Meditations

“The Bible is the book of generosity because it is about a generous God seeking to form a generous people.”

John H. Thomas in “The Book of Generosity: Giving and Formation” workshop at the Ecumenical Stewardship Center “Stewardship Fusion” conference in Kansas City on 28 April 2015.

Thomas shared that to encourage generosity we often try to pull external triggers to get people to respond. This might produce random gifts. Meanwhile God works from the inside out.

When His Spirit is at work in our lives we become generous … the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control … Galatians 5:22-23

Yesterday I was blessed by speakers like Thomas. Today it’s my turn to teach. Speak through me to bless your people, Father, by your Holy Spirit, I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen!

“Generosity is like love in this way. People often say that we increase the love we have by giving it away. When we love other people more, we often find that the love we feel and enjoy only grows more…It is the same with generosity.”

Christian Smith and Hilary Davidson in The Paradox of Generosity: Giving We Receive, Grasping We Lose (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014) 8.

Growing in generosity is learning to receive, enjoy, and share God’s material and spiritual blessings. Everyone can participate regardless of the level of resources. Wherever you are at today with regard to generosity, resolve today to stretch yourself to a deeper level of sacrifice and see what happens.

“Christian trinitarianism encourages a distinctive understanding of divine generosity as embodying a deep responsiveness and receptivity. As Rowan Williams says, Christian faith has a “picture of the divine life involving receiving as well as giving, depending as well as controlling.” The incarnation of God in Jesus Christ shows us that “what we understand by ‘God’ can’t just be power and initiative; it also includes receiving and reflecting back in love and gratitude.”

This intratrinitarian dimension of God’s generosity likewise shapes the contours of our own generosity…Unlike missional paradigms in which Christians are always the ones sent, always the ones called to give witness to the truth, Christian understandings of generosity within God’s own life call us to expectations of receiving and depending on others. Joyful receptivity and responsiveness…is one way we acknowledge and mirror divine generosity.”

Amy Plantinga Pauw in Do We Worship the Same God? ed. Miroslav Volf (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012) 43.

Many Americans fail to grow in Christian generosity because we struggle with knowing how to joyfully receive and respond! Our culture forms us to think independently and function from a self-centered framework rather than live mutually interdependent and others-centered lives. Think about it. Most so-called Christians follow the cultural norms of stockpiling for themselves and doing whatever it takes to avoid having to depend on or care for others.

What should we do? We must encourage each other daily to live Christianly and not be tainted by the deceitfulness of sin (cf. Hebrews 3:13). Pauw rightly notes (echoing the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams) that when we look at our Triune God–Father, Son, and Holy Spirit–we find that giving and receiving characterize God’s life, and so giving and receiving should also reflect ours. As we do, our lives mirror “divine” generosity.

When the early church lived this way, humble obedience became the primary missional paradigm that won the pagan, polytheistic world despite persecution and poverty (cf. Acts 2:44-47). The early church exhibited joyful receptivity and responsiveness. Father, form us into such a people by your Holy Spirit, I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

“We need to hear Jesus’ admonition, “do not worry,” and choose the right master: not ourselves, but God. Choosing to make God our Master and the center of our life increases our Life. Full and splendid Life is the consequence when we allow ourselves to trust in God, be dependent upon God, be mastered by God’s generosity and care. This is a kind Master, indeed. Why choose mammon with its incessant worries, when we can choose God who arrays us in all divine splendor.

Most of us don’t consciously choose ourselves as our master; we are much more subtle about it. We couch our mammon choice in thinking we are making ourselves and those around us better. The measure is our worrying. Obsessive worry about things, future plans, success, money, security, looks, etc., is a clue that we have chosen ourselves as master. It is a clue that we need to change the master we serve and choose instead the most compassionate, most generous, and most dependable Master: God…

Telling humans not to worry about tomorrow is like telling them not to be the center of their own lives. And that is exactly the point of the gospel [Matthew 6:24-34]. The two masters are God or ourselves. Yes, we ourselves are the mammon. If we choose ourselves, we worry. If we choose God, we will feed on God’s generosity, be clothed in God’s gift of Life, and be made rich in faith. This choice is sufficient not only for a day, but for a whole lifetime…”

Joyce Ann Zimmerman, Kathleen Harmon, and Christopher W. Conlon in Living Liturgy Spirituality, Celebration, and Catechesis for Sundays and Solemnities: Year A – 2014 (Collegeville: OSB, 2013) 68-69.

Meditate on this gospel passage today and ask yourself this question: What master am I serving?

“No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, you of little faith?

Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” Matthew 6:24-34

“Too often the fundraising staff are sequestered away from the main program staff and left to do the work that no one else wants to do. In our experience with hundreds of faith-based not-for-profits, few would list the development department among their ministries. Program staff and CEOs tend to see development work as funding ministry but not as ministry itself…

Our goal is to help you confront this attitude and build a development program that is steeped in prayer, is Spirit-led, and results in the spiritual growth of your giving partners as well as your staff.”

John R. Frank and R. Scott Rodin in Development 101: Building a Comprehensive Development Program on Biblical Values (Colbert: Kingdom Life and Steward, 2015) 3.

If you are looking for a book to help you with the practical aspects of the ministry of connecting God’s people to God’s work, then this new release is for you!

“Personal exposure to needs is often a prerequisite for a lifestyle of deep, sacrificial generosity on behalf of others. Commitments of money, time, and personal energy can develop when the prospering truly see the suffering of the poor and weak. The exposure can then lead to believers truly growing as…people who not only help the poor but know them in real relationships.”

Amy Sherman in Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good (Downers Grove: IVP, 2010) 74.

Edgar and Gladys Güitz, our friends from Potter’s House, were staying with us over the past week and returned to Guatemala. They have helped our family not only see the destitute but to get to know them as Treasures. Take a few minutes to see what they do in this video. It will bless you. If you want information on taking a group there, let us know. The “personal exposure” (as Sherman puts it) has been life-changing for our family and friends.

“Let temporal things serve your use, but the eternal be the object of your desire.”

Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471) as recounted in In Light of Eternity: Perspectives on Heaven (Colorado Springs: Waterbrook, 1999) 146.

We must love God and people and use temporal things. The world tempts us to get this backwards. The Apostle Paul suggests how to avoid being tricked.

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:18

“I judge all things only by the price they shall gain in eternity.”

John Wesley (1903-1791) as recounted by Randy Alcorn in In Light of Eternity: Perspectives on Heaven (Colorado Springs: Waterbrook, 1999) 146.

My family is learning to limit the money we pour into material possessions and adopt an eternal perspective. This has led us to deploy more money to mission (God’s work) and memories (with family and friends).

What measure are you using, and how does it shape your decisions?

“The world cannot always understand a person’s profession of faith, but it can understand service.”

Ian Maclaren was the pseudonym for Rev. John Watson (1850-1907) who is recounted by Dan Busby in Trust: The Firm Foundation for Kingdom Fruitfulness (Winchester: ECFA Press, 2015) 63.

Jesus always chose the posture of a servant! He instructs us as His disciples to follow His example (cf. Luke 22:24-27). Let’s do it!

God help me serve well today as I teach for Navigators at Glen Eyrie Castle. May God bless your generous service today too!

“Nothing costs so little, goes so far, and accomplishes so much as a single act of merciful service.”

Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) as recounted by Dan Busby in Trust: The Firm Foundation for Kingdom Fruitfulness (Winchester: ECFA Press, 2015) 62.

What I love about this quote is the adjective “merciful” linked to service. It refers to service that is contrary to that which is perceived as deserved. It’s serving unlikely recipients. I am convinced that we are never more like our Lord Jesus Christ than when we show undeserved kindness.