Archives by: Gary Hoag

“We are annoyed when people approach us with urgent demands that disregard our own needs and feelings. That’s why clerks in stores or agents who offer various kinds of services get cranky with customers and clients. After twenty or thirty people demand things of them and show no concern about the clerk’s or the agent’s human needs, the clerk or agent becomes a bit testy. Today we remind ourselves to give that clerk or agent a compliment and a bit of thanks. And we want to approach God with praise and gratitude, not just with a shopping list of requests.”

Gary Lauenstein in The Redemptorists of the Denver Province blogpost for 2 December 2013.

“The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie. It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of triviality we drink in every night. For all the ill that Satan can do, when God describes what keeps us from the banquet table of his love, it is a piece of land, a yoke of oxen, and a wife (Luke 14:18–20). The greatest adversary of love to God is not his enemies but his gifts. And the most deadly appetites are not for the poison of evil, but for the simple pleasures of earth. For when these replace an appetite for God himself, the idolatry is scarcely recognizable, and almost incurable.

Jesus said some people hear the word of God, and a desire for God is awakened in their hearts. But then, “as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life” (Luke 8:14). In another place he said, “The desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful” (Mark 4:19). “The pleasures of life” and “the desires for other things”—these are not evil in themselves. These are not vices. These are gifts of God. They are your basic meat and potatoes and coffee and gardening and reading and decorating and traveling and investing and TV-watching and Internet-surfing and shopping and exercising and collecting and talking. And all of them can become deadly substitutes for God.”

John Piper, A Hunger for God: Desiring God through Fasting and Prayer (Wheaton: Crossway) 18.

“That man is most blessed, who receives his daily bread with gratitude and thankfulness from the hand of God; and he who does so, experiences a pleasure that exceeds description.”

Kalakaua (1836-1891) was the last reigning king of the Kingdom of Hawaii, as recounted by Edward Parsons Day in Day’s Collacon of Prose Quotations (International Printing and Publishing Office: New York, 1884) 345.

“There is no use of money equal to that of beneficence; with the profuse, it is lost; and even with those who lay it out according to the prudence of the world, the objects acquired by it pall on the sense, and have scarce become our own till they lose their value with the power of pleasing; but here the enjoyment grows on reflection, and our money is most truly ours, when it ceases being in our possession.”

Henry Mackensie (1745-1832), Scottish writer, The Works of Henry Mackensie (London: J.F. Dove, 1826) 32.

Psalm 111

Hallelujah! I give thanks to God with everything I’ve got—Wherever good people gather, and in the congregation.

God’s works are so great, worth a lifetime of study—endless enjoyment! Splendor and beauty mark His craft; His generosity never gives out. His miracles are His memorial—This God of Grace, this God of Love.


He gave food to those who fear Him, He remembered to keep His ancient promise. He proved to His people that He could do what He said: hand them the nations on a platter—a gift!

He manufactures truth and justice; all His products are guaranteed to last—Never out-of-date, never obsolete, rust-proof.


All that He makes and does is honest and true: He paid the ransom for His people, He ordered his Covenant kept forever. He’s so personal and holy, worthy of our respect.

The good life begins in the fear of God—Do that and you’ll know the blessing of God. 
His Hallelujah lasts forever!

Eugene Peterson, Psalm 111 in The Message.

“Our whole life should speak forth our thankfulness; every condition and place we are in should be a witness of our thankfulness; this will make the time and places we live in the better for us; when we ourselves are monuments of God’s mercy, it is fit we should be patterns of His praises, and leave monuments to others; we should think life is given to us to do something better than to live in; we live not to live; our life is not the end of itself, but the praise of the Giver.”

Richard Sibbes (1577-1635), English Theologian, as recounted by Edward Parsons Day in Day’s Collacon of Prose Quotations (International Printing and Publishing Office: New York, 1884) 936.

In this season of thanksgiving, we are are profoundly thankful for our family, friends and the many good gifts God has given us. One of them is a friendship with the Koeniger clan, who welcomed Sammy, Joy (our German Shorthair Pointer) and me into their pheasant hunting party a number of years ago.

We recently had another unforgettable weekend together with “Team Koeniger”. Sammy captured the experience in this YouTube video: St. Francis, KS Pheasant Hunting. Enjoy. Music by The Afters: Moments Like This. Even as this video witnesses our thankfulness for a great hunting outing, may our lives speak forth our thankfulness and, as monuments of God’s mercy, may we bring praise to the Giver.

Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” Luke 21:1-4

“In my experience the poor have always been more generous than the rich…I have had the privilege to serve and work with some of the most poor and abandoned communities in our nation. Though they may have had very little, what they had they freely and joyfully shared…They gave of their necessity, not of their surplus, and never asked if it was tax-deductible. In other words, they gave expecting nothing in return. They gave of themselves out of pure love and joy in their faith.

Our Lord surely looks upon the generosity of the poor with great love, just as Jesus did with the poor widow. Our Savior is calling us to give all we have in love for each other and in love of God. We as Christians are called to give of ourselves and hold nothing back. Our true sacrifice, which we are called to give to God and each other, is our very selves in service and love of each other. This is a terribly hard thing to do. But with the grace of God all things are possible.

Today let us pray for the grace to be a little more generous with ourselves to each other and to God, just as the poor widow in [Luke 21:1-4] did.” [2 Cor. 9:8]

Ted Dorcey in The Redemptorists of the Denver Province blogpost for 25 November 2013.

“Not what we say about our blessings but how we use them is the true measure of our thanksgiving.”

W.T. Purkiser (1910-1992), Nazarene preacher, scholar and author, as recounted by Donald Wilton in See You at the Finish Line (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006) 57.

“A generous man will, in his treatment of an enemy, resemble the sun, which pours light all around it, even upon the clouds that strive to dim its luster.”

Annie E. Lancaster as recounted in Day’s Collacon: An Encyclopedia of Prose Quotations (International Printing and Publishing Office: New York, 1884) 316.

This topic came to mind this morning because I read a wonderful paper written by my daughter, Sophie, entitled: “Is War Justified Violence?” After sharing a balanced argument for both sides of an incredibly complex topic, her conclusion centered on Christ, stating:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” (Matthew 5:43-44) and that is just what Christ did, even down to his final words. Christ lived a life of love and peace, ministering to those around him and graciously enduring our sinful world, without once taking war-like action. He inspired the passion that burned in the hearts of so many martyrs. They chose to not take violent action or to inflict war upon their enemies. Although it comes at a high cost, your life, Christ set a selfless example of a parley requiring little from your enemy and sincerely revealing the love of God through you to them.”

The irony for me is that I wear a SHINE rubber bracelet as a daily reminder to pray for Sophie to reflect God’s love to others. Now when I see it I will also remember Lancaster’s words which echo Jesus. May God help Sophie, me and the rest of us “pour light even upon the clouds” generously loving even our enemies at all costs.

“The issues of wealth and poverty are complex…Anxiety about money is a disease among both those who have it and those who do not…Generous sharing of one’s goods can free one from the danger to the soul which lies coiled in the possession of things…The disciples are to handle material things so as to secure heaven and the future. How one handles property has eternal consequences…The life of the disciple is one of faithful attention to the frequent and familiar tasks of each day, however small or insignificant they may seem. The one faithful in today’s nickels and dimes is the one to be trusted with the big account [cf. Luke 16:1-13].”

Fred B. Craddock in Luke: Interpretation, a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009) 189-191.