Peter of Damascus: Good and Noble

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8

“We ought all of us always to give thanks to God for both the universal and the particular gifts of soul and body that He bestows on us. The universal gifts consist of the four elements and all that comes into being through them, as well as all the marvelous works of God mentioned in the divine Scriptures. The particular gifts consist of all that God has given to each individual. These include wealth, so that one can perform acts of charity; poverty, so that one can endure it with patience and gratitude; authority, so that one can exercise righteous judgment and establish virtue; obedience and service, so that one can more readily attain salvation of soul; health, so that one can assist those in need and undertake work worthy of God; sickness, so that one may earn the crown of patience; spiritual knowledge and strength, so that one may acquire virtue; weakness and ignorance, so that, turning one’s back on worldly things, one may be under obedience in stillness and humility; unsought loss of goods and possessions, so that one may deliberately seek to be saved and may be helped when incapable of shedding all one’s possessions or even of giving alms; ease and prosperity, so that one may voluntarily struggle and suffer to attain the virtues and thus become dispassionate and fit to save other souls; trials and hardship, so that those who cannot eradicate their own will may be saved in spite of themselves, and those capable of joyful endurance may attain perfection.”

Peter of Damascus in Book 1 “A Treasury of Divine Knowledge” in the Philokalia (730).

Philokalia is another book from the list in 25 Books Every Christian Should Read: A Guide to the Essential Spiritual Classics. It’s an ancient Christian collection of “good and noble” thoughts.

This collection almost assuredly contains the kinds of ideas the Apostle Paul had in view when he instructed the Philippians to focus on good, pure and praiseworthy things. By this way we maintain a posture of gratitude.

As I rest and reflect this Christmas, I consider my own situation and people I know who may be experiencing the host of circumstances that Peter of Damascus sketched today for which ought to always give thanks.

Some have wealth. I hope they perform acts of charity. Others have poverty. I pray they endure it with patience and charity. Some have come into positions of authority. I pray they exercise righteous judgment.

The list goes on. Some have sickness and trials. Others have gained spiritual knowledge and strength while others have experienced unsought loss of goods and possessions due to the war.

Notice how Peter of Damascus gives us good and noble insight on how to respond to these situations. He speaks pointedly so that we can have the right perspective and inspire others to good and noble Christian living.

Encourage everyone you touch this Christmas season and into the new year to good and noble Christian living. How we navigate life can touch others generously and help them learn lessons from our Lord through the situations of life.

Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. John 14:12

“To trust [Christ] means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way. Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save you already. Not hoping to get to Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you.”

C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity (1952 edition scanned in 2002) 73.

Happy Christmas.

On many evenings from Thanksgiving to Christmas we watch Christmas movies in our home. A common theme that surfaces in the movies goes something like this: fewer people act as though they believe so the Christmas spirit is fading.

Then, as the movies continue, when people start believing, magical things start happening. A new story unfolds. People experience joy they never imagined. Watchers feel good and determine to watch the movie annually.

Where am I going with this? As I stated a few days ago, weariness and worry are leading hindrances to generous living, giving, serving, and loving. So, what’s my Christmas counsel today?

Enjoy a restful celebration of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. When it’s over, let’s all get off the couch and go do the works that Jesus did. When we do, as He has promised, even greater things will happen through us.

But we have to believe and act on those beliefs.

As Lewis reminds us (in what may be the best book written in the last century), we do these things in a less worried way because we can trust Jesus. And we don’t do them to be saved, but because He has begun to save us already.

And in so doing, that “faint gleam of heaven” that is already inside us shines. Like in the movies, this brings joy to all those around us. But it’s not a Hollywood production. It’s the real deal.

Whoever believes in Jesus will do the works Jesus did. Will you?

If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 1 John 4:15-16

“Love is an excellent thing, a very great blessing, indeed. It makes every difficulty easy, and bears all wrongs with equanimity. For it bears a burden without being weighted and renders sweet all that is bitter. The noble love of Jesus spurs to great deeds and excites longing for that which is more perfect.

Love tends upward; it will not be held down by anything low. Love wishes to be free and estranged from all worldly affections, lest its inward sight be obstructed, lest it be entangled in any temporal interest and overcome by adversity. Nothing is sweeter than love, nothing stronger or higher or wider; nothing is more pleasant, nothing fuller, and nothing better in heaven or on earth, for love is born of God and cannot rest except in God, Who is above all created things.

One who is in love flies, runs, and rejoices; he is free, not bound. He gives all for all and possesses all in all, because he rests in the one sovereign Good, Who is above all things, and from Whom every good flows and proceeds. He does not look to the gift but turns himself above all gifts to the Giver.

Love often knows no limits but overflows all bounds. Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of troubles, attempts more than it is able, and does not plead impossibility, because it believes that it may and can do all things. For this reason, it is able to do all, performing and effecting much where he who does not love fails and falls.”

Thomas à Kempis in “The Wonderful Effect of Divine Love” chapter 5 of The Imitation of Christ.

The Imitation of Christ is another one from the list in 25 Books Every Christian Should Read: A Guide to the Essential Spiritual Classics. Today Thomas proclaims the good news of the Love of Jesus which “spurs to great deeds and excites longing for that which is more perfect.”

If you want to grow in generosity this Christmas season, focus on the love of God. Love came down that first Christmas! Love did not send help. He came. He is the source of all that is good and the only thing that can free you from worldly affections which seek to captivate our hearts.

When Love consumes us, we can live, give, and serve generously because we know we have everything we need from the one from Whom all good flows. I pray you have a blessed Christmas focusing on the love of God. Nothing is sweeter. Nothing is better. It’s the best Christmas gift.

Behold the man that made not God his strength, but put confidence in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his avarice. Psalm 52:7

In this Canto, Dante and Virgil make their way down to the Fourth Circle of Hell and come upon the demon Plutus. This Canto describes the punishment of the Avaricious and the Prodigal, with Plutus as their jailer. Enjoy this excerpt.

“Exclaimed: “My Master, now declare to me
What people these are, and if all were clerks,
These shaven crowns upon the left of us.”
“
And he to me: “All of them were asquint
In intellect in the first life, so much
That there with measure they no spending made.

Clearly enough their voices bark it forth,
Whene’er they reach the two points of the circle,
Where sunders them the opposite defect.

Clerks those were who no hairy covering
Have on the head, and Popes and Cardinals,
In whom doth Avarice practise its excess.

And I: “My Master, among such as these
I ought forsooth to recognise some few,
Who were infected with these maladies.”

And he to me: “Vain thought thou entertainest;
The undiscerning life which made them sordid
Now makes them unto all discernment dim.

Forever shall they come to these two buttings;
These from the sepulcher shall rise again
With the fist closed, and these with tresses shorn.

Ill giving and ill keeping the fair world
Have ta’en from them, and placed them in this scuffle;
Whate’er it be, no words adorn I for it.

Now canst thou, Son, behold the transient farce
Of goods that are committed unto Fortune,
For which the human race each other buffet;

For all the gold that is beneath the moon,
Or ever has been, of these weary souls
Could never make a single one repose.”

“Master,” I said to him, “now tell me also
What is this Fortune which thou speakest of,
That has the world’s goods so within its clutches?”

And he to me: “O creatures imbecile,
What ignorance is this which doth beset you?
Now will I have thee learn my judgment of her.

He whose omniscience everything transcends
The heavens created, and gave who should guide them,
That every part to every part may shine.”

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) in Divine Comedy-Inferno, Canto 7, translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Josef Nygrin, 2008) 46-48.

Divine Comedy-Inferno is another one from the list in 25 Books Every Christian Should Read: A Guide to the Essential Spiritual Classics. Today Dante shakes and wakes readers to the regret that awaits the avaricious.

In today’s Scripture the psalmist writes with sobering clarity. A person who trusts in riches does not trust in God. Jesus later echoes this saying that you cannot serve God and wealth.

Dante illustrates for us the ultimate destination that awaits the avaricious. It’s dark and dismal. I hope it scares the avarice out of every person reading this. Let me highlight four segments that got my attention.

Firstly, if “Popes and Cardinals” can be guilty of “excess” in this area, we can all fall prey. Jesus warned the disciples about avarice, which is the desire for gain or more. It’s the opposite of contentment. Be warned.

Secondly, it was “the undiscerning life which made them sordid.” In other words, the avaricious failed to be watchful with money and instead became just like the world. Don’t let your discernment grow dim.

Thirdly, avarice leads us the “ill giving and ill keeping” of goods. I wondered if Ananias and Sapphira found themselves in this fourth level of hell. We must give cheerfully to God and hold anything back!

Fourthly, notice that “all the gold that is beneath the moon, or ever has been, of these weary souls, could never make a single one repose.” In short, money can’t save us, only God can.

Why post such a strong post only two days before Christmas? Tomorrow, our tradition is to watch a movie called, It’s A Wonderful Life. Perhaps you know and love it too?

I won’t give away the storyline, but George Bailey almost throws away his life over the loss of $8,000. He discovers that many things in life matter a lot more than that money. He learned this the hard way.

In the end, however, the town he served selflessly, comes to His aid. They all share with him in his time of need. Watch the movie. It’s an antidote to avarice. And then go give generously.

Remember, let’s make 2022 a time of year-end giving not year-end keeping. Remember that our ill keeping merely shows where we have misplaced our trust.

Spirit, convict us to weed out our avarice. Show us any ways we have a desire for gain. Teach us contentment. Help us discover in giving generously that we have all we need in You. Amen.

One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. Proverbs 11:24-25

“A rich man, without son or heir, loses part of his property, but still has more than enough to keep himself and his household. If this misfortune grieves and disquiets him as though he were left to beg his bread, how can our Lord ask him to give up all things for His sake? This man will tell you he regrets losing his money because he wished to bestow it on the poor.

I believe His Majesty would prefer me to conform to His will, and keep peace of soul while attending to my interests, to such charity as this. If this person cannot resign himself because God has not raised him so high in virtue, well and good: let him know that he is wanting in liberty of spirit; let him beg our Lord to grant it him, and be rightly disposed to receive it.”

Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582) in Interior Castle 3.4-5 (Grand Rapids: CCEL) 35.

Interior Castle is another one from the list in 25 Books Every Christian Should Read: A Guide to the Essential Spiritual Classics. Today Teresa inspires reluctant givers to ask the Lord for liberality or generosity of spirit.

Our Scripture sets forth the outcome of lacking or having liberality of spirit. Those who’ve got it will give, be refreshed, and flourish. Those who don’t have it,  will withhold, and come to poverty.

Perhaps you know people like the rich man described by Teresa above? This person has a lot of money and withholds it, comes to poverty, and exclaims that he or she would have given it to the poor.

Whether or not it is true, is irrelevant! What matters for every steward is what we do with what we have, not what we don’t do. And acceptable giving is giving to God what we have (see 2 Corinthians 8:12).

To such, Teresa urges conformity to God’s will for peace of soul to attend to charity with liberality. For those who are not there yet, she urges to pray for this spirit of liberality or generosity.

Yesterday, I stated that I feel led not to speak of “year-end giving” per se, but rather, “year-end keeping.” In light of today’s biblical text and quote, I remain in that place. I urge you to conform to God’s will with regard to charity.

You lose when you withhold. You gain when you give. This is not gaining for amassing personal riches but replenishment for liberal generosity. With Solomon, I say, “give freely” rather than “withhold.”

And this year-end, please include GTP in your giving. Your gift will be used to empower national workers to build trust and grow local generous giving to God’s work.

We are praying for God to supply $149,000 by 31 December 2022, to deploy 10 staff and numerous volunteers and deliver program onsite and online serving 5,575 workers in 110 countries. Give today.

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Matthew 7:13-14

“The hill, though high, I covet to ascend,
The difficulty will not me offend;
For I perceive the way to life lies here.
Come, pluck up heart, let’s neither faint nor fear;
Better, though difficult, the right way to go,
Than wrong, though easy, where the end is woe.”

John Bunyan (1628–1688) in The Pilgrim’s Progress (Minneapolis: Desiring God, 2014) 45

The Pilgrim’s Progress is another one from the list in 25 Books Every Christian Should Read: A Guide to the Essential Spiritual Classics. Today Bunyan inspires us to press on with powerful language.

Why post this as a meditation to spur readers like you to love and good works? It’s a fair question.  This phrase holds the answer: “Come, pluck up heart, let’s neither faint nor fear…”

Biblical teaching and modern research both confirm that weariness and worry surface as top competing factors to living, giving, serving and loving generously.

In short, we faint or we fear. We grow weary and doing good because the road is hard. It’s difficult. It’s easier to offer bandaid solutions than to solve systemic problems. And we worry that in serving others our own needs won’t get sorted.

So, now you can see why these words resonated with me? “Come, pluck up heart, let’s neither faint nor fear…” We must encourage each other to not grow weary and to not worry.

And it’s a collective charge. We must together resolve not to give up and not to fear. We’ve got this. God’s got us. It’s the right way to go. And, though hard, it’s way better than woe, which is what I think the rich fool felt (see Luke 12:13-21).

Remember in when he failed to put in play the abundance God supplied? That did not end well for Him. So, while most speak at this time about year-end giving, I want you to ponder your year-end keeping.

Remember that God looks not at what we give but at what we don’t give and what it says about our hearts. Let’s not grow weary or worry, and obediently put in play what God has supplied to people and ministries He cares about.

“Come, pluck up heart, let’s neither faint nor fear…”

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:18

“Love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared with love in dreams. Love in dreams is greedy for immediate action, rapidly performed and in the sight of all. Men will even give their lives if only the ordeal does not last long but is soon over, with all looking on and applauding as though on the stage. But active love is labor and fortitude, and for some people too, perhaps, a complete science.”

Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881) The Brothers Karamazov (Project Gutenberg ebook, 2009).

The Brothers Karamazov is another one from the list in 25 Books Every Christian Should Read: A Guide to the Essential Spiritual Classics.

Read this closely as you think about your generosity this year end. Don’t support efforts that show “love in dreams” with your giving.

This comes into view as ministries that promise results in short order. On the international level, they tend to ask you for funding and promise to deliver certain outcomes.

They are, in Dostoevsky’s language “greedy for immediate action, rapidly performed.” Give us money and we can get it over with right away.

Alternatively, the long hard road paved with “labor and fortitude” which addresses not just symptoms but the deeper problems is active love.

This love in action really is “harsh and dreadful.” Think of the Christ of Christmas. He came and showed love in action and gave His life. He calls us to die to self too.

So this Christmas I urge you to support your local church and ministries that show love in action by addressing real issues over the long haul.

And with your international giving, give to GTP. As many ministries that work globally have large numbers of American staff, I am the only one.

Our team is from the world and serves the world with love in action. We don’t give handouts that create dependency but a hand up that builds disciples.

And we do this living and serving in Australia, Egypt, Guatemala, Hong Kong (soon relocating to Canada), Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Rwanda, South Africa, and USA.

In addition to the 10 staff we around 50 volunteers that serve as board members and that help deliver program for a network of 5,600 Christian workers in 110 countries.

We show love in action with labor and fortitude. Watch Palmful of Maize to see how we have empowered national workers to build trust and grow local giving in Malawi.

Give generously, always combining actions with truth.

The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. John 10:10

“We Western peoples are apt to think our problems are external, environmental. We are not skilled in the inner life, where the real roots of our problems lie. For I would suggest that the true explanation of the complexity of our program is an inner one, not an outer one. The outer distractions of our interests reflect an inner lack of integration of our own lives.

We are trying to be several selves at once, without all our selves being organized by a single, mastering Life within us. Each of us tends to be, not a single self, but a whole committee of selves. There is the civic self, the parental self, the financial self, the religious self, the society self, the professional self, the literary self. And each of our selves is in turn a rank individualist, no co-operative but shouting out his vote loudly for himself when the voting time comes. And all too commonly we follow the common American method of getting a quick decision among conflicting claims within us.

It is as if we have a chairman of our committee of the many selves within us, who does the votes at each decision, and leaves disgruntled minorities. The claims of each self are still pressed. If we accept service on a committee on Negro education, we still regret we can’t help with a Sunday school class. We are not integrated. We are distraught. We feel honestly the pull of many obligations and try to fulfill them all.

And we are unhappy, uneasy, strained, oppressed, and fearful we shall be shallow. For over the margins of life comes a whisper, a faint call, a premonition of richer living which we know we are passing by. Strained by the very mad pace of our daily outer burdens, we are further strained by an inward uneasiness, because we have hints that there is a way of life vastly richer and deeper in all this hurried existence, a life of unhurried serenity and peace and power.”

Thomas R. Kelly (1893-1941) in A Testament of Devotion (New York: Harper, 1941) 91-92.

A Testament of Devotion is another one from the list in 25 Books Every Christian Should Read: A Guide to the Essential Spiritual Classics.

Notice our proclivity to say that the problems exist outside us (and are often solved by money). Or our competing selves keep us so busy we miss what God has for us. Perhaps you can relate? I know I can.

Here Kelly teaches us the pathway to richer living. We must be “organized by a single, mastering Life” so that we are not crushed under the weight of many obligations. I have found this to be true. Seriously, if you feel “unhappy, uneasy, strained, oppressed, and fearful” then hear the still small voice of Jesus calling you to something more, to grasp abundant, richer living.

This relates to generosity as this unhurried existence creates margin in life to live, give, serve, and love generously. Pause this holiday season to find “serenity and peace and power.” It will position you for rich generosity!

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Luke 2:10

“All the towering materialism which dominates the modern mind rests ultimately upon one assumption; a false assumption. It is supposed that if a thing goes on repeating itself it is probably dead; a piece of clockwork. People feel that if the universe was personal it would vary; if the sun were alive it would dance. This is a fallacy even in relation to known fact. For the variation in human affairs is generally brought into them, not by life, but by death; by the dying down or breaking off of their strength or desire.

A man varies his movements because of some slight element of failure or fatigue. He gets into an omnibus because he is tired of walking; or he walks because he is tired of sitting still. But if his life and joy were so gigantic that he never tired of going to Islington, he might go to Islington as regularly as the Thames goes to Sheerness. The very speed and ecstasy of his life would have the stillness of death. The sun rises every morning. I do not rise every morning; but the variation is due not to my activity, but to my inaction.

Now, to put the matter in a popular phrase, it might be true that the sun rises regularly because he never gets tired of rising. His routine might be due, not to a lifelessness, but to a rush of life. The thing I mean can be seen, for instance, in children, when they find some game or joke that they specially enjoy. A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony.

But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we. The repetition in nature may not be a mere recurrence; it may be a theatrical encore.”

G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936) in Orthodoxy (London: John Lane Company, 1908) 33-34.

Orthodoxy is another one from the list in 25 Books Every Christian Should Read: A Guide to the Essential Spiritual Classics. Here Chesterton teaches us a valuable lesson that fits well with the Christmas season often filled with materialism: “exult in monotony.”

We get bombarded with messages that “new” or “more” will better satisfy our needs. Chesterton reminds us to not only “exult in monotony” perhaps through the face of a child this Christmas season, and to celebrate repetition in nature as a “theatrical encore” of the Creator.

Yesterday, we observed Christmas as a family. Sure, it was 8 days early. But with schedules and travel going different directions, it was the day we could all get together. We ate food, played games, and exchanged some gifts celebrating the birth of Jesus, God’s greatest gift to us.

I loved hearing my granddaughter giggle. Her joy does not link to any material gifts she got. It connected to the bliss of bouncing on my knee. Her squeals said “do it again” though she cannot yet form words. And the delight on her face proclaims the good news of the birth of the Savior.

So, this Christmas, exult in the monotony that our good God has given us another year to live, give, serve, and love. In that light, we serve as God’s encore that can bring a weary world to rejoicing. More is not better. Celebrate the monotony in nature that brings into view the generosity and faithfulness of God.

Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. 1 Peter 4:1

“Indeed, the truth that many people never understand, until it is too late, is that the more you try to avoid suffering, the more you suffer, because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you, in proportion to your fear of being hurt. The one who does most to avoid suffering is, in the end, the one who suffers most: and his suffering comes to him from things so little and so trivial that one can say that it is no longer objective at all. It is his own existence, his own being, that is at once the subject and the source of his pain, and his very existence and consciousness is his greatest torture. This is another of the great perversions by which the devil uses our philosophies to turn our whole nature inside out, and eviscerate all our capacities for good, turning them against ourselves.”

Thomas Merton (1915-1968) in The Seven Story Mountain (New York: Harcourt, 1948) 107

The Seven Story Mountain is another one from the list in 25 Books Every Christian Should Read: A Guide to the Essential Spiritual Classics. Here Merton teaches why we should not try to avoid suffering. In short, it “eviscerates all our capacities for good.”

Think about it. Christ embraced rather than avoided suffering. We must have the same attitude. God allows it to stop us in our tracks, to cause our reflection and the changing of directions, often turning from sin and turning to Him. Perhaps you can relate? I know I can.

But notice a related idea today which teaches us what happens when we try to avoid suffering. Merton helps us see that it causes fear to control us. The little possibilities of life consume our attention, which in turn eviscerates all our capacities for good.

So without fear of suffering, let us resolve to live, give, serve, and love generously. Let us not worry about whether we will have enough money or time or energy, but trust God to sustain us. Fear of suffering can hinder our generosity, while the righteous will live by faith.