Meditations

Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. 1 Corinthians 4:1-2

“A true Christian is a dwarf in humility, but a giant in strength to fulfil duty, to bear trial, and to endure temptation.”

Thomas Watson in Puritan Gems; or, Wise and Holy Saying of the Rev. Thomas Watson, Anglican Minister. edited and arranged by the Rev. John Adey (London: Snow and Ward, 1850) 21.

Got home safely to the cold and snow of Denver.

Today’s a quarterly board meeting for GTP. I am thankful for the commitment of these 12 people from 10 countries. They never miss a committee or full board meeting. I think one missed once due to a hospitalization and another to a flight schedule change.

How does GTP see such generous service? How can your church or ministry experience it?

Their faithfulness relates, in part, to a core tool we use called the Board Policies Manual. In only about 12-15 pages it maps the duties of the CEO and the duties of the board. When everyone knows and holds each other accountability to fulfill these responsibilities through meeting and reporting, it helps the ministry flourish.

If you want a free copy of the Board Policy Manual template from GTP, click here. You can also find here it in Arabic, Czech, French, Slovak, and Spanish.

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. 2 Corinthians 4:8-12

“It pleased God to bring the Apostle Paul into most painful and trying conditions. Hear him: “We are troubled on every side!” there was the sadness of his condition; “but not distressed,” there was his contentment: “we are perplexed,” there was his sadness; ” but not in despair,” there was his contentment : he could say, “In prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.” Yet he could add, ” I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” Paul, in regard to his faith, was like a cedar — he could not be moved; but in vicissitudes he was like a reed, bending contentedly to every wind of Providence: when a gale of prosperity blew upon him, he could bend to that; when the tempest of trial raged, he could bend to that. “I know both how to be full, and how to be abased.” A Christian, having cast anchor in heaven, his heart never sinks; a gracious spirit is a contented spirit.”

Thomas Watson in Puritan Gems; or, Wise and Holy Saying of the Rev. Thomas Watson, Anglican Minister. edited and arranged by the Rev. John Adey (London: Snow and Ward, 1850) 27-28.

I am reading through this classic book as I prepare for my flight back to the States and I can’t get past the first three words. “It pleased God…”

Whatever happens after that, for us, should be “all good” or “no worries” as they say in Australia.

I am soaking today in the goodness of God to bring us trials. You might say, “How are trials in any way good.” The answer is and must always be, “It pleased God.”

Look what Paul went through. And notice, he tells us why we go through tough times.

Look at the purpose clause, in Greek introduced by the “so that” marker. “so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” We go through trials so that Christ’s life may be seen in us.

But this one has a double “so that” clause. It adds “For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.”

It repeats the same idea. Why? Repetition aims to make a point.

It pleases God to allow us to experience trials to keep us humble, to accomplish good, and to reveal Christ through us. May His generosity in allowing hard times just give us more opportunities to bring Him glory.

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 1 Timothy 6:6-8

“A proud man is never contented; he thinks so highly of himself that small blessings are disdained by him, and under small crosses he is impatient. The humble spirit is the contented spirit; if his cross be light, he reckons it in the inventory of his mercies; if it be heavy, he takes it on his knees — knowing ” All things work together for his good.” Where humility is the foundation, contentment will be the superstructure.”

Thomas Watson in Puritan Gems; or, Wise and Holy Saying of the Rev. Thomas Watson, Anglican Minister. edited and arranged by the Rev. John Adey (London: Snow and Ward, 1850) 27.

We have wrapped up our time in Australia with a contented couple. We’ve been with Steve and Kate Kerr in Melbourne. Steve has agreed to serve as Global Accreditation Mentor.

Think of it this way. God asked him to start CMA Standards Council in Australia. He did a cracker job at that. And from there has agreed to help grow similar peer accountability groups GTP helps form around the world.

The strength of his character is humility and contentment. I like the word picture that such character becomes a superstructure. May these traits help each of us have similar impact where God deploys us.

I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. Luke 16:9

“Use your talents for Christ’s glory; spend and be spent for Him. Let your heart study for Christ, your hands work for Christ, and your tongue speak for Him. If Christ be our advocate in heaven, we must be factors for Him on earth: every one in His sphere must act vigorously for Christ.

Many would have Christ as their Savior, but not as their Prince; but all who will not have Jesus as their King, will not have his blood to save them. In all which Christ commands, be as the needle which points wheresoever the lodestone draws.”

Thomas Watson in Puritan Gems; or, Wise and Holy Saying of the Rev. Thomas Watson, Anglican Minister. edited and arranged by the Rev. John Adey (London: Snow and Ward, 1850) 33.

Here’s a puritan gem for sure. Spend and be spent for Christ. Use whatever you have for eternal purposes. Don’t be like the person who wants Christ to save them but not deploy them.

I am wrapping up important meetings in Australia this week. I appreciate your prayers. Then home for a few days sand off to Pakistan. It does not make me weary because it’s the direction He leads.

We have a good King and the only wearisome place is not going where He leads and doing what He commands. How do you sense He might be calling you to serve in 2025?

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:28-29

“One day of the week you should ‘keep holy’ (Exod. 20:8): that which is called the Lord’s day, because it is consecrated to the Lord, who on that day arose from the dead, disclosing and giving prior assurance of the general resurrection, when every earthly activity will come to an end. And you must not engage in any worldly activity that is not essential; and you must allow those who are under your authority and those who live with you to rest, so that together you may all glorify Him who redeemed us through His death and who arose from the dead and resurrected our human nature with Himself. You should bring to mind the age to come and meditate upon all the commandments and statutes of the Lord, and you should examine yourself to see whether you have transgressed or overlooked any of them, and you should correct yourself in all ways. On this day you should go to the temple of God and attend the services held there and with sincere faith and a clean conscience you should receive the holy body and blood of Christ. You should make a beginning of a more perfect life and renew and prepare yourself for the reception of the eternal blessings to come.”

Gregory Palamas (1296-1359) was a monk of Mount Athos and later archbishop of Thessalonica in “In Defense of Those who Devoutly Practice a Life of Stillness” in Philokalia V4.349.

Today marks the final post in my look at “examine” in Philokalia, a collection of texts written between the 4th and 15th centuries by spiritual masters. And I feel convicted.

God has given me an apostolic calling, which often means that on the Lord’s Day I am working. Like this day in Melbourne, I will preach morning and night. This means that perhaps the day before or after I need to rest.

I am thankful my Saturday was just that, a restful day.

But I need to improve at encouraging those who are under my authority and those I live to rest. I feel I have simply given them permission and I need to give them direction in this matter.

Anyway, generosity after further examination today appears as soul care.

Do take rest on this Sunday or some day during the week. Direct those under your authority or care to do the same.

Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: “The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near,” so that you do not show ill will toward the needy among your fellow Israelites and give them nothing. They may then appeal to the LORD against you, and you will be found guilty of sin. Deuteronomy 15:9

‘Be attentive to yourself,’ says Moses (Deut. 15:9. LXX) – that is, to the whole of yourself, not to a few things that pertain to you, neglecting the rest. By what means? With the intellect assuredly, for nothing else can pay attention to the whole of yourself. Set this guard, therefore, over your soul and body, for thereby you will readily free yourself from the evil passions of body and soul.

Take yourself in hand, then, be attentive to yourself, scrutinize yourself; or, rather, guard, watch over and test yourself, for in this manner you will subdue your rebellious unregenerate self to the Spirit and there will never again be ‘some secret iniquity in your heart’ (Deut. 15:9). If, says, the Preacher, the spirit that-rules over the evil demons and passions rises up against you, do not desert your place (cf, Eccles. 10:4) – that is to say, do not leave any part of your soul or body unwatched.

In this way you will master the evil spirits that assail you and you will boldly present yourself to Him who examines hearts and minds (cf. Ps. 7:9); and He will not scrutinize you, for you will have already scrutinized yourself. As St Paul says, ‘If we judged ourselves we would not be judged’ (1 Cor. 11:31).

Gregory Palamas (1296-1359) was a monk of Mount Athos and later archbishop of Thessalonica in “In Defense of Those who Devoutly Practice a Life of Stillness” in Philokalia V4.349.

As we draw near to the end of the exploration of “examine” in Philokalia, a collection of texts written between the 4th and 15th centuries by spiritual masters, we find a key idea that can literally save our lives.

We must not, as Moses wrote, harbor any wicked thought. Wicked is a biblical word for wrong. But notice the specific wrong thought we must not harbor. We must not value money over our fellow man. We must not treasure possessions over people. We must help others or be found by the Lord as guilty of sin.

Pause today and think about what you have and how you could use what you have to help others. Don’t exclude any part of yourself to the thought. Don’t let any aspect of your being go unwatched in this examination.

Why? Otherwise the evil one will worm his way of thinking into your life. The evil one will assail you and get a foothold. How does this take shape practically speaking? Let me reference my preaching tomorrow. I will preach on the Parable of the Soils from Luke’s Gospel.

Worldly thinking hardens our hearts. Against the needy we develop bitter or critical thoughts toward them. The world want them to reap the fruit of their bad decisions. Imagine if Jesus let us reap the fruit of ours.

Others harbor issues, like rocks in their lives. The Word cannot take root and bear fruit unless they remove them. Still more also have their faith choked out by the cares of this physical life. Both rocks and weeds can be removed.

My friend Jeff, who I visited in Adelaide this week, regularly walks his fields with a shovel. He collects rocks and removes weeds. Watching him impressed upon me the daily discipline of this work.

Walk the field of your heart this morning. What thoughts have your harbored like rocks? Collect and remove them. What weeds have sprouted. Uproot them. Make way for the seed of the Word of God.

The Word tells us to use what you have to bless others. Do it with thanksgiving that God did not spare His own son but gave Him up for us all.

For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. Romans 7:18

“Which is the place – the flesh or the intellect – most expedient for the spirit of evil that rises up against us from below? Is it not the flesh, in which Paul says that there is nothing good (Romans 7:18) until the law of life makes its habitation there?

It is on account of this especially that the flesh must never escape our attention. How can it become our own? How can we avoid abandoning it? How can we repulse the devil’s assault upon it – especially we who do not yet know how to contend spiritually with the spiritual forces of wickedness – unless we train ourselves to pay attention to ourselves also with respect to the outward positioning of the body?

But why do I speak of those newly engaged in spiritual warfare when there are more perfect people, not only after Christ’s incarnation but also before it, who during prayer have adopted this outward positioning of the body and to whom the deity readily hearkened? Elijah himself, pre-eminent among spiritual visionaries, leaned his head upon his knees, and having in this manner assiduously gathered his intellect into itself and into God he put an end to the drought that had lasted many years (cf. 1 Kgs. 18:42-45).

But it seems to me, brother, that these men from whom you say you heard such slanders suffer from the illness of the Pharisees: they refuse to examine and cleanse the inside of the cup – that is to say, their heart – and not being grounded in the traditions of the fathers they try to assume precedence over everyone, as new teachers of the law (Matt. 23:25-26).

Gregory Palamas (1296-1359) was a monk of Mount Athos and later archbishop of Thessalonica in “In Defense of Those who Devoutly Practice a Life of Stillness” in Philokalia V4.340.

There’s a lot going on here. Let’s unpack it.

To contend spiritually is to focus on the real factors that aim to hinder our generous living, giving, serving, and loving. They are spiritual. We must train ourselves to pay attention to them and we can have victory over them, like Elijah had victory.

Simultaneously, we must cleanse the inside of the cup.

When we focus on spiritual growth, we must avoid the trap of pride like the Pharisees. With Gregory, let’s simply ask God today what needs washing in our hearts so that we can live, give, serve, and love generously and have victory over the spiritual forces of evil.

God, as we examine ourselves, teach us to contend spiritually and show us where our cup needs cleaning. Amen.

For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. By craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. 1 Timothy 6:10

“For the desires that help men to live are not blameworthy, as is clear from the fact that they are with us from a very early age. Love of possessions, however, comes a little later – although still in childhood – and in this way it is evident that it does not have its ground in nature, but is a matter of individual choice.

Saint Paul rightly termed it the root of all kinds of evil, and the kinds that it usually begets are niggardliness, trickery, rapacity, thievery and, in short, greed in all its forms, which St Paul called a second idolatry (cf. Col. 3:5). Even in the case of evils that do not spring directly from it, greed nearly always provides the fuel for their sustenance.

Such evils, begotten of the love for material things, are passions of a soul that has no zeal for spiritual work. We can free ourselves more easily from passions that are a matter of our own volition than from those rooted in nature. It is disbelief in God’s providence that makes it difficult for us to eradicate the passions that arise from our love of possessions, for such disbelief leads us to put our trust in material riches.

‘It is easier’, said the Lord, ‘for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God’ (Matt. 19:24). But if we trust in material riches, this means nothing to us; we long for worldly, perishable wealth, not for a kingdom that is heavenly and eternal. And even when we fail to acquire that wealth, the mere desire for it is extremely pernicious.”

Gregory Palamas (1296-1359) was a monk of Mount Athos and later archbishop of Thessalonica in “St Gregory Palamas
To the Most Reverend Nun Xenia” in Philokalia V4.305.

As I continue my reading through the Philokalia whilst traveling in Australia, I have come to this section by a largely unknown monk, that I cited only one other time in 2014.

Back then, I located this quote: “When we coddle the flesh in order to foster its desires, then the passion becomes evil and self-indulgence gives rise to the carnal passions and renders the soul diseased.”

Today’s post echoes this idea. We must be careful about what we desire. The desire for wealth is “extremely pernicious” as it shifts our trust away from God’s providence. You can’t serve or trust in God and mammon.

Regardless of the level of supply we enjoy from God, we must make the choice to put it to work faithfully, give it generously, and not trust in it to sustain us otherwise the desire itself will lead to all kinds of evil.

Take a few minutes today to assess your desires. Assess if the love of money has a grip on you. The “love of money” simply means a belief that you need money to sustain you. Is it time to repent?

Do this because it is not the gifts of God (money and possessions) that sustain us – only God does. Harboring the desire for money demonstrates idolatry as our trust has shifted to the wrong place.

Repent today before this misplaced love causes you to pierce yourself with many sorrows. Literally the Greek implies you stab yourself multiple times leading to you to die a slow and painful death.

But God gives all the more grace; therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6

“At all times you should fear God, and every day you should examine yourself to see what good things you have done and what bad things. And you should forget what was good, lest you succumb to the passion of self-esteem. But where what was bad is concerned you should weep, confess, and pray intensely.”

Symeon the New Theologian (949-1022) in “One Hundred and Fifty-Three Practical and Theological Texts” in Philokalia V4.51.

Symeon urges us to forget the good we do, lest we succumb to the passion of self-esteem, also known as pride.

I am spending time with a forgetful person in South Australia. He’s done a lot of good and yet as today’s text instructs us, after examination, he has forgotten all or most of it. God has poured out grace on him in his humble state. Perhaps you can think of a person that exhibits both generosity and humility.

How do we walk in their footsteps? Symeon points the way. We examine ourselves and forget what is good. God help us with this. God give us grace to do more good, examine ourselves daily, and maintain a posture of forgetfulness.

He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Luke 18:38

Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped Him. John 9:38

“A man by the name of George, young in age – he was about twenty – was living in Constantinople during our own times. He was good-looking, and so studied in dress, manners and gait, that some of those who take note only of outer appearances and harshly judge the behavior of others began to harbor malicious suspicions about him. This young man, then, made the acquaintance of a holy monk who lived in one of the monasteries in the city; and to him he opened his soul and from him he received a short rule which he had to keep in mind. He also asked him for a book giving an account of the ways of monks and their ascetic practices; so the elder gave him the work of Mark the Monk, On the Spiritual Law. This the young man accepted as though it had been sent by God Himself, and in the expectation that he would reap richly from it he read it from end to end with eagerness and attention. And though he benefited from the whole work, there were three passages only which he fixed in his heart.

The first of these three passages read as follows: ‘If you desire spiritual health, listen to your conscience, do all it tells you, and you will benefit.’ The second passage read: ‘He who seeks the energies of the Holy Spirit before he has actively observed the commandments is like someone who sells himself into slavery and who, as soon as he is bought, asks to be given his freedom while still keeping his purchase-money.’ And the third passage said the following: ‘Blind is the man crying out and saying: “Son of David, have mercy upon me” (Luke 18:38). He prays with his body alone, and not yet with spiritual knowledge. But when the man once blind received his sight and saw the Lord, he acknowledged Him no longer as the Son of David but as the Son of God, and worshipped Him’ (cf. John 9:38).

On reading these three passages the young man was struck with awe and fully believed that if he examined his conscience he would benefit, that if he practiced the commandments he would experience the energy of the Holy Spirit, and that through the grace of the Holy Spirit he would recover his spiritual vision and would see the Lord. Wounded thus with love and desire for the Lord, he expectantly sought His primal beauty, however hidden it might be. And, he assured me, he did nothing else except carry out every evening, before he went to bed, the short rule given to him by the holy elder. When his conscience told him, ‘Make more prostrations, recite additional psalms, and repeat “Lord, have mercy” more often, for you can do so’, he readily and unhesitatingly obeyed, and did everything as though asked to do it by God Himself. And from that time on he never went to bed with his conscience reproaching him and saying, ‘Why have you not done this?’ Thus, as he followed it scrupulously, and as daily it increased its demands, in a few days he had greatly added to his evening office.”

Symeon the New Theologian (949-1022) in “On Faith” in Philokalia V4.17.

George had it all together from outward appearance. But when Symeon found him, he encouraged his inward journey by recommending a good book. Notice that to help a young person grow in the faith, we can share a good book.

Then notice how two Scriptures came alive in the lad. He saw his blindness and need for God’s mercy. And he acknowledged Jesus for who He was after hearing the story of the miracle of the healing of the blind man.

This led him to lean into the three passages that he had underlined as foundational. They would chart the course of his life. And the result was unspeakable benefit.

Are you pointing a young person to Jesus? Recommend a good book. Ask him or her what Scriptures stood out. Then inquire about practices that might shape their living and service.

Your generosity today could be to offer indescribable benefit to another person. Or you can live life and expect this service to be someone else’s job. The choice and blessing to give and receive is yours.

I am spending quality time with my CFO and other stewards in Adelaide this week. Last night I went out into the country with two friends Jeff and Scott. We had deep conversations in a peaceful place (pictured above).

And I have a book for each of them by Gary the Monk.