Augustine of Hippo: For what purpose?

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

“Greed will demand of you labor, danger, hardships, and troubles, and you will readily agree to its demands. For what purpose? So you can have what will fill your purse but empty out your peace of mind!”

Augustine of Hippo in A Dictionary of Quotes from the Saints, ed. Paul Thigpen (Charlotte: TAN Books, 2001) 54.

Great meetings in Cairo. I am headed to Aswan in Upper Egypt. Thanks for your prayers for safe and healthy travel and ministry.

But in this season, COVID is not the only thing to avoid.

We have to be on our guard for greed. Life is not found in all the material possessions that marketers are advertising these days.

It’s crazy to think about the lengths people go to slave, scrape, and save in order to amass earthly wealth. Then when they purchase things, it only leaves them empty.

Are those things fun and great? Perhaps? But at what cost? The price is peace of mind. But each person must answer the “For what purpose?” question.

The vaccine for greed is giving. As I minister in Egypt with I invite you to help me get the GTP regional campaign for Middle East / North Africa over the top.

The goal for their match is $5,000 and they are at $4,527, only $473 to go. So close. The funds will go to NABLA Initiative with whom I am multiplying faithful stewards.

Give according to your ability and get this in return. Get the peace of mind knowing that you are avoiding the malady of greed and know that the treasures are safely stored up in heaven.

Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches. Matthew 13:32

“There is nothing small in the service of God.”

Francis de Sales in A Dictionary of Quotes from the Saints, ed. Paul Thigpen (Charlotte: TAN Books, 2001) 255.

Small seeds made big plants. Small acts of service make a big difference. Read it again. “There is nothing small in the service of God.” Whatever seeming small things God directs you to do today, this week, this month, remember that they are not small in service to God.

I learned from one participant in the weekend retreat that one small template was a big takeaway. Another shared how one small idea made a big impact. Perhaps you can relate?  God led you to do something little but it made a huge impact. Or maybe you did the opposite? You did something small in service to yourself and it did big damage. I can think of bad examples from my own life as well as good ones. Lord have mercy.

God, do big things in Egypt today. As we plant small seeds in the two seminars in Cairo, grow strong people and ministries. Also, as people do small things around the world, bless people in big ways so every sees Your generosity and kindness through us. Amen.

The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to Him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, He said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” Mark 6:30-31

“In our fast-paced, busy, and loud world, we may find it challenging to rest.  Overwhelming needs — spiritual, physical, emotional, mental, and relational — surround us. We can easily fall into a pattern of constant “doing” because of the great need in the world.

Yet Jesus took time away from his work to focus on his relationship with God. And he taught this truth to his disciples. In Mark 6, we read how Jesus sent the disciples on a mission trip. Upon their return, He could have sent them to a new place to preach and perform miracles. Instead, He told them they needed time away to rest.

I have noticed that the more I do at the expense of my time in communion with God, the more likely I am to be stressed or overwhelmed. However, when I take time to pause and rest in my relationship with God, my renewed spirit helps me do God’s work in a way that cannot happen when I’m always on the move. I’m continuing to learn from the Master Teacher that I cannot run on empty — physically or spiritually.”

Kyle Bjerga in “Press Pause” blog post on upperroom.org on 5 December 2020. Special thanks to Daily Meditations reader Randy Bury for sharing this with me.

After a time of fruitful ministry Jesus called the disciples to peel away together. I am learning to do this. Today, I am resting in Cairo before a full day with two seminars on Monday and other full week.

These words struck me as I read them: “stressed and overwhelmed.” I have felt this way more times than I can count during the COVID season. Perhaps you have too? What do we do in such times? We must rest.

I am asking God to renew my Spirit physically and spiritually, to refuel for a generous week of service. Care to join me? Don’t run on empty. Be enriched. Get alone with God. Bjerja concludes with this prayer.

Dear Father, help us to follow the example of Jesus, who taught us that to be effective disciples we need rest. Help us as we seek to make resting with you a regular practice in our lives. Amen.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13

“Charity is that with which no one is lost, and without which no one is saved.”

Robert Cardinal Bellarmine in A Dictionary of Quotes from the Saints, ed. Paul Thigpen (Charlotte: TAN Books, 2001) 28.

Today the NABLA retreat wraps up. God has kept us healthy and strong.

It’s been a rich time with about 25 stewards from leading churches and ministries from Cairo, Alexandria, the Delta region and Upper Egypt. Their humble hearts and receptive hands have received the teaching and tools we have shared to help the ministries they serve to follow standards. This will help build trust and grow local giving. It will also help make known God’s grace to a watching world.

I will be sure remind them that we must do all things with charity or grace.

This means we get to help those with whom they serve with patience and kindness. It means we get to dispense God’s generosity to everyone with whom we have contact. I find, back home and abroad, that nothing can touch charity, that is, grace, the unmerited favor, love, and generosity of Christ. It breaks down the tallest walls and bridges the widest gaps. Generosity, especially during Advent, must be about dispensing grace abundantly.

The best part is that everyone, regardless of their measure of financial wealth, can be generous with grace.

One way is to grow in this grace is practice giving. A pastor from the Delta region told me at dinner last night that since the generosity conference last December, God has poured out grace on his humble church. He said they’ve seen God supply nearly 2,000,000 EGP for an outreach center. They’ve discovered that as they give, God replenishes them. To hear more of God’s grace at work in the people at his church, click here.

This global work is possible through the gracious giving of people like you. I am praying for 50 new givers to GTP before year-end. Will you join the global giving team to help us spread charity? Make a gift today at gtp.org.

Meanwhile His disciples urged Him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But He said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” Then His disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought Him food?” “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work.” John 4:31-34

“My spirit has become dry because it forgets to feed on You.”

John of the Cross (1542-1591) in A Dictionary of Quotes from the Saints, ed. Paul Thigpen (Charlotte: TAN Books, 2001) 17.

How do we thrive in busy and crazy times? It’s not easy. For my part, I feel like I get it right even on busy trips as I find myself depending on God moment by moment and seeking to discern His will from His Word.

I’d like to say I do this all the time. But, if I am vulnerable and transparent, I feel I am much better at this when I am on the road than when I am at home. Nothing creates a sense of dependency more than being in a foreign place!

Remember Jesus said that we can’t survive on food alone. To thrive we must feed on the Word. So, let me ask you two questions this Advent. How do you remain in a place of dependency on God? How are you feeding on the Word?

These are the faithful activities that I will remind my Egyptian brothers and sisters to consider. They come together to reveal the secret to generous service, sustainable ministry, and thriving even during difficult COVID times.

The disciples only figured it out as they lived the life of faith empowered by the Spirit. When we don’t feed on God, we feed on whatever we ourselves can muster. The way to be sure not to run dry is to feed on the Word daily.

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. 2 Corinthians 5:10

“Do everything for the love of God and His glory without looking at the outcome of the undertaking. Work is judged, not by its result, but by its intention.”

Padre Pio of Pietrelcina (1887-1968) in A Dictionary of Quotes from the Saints, ed. Paul Thigpen (Charlotte: TAN Books, 2001) 126.

I hope you like the header photo. I made it safely to Alexandria. It’s so peaceful on the Mediterranean today.

In this post, Padre Pio explains why we must focus on good works and not results or outcomes. It reflects how our work will be judged by God. He looks at the intentions of our hearts.

But why not look at outcomes?

When we do, we tend to fall into the sins of control, idolatry, and pride. These are the three sins Jesus avoided after fasting in the wilderness and before His ministry began. We do well to follow His example and practice fasting while focusing on faithful activities with good intentions because only God can control outcomes. If we think we can, then we take control, trust in the power of money rather than God to make things happen, and our efforts are driven by pride.

If that was too heavy, consider this. The world looks at results while God looks for righteousness. The world demands outcomes while God calls for obedience.

Why is this important? How does this relate to generosity?

At the NABLA meetings which start today, Adel Azmy, Ereny Monir, and I will serve leading church ministry workers from all across Egypt. Our aim is to help set them free from thinking that they need money to make ministry happen and that success is defined by results. Instead we will help them grasp that faithful activities related to program administration and governance is the only way to position a ministry for fruitful outcomes, which we leave up to God.

Furthermore, in my opening plenary tonight, I will urge them to be faithful stewards who follow biblical standards to build trust, to grow local giving, and to preserve God’s honor before a watching world. This is our witness and what positions ministries for sustainability.

Want to dig deeper? Read the slides or watch to this GTP webinar where my colleague, Ereny Monir speaks on “Consider what God expects of us and the organizations we steward.”

And whatever you do, wherever you are, make this your intention: do good works by deploying your giftedness and resources generously and trust God to take care of the results.

For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Galatians 5:14

“If we enter the church day and night and implore God to hear our prayers, how careful we should be to hear and grant the petitions of our neighbors in need.”

Francis of Assisi in A Dictionary of Quotes from the Saints, ed. Paul Thigpen (Charlotte: TAN Books, 2001) 8.

I am thankful for this new book to feed my soul with rich quotes from the saints as I travel. I chose this one from St. Francis first in honor of my friend, Randy Kipp, who drives me to the airport as he’s a Franciscan monk.

If we want God to hear our prayers our focus should be granting the petitions of those around us. This means loving and serving our neighbor and meeting their needs as soon as we learn them. This calls for keen listening.

For Randy, that might look like confirming that he can give an airport ride when I send him a text, or lending an ear to a hurting soul, or providing childcare, or some other good work. What might it look like for you?

For me, when I hear of needs around the world, I aim to provide help as soon as I can. My goal is to empower those I serve with the help of the GTP global network and any resources or assistance I can rally with my influence.

This does not appear as giving handouts that create dependencies but as giving a hand up to build disciples. This means I customize my response so as to scratch where it itches. In that sense it is incarnational and relational.

Over recent months I’ve listened and learned of many needs in Egypt. Stewards want coaching to help ministries follow the NABLA standards. Board members want to be trained to provide oversight. Others want fundraising help.

The cry for spiritual and strategic assistance has led to much preparation. We have many meetings planned over the next two weeks. Pray with me for God’s favor, that the events will bear fruit that lasts.

And just like we want God to come to our aid graciously and generously, as you hear of opportunities I pray God inspires you to assist your neighbor with just what they need. We’ve got this. God’s got us!

I am safely in Frankfurt and head to Cairo and Alexandria shortly. Thanks for your prayers as I travel.

“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). Matthew 1:23

“God travels wonderful ways with human beings, but He does not comply with the views and opinions of people. God does not go the way that people want to prescribe for Him; rather, His way is beyond all comprehension, free and self-determined beyond all proof.

Where reason is indignant, where our nature rebels, where our piety anxiously keeps us away; that is precisely where God loves to be. There He confounds the reason of the reasonable; there He aggravates our nature, our piety—that is where He wants to be, and now one can keep Him from it.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer in God is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas (Louisville: WJKP, 2010) 22.

Today I travel from Denver to Newark to Frankfurt to Cairo to Alexandria. I’d appreciate your prayers for safe and healthy travel. If you think I face danger, imagine God in a manger.

When a neighbor asked about my travels today, I reminded them that God travels. He meets us where we are at. He is unpredictable, and He shows up in ways we least expect.

What does this have to do with generosity? Everything! When we empty ourselves, we end up enriched in ways we could never imagine unless we take the risk, and step out in faith.

Step out of your comfort zone this Advent. Jesus did. He traveled to be with us. That’s what I am doing. What will it look like for you to step generously out of your comfort zone this Advent?

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'” Matthew 4:4

“One of the things I fear most as your pastor is that out of fatigue or sloth I end up going through the motions, substituting professional smoothness for personal grappling with the life of the Spirit in our life together. The demands of pastoral life are strenuous, and there is no respite from them. There are not many hours in any day when I am not faced with the struggle of faith in someone or another, the deep, central, eternal energies that make the difference between a life lived to the glory of God and a life wasted in self-indulgence or trivilization in diversions. I want to be ready for those encounters. For me, that is what it means…to be in touch with the Lord’s Word and presence, and to be ready to speak and act out of that Word and presence in whatever I am doing…to maintain the central springs of compassion and creativity lest all be flattened out into routines.”

Eugene Peterson in The Contemplative Pastor: Returning to the Art of Spiritual Direction (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989) 145-46.

At the Bridge Church at Bear Creek, our pastor, James Hoxworth, announced the theme of Advent at our church is “A Weary World Rejoices.” Perfect theme for Christmas diring COVID-19! Everyone is exhausted.

The challenge is that we can’t minister with compassion and creativity if we are empty. Life at a hurried pace has little time for God. We must be still. It’s the secret to ministering generously with compassion and creativity.

I am off to Egypt tomorrow. My goal is to carve out time daily for stillness this Advent. I am learning that it is the best way to prepare my mind and heart. I plan to feed on the Word so I am filled to minister richly.

Care to join me in getting refilled to dispense generously this Advent?

In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ Acts 20:35

“Let us not use bombs and guns to overcome the world. Let us use love and compassion. Peace begins with a smile. Smile five times a day at someone you don’t really want to smile at. Do if for peace. Let us radiate the peace of God and so light His light and extinguish in the world and in the hearts of all men all hatred and love for power. Smile at one another. It is not always easy. Sometimes I find it hard to smile at my sisters, but then I pray.

God loves the world through you and through me. Are we that love and that compassion? Christ came to be His Father’s compassion. God is loving the world through you and through me and through all those who are his love and compassion in the world. There is much suffering in the world—very much…In these times of development, the whole world runs and is hurried. But there are some who fall down on the way and have no strength to go ahead. These are the ones we must care about.”

Mother Teresa (1910-1997) In the Heart of the World: Thoughts, Stories, and Prayers (Novato: New World Library, 1997) 13-14.

As I make final preparations for traveling to Egypt I am asking God to prepare my head, heart, and hands to serve others with love and compassion, I am also asking God to help all readers of the Daily Meditations to do the same thing this Christmas season.

Father in heaven, fill us all with love and compassion and love to help the weak with all the strength and resources we can marshal! Do this by your Holy Spirit. Make us people of peace who shine like lights in the world. Hear my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.