Richard Foster: Talk to God about your greed

Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin. Psalm 32:5

“I now want to give a counsel that may sound strange. It is that we should learn to pray even when we are dwelling on evil. Perhaps we are waging an interior battle over anger, or lust, or pride, or greed, or ambition. We need not isolate these things from prayer. Instead, we talk to God about what is going on inside that we know displeases Him. We lift up even our disobedience into the arms of the Father; He is strong enough to carry the weight. Sin, to be sure, separates us from God, but trying to hide our sin separates us all the more.”

Richard Foster in Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home (San Francisco: Harper One, 2002) 14.

With David, the psalmist, Jenni and I testify that not covering up sin but acknowledging it with regard to money paved the way for freedom, life, and victory for us. Society told us that good stewards stored up treasures on earth, so we did it, until we realized that Jesus explicitly told us not to do that, though most everyone, including Christians, did it. It’s humbling to admit.

When we took our greed to God while still wrestling with the implications of obedience, He graciously forgave us and showed us that He was not trying to rob us but trying to help us. Remember “storing up treasures on earth” according to Jesus is “greed,” and it’s sin (cf. Luke 12:13-21). Don’t hear this as condemnation, but as a liberating confession!

How can people grow in generosity? Not by giving a little bit more. Stats show that’s not the answer. The Scriptures point the way! Talk to God about your greed. Be honest. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. If you do, you will find forgiveness and freedom, help and hope from our generous God! And you just might discover your role on the planet in the process.

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. Romans 5:3-5

“We are apt to think that everything that happens to us is to be turned into useful teaching; it is to be turned into something better than teaching, namely into character. We shall find that the spheres God brings us into are not meant to teach us something but to make us something.”

Oswald Chambers in The Love of God: An Intimate Look at the Father-Heart of God (Grand Rapids: Discovery House, 1988).

Father in heaven, we worship You today and thank You for Your love that You generously pour into our hearts through the Holy Spirit on good days and bad, to “make us something,” conduits of Your love who reflect Your character in the spheres where You lead us. Receive our praise in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Ephesians 5:16

“I will tell you what a tragedy is. I will show you how to waste your life. Consider a story from the February 1998 edition of Reader’s Digest, which tells about a couple who “took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30 foot trawler, play softball, and collect shells.”

At first, when I read it I thought it might be a joke. A spoof on the American Dream. But it wasn’t. Tragically, this was the dream: Come to the end of your life—your one and only precious, God-given life—and let the last great work of your life, before you give an account to your Creator, be this: playing softball and collecting shells.

Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgment: ‘Look, Lord. See my shells.’ That is a tragedy. And people today are spending billions of dollars to persuade you to embrace that tragic dream. Over against that, I put my protest: Don’t buy it. Don’t waste your life.”

John Piper in Don’t Waste Your Life (Wheaton: Crossway, 2003) 45–46.

This quote is famous. Perhaps it’s familiar to you. Two things directed me to it two days ago. It’s all I could about yesterday, so it’s today’s post. First, I saw a seashell on an online Hilton banner advertisement yesterday. Then last night, I was watching the movie, Ironman, with my wife. In the scene where Tony Stark escapes from the cave with the help of Professor Ho Yinsen, we see the professor die to set him free. These were his last words to Stark (click to watch the one minute clip): “Don’t waste your life!”

Special thanks to Tim Macready, my mate down under at Christian Super, for sharing this seven-minute video with me a while back in which John Piper tells the full story. It’s powerful! I share this quote and these clips to remind everyone today to live every day generously for Jesus, because He died to give us the life we enjoy now and the gift of life eternal with Him! Don’t buy the American Dream! Don’t spend your days collecting shells and playing softball. Don’t waste your one and only precious, God-given life!

For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? 1 Corinthians 4:7

“Let me exhort you to take this seriously. It is not to be understood as mere Bible teaching to be stored away in the mind along with an inert mass of other doctrines. It is a marker on the road to greener pastures, a path chiseled against the steep sides of the mount of God. We dare not try to bypass it if we would follow on in this holy pursuit. We must ascend a step at a time. If we refuse one step we bring our progress to an end…

There can be no doubt that this possessive clinging to things is one of the most harmful habits in life. Because it is so natural it is rarely recognized for the evil that it is; but its outworkings are tragic. We are often hindered from giving up our treasures to the Lord out of fear for their safety; this is especially true when those treasures are loved relatives and friends. But we need have no such fears.

Our Lord came not to destroy but to save. Everything is safe which we commit to Him, and nothing is really safe which is not so committed. Our gifts and talents should also be turned over to Him. They should be recognized for what they are, God’s loan to us, and should never be considered in any sense our own. We have no more right to claim credit for special abilities than for blue eyes or strong muscles.”

A.W. Tozer (1897-1963) in The Pursuit of God, excerpt from Chapter Two, “The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing,” 11-12.

Modern day Americans often remind me of the Corinthians of the first century. While I could recount many sins of both groups, one of the most noteworthy is the possessive clinging to things. Back then, the Apostle Paul exhorted them to quit boasting because no measure of wealth made them any different from anyone else. Everything they had they received from God. The same is true for us today! So what are we to do with all that God has given us? 

Tozer rightly notes a key step in our spiritual maturity is committing all we are and all we have to God. Fear holds us back from this, so he keenly states that God is the only safe place to commit ourselves and everything we possess. All we have is merely on loan from God anyway. Let’s resolve to stop possessively clinging to things! Why do this? As Tozer puts it, “the blessedness of having nothing” positions us to take hold of life the Kingdom!

Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all His benefits. Psalm 103:2

“Open my heart, O Lord, to Your law and teach me to walk in the way of Your commandments. Let me understand Your will. Let me remember Your blessings — all of them and each single one of them — with great reverence and care so that henceforth I may return worthy thanks for them. I know that I am unable to give due thanks for even the least of Your gifts. I am unworthy of the benefits You have given me, and when I consider Your generosity my spirit faints away before its greatness. All that we have of soul and body, whatever we possess interiorly or exteriorly, by nature or by grace, are Your gifts and they proclaim Your goodness and mercy from which we have received all good things.”

Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471) in The Imitation of Christ, excerpt from chapter 22, “Remember the Innumerable Gifts of God,” translated by Harry Plantinga (1994) 60.

As I try to explore the heart of the generous person from God’s perspective, my mind goes to classic works like The Imitation of Christ. From Thomas à Kempis, we discover at least two vital characteristics of generous people. They direct all gratitude and glory to God. This is likewise evident in David as he recounts the many benefits of God in Psalm 103 and directs praise heavenward! He says, in plain terms, praise God because we don’t get the many awful things we deserve and we get innumerable kindnesses we don’t deserve. Want to do the same with me today? Wherever you are reading this around the world, stop what you are doing. Praise God and remember your blessings with gratitude. Give thanks for at least three things out loud.

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. People curse the one who hoards grain, but they pray God’s blessing on the one who is willing to sell. Whoever seeks good finds favor, but evil comes to one who searches for it. Those who trust in their riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf. Proverbs 11:24-28

“We are here taught the great lesson, that to get, we must give; that to accumulate, we must scatter; that to make ourselves happy, we must make others happy; and that in order to become spiritually vigorous, we must seek the spiritual good of others. In watering others, we are ourselves watered. How? Our efforts to be useful, bring out our powers for usefulness. We have latent talents and dormant faculties, which are brought to light by exercise. Our strength for labour is hidden even from ourselves, until we venture forth to fight the Lord’s battles, or to climb the mountains of difficulty.

We do not know what tender sympathies we possess until we try to dry the widow’s tears, and soothe the orphan’s grief. We often find in attempting to teach others, that we gain instruction for ourselves. Oh, what gracious lessons some of us have learned at sick beds! We went to teach the Scriptures, we came away blushing that we knew so little of them. In our converse with poor saints, we are taught the way of God more perfectly for ourselves and get a deeper insight into divine truth. So that watering others makes us humble.

We discover how much grace there is where we had not looked for it; and how much the poor saint may outstrip us in knowledge. Our own comfort is also increased by our working for others. We endeavour to cheer them, and the consolation gladdens our own heart. Like the two men in the snow; one chafed the other’s limbs to keep him from dying, and in so doing kept his own blood in circulation, and saved his own life. The poor widow of Sarepta gave from her scanty store a supply for the prophet’s wants, and from that day she never again knew what want was. Give then, and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, and running over.”

Charles Haddon Spurgeon in Morning by Morning reading for August 21 (Peabody: Hendrickson, 2006). Special thanks to Scott Rodin for sharing this with me.

The paradox of the great lesson about generosity set forth by Solomon and so keenly described by Spurgeon is that we never get it until we give. We never grasp life in God’s abundant economy until we put what we have been entrusted to work. What do you have that you can give today? Grace, truth, kindness, love, money, compassion, wisdom, or anything else…whatever it is…Race to give it, because you too will discover that in so doing, you won’t end up empty when you give, but rather, enriched.

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:2-3

“God the Eternal keep you faithful to each other so that the peace of Christ may abide in your home.

May God bless you in your work and your companionship; in your sleeping and in your waking. May you have true friends to stand by you in your joys and in your sorrows; in your life and in your death.

God the Eternal keep you faithful to each other so that the peace of Christ may abide in your home.

Serve God and your neighbor in all that you do. Bear witness to the love of God in this world, so that those to whom love is a stranger will find in you generous friends.

God the Eternal keep you faithful to each other so that the peace of Christ may abide in your home.”

Herbert Anderson with Robert Cotton Fite in Becoming Married (Louisville: WJKP, 1993) 81.

A young couple recently came over to our home seeking advice to navigate a disagreement. Within minutes we realized that this issue was only a symptom of some deeper issues. While they are tempted to give in, we have hope for this couple in Christ.

That led me to do some reading to try to locate ways to show love to this couple. In so doing, I came across this blessing. I pray it for them and for everyone reading this post who is married today. And if you are married, please share this with your spouse.

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10

“What are we are for in the first place? The fundamental answer…is that what we’re “here for” is to become genuine human beings, reflecting the God in whose image we’re made, and doing so in worship on the one hand and in mission, in its full and large sense, on the other; and that we do this not least by “following Jesus.”

The way this works out is that it produces, through the work of the Holy Spirit, a transformation of character. This transformation will mean that we do indeed “keep the rules” — though not out of a sense of externally imposed “duty,” but out of the character that has been formed within us. And it will mean that we do indeed “follow our hearts” and live “authentically” — but only when, with that transformed character fully operative (like an airline pilot with a lifetime’s experience), the hard work up front bears fruit in spontaneous decisions and actions that reflect what has been formed deep within.

And, in the wider world, the challenge we face is to grow and develop a fresh generation of leaders, in all walks of life, whose character has been formed in wisdom and public service, not in greed for money or power.”

N.T. Wright in After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters (New York: HarperCollins, 2012) 26.

Generosity is a byproduct of God’s work in our lives. It’s what happens when Christ’s character is formed in us. In Pauline terms, it’s a fruit of the Spirit (cf. Galatians 5:22-23). On this Monday morning, if you want to grow in generosity, focus on following Jesus, today, tomorrow, and everyday after that. You won’t need a “why” or a reason to be generous, because this is the only “how” it is produced. The Holy Spirit transforms us from people who seek to be served to people who serve, from people of greed to people of generosity. It’s not our work; it’s Christ’s work in us.

Jesus looked around and hareaw them following. “What do you want?” he asked them. John 1:38a

“What do you want? That’s the question. It is the first, last and most fundamental question of Christian discipleship…Our wants and longings and desires are at the core of our identity, the wellspring from which our actions and behavior flow. Our wants reverberate from our heart, the epicenter of the human person. Thus Scripture counsels, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (Prov. 4:23). Discipleship, we might say, is a way to curate your heart to be attentive to and intentional about what you love.

So discipleship is more a matter of hungering and thirsting than of knowing and believing. Jesus’s command to follow Him is a command to align our loves and longings with His — to want what God wants, to desire what God desires, to hunger and thirst after God and crave a world where He is all in all — a vision encapsulated by the shorthand, “the kingdom of God.

Jesus is a teacher who doesn’t just form our intellect but forms our very loves. He isn’t content to simply deposit new ideas into your mind; He is after nothing less than your wants, your loves, your longings. His “teaching” doesn’t just touch the calm, cool, collected space of reflection and contemplation; He is a teacher who invades the heated passionate regions of the heart.”

James K. A. Smith in You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit (Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2016) 2.

I am reading this book as his name came up twice in the past few weeks. Philip Eubanks, my friend who is doing PhD studies in the UK on “desire” linked to stewardship and generosity, mentioned him, and James Hoxworth, our pastor, quoted it in a recent sermon. You Are What You Love contains some powerful ideas about reorienting both our minds and hearts toward the things God loves through the habits we practice.

Notice, when Jesus started His earthly ministry He called people to repent, change directions, and pursue something different. It’s not just something better; it’s the only good life! It’s only found when we “curate” our hearts, so that our loves and longings are rightly aligned with God’s heart. It’s more than knowing and believing the truth. It’s about hungering and thirsting after the only thing that satisfies.

What does this have to do with generosity? When our loves and longings are aligned with Christ, we give to things God cares about. We become rich toward God through our care for everyone, from our neighbor, to the lost and the least in society. This reminds me of a story. Hang with me. It will be worth it. And the new header photo from our walk last night fits well with it.

One day my UK doctoral advisor, Stephen Finamore, told me this story. He called it “The Monk and the Jewel.” I think it illustrates well the point of today’s post and what I believe generosity looks like when our loves and longings are rightly aligned. We become unbelievably generous. To the best of my recollection, the story goes like this.

One day a monk was walking along a path and came upon a jewel, a valuable gem. He picked it up, packed it into his bag, and continued on his journey home.

Shortly thereafter, the monk heard a knock at the door. He opened it and found a wandering soul. He asked, “What do you want?” The beggar asked for money to buy food and drink. The monk told the sad beggar that he had no money, but he did have the priceless jewel that he found. He promptly and freely handed over the jewel.

The wanderer, with astonishment, took the gem, went into town, bought much more than food and drink. The wanderer found a place to get a bath, a warm place to sleep, and bought new clothing. “This is the good life! Or is it?” The wanderer could not stop thinking about the monk.

The next morning, the wanderer returned to the place where the monk lived and knocked again. The door opened. Again the monk asked, “What do you want?” This time the seeker inquired pointedly, “I want whatever you have that is more valuable than that gem that would lead you to share it with me so generously.”

The monk welcomed the seeking soul into his home. They sat down together. The monk shared all about Jesus, the greatest treasure anyone could ever have, and the reason he shared so richly and freely. The seeking soul found Jesus that day and hungered and thirsted no more.

“What do you want?”

But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. Matthew 5:44-45

“The most important question is this: What use is made of the things thought to be blessings, and of the things reputed evil? The good man is not exalted by this world’s goods; nor is he overwhelmed by this world’s ills. The bad man is punished by misfortune of this kind just because he is corrupted by good fortune.

However, it often happens that God shows more clearly His manner of working in the distribution of good and bad fortune. For if punishment were obviously inflicted on every wrongdoing in this life, it would be supposed that nothing was reserved for the last judgment; on the other hand, if God’s power never openly punished any sin in this world, there would be an end to belief in providence.

Similarly in respect of good fortune; if God did not grant it to some petitioners with manifest generosity, we should not suppose that these temporal blessings were His concern, while if He bestowed prosperity on all just for the asking, we might think that God was to be served merely for the sake of rewards, and any service of Him would prove us not godly but rather greedy and covetous.

This being so, when the good and the wicked suffer alike, the identity of their sufferings does not mean that there is no difference between them. Though the sufferings are the same, the sufferers remain different. Virtue and vice are not the same, even if they undergo the same torment.

The fire which makes gold shine makes chaff smoke; the same flail breaks up the straw and clears the grain; and oil is not mistaken for lees because both are forced out by the same press. In the same way, the violence which assails good men to test them, to cleanse and purify them, effects in the wicked their condemnation, ruin, and annihilation.

Thus the wicked, under pressure of affliction, execrate God and blaspheme; the good, in the same affliction, offer up prayers and praises. This shows that what matters is the nature of the sufferer, not the nature of the sufferings. Stir a cesspit, and foul stench arises; stir a perfume, and a delightful fragrance ascends. But the movement is identical.”

Augustine of Hippo (354-430) in City of God, Book 1, Chapter 8: “Blessings and disasters often shared by good and bad” (New York: Penguin, 1972) 13-14.

While some people listen to podcasts, I prefer to read Augustine. He was a prolific communicator who makes sense of life in God.

This week had many highs and lows for us. Daughter settling into her new R.A. role at college (high). Son had his vehicle die (low). I am nearing completion of a draft of another book manuscript (high). Jenni has been sick for nearly four weeks (low). I could go on an on.

Perhaps you can relate. Friends, we are here to give others the gift of perspective, whether in prosperity or suffering.

Father in heaven, by your Holy Spirit, make us people who are neither exalted by this world’s goods, nor overwhelmed by this world’s ills, so that we celebrate your providence, reflect your generosity, and receive joyfully both blessing and suffering, which are all for our good. Hear our gratitude, we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.