Meditations

Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. Romans 15:7

“At its core, the practice of biblical hospitality is obeying the command of Romans 15:7 to “welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you.” It’s receiving others into our lives — into relationship and, yes, even into our homes. It welcomes Christians as a way to walk in the truth that we’ve been made family through the gospel, and it welcomes non-Christians in an attempt to model and extend the gracious invitation we’ve received from God in Christ.

Leveraging our personal refuges for this mission of welcoming others may feel like a great cost, but it is a cost that is repaid with an abundance of superior joys. Loneliness is traded for community, comfort is surrendered for an eternal purpose, and detached apathy is left behind for a mission meaningful enough to give you life to.

If we walk in this biblical hospitality and view your homes foremost as a gospel weapon, offering our homes for the Holy Spirit to use as He sees fit, then there’s no telling what could happen. It may not transpire fast and it may not be some glamorous story that goes into a book, but God will do what He promised: He will build His church and draw people to Himself through our ordinary faithfulness to leverage our homes for His mission.”

Dustin Willis and Brandon Clements in The Simplest Way to Change the World: Biblical Hospitality as a Way of Life (Chicago: Moody, 2017), 26-27.

My wife and I were watching a movie recently, when the tight-knit group of characters proclaimed, “we’re not friends, we’re family.” They held a bond deeper than friendship. That’s what I recently experienced in Connecticut. There are friends there that have become family to us, thanks to God’s abundant grace to us.

I preached as a guest speaker in Colchester, CT, on Sunday and had (if I am counting correctly) four couples and a total of 11 children, so counting me there were 20 of us for the service and lunch thereafter. I introduced them to the church as my “family” because, in the words of Willis and Clements, “we’ve been made family through the gospel.”

I told them what I will tell you today as readers. When God knits a group of people together who love Jesus deeply, we become family, but it must not stop there. Together, they must open our doors to others. I promised an abundance of superior joys in return and reminded them that their children will live likewise, but only if they show the way.

What about you? Are you using your home as a “gospel weapon”? We tend to think of ours more in terms of a “sanctuary” filled with peace, grace, mercy, love, and generosity. Whatever label you affix to it, leverage your home for God on mission. Use it, like the rest of your earthly wealth, to “make friends” for eternity (Luke 16:9).

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Isaiah 58:7

“Therefore, whatever man you meet who needs your aid, you have no reason to refuse to help him. Say, “He is a stranger”; but the Lord has given him a mark that ought to be familiar to you, by virtue of the fact that he forbids you to despise your own flesh (Isaiah 58:7). Say, “He is contemptible and worthless”; but the Lord shows him to be one whom he has deigned to give the beauty of His image. Say that you owe nothing for any service of his; but God, as it were, has put him in his own place in order that you may recognize toward him the many and great benefits with which God has bound you to Himself. Say that he does not deserve even your least effort for his sake; but the image of God, which recommends him to you, is worthy of your giving yourself and all your possessions.”

John Calvin (1509-1564) in Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2 vols., ed. John T. McNeill (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1960) 3.7.6.

I flew home late last night after sweet ministry and fellowship with friends. But, there’s no place like home! And now the tables have turned. I’ve been blessed by the hospitality of others, and later today we get to welcome Tim Macready of Christian Super into our home.

While reading Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition by Christine D. Pohl, I came across this quote. It’s striking. It’s easy to extend generous hospitality to mates like Tim. He’s a dear Christian brother. But what about those society says are “contemptible and worthless”. Notice, because of the image of God in them, Calvin, citing Isaiah, says to do it because they are fellow humans. If it sounds difficult, remember that when you and I were “contemptible and worthless” because of our sin, God made room for us. To make room for the “contemptible and worthless” is distinctly Christian generosity.

Father in heaven, help us extend the same kindness to others that you extended to us, even the most undeserving. By your Holy Spirit, help us value humans over possessions, so we look like Jesus to the world. Amen.

And one thing more: Prepare a guest room for me, because I hope to be restored to you in answer to your prayers. Philemon 1:22

“A habit of hospitality is fundamental to our identity as Christians. Our primary call is to live out the gospel; a lifestyle of hospitality is part of that call. For some of us, there will be a more particular call to a deliberate and focused expression of hospitality, but for all of us, hospitality is essential to who we are as followers of Jesus.

By reflecting on our own experiences as a guest or stranger, we can identify the components of hospitality that communicate welcome. What made us feel comfortable, valued, safe? What communicated to us that we were inconvenient or in the way? What is it about certain people and places that make us feel renewed and nourished?”

Christine D. Pohl in Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999) 177.

Have you ever experienced hospitality that communicates welcome beyond your expectations and imagination? Like Paul asked Philemon to prepare a guest room for him, I have stayed as a guest in many homes on numerous occasions, but I cannot recall ever feeling so honored as I have this weekend.

Jon and Maria Searles gave me their master bedroom to stay in this weekend.

This sweet couple, with whom someday Jenni and I hope to visit Maria’s homeland, Italy, was so excited to host me, they gave me their own bed. Unforgettable! They inconvenienced themselves, showing me sacrificial generosity in order to communicate welcome to me. I got a glimpse of the hospitality of Christ.

Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. Ephesians 3:8-9

“More than anything else it is the loving contemplation of the Maker that causes the soul to realize its own insignificance, and fills it with holy dread and true humility, and with abundant love to our fellow Christians… I was greatly moved with love for my fellow Christians, that they might know and see what I was seeing, for I wanted to cheer them too…”

Julian of Norwich (c.1342-1416) in Julian of Norwich: Reflections on Selected Texts by Austin Cooper (London: Burns & Oates, 2001) 38.

Special thanks to Shannon and Amy Rodgers for trays of pulled pork nachos (pictured above) at Mark and Kate Whitsitt’s house. Shannon smoked the meat himself special for my visit, though in pain recovering from a car accident. His sacrifice blessed me. Would you pause to say a prayer for his healing from neck pain, back spasms, and the brain tumor the scans revealed?

That’s right, Shannon had the bizarre gift of a car accident to reveal a benign brain tumor that needs to come out.

I wish Jenni was here. What’s sweeter than fellowship with friends? Many ask me: What’s Jenni doing back home when you travel? While I stay with our friends, Jon and Maria Searles, in East Hampton, Connecticut, and teach at Faith and Work 2.0 up in Keene, New Hampshire, today with ECFA colleagues, Sam Huggard and Paul Voltmer, she’s serving on a parallel track.

Jenni and I are about as far apart in the USA as we can be, and yet, we feel like we are walking hand in hand.

While I serve God all over the world as the Generosity Monk, in “loving contemplation of the Maker” she serves as the Soulcare Anchoress, helping people anchor their souls in Jesus. Like the Apostle Paul before us, we share generously the riches of Christ and His abundant love with others. While my work is often speaking and writing, she’s commonly meeting with women, providing spiritual direction, and serving in other ways.

Click to learn more about the Soulcare Anchoress, the perfect complement to the Generosity Monk.

Like Julian of Norwich centuries ago, Jenni has been “greatly moved” by God’s love which inspires her to listen graciously to people and love them well. She also encourages spiritual practices that invite people to put themselves under the spigot of Jesus Christ so He can fill them with His abundant love. She directs people to living water, the only water that satisfies.

My free gift to you today is this: subscribe to the spigot for a biweekly drip.

If the LORD is pleased with us, He will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Numbers 14:8

“Asceticism and simplicity are mutually incompatible. Occasional superficial similarities in practice must never obscure the radical difference between the two. Asceticism renounces possessions. Simplicity sets possessions in proper perspective. Asceticism finds no place for a “land flowing with milk and honey.” Simplicity rejoices in this gracious provision from the hand of God. Asceticism find contentment only when it is abased. Simplicity knows contentment in both abasement and abounding.

Simplicity is the only thing that sufficiently reorients our lives so that possessions can be genuinely enjoyed without destroying us… Simplicity sets us free to receive the provision of God as a gift that is not ours to keep and can be freely shared with others. Once we recognize that the Bible denounces the materialist and the ascetic with equal vigor, we are prepared to turn our attention to the framing of a Christian understanding of simplicity.”

Richard Foster in Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1998) 85.

Last night I returned home from Memphis and today I turn around and fly to Hartford via Chicago. It’s one of those weeks. I have the privilege of seeing dear friends on Friday, teaching Saturday up in New Hampshire, and preaching on Sunday back down in Colchester, Connecticut.

On each of these days I will enjoy sweet fellowship and delicious food with fellow believers. It’s a picture of generosity. Neither the materialist nor the ascetic relates rightly with milk and honey. Avoidance and indulgence don’t follow God’s pattern of enjoyment and sharing.

Pray for me, for stamina and strength to feed spiritual food to those I will serve, and to share love and shower encouragement richly. And for everyone reading this, I pray that whatever work God has you doing, speaking or serving, that you do it generously with the strength God supplies (cf. 1 Peter 4:10-11).

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. Matthew 5:38-42

“Kingdom obedience is kingdom abundance. They are not two separate things. The inner condition of the soul from which strength and love and peace flow is the very same condition that generously blesses the oppressor and lovingly offers the other cheek. These Christ-like behaviors are expressions of a pervasive personal strength and its joy, not of weakness, morbidity, sorrow — or raw exertion of will — as is so often assumed. All those old “options” that we might think should be kept in reserve, just in case they turn out to be “necessary,” will not even be missed.”

Dallas Willard (1935-2013) in The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1998) 312-313.

I had the privilege of interacting with Dallas Willard at a conference a few years prior to his death. In a private conversation I asked him about the importance of stewardship instruction in seminary settings. He described it as “one of the most important topics that could be discussed as our world is filled with lies.” He added, “The students need to know the truth to know how to live and point the way for others.”

As I read Willard in the quietness of my hotel room yesterday, I could almost hear him reading the text aloud to me. This section struck me about kingdom obedience. It really is kingdom abundance! Or as my family has learned, you don’t figure it out until you live it out. You don’t experientially realize you have all you need in Christ (kingdom abundance), until you have abandoned all other options and followed Him (kingdom obedience).

It’s the people who try to hold onto the things of this world and Jesus simultaneously that have to muster “raw exertion of will” while keeping their old “options” open (as Willard put it). Those people don’t get it, so I like to spend time with people who do to encourage my faith. That’s why I am attending the Stewardship Summit with people like Wes Willmer, Rich Haynie, Scott Rodin, Tami Heim, Shawn Manley, Andre Sergeyev, Howard Rich, Mark Vincent, and others.

They are committed to kingdom obedience, which is kingdom abundance, and we learn from each other.

Point your kids in the right direction — when they’re old they won’t be lost. Proverbs 22:6

Make money talk a priority
“We work hard to educate our kids about reading, writing and arithmetic, but money-smart lessons often get overlooked,” says Barbara Dunn, one of the Thrivent Financial representatives who led the sessions. “Families are very busy, what with work and school and sports and a million things draining their time,” says Dunn. “Growing up, a lot of parents were taught that you don’t talk about money, so even as adults they are reluctant to teach their kids the basics of earning money, making budgets and sharing with others. They don’t know how, because it was never taught financial literacy is important.”

Start early
Avoid the common assumption that money is too grown-up for kids. “We want our kids to have carefree childhoods, and we worry that talking about money will make them anxious,” says Laura Dierke, program manager at Thrivent Financial, who includes her 3-year-old daughter in coupon clipping. But the opposite may be true. “Young kids can grasp the underlying ideas of saving and sharing, and the earlier we make them comfortable about money, the better…”

Teach them to share, save and spend
Help children divide their money into three categories: share, save and spend. “If your kids get money for Christmas or a birthday, always encourage them to divide it into thirds – a third for buying something they want, a third for saving for things they may want in the future and a third for sharing with others,” says Dierke. Children attending the workshop received a blue piggy bank with three compartments, but you can easily label three jars or boxes at home for the same effect…

Have a grateful house
Be purposeful about celebrating sharing in your home. Read Bible stories and books that feature generosity. Make a point of noting the kindness of others. If your sister supports a food pantry, make sure your kids know you admire their aunt’s sharing. To help kids allocate and budget their money, make sure the cash you give them can easily be chopped into singles and the rest in coins. This practice will not only help them understand the idea of parceling it out, but also make it easier for them to stash some in a piggy bank for saving and sharing, and some in their fist for spending at the store.

Spread out the cash
Don’t give an allowance every week; consider dispensing it biweekly or even monthly. If kids know another $5 is coming on Friday, they may be more impulsive about spending the allowance you just gave them. But if they know they have to make their money last for a while, they’ll figure out the importance of discipline and self-control.”

Hugh O’Neill in “The Secrets of the Blue Pig: How to teach your children about saving, spending and sharing” in The Generosity Project by Linda Staats, 24-25.

What a delight to have Linda Staats present at the Stewardship Summit on The Generosity Project! It is a lively Saturday morning interactive experience for all ages exploring attitudes and behaviors around money: earning, saving, spending, and sharing. After listening to her presentation, I read through the project materials, including this article, and loved how stewardship and budgeting conversation activities engage everyone together from children and teens to parents and grandparents.

The idea of teaching budgeting has been on my mind since I recently wrote a blog post for CLA entitled, “Got Budget?” Check it out. It just posted today.

Therein I ask people to consider the difficulty of someday giving an account for our stewardship to God if they rank among the two-thirds of Americans that don’t live on a budget. I urge everyone to build a budget with four or five categories — give richly, spend simply, save carefully, pay taxes, and retire debts (if you have them) — and to help others they love to live on a budget as well, to prepare everyone to give an account for their stewardship to God.

As O’Neill notes and as Staats emphasized, start talking about money when children are young. Point them in the right direction so they don’t get lost!

A thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance. John 10:10

“It is of utmost importance for us to understand this more abundant life, because for a true life of prayer it is necessary that we walk in an ever-increasing experience of that overflowing life.

It is possible for us to begin this conflict against prayerlessness in dependence on Christ, looking to Him to be assisted and kept in it, and still be disappointed. This is the time when prayerlessness must be looked upon as the one sin against which we must strive. It must be recognized as part of the whole life of the flesh and as being closely connected with other sins that spring from the same source.

We forget that the flesh and all its affections, whether manifested in the body or the soul, must be regarded as crucified and be handed over to death. We must not be satisfied with a weakened life, but must seek an abundant life. We must surrender ourselves entirely so that the Spirit may take full possession of us and manifest His life in us so that our spiritual being will be completely transformed.

What is it that particularly constitutes this abundant life? We cannot too often repeat it or in different ways too often explain it: the abundant life is nothing less than Jesus having full mastery over our entire being through the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Andrew Murray (1828-1917) in Living a Prayerful Life (Minneapolis: Bethany House, 2002) 50.

After returning home from warm Southern California to snowy Colorado for a day (pictured above on our morning walk yesterday), I flew to Memphis, Tennessee, last night for meetings with stewardship educators at the Stewardship Summit in Southaven, Mississippi over the next few days. I pray God blesses us abundantly at this event at which stewardship educators gather to learn from each other.

As I continue to explore the theme of “abundance” in 2018, I found that Andrew Murray offered a rich perspective on prayerlessness as largely the barrier to abundance. Think about it. To go to the place where we can experience abundance, we must be totally dependent on Christ and remain in communion with Him. We must cast our fleshly desires aside and allow the Spirit to have full mastery over every aspect of our lives.

What’s this got to do with generosity? Friends, everything we are and all we have belongs to God. The prayerless one navigates life seeing only the scarcity and pursues financial independence, and even arrogantly proclaims, “No one will have to take care of me.” Alternatively, the prayerful one grasps abundance because, in every aspect of life, that person pursues dependence on God, and perpetually receives supply for enjoyment and sharing.

Here’s how this might look in everyday life. Start each simply with the Lord’s Prayer (cf. Matthew 6:9-13, I like to pray it daily when I stretch my back after I wake up). Assume the posture of “dependence on Christ” as Murray puts it, in perpetual prayer and conversation with God throughout the day (often couple it with fasting to set aside the flesh in pursuit of God’s desires). Lastly, trust, that for His namesake, He will lead, guide and provide.

Jesus wants you and I to combat prayerlessness by depending on Him so we take hold of abundant life and can point others to it. When we do, it’s the greatest act of generosity we can perform. It’s why we are here on this earth.

As Jesus and His disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed Him. Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” Jesus stopped and called them. “What do you want me to do for you?” He asked. “Lord,” they answered, “we want our sight.” Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed Him. Matthew 29:29-34

“There is nothing good, nothing holy, nothing beautiful, nothing joyous which He is not to His servants. No one need be poor, because, if he chooses, he can have Jesus as his own property and possession. No one need be downcast, for Jesus is the joy of heaven, and it is His joy to enter into sorrowful hearts. We can exaggerate about many things; but we can never exaggerate our obligation to Jesus, or the compassionate abundance of the love of Jesus to us. All our lives long we might talk of Jesus, and yet we should never come to an end of the sweet things that might be said of Him.”

A.W. Tozer in The Pursuit of God (Abbotsford: Aneko, 2015) 28-29.

The crowds in antiquity rebuked the blind who cried out to Jesus for help. Consider the irony of this moment. Those who can see are blind to what Christ can do while the blind appear to see quite clearly. The same thing happens today. Don’t worry about what others think. The compassionate abundance of the love us Jesus toward us is unfathomable. And notice what He says to those who call to Him. “What do you want me to do for you?” What service! It sounds like a humble, yet enthusiastic, waiter or waitress eager to serve us. “What do you want me to do for you?” Let’s take that posture with others as well, empowered by His love.

Father in heaven, thank you for the compassionate abundance of the love us Jesus toward us. By your Holy Spirit, help us take the posture of “What do you want me to do for you?” toward others so our service brings you glory. Amen.

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope — the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Titus 2:11-13

“Believe in God’s grace. But that means suddenly having the rug pulled out from under your feet, means standing where no person can stand, means undertaking something infinitely absurd and infinitely courageous, means seeing God rather than the world, means seeing God’s abundance rather than our own misfortune and guilt, means becoming extremely small and seeing God become great, means taking seriously the incomprehensible contradiction that God does indeed want to have something to do with the world – despite everything, and means recognizing that God is greater than all distress and greater than our own hearts which condemn us.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Meditation and Prayer, edited by Peter Frick (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2010) 32.

I am glad I chose abundance as my word for 2018. It’s like putting on a pair of glasses to help me see the world the way God sees it. Everything’s right side up! In this reading by Bonhoeffer, we are exhorted to believe in God’s grace as it changes everything, and enables us to see His abundance. But why must Dietrich exhort us to believe in it?

It’s other worldly. It reveals forces at work beyond all comprehension. For example, I am praying for God’s grace to help me get home to Denver this morning despite a snowstorm. I believe in God’s grace.

I think many live like grace is “too good to be true” as it is so different from how the world functions. It’s antithetical. Thus, with regard to possessions they think they have earned all they possess. They don’t realize that all they have received are gifts of grace. How can we help these folks? Live like you believe in God’s grace. Jesus saves us from ourselves and shows us how to live abundantly in this present age.

Many people won’t believe until they see. Show them what happens when a person believes in grace.