Archives by: Gary Hoag

There sits Simon,
so foolishly wise
proudly he’s tending his nets
Then Jesus calls,
and the boats drift away
all that he owns he forgets

More than the nets
he abandoned that day,
he found that his pride was soon drifting away
It’s hard to imagine the freedom we find
from the things we leave behind

Matthew was mindful
of taking the tax,
pressing the people to pay
Hearing the call,
he responded in faith
followed the Light and the Way

Leaving the people
so puzzled he found,
the greed in his heart
was no longer around and
it’s hard to imagine
the freedom we find
from the things
we leave behind

Every heart needs to be set free,
from possessions
that hold it so tight
‘Cause freedom’s not found in the things that we own,
It’s the power
to do what is right
Jesus, our only possession,
giving becomes our delight
We can’t imagine the freedom we find
from the things we leave behind

We show a love for the world in our lives
by worshipping goods we possess
Jesus has laid all our treasures aside
“love God above all the rest”

‘Cause when we say ‘no’
to the things of the world
we open our hearts
to the love of the Lord and
its hard to imagine
the freedom we find
from the things we leave behind

Oh, and it’s hard to imagine
the freedom we find
from the things
we leave behind

Michael Card, Things We Leave Behind Album: Poiema
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQY2auav8Qw

“I left no money to anyone in my will, because I had none.”

John Wesley (1704-1791) in The Journal of John Wesley ed. Percy Livingstone Parker (Chicago: Moody, 1951) 409.

I have a hope, I have a treasure
I have found a place
Where I have no need for my earthly possessions
And my worries just fade away
And when sickness and death are at my door
Trying to steal from me
They cannot take what I’ve already laid down
At Jesus feet

You are my treasure
Your love lasts forever

And I have a peace that I don’t understand
When I know where I stand with You
And I already have everything that I need
And You’re all that I have to lose
And when sickness and death are at my door
Trying to steal from me
They cannot take what I’ve already laid down
At Jesus feet

You are my treasure
Your love lasts forever

All my hope is You

Matt Hammitt: You are my Treasure. YouTube Music Video:

“A Christian lives not in himself, but in Christ and his neighbor. Otherwise, he is not a Christian.” Martin Luther

“They are not to rule for their own interest but for the public good, nor are they endued with unbridled power, but what is restricted to the wellbeing of their subjects.” John Calvin

“Luther and Calvin help us to understand the importance of both liberty and justice in our search for Christian simplicity. We need to join with Luther in seeking the freedom of the Gospel which allows us to serve our neighbor in love. We need to join with Calvin in seeking social justice in all of society, which allows human beings to live in peace.” Richard Foster

Martin Luther (1483-1546) in Selected Writings of Martin Luther: 1520-1523, ed. Theodore G. Tappert (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1967) 47.

John Calvin (1509-1564) in Commentaries on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1947) 481.

Richard Foster in Freedom of Simplicity (New York: HarperCollins, 1981) 79-80.

“Regularly talking about the budget from the pulpit can increase giving marginally, but teaching on generosity [from the Scriptures] can increase giving exponentially.”

Howard Freeman, former stewardship pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, NYC. Excerpt from 1 January blogpost at www.godvertiser.com

Beckoning God–
who called the rich to travel toward poverty,
the wise to embrace your folly,
the powerful to know their own frailty;
who gave strangers a sense of homecoming in an alien land
and to stargazers, true light and vision as they bowed to earth–
we lay ourselves open to your signs for us.

Stir us with holy discontent over a world,
which gives its gifts to those
who have plenty already
whose talents are obvious
whose power is recognized;
and help us
both to share our resources with those who have little
and to receive with humility the gifts they bring to us.

Rise within us, like a star,
and make us restless
till we journey forth
to seek our rest in you.

Kate Compston in Bread for Tomorrow: Praying with the World’s Poor (London: SPCK, 1992) 53-54.

“At one time Francis gathered some five thousand Friars in an open plain for something akin to a camp meeting among the Brothers. Saint Dominic and several other prominent people had come to watch the event.

At one point Francis rose and delivered a moving sermon concluding with the command that the Friars not have “any care or anxiety concerning anything to eat or drink or the other things necessary for the body, but to concentrate only on praying and praising God. And leave all your worries about your body to Christ because he takes special care of you.”

Hearing this, Dominic was distressed at the seemingly imprudent order. However, within a short period of time people from all the surrounding towns began arriving, bringing with them generous supplies of food. A great celebrative feast followed as the monks rejoiced in this provision of God.”

Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) in The Little Flowers of St. Francis trans. Raphael Brown (Garden City: Doubleday & Company, 1958) 68, as recounted in Freedom of Simplicity (New York: HarperCollins, 1981) 75-76.

“With our neighbor there is life and death: for if we do good to our brother, we shall do good to God: but if we scandalize our brother, we sin against Christ.”

St. Anthony of Egypt, an early desert father (c. 251-356) in The Desert Fathers, ed. Helen Waddell (Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1957) 123.

“Materialism must be met by sacrifice…it means simplifying of the material side of life for the sake of the conquest of the world for Christ and his peace.”

Caroline Atwater Mason in World Missions and World Peace (West Medford, MA: The Central Committee on the United Study of Foreign Missions, 1916) 255.

“I will place no value on anything I have or possess except in relation to the Kingdom of Christ.”

David Livingstone (1813-1873) Scottish Medical Missionary in World Missions and World Peace by Caroline Atwater Mason (West Medford, MA: The Central Committee on the United Study of Foreign Missions, 1916) 255.