving. It’s the praise associated with acts of generosity. With this statement, the wealthy are challenged to consider what motivates their generosity and forewarned lest vanity become the driving force.

Why warn the wealthy of the danger of vanity linked to generosity? The heart of the matter is all that matters to God.

Does vanity motivate our generosity? We must neither give to receive the praise of men (cf. Matthew 6:1-4), nor think that the good we do for God wins us any favor with God (cf. Matthew 7:21-23). Our generosity must be motivated by humble obedience, not glory-seeking vanity.

Simultaneously, those in ministry must not shower praises on people for their giving. In other words, don’t add fuel to vanity’s fire! Instead, correspondence from ministry leaders must inform people that generous giving results in needs being met and thanks and praise going toward God (cf. 2 Corinthians 9:12-15). For more on this, check out my recent Christian Leadership Alliance blogpost: Watch Your Language!

“Temperance is love taking exercise, love enduring hardness, love seeking to become healthful and athletic, love striving for the mastery of all things, and bringing the body under. It is superior to sensual delights, and it is the power of applying resolutely to irksome duties for the Master’s sake. It is self-denial and self-control.”

James Hamilton (1814-1867) British author and Presbyterian minister in Day’s Collacon compiled and arranged by Edward Parsons Day (New York: IPPO, 1884) 932.

In recent days, we have found that wealth often comes to faithful stewards, though they must possess other traits as well lest their own intoxication with material blessings shift from enjoyment and sharing to self-indulgence and destruction (cf. Galatians 5:13-26). The opposite of self-indulgence is temperance. It’s synonymous with simplicity and self-control.

The person who exhibits temperance does what needs to be done, not just what he/she wants to do. They love, serve, toil, and persevere because they live and work for God, not for themselves. Such living is otherworldly, which is why temperance is among the traits known widely as the fruit of the Spirit (cf. Galatians 5:23).

Father in heaven, fill us with your Holy Spirit and through us produce beautiful fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and temperance. Do this, so that our lives foster life and flourishing rather than death and destruction. Do this for your glory we pray in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.