Archives by: Gary Hoag

Sacrifice: We are urged to imitate “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). Giving at personal expense is exemplified in Jesus and commended throughout the Scriptures.

Paul Borthwick in Simplify: 106 Ways to Uncomplicate Your Life (Colorado Springs: Authentic Books, 2007).

“A theology of consumption [has begun] to invade our culture–and our churches. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, we‘ve wandered away from the foundational teachings of Jesus–sharing our wealth, identifying with the marginalized, living a life of grateful stewardship–and [have begun] to identify our worth with how much money we made or how many possessions we owned…Our identity has changed: from being American citizens to being American consumers. We now produce very little for ourselves. We have become voracious consumers of not only goods and services, all in an attempt to increase our quality of life.”

Evy McDonald, minister and cofounder of New Road Map Foundation, as quoted by Jan Johnson in Abundant Simplicity (Downers Grove: IVP, 2011) 89.

So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? Luke 16:11

“As life becomes more outwardly simple, it becomes more inwardly rich.”

Jan Johnson in Abundant Simplicity (Downers Grove: IVP, 2011) 14.

Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. 2 Corinthians 9:10-13
“Generous giving is one of many evidences that someone is truly a Christian. Paul’s point is that if someone has truly received the generous grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ, he or she will be generous. Conversely, if someone is not generous, it may be because he or she does not understand grace and has not received the gospel of our generous Lord Jesus Christ.”

Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears in Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe (Wheaton: Crossway, 2010) 395-396.

“These disciplines [simplicity, stewardship and sacrifice] reinforce each other, since they relate to our attitude and the use of the resources that have been placed at our disposal.

The discipline of simplicity or frugality refers to a willingness to abstain from using these resources for our own gratification and aggrandizement. A mindset of simplicity helps us resist the cultural endorsement of extravagance and consumption that entices us away from gratitude, trust, and dependence upon the Lord. This discipline frees us from the multiplicity of fleshly desires and anxiety over trivial things, and it helps to deliver us from the bondage of financial debt.

The related discipline of stewardship encourages us to reflect on our lives as managers of the assets of Another. In addition to the usual trilogy of time, talent and treasure, I include the stewardship of the truth we have received as well as the relationships with which we have been entrusted. In this discipline, we periodically review the ways we have been investing these assets.

Sacrifice is a more radical discipline than simplicity in that it involves the occasional risk of giving up something that we would use to meet our needs rather than our wants. This is a faith-building exercise that commits us to entrust ourselves to God’s care.”

Kenneth Boa in Conformed to His Image (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001) 85-86.

“We do not know what we need! We do not know how to pray for the things we need. In fact, we do not know how to pray. Ah, but the Spirit who lives inside us knows what and how to pray. The One to whom you have given yourself knows everything!

If the Spirit is fully able to care for all you need, why should you burden yourself with unnecessary cares? Why weary yourself with so much activity, never stopping to enter the rest of God.

The Lord invites you to cast all your cares on Him. The Lord–who is full of mercy–once complained that the soul wastes its strength and its treasures on a thousand outward things. Yet all the desires of the soul can easily be satisfied.”

Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Isaiah 55:2

Jeanne Guyon in Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ (Jacksonville: SeedSowers, 1975) 104-106.

“God knows what is good for you, and he will give it to you. You can trust that God will give you everything that you need. All that you need to worry about doing is loving God and each other just as God taught you.”

So do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:31-33.

Vicki Lopez-Kaley in Celebrating the Lectionary for Primary Grades 2010-2011 (Chicago: LTP, 2010) 125.

John answered, “The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.” Luke 3:11

For more comics like this one, visit www.reverendfun.com.

“The more God seems to despoil [strip away possessions from] the soul that is in the state of abandonment, the more generous are His gifts.”

Jean-Pierre De Caussade (1675-1751) in Adandonment to Divine Providence, trans. by E.J. Strickland (New York: Cosimo, 2007) 78.

Say! You’ve struck a heap of trouble —
Bust in business, lost your wife;
No one cares a cent about you,
You don’t care a cent for life;
Hard luck has of hope bereft you,
Health is failing, wish you’d die —
Why, you’ve still the sunshine left you
And the big, blue sky.

Sky so blue it makes you wonder
If it’s heaven shining through;
Earth so smiling ‘way out yonder,
Sun so bright it dazzles you;
Birds a-singing, flowers a-flinging
All their fragrance on the breeze;
Dancing shadows, green, still meadows —
Don’t you mope, you’ve still got these.

These, and none can take them from you;
These, and none can weigh their worth.
What! you’re tired and broke and beaten? —
Why, you’re rich — you’ve got the earth!
Yes, if you’re a tramp in tatters,
While the blue sky bends above
You’ve got nearly all that matters —
You’ve got God, and God is love. 

Comfort by Robert W. Service (1874-1958).