Meditations

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

“Tell me, will you seek to obtain this vulgar glory? Do not, I beg and entreat you. It turns everything upside down; it is the mother of avarice, of slander, of false witness, of treacheries; it arms and exasperates those who have received no injury against those who have inflicted none. He who has fallen into this disease neither knows friendship nor remembers old companionship, and knows not how to respect any one at all; he has cast away from his soul all goodness, and is at war with every one, unstable, without natural affection.”

John Chyrsostom (c. 347-407) in Homilies on the Gospel of John 3.6. Chrysostom is the third of four Doctors of the Eastern Church.

I hope you like the new header photo of my neighborhood with a fresh blanket of snow set against the bright blue sky. It shouted of the glory of God and His goodness to creation.

Glory and goodness belong to God. When Jesus walked the earth we saw the visible manifestation of this glory and goodness. As the Spirit works in us, we can reflect His glory, but we are only mirrors. We also dispense His generosity, but we are only pipes. He’s the Source!

If we seek glory in our giving, what appears through us is the opposite of goodness, which is the biblical term for generosity. We produce avarice and host of other treacheries as Chrysostom put it. But why? When we seek glory we attach to the wrong thing which causes us to lose the connections which give us life and community.

Worst of all, we lose our connection to the Source. Want to grow in generosity? Do not to seek glory.

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Colossians 3:5

“The origin of idolatry is similar [to the origin of evil which resides in the perverted choice of the darkened soul]. The soul, materialised by forgetting God, and engrossed in earthly things, makes them into gods. The race of men descends into a hopeless depth of delusion and superstition.”

Athanasius of Alexandria (c. 296-373) in “Against the Heathen” 1.8 in Athanasius: Select Works and Letters (Grand Rapids: CCEL) 148. Athanasius is the second of four Doctors of the Eastern Church.

There is a lot in this short statement by Athanasius. It gives us insight in how to avoid greed, which is both idolatry and the opposite of generosity. Three thoughts surface.

Firstly, idolatry is the result of “the perverted choice of the darkened soul.” We are all guilty of it. In our fallen nature, we make the choice to serve things other than God.

Secondly, stuff of a material sort captivates us. Earthly things engross our attention and affections. We become slaves to whatever we hold on it. Things becomes to us as gods.

Thirdly, all humanity is trapped by this hopeless pattern. No one is immune. It leads everyone into a downward spiral of irrational and unjustified behavior.

Of course, elsewhere Athanasius points readers to Christ as our only hope. Ironically, when we listen to Christ, he offers the antidote to greed. What is it? It’s generous giving rooted in deep trust in God.

Help those around you avoid the depths of despair. Remind them to be engrossed in Christ this Lent, who teaches us how to live, in part, through practicing the disciplines of prayer, fasting, and giving.

In case you missed my Lent Companion, click to download it freely.

God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people and continue to help them. Hebrews 6:10

“I am very much astonished to hear that, after the kind promises which you made and which were only such as might be expected from your generous character, you have now forgotten them and are putting violent and stern pressure on our sister. What to think, under the circumstances, I really do not know. I know from many who have experienced your liberality, and bear testimony to it, how great it is; and I remember the promises which you made before me and the ex-prefect.

You said that you were naming a shorter time in writing, but that you would grant a longer term of grace, from your wish to meet the necessities of the case, and do a favour to the widow, who is now compelled to pay out of her substance such a large sum of money at once. What is the cause of this change I cannot imagine?

However, whatever it is, I beg you to be mindful of your own generous character, and to look to the Lord Who requites good deeds. I beg you to grant the time of remission, which you promised at the outset, that they may be able to sell their property and discharge the debt. I perfectly well remember that you promised, if you received the sum agreed on, to restore to the widow all the stipulated documents, as well those which had been executed before the magistrates as the private papers.

I do beg you then, honour me and win great blessing for yourself from the Lord. Remember your own promises, recognizing that you are human and must yourself look for that time when you will need God’s help. Do not shut yourself off from that help by your present severity; but, by showing all kindness and clemency to the afflicted, attract God’s pity to yourself.”

Basil of Caesarea (330-379) in Letter CVIII “To the guardian of the heirs of Julitta” (dated A.D. 372) in Basil: Letters and Select Works, edited by Philip Schaff (CCEL: Grand Rapids) 545.

God sees everything. He sees our good days and bad ones, our service and our sins. And He loves us.

He also wants us to serve as agents of blessing, and this charge comes with the promise He will not forget when we help His people. When we do so, we attract His help.

In today’s post, Basil of Caesarea, writes the guardian of the heirs of a deceased woman and urging the guardian to live out his generous reputation.

What about each of us? Will we? If we promise to do things, we must remember those promises and follow through with generous commitments.

Let’s do this knowing that God sees and will care for us as we care for others. It might require sacrifice but it is nothing compared to Christ’s sacrifice for us.

Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. Colossians 3:2

“With tears and groans, I conjure you to remember. While we run the way of this world, we must not clothe ourselves with tw\o coats, that is, with a twofold faith, or burden ourselves with leather shoes, that is, with dead works; we must not allow scrips filled with money to weigh us down, or lean upon the staff of worldly power. We must not seek to possess both Christ and the world. No; things eternal must take the place of things transitory; and since, physically speaking, we daily anticipate death, if we wish for immortality we must realize that we are but mortal.”

Jerome of Stridon (c. 342-420) in Letter to Marcella 23.4 (written c. 384; translated by M.A. Freemantle; CCEL: Grand Rapids). Jerome is the fourth of four Doctors of the Western Church. Tomorrow we turn to the four Doctors of the Eastern Church.

We are living in a time when we are sensitive to the fact that many are dying around us. In this case, Marcella was devastated by the loss of a fellow ministry worker. Jerome wrote a letter to encourage her. This excerpt comes from the conclusion to the letter.

He urges her (and us) not to carry two coats through life, avoiding a twofold faith. We must not trust in the things that world does, but only trust in God. We must not lean on power, possessions, or pleasures but on Christ alone. And we must live in anticipation of death.

On this note I want to wish my father, Jack Hoag, a happy birthday. He’s 82 (and counting) but he and mom have simplified and with what strength they have remaining, they are living for eternity in anticipation immortality. Well done, dad. Happy Birthday.

Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift. Matthew 5:23-24

“Differently to be admonished are those that are at variance and those that are at peace. For those that are at variance are to be admonished to know most certainly that, in whatever virtues they may abound, they can by no means become spiritual if they neglect becoming united to their neighbours by concord… Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord… The one hope of our calling, therefore, is never reached, if we run not to it with a mind at one with our neighbours… Those who are at variance are to be admonished to take note that they offer to God no sacrifice of good work so long as they are not in charity with their neighbours.”

Gregory the Great (c. 540-604) in The Pastoral Rule, Book 2, Chapter 22, Admonition 23. Gregory is the third of four Doctors of the Western Church.

What does Gregory want everyone who desires to give generously and to grow spiritually to remember?

In short, go back to the heart of the Sermon on the Mount (see today’s Scripture), and don’t bring any gifts to God while you are at variance with your neighbor. Get reconciled. But how?

This is relevant as I am struggling with a close relationship at variance. Perhaps you are too? Gregory would say that alignment is located “in charity” with each other or seasoned with grace.

We must extend mercy and forgiveness to one another in kindness. Even as we have received mercy and forgiveness with kindness from God.

God wants our hearts right with Him and our with neighbors before we bring any gifts. After we reconcile those relationships with grace, we are positioned to give generously.

From that place, the gifts that flow through us are the blessings from God that come from being in alignment (rather than at variance) with His design for us and our neighbors.

Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve. 1 Peter 5:2

“Ye remember, my children, that a friend of ours who seemed to recommend himself by his assiduity in his duties, yet was not admitted by me into the number of the clergy, because his gestures were too unseemly. Also that I bade one, whom I found already among the clergy, never to go in front of me, because he actually pained me by the seeming arrogance of his gait. That is what I said when he returned to his duty after an offence committed. This alone I would not allow, nor did my mind deceive me. For both have left the Church. What their gait betrayed them to be, such were they proved to be by the faithlessness of their hearts. The one forsook his faith at the time of the Arian troubles; the other, through love of money, denied that he belonged to us, so that he might not have to undergo sentence at the hands of the Church. In their gait was discernible the semblance of fickleness, the appearance, as it were, of wandering buffoons.”

Ambrose of Milan in On the Duties of Clergy 1.72 (translated by H. De Romestin). Ambrose is the second of four Doctors in the Western Church. Today I am exploring what he wants us to “remember” as it relates to generosity.

On this first feast day of Lent, I am directing this meditation to anyone in ministry or who has a responsibility to shepherd others in any way. What’s your gait?

In today’s Scripture, the Apostle Peter calls us to serve willingly not for gain but for the good of others. This is needed in every generation. Remember in the days of Jesus, the religious leaders would parade their service and exhibit a greediness for gain. It’s never acceptable.

Gait refers to our posture of service and motivation. Again, I ask. What’s your gait?

In the days of Ambrose the Arian troubles led many to compromise the message of the gospel. The same temptation persists today, and it is only going to get worse in the times in which we find ourselves. And many served for love of money rather than love of God.

Those with such a gait appear as wandering bafoons. Know any?

My prayer for all who serve is that our gait will be characterized with service and generosity. May our voices echo Jesus without compromise and be motivated not by what we get but by what we can give. Our role is simply to receive spiritual and material blessings and to serve humbly as givers.

Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road. Mark 10:46-52

“So we have said who we must ask for things from, who we are that must do the asking, what we must ask for. But we too are asked for things. We are God’s beggars, remember; for him to take notice of his beggars, we in our turn must take notice of ours. In this case too we should consider, when we are asked for something, who they are that are doing the asking, from whom they are asking for it, what they are asking for. Who are doing the asking? Human beings. From whom are they asking for it? From human beings. Who are doing the asking? Mortals. From whom are they asking for it. From mortals. Who are doing the asking? Fragile creatures. From who are they asking for it? From fragile creatures. Who are doing the asking? Poor wretches. From who are they asking for it? From poor wretches.

Apart from the extent of their assets, those who are doing the asking are exactly like those who are being asked. How can you have the face to ask your God for something, if you do not take notice of your equal? “I’m not like him,” he says, “heaven preseve me from being like him!” Some puffed-up poodle swatched in silk speaks like that about the fellow in rags. But I’m asking questions about you both when you are naked. I’m not asking what you are like in your clothes, but what you were like when you were born. You were both naked, both feeble, both beginning a miserable life, and so both crying.”

Augustine of Hippo (354-430) in Sermon 61.8, excerpt entitled, “We are God’s beggars,” in Essential Sermons, edited by Daniel Doyle and translated by Edmund Hill (New York: New City Press) 99.

We’ve shifted from the Apostolic Fathers to the Church Fathers and will start with the Doctors of the Western Church. Augustine of Hippo, whose sermons rank among my favorite of all time, offers us this insight today in Sermon 61.

We are God’s beggars. How does this statement resonate with you? What stirs within you? Augustine, as is his custom, uses shocking language to get our attention and to grasp what is true about ourselves and God.

As we venture into Lent, let’s join Bartimaeus and take the humble posture of a beggar today. Remember this: We are God’s beggars. And when people seek help from us, we must see ourselves as equals and hear them as Christ did.

Jesus calls to the one who cries out for mercy. That’s what the whole world needs, what every person needs, what you and I need. We are human beings, mortals, fragile creatures, and poor wretches. Our lives are but a vapor and gone.

What do each of us need every minute of every day? It’s not justice. Those who call for justice seek the wrong thing. Why don’t we see a call for justice in the New Testament? If we got justice from God, we’d all get a sentence of death.

Instead, what does the world need for hope and healing? Mercy. Jesus say that those who extend mercy will receive it (Matthew 5:7). Remember we are God’s beggars. And there’s bad news for those who don’t extend mercy and forgiveness (Matthew 6:15).

This Lent, before we ask anything of God, let us together make sure we are extending whatever we seek to those who call for help from us. Let us aid others and then ask God for aid. Extend mercy and then call for it. We are God’s beggars.

Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” Matthew 9:14-17

“Nature herself will plainly tell with what qualities she is ever wont to find us endowed when she sets us, before taking food and drink, with our saliva still in a virgin state, to the transaction of matters, by the sense especially whereby things divine are, handled; whether (it be not) with a mind much more vigorous, with a heart much more alive, than when that whole habitation of our interior man, stuffed with meats, inundated with wines, fermenting for the purpose of excremental secretion, is already being turned into a premeditatory of privies, (a premeditatory) where, plainly, nothing is so proximately supersequent as the savouring of lasciviousness. “The people did eat and drink, and they arose to play” [Exodus 32:6; 1 Corinthians 10:7].

Understand the modest language of Holy Scripture: “play,” unless it had been immodest, it would not have reprehended. On the other hand, how many are there who are mindful of religion, when the seats of the memory are occupied, the limbs of wisdom impeded? No one will suitably, fitly, usefully, remember God at that time when it is customary for a man to forget his own self. All discipline food either slays or else wounds. I am a liar, if the Lord Himself, when upbraiding Israel with forgetfulness, does not impute the cause to “fulness:” ” beloved is waxen thick, and fat, and distent, and hath quite forsaken God, who made him, and hath gone away from the Lord his Saviour.”

In short, in the Self-same Deuteronomy, when bidding precaution to be taken against the self-same cause, He says: “Lest, when thou shalt have eaten, and drunken, and built excellent houses, thy sheep and oxen being multiplied, and (thy) silver and gold, thy heart be elated, and thou be forgetful of the Lord thy God” [Deuteronomy 8:12-14]. To the corrupting power of riches He made the enormity of edacity antecedent, for which riches themselves are the procuring agents. Through them, to wit, had “the heart of the People been made thick, lest they should see with the eyes, and hear with the ears, and understand with a heart” [Isaiah 6:10; John 12:40; Acts 28:26-27]. obstructed by the “fats” of which He had expressly forbidden the eating [Leviticus 3:17], teaching man not to be studious of the stomach [Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4].

Tertullian of Carthage (c. 155-240) in On Fasting, chapter 6 (translated by Roberts and Donaldson).

There’s a lot here, and the Scriptures are gold, so my comments will be brief. The time to fast is now. The COVID season when everything is changing, and we need new wineskins for the new work God is doing globally.

And Tertullian would add, that it’s not a time for eat, drink, and play. Here fasting is linked to the activity that helps us to remember God when our proclivity is to forget Him and to pursue our own fleshly desires.

When Tertullian digs deeper into the Scriptures, he uncovers more keen insights. We cannot survive on food alone. We need to trust in God rather than the corrupting power of riches, and fasting marks the gateway.

If we have riches, we must shift from building “excellent houses” to growing God’s kingdom, lest we find ourselves among those who can no longer see, hear, or understand what God desires.

I’d suggest not to be studious of the stomach. The picture the dots of Scripture give us if we connect them is sobering. If we don’t set aside our desires, our desires will define, consume, and destroy us.

As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. Psalm 103:13-14

“Some rise up, saying that the Lord, by reason of the rod, and threatening, and fear, is not good; misapprehending, as appears, the Scripture which says, “And he that feareth the Lord will turn to his heart;” and most of all, oblivious of His love, in that for us He became man. For more suitably to Him, the prophet prays in these words: “Remember us, for we are dust;” that: is, sympathize with us; for Thou knowest from personal experience of suffering the weakness of the flesh.”

Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215) in Paedagogus (The Instructor) 1.8.1 (translated by Roberts and Donaldson).

Coming off Ash Wednesday, when we start Lent in a posture of repentance, it’s a good reminder that we are dust. It is right for us to fear the Lord. He is awesome and to be treated with reverance. We get to participate in extending God’s generosity but sometimes we mistake ourselves for the Source.

God forgive us for acting as gods. Rebuke us for arrogant words. Discipline us for living like we are in control. Awake us for we are oblivious of your great love. Sympathize with us in our weakness. Meet us in our brokenness. Help us, by your Spirit, walk in the way of Jesus this Lent. Amen.

Need a guide for Lent? Visit this link to download my free daily devotional, Lent Companion. The instructor, Clement of Alexandria, would urge you not to misapprehend the life made possible by the work of Christ on the cross. In Lent, we learn how giving, prayer, and fasting combine to ignite generous living.

“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’” Luke 16:19-31

“The Lord has taught with very great fulness, that souls not only continue to exist, not by passing from body to body, but that they preserve the same form [in their separate state] as the body had to which they were adapted, and that they remember the deeds which they did in this state of existence, and from which they have now ceased,-in that narrative which is recorded respecting the rich man and that Lazarus who found repose in the bosom of Abraham.

In this account He states that [the rich man] knew Lazarus after death, and Abraham in like manner, and that each one of these persons continued in his own proper position, and that [the rich man] requested Lazarus to be sent to relieve him-[Lazarus], on whom he did not [formerly] bestow even the crumbs [which fell] from his table. [He tells us] also of the answer given by Abraham, who was acquainted not only with what respected himself, but [the rich man] also, and who enjoined those who did not wish to come into that place of torment to believe Moses and the prophets, and to receive the preaching of Him who was to rise again from the dead.

By these things, then, it is plainly declared that souls continue to exist that they do not pass from body to body, that they possess the form of a man, so that they may be recognised, and retain the memory of things in this world; moreover, that the gift of prophecy was possessed by Abraham, and that each class of souls] receives a habitation such as it has deserved, even before the judgment.”

Irenaus of Lyon (c. 130-202) in Against Heresies, 2.34.1 (translated by Roberts and Donaldson) and written c. A.D. 175-185.

As persecution was rising against the early church in the second century, and many were experiencing martyrdom, it prompted real questions for ordinary Christians. What happens when we pass from the body? 

Irenaeus, bishop of Lyon, directed them to today’s Scripture from Luke’s Gospel. This gives us a glimpse across the chasm as Jesus put it. We discover that we will “retain the memory of things in this world.”

If we listen closely to Jesus, we hear Him allude to His own resurrection and that people will not listen to Him. We also notice that Lazarus means “God has helped.” Consider the implications of this

God will help the needy whether we participate in sharing or not. If we don’t participate, we miss out on the chance to be a conduit of blessing. He does not force us, but He does show us the rich man’s regret.

How we live our lives matters for eternity. Too often, we miss the mark. For all of us this should bring us to a place of repentance. That’s the posture of the church today, Ash Wednesday.

Today Lent begins, It’s a season to focus on giving, prayer, and fasting: 47 days to Easter, 40 days of fasting that mirrors the time Jesus fasted in the wilderness and 7 feast day Sundays to teach us to rest and celebrate.

Join me in observing Lent. To give you a guide for the journey, click to download my latest book in digital form, Lent Companion. It’s free, so forward the link to your friends. Go through it together.