Meditations

“Transiency is stamped on all our possessions, occupations, and delights. We have to hunger for eternity in our souls, the thought of eternity in our hearts, the destination for eternity written in our inmost being, and the need to ally ourselves with eternity proclaimed by the most short-lived trifles of time. Either these things will be the blessing or curse of our lives. Which do you mean that they shall be for you?”

Alexander Maclaren (1826-1910) Scottish minister in Forty Thousand Quotations, Prose and Poetical, compiled by Charles Noel Douglas (London: George G. Harrap & Co., 1917) 560.

When we treat “possessions, occupations, and delights” as what they are, temporary, transient, and earthly, they are put in their rightful place as a “blessing” both to us and others. Alternatively, when they captivate our hearts, dominate our time, and define our identity, they become a “curse” to us. There’s no middle ground. There’s only a decision for each of us to make. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Colossians 3:2

“Because people believe not in Providence, therefore they do so greedily scrape and hoard. They do not believe in any reward for charity, therefore they will part with nothing.”

Isaac Barrow (1630-1677) Anglican scholar, in Forty Thousand Quotations, Prose and Poetical, compiled by Charles Noel Douglas (London: George G. Harrap & Co., 1917) 136.

Do you foolishly and greedily hoard or faithfully and graciously give? Don’t reply with a rationalization. I am not trying to rob you I am trying to help you. Perhaps you think it’s possible to do both?

What does Jesus instruct on the matter? He’s clear. Do not store up treasures on earth. Store them up in heaven. What’s at stake? Taking hold of life today and eternal rewards tomorrow.

It’s not about money at all, it’s about whether or not you believe that God is our providential Provider or not? Will He care for those who trust and reward those who obey or won’t He?

Work hard as unto the Lord. Live within your means. Enjoy and share God’s material and spiritual blessings with others. Receive richly from others when you are in need. Show the world that you believe by your actions.

“It should be an indispensable rule in life to contract our desires to our present condition, and whatever may be our expectations, to live within the compass of what we actually possess.”

Joseph Addison (1672-1719) in Day’s Collacon, compiled and arranged by Edward Parsons Day (New York: IPPO, 1884) 178.

Living beyond our means not only hinders generosity but enslaves us to debt, and then we discover that even the idea being generous has been swallowed up by our own unbridled desires.

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5

“Riches without charity are nothing worth; they are only a blessing to those who make them a blessing to others.”

Sarah Fielding (1714-1768) English authoress in Day’s Collacon, compiled and arranged by Edward Parsons Day (New York: IPPO, 1884) 903.

There’s a common expression people use: all is grace. It means that everything we have is the result of God’s grace in our lives: our life, our salvation, our resources, everything. All is grace.

With that, we must not forget that the Greek word for grace is charis. In other words, it came to us from God and must flow through us to others. That’s what charity is all about.

Consequently, material blessings only take on their rightful function when they are handled with grace. This is God’s design for all things. All is grace.

“There is one way whereby we may secure our riches, and make sure friends to ourselves of them–by laying them out in charity.”

John Tillotson (1630-1694) Archbishop of Canterbury in Forty Thousand Quotations, Prose and Poetical, compiled by Charles Noel Douglas (London: George G. Harrap & Co., 1917) 1500.

Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your earthly possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home. Luke 16:9

“We’ve set out to work with organizations that directly tell people about Christ, from global ministries such as Every Home for Christ, to our local rescue mission. In this way, we hope to keep Hobby Lobby on track as God’s company, not ours. We want the company to continue for decades, even centuries, as an ongoing source of financial fuel for God’s work around the world…

I believe my responsibility to handle the company’s assets is directly tied to God’s endeavors in the world. He has asked folks like you and me to think like God thinks about resources so He can advance His priorities. Through the efforts of the company God has allowed us to build, I want as many people as possible to know Christ as Savior.”

David Green in “The Purpose of a Merchant” as recounted by William High in The Generosity Bet: Secrets of Risk, Reward, and Real Joy (Shippensburg, PA: Destiny, 2014) 145-146.

Sammy and I are fly fishing with Bryan and Zac Chrisman today. Bryan oversees the work of National Christian Foundation Colorado. After I posted a quote from this book, The Generosity Bet, about a week ago, Bryan told me he has extra copies of it that he’d love to share freely with Meditations readers. It’s a great book filled with inspiring stories! To get your free copy of The Generosity Bet while supplies last, email Bryan at bchrisman@nationalchristian.com today.

“In America, with its vast abounding wealth, its grand expanse of prairie, its reach of river, and its exuberant productiveness, there is danger that our riches will draw us away from God, and fasten us to earth; that they will make us not only rich, but mean; not only wealthy, but wicked. The grand corrective is the cross of Christ, seen in the sanctuary where the life and light of God are exhibited, and where the reverberation of echoes of the great white throne are heard.”

R. S. Storrs (1821-1900) American Congregationalist clergyman in Forty Thousand Quotations, Prose and Poetical, compiled by Charles Noel Douglas (London: George G. Harrap & Co., 1917) 1504.

Is this what you have witnessed in our society? Does our own “exuberant productiveness” both draw us from God and “fasten us” to this earth? Have riches made Americans a “wicked” people? Father in Heaven, forgive us our sins, for allowing your material blessings to stop with us and spoil us rather than flow through us to bless others for your glory. Correct our path, realign it to the cross of Christ by your Holy Spirit, we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

“I feel it is almost impossible to say anything (in my comfort and security—apparent security, for real security is in Heaven and thus earth affords only imitations) which would not sound horribly false and facile. Also, you know it all better than I do. I should in your place be (I have in similar places been) far more panic-stricken and even perhaps rebellious. For it is a dreadful truth that the state of (as you say) “having to depend solely on God” is what we all dread most. And of course that just shows how very much, how almost exclusively, we have been depending on things.

But trouble goes so far back in our lives and is now so deeply ingrained, we will not turn to Him as long as He leaves us anything else to turn to. I suppose all one can say is that it was bound to come. In the hour of death and the day of judgment, what else shall we have? Perhaps when those moments come, they will feel happiest who have been forced (however unwittingly) to begin practicing it here on earth. It is good of Him to force us; but dear me, how hard to feel that it is good at the time.”

C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) in Letters to an American Lady, excerpt from letter dated 16 December 1955 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1971) 49.

As our world crumbles around us, both morally and politically, what shall our response be? Will we seek that which is “false and facile” simply because it’s ingrained in us to depend on things? Or will we realize that “having to depend solely on God” is something we avoid at all cost but represents the only secure place that God is drawing each of us.

Psalm 121
I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip—he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you—the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

“It is impossible for you to live according to God if you love pleasures and money.”

Isidore the Priest of Scété (c. 4th century) as cited by John Chryssavgis in In the Heart of the Desert: The Spirituality of the Desert Fathers and Mothers (Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom) 106.

The desert fathers cut to the chase, do they not?

Isidore is spot on. Jesus repeatedly said you can’t serve God and money because if you try to do both, you will hate one and love the other.

In response, Isidore exhorts hearers to “live according to God.” Following God’s pathway set forth in His Word is the only way to live!

“Abba Euprepius said, ‘Knowing that God is faithful and mighty, have faith in Him, and you will share what is His. If you are depressed, you do not believe. We all believe that He is mighty and we believe all is possible to Him. As for your own affairs, behave with faith in Him about them, too, for He is able to work miracles in you also.'”

Abba Euprepius (c. 4th century) as cited by John Chryssavgis in In the Heart of the Desert: The Spirituality of the Desert Fathers and Mothers (Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom) 61.

Why continue to explore generosity and sharing through the eyes of the desert fathers? I appreciate their candor.

For example, the sharing of our surplus today is rooted in the belief that God will provide faithfully, sometimes even miraculously for us, tomorrow. Depression and fear surface when we choose the path of disbelief that God is our Provider. So whenever we disobediently hoard for ourselves, worry dominates us rather than peace.

Abba Euprepius reminds his brothers and sisters (and us!) that faith is the only pathway to take with regard to all of life and the handling of possessions. Cheerful sharing of that which belongs to God reveals where we are placing our trust. What are you doing with the portion of God’s abundant resources that exceeds your needs?