Meditations

Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” Matthew 8:20

“I affirm that truckle-beds afford no worse repose than the ivory couch; and the goatskin coverlet being amply sufficient to spread on the bed, there is no need of purple or scarlet coverings…See. The Lord ate from a common bowl, and made the disciples recline on the grass on the ground, and washed their feet, girded with a linen towel — He, the lowly-minded God, and Lord of the universe. He did not bring down a silver foot-bath from heaven. He asked to drink of the Samaritan woman, who drew the water from the well in an earthenware vessel, not seeking regal gold, but teaching us how to quench thirst easily. For He made use, not extravagance, his aim.”

Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215) in Pædagogus, or The Instructor, 2.3 (written c. 198).

Laura Hartman includes this quote by Clement in The Christian Consumer (72) when talking about how moderation is essential to proper enjoyment of blessings. I don’t know what a truckle-bed and a goatskin coverlet look and feel like but they sound like simple alternatives to an ivory couch and a scarlet covering.

In looking at the example of Jesus, Clement concludes that “He made use, not extravagance, his aim.” That’s a great word for us today. Our world tells extravagance is what brings happiness. Consumption like Christ, alternatively, is about using with moderation so that we have margin for sharing.

Father in heaven, show us today what a step toward moderation might look like for each of us, so that we have margin for sharing that reflects your love. May we listen to the still small voice of your Holy Spirit and do what it says. Hear my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.

I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. Ecclesiastes 3:12-13

“We should consume with gratitude, savoring, and sharing…Gratitude helps extend the range of appreciation to the people and creatures whose labor brought the food to the table…Gratitude in action often leads to savoring, an activity of lingering over and taking delight in our consumption…Both gratitude and savoring imply a certain detachment from the thing itself. To be grateful is to recognize the blessing as a gift that was gratuitously given…and to savor, is paradoxically, also to detach. Though it is attentive to and embraces the created world, savoring brings about a certain spiritual fulfillment that helps humans detach from an idolatry of “stuff” and attend to what really matters…”

Laura M. Hartman in The Christian Consumer: Living Faithfully in a Fragile World (Oxford: OUP, 2011) 61-63.

Hartman rightly notes the progression from gratitude to savoring to sharing. Yesterday afternoon Sammy and I fished the Crystal River (pictured above) and caught ten nice fish. Both of us were fortunate to land Master Angler Awards for catching huge Mountain Whitefish. Today we are tying flies at the International Federation of Fly Fishers event at Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs. I am grateful for time with him in God’s creation, and savoring it as a gift from God. Savoring leads to sharing because we find great joy teaching others how to tie flies and catch fish. The best part is that we enjoy doing it together!

This afternoon we will give a presentation on “Native Trout of the United States” at 2pm. If you’ve never watched the trout videos Sammy has produced (and that I help shoot), here’s the most recent one: Owyhee River Basin Redband Trout Fly Fishing. Sammy and I are grateful for each trout we catch. We savor the moments with photos and video, and love to share them with the world. Though we catch a lot of fish, with each one we pause to gratefully savor the “glimpse of God’s extravagance” (as Sammy loves to describe it), and then release it to share the experience with anglers after us.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 1 Timothy 6:10

“Money can entice one to all kinds of sin; in fact, there is almost no sin imaginable to which it does not entice. However, this is merely the consequence of the core corruption money brings as soon as it becomes for someone what his God alone can and may be for him. That struggle also goes on for a long time in the heart.

Our human heart needs a point of support on which to depend, rest, lean, and rely and from which it derives the peace, rest, and calm of life. At first, things fluctuate. At one time the heart finds this support in God, at another time in money or capital. Then follows a period of constant swinging back and forth, depending on the afflictions and dangers threatening us.

As long as these threats can be countered with money, God takes second place. But if the threatening affliction or danger takes on a character against which gold can no longer fight, then in most people our God’s name once again rises to the surface as the heart again seeks comfort in the God it had forgotten.

For many, their adherence to money gradually becomes so dominant that it begins to rule their entire soul and all their senses. The more money people have at their disposal, the more assured and certain they feel in their capacity for managing such a monetary treasure.”

Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920), Theologian and Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1901-1905, in “The Power of Money” Acton blogpost on 5 October 2016.

From my study of Greek term, philarguria, “the love of money” in antiquity, it is a root of all kinds of evil. It temps people to think they need it to live. Once people think they need it, they will do anything to get it. For example, why would the religious leaders allow moneychangers and merchants in the temple courts (cf. Matthew 21:12-13)? It brought in lots of money. They tried to serve both: God and money. Listen to what Jesus said about them:

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.” Luke 16:12-14

God knows our hearts. What does He see in yours? Has he taken second place to money? When He told the rich man to let go of money in Mark 10:17-31 it was not because He was trying to rob him. Jesus was trying to help Him. Obedience would not leave him destitute. He would learn to serve as a distributor. God had one hundredfold blessings ready for Him to enjoy and share. Friends, please don’t adhere to money and forget God!

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27

“God’s intent from the beginning is thus for a cooperative world of shalom, generosity, and blessing, evident most fundamentally in His own mode of exercising power at creation. In the New Testament, Jesus even grounds love for enemies in the imago Dei, suggesting that this sort of radical generosity toward others reflects the Creator’s own “perfect” love toward all people shown in His causing sun and rain to benefit both the righteous and the wicked (Matt. 5:43-48; cf. Luke 6:27-35).

In the end, nothing less than God’s own exercise of creative activity ought to function as the ethical paradigm or model for our development of culture, with attendant care of the earth and just and loving interhuman action. By our wise exercise of cultural power we truly function as imago Dei, mediating the Creator’s presence in the full range of earthly activities, thus fulfilling the initial narrative sequence of the biblical story.”

J. Richard Middleton in A New Heaven and a New Earth: Reclaiming Biblical Eschatology (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2014) 52.

Yesterday I spent the morning discussing generosity in the image of God with Tim Dittloff of Stewardship Innovations. After lunch before my late afternoon flight home, he took me and some of his friends sailing on Lake Michigan on his boat, the “Imago Dei” (Latin for “image of God”), where I shot the above photo of Milwaukee.

After this amazing experience, I decided to read on this theme further this morning. Our lives must be defined by God’s ethical paradigm which reflects shalom, generosity, and blessing because that’s His image. Do these traits characterize the full range of our living? Do they embody our loving of others from friend to enemy? Do they shape how we interact with our culture and creation?

Father in heaven, thank you for making us in your image, male and female. Help us live as men and women of God who bring Your shalom to our communities. Help us serve as conduits of your generosity even to the most undeserving. Teach us to share Your blessings freely so that people may see You through us. Make it so by Your Holy Spirit I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” Luke 12:15

“Take if from someone who has had a lifetime of experience of trying to help Christians understand their relationship to their finances, money has a very powerful and profound effect upon the human soul. I have watched hundreds of Christians in my time become financially blessed and then develop an acquisitive streak that in turn makes their souls as metallic as the coins they seek.

Someone has said that “having a good deal of money does not change a person, it merely unmasks them.” If a person is naturally selfish or greedy, money will simply show up those tendencies in a greater and clearer light. “An offering,” said one writer, “is minted personality.” We can tell a lot about the kind of person we are by what and how we give.”

Selwyn Hughes in Divine Mathematics: A Biblical Perspective on Investing in God’s Kingdom (Surrey, UK: CWR, 2004) 19.

This is a great little devotional book I like to read when I travel. Today’s reading reminds me that as God blesses us, we need to “be on guard” (in the words of Jesus) that an “acquisitive streak” (in the words of Selwyn Hughes) does not appear in our lives.

The Greek word for “greed” in this sentence can also be translated “covetousness or acquisitiveness”. Jesus is basically saying, “Beware of all the messages that bombard you that life is found in acquiring money and lots of things. It’s not found there!

What’s the best way to avoid an “acquisitive streak?” Focus on giving rather than getting! As God blesses us financially, we have learned to increase our level of giving not our level of living. I hope you will join us. Let’s mint our personalities as unselfish and generous!

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. Galatians 5:13

“If your Christianity consists of slavery to religion in order to make yourself right before God, then it’s just as if you’re giving yourself to the pagan religions of the world. But Christianity is radically different from those worldly religions. Rather than slaves of religion, we are [children] in relationship with God…We can either make Christianity just like every other world religion and check off our boxes every week and go through the routine and the ritual, or we can step into the intimate presence of God.

We ought not to be a people who prayed a prayer a while ago and are now just trying to do our best to get things right with our lives on a week-in and week-out basis. We ought to serve God wholeheartedly, not because we’re trying to make ourselves right, but because we’ve been made right by God’s grace. We walk with him as [children] who know Him and love Him and enjoy Him and glorify Him, no matter what it costs…And Paul reminds us that because we are are free, we are not living for earthly pleasure…we [neither] live like everybody else, nor do we live for what everybody else lives for…and this changes everything about our lives in this world.”

David Platt and Tony Merida in Exalting Jesus in Galatians (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary; Nashville: B & H Publishing, 2014) 89-90.

Today I lead a workshop with EFCA pastors to help them grasp their role in raising up a congregation of ministers who integrate their faith and work. My aim is to equip them mobilize those they serve to live differently from everyone else (as Platt and Merida would say) seven days a week!

With these pastors, I will present 30 practical ideas in four areas: (1) liturgy (activities in congregational gatherings), (2) pastoral care (rhythms for vocational pastors and marketplace leaders), (3) discipleship & spiritual formation (practices to mobilize a congregation of ministers), and (4) mission & outreach (steps that position the church to shape the community).

Please pray for fruitful time with them. Reply to this email if you want my a PDF version of my handout.

But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you. Psalm 5:11

“Even in the deepest and darkest places of our lives, we need to step back and acknowledge God’s present provisions. Like children who are quick to lose perspective, we need to remember with whom we are walking through this painful journey…

The saying “Count your blessings” may seem old and trite. But there’s no better time to do this than when you face life’s trials. Ask yourself: What are some of the signs of God’s daily provision? How is God’s generous hand still evident in your crisis? What are the things for which you can now be thankful?”

Mike Fabarez in Lifelines for Tough Times: God’s Presence and Help When You Hurt (Eugene: Harvest House, 2014) 70.

Late last night I flew to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and this morning I am driving up to Green Lake to attend the EFCA Forest Lakes District Conference at which I will speak tomorrow. Today I am choosing to focus on God’s present provisions despite some crisis situations that members of my family are facing at the moment. It is easy to allow little things in the big scope of life throw us off. We can’t let that happen!

Am I frustrated that it appears that injustice is prevailing against my daughter, Sophie. Sure I am, and so is the rest of my family! But God has been and is so good to us in countless ways, so as a family we are choosing to be thankful. God will sort out her wrecked car. We trust Him. He provides bountifully for us. We rejoice despite trials because He has spread His protection over us. That’s generosity!

“Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?” Matthew 20:15

“Most of the workers receive much more than they expected when they were hired, and some have their daily needs paid for by a small fraction of a day’s work. The passage portrays generosity, not stinginess. At the spiritual level, no one should ever ask God to be fair, for that is an implicit request for damnation. One should always desire grace!”

Craig Blomberg in Interpreting the Parables, Second Edition (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2012) 285.

“It’s not fair.” I can hear myself saying this, because it appears that the young man who ran a red light and hit my daughter’s car will get off because despite the testimony of witnesses. It cannot be proven that the light was red. He says it was green. “It’s not fair.”

So to minister to my soul and look for help I turned to this text where the workers shout a similar cry. Those that worked all day and those that only worked the last hour made the same wage. The landowner was generous because the parable is not about fair wages but about grace.

Blomberg rightly reminds me this morning not to cry out to God for “fairness” but rather for grace: for more grace for my son and daughter when things in life seem to work against them, and for more grace for Jenni and me to forgive rather than remain angry at this young man.

Father in heaven, thank you for not being fair to us, because we’d be damned as a result. Thanks instead that you generously extend your matchless grace to us. Sort the challenges in our lives by your grace, mercy, and love. Help us trust you by your Holy Spirit I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen. 

“The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7b

“A debt-free multi-millionaire can fail these tests; an indebted college student can pass . . . While it is wise to follow plans and advice that lead to “financial freedom,” it is pointless to do so without first obtaining a freedom of the heart that only comes from passing the tests below — tests that carry wisdom governing how we should relate to God and money.

Test One: Are You Content in Your Circumstances? . . . Financially mature Christians will be content with their lives today, rather than impatiently waiting for a better tomorrow . . .

Test Two: Are You Guarding Against Greed? . . . Greed leads us to over-spend or over-save in pursuit of fulfillment outside of God Himself . . . So, where do you struggle with greed? Are you more prone to over-spend, or over-save?

Test Three: Do You Give Generously? Christians give generously in order to follow the model of Christ, as a response to God’s grace . . . When God pours money into our lives, our highest and best use of the funds is to pass them along to demonstrate His love to the world through generous giving.

John Cortines in his 29 September 2016 article entitled “What the Bible Really Says About How to Handle Your Money: Three Biblical Tests for Financial Maturity” shared with me by one of my former students, Peter Goehring.

This was a good little article. It hit home because I have been working on some talks that I will give over the next month linked to generosity and my focus has been on the condition of our heart. These three “tests,” or perhaps a better word might be “questions,” are great for anyone in ministry to ask themselves and those they serve to move toward the “freedom of the heart” that God desires for each of us!