Gertrude the Great: In God we lack nothing

“God, my God, because you are mine, I lack nothing.”

Gertrude the Great (1256-1302) as recounted in The Quotable Saint ed. Rosemary Ellen Guiley (New York: Visionary Living, 2002) 1.

Do you live with confidence in God’s abundant provision? That’s the focus of my teaching at Camp Spofford today from Luke 9, 10, and 22. When Jesus sends out the 12 (Luke 9) and the 72 (Luke 10) He instructs them to take nothing because they lack nothing. God is their Provider. Then of course just before the cross He reminds them what to do with God’s provision (Luke 22): buy a sword, which means, put it to work though you will face opposition.

I am sharing a Psalm with each message for reflection and meditation to help people saturate their souls with the biblical truths we are discussing. Today Psalm 23 is the foundation for the truth proclaimed by Gertrude. I pray it blesses you today too!

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Psalm 23

If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Luke 6:29-30

“If [charity] is hard to give to anyone who asks, it is very much harder to let what belongs to us be taken without asking for it back. I say that it is hard, but I should really say that it seems hard, for “the yoke of the Lord is sweet and his burden is light.” The moment we accept it, we feel how light it is.”

Thérèse de Lisieux (1873-1897) in The Story of a Soul as recounted in The Quotable Saint ed. Rosemary Ellen Guiley (New York: Visionary Living, 2002) 23.

Thérèse is spot on! While the instructions of Jesus may seem hard to follow, when we obey them yoked to His side, He is sweet to lighten the burden for us. Additionally, we show the world that while we enjoy and use things, we don’t need them to find our peace and joy in life, because we have Him.

Pray for the families at Camp Spofford this week where I am teaching. We are looking at many of the “red letter” teachings of Jesus like the text above. Though His teachings may seem hard, are they really? My hope is that all will see that while many people scramble for and grasp tightly too all that they think they need, we can seek God first and live openhanded because we are yoked to the One who is everything we need.

“Let the lovers of this world keep their possessions, though they be as great as they desire; for me, my God alone is sufficient.”

Joseph Cafasso of Turin (1811-1860) as recounted in The Quotable Saint ed. Rosemary Ellen Guiley (New York: Visionary Living, 2002) 204.

Once we think we own possessions, they own us. They also promise to satisfy our desires, but they cannot (cf. Psalm 49). All this is why we must be careful to treasure our triune God, who alone is sufficient for us.

The call in Scripture to love God and not the world (cf. 1 John 2:15) is not intended to make life miserable for us, empty, or even boring. It’s actually the pathway to freedom, satisfaction, and life.

Yesterday, we flew to Newark, checked into a hotel in Times Square thanks to Hilton points, and we enjoyed dinner and a show. What struck us here is the billboards and jumbo TV’s. They shout messages in this epicenter of commercialism about what you need.

We made a priceless memory together as a family, while not buying into the world’s messages to us. Today we head to family camp at Camp Spofford in Spofford, NH, where I will speak this next week on “Life in the Economy of God” and I’d appreciate your prayers.

“Your God is gentile and mild. He does not command that while you are a pilgrim on earth you must utterly forgo creaturely consolations; indeed, He created all things to serve you. But he did command that you use them with moderation, sobriety, temperance, that you share them cheerfully with the needy, and that your possessions not be your master but you theirs.”

Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621) scholar and lecturer, in The Mind’s Ascent to God by the Ladder of Created Things as recounted in The Quotable Saint ed. Rosemary Ellen Guiley (New York: Visionary Living, 2002) 204.

Downsizing helps put things in perspective. We use this. We don’t use that. Throw this away. Share that with someone who can use it. The process is simultaneously freeing and exhausting.

How do we accumulate so much stuff? God provides the resources to buy stuff, and we are attentive to enjoyment. We are not always as sober on the sharing side. We tend to be intoxicated by and attached to stuff or we fear for the future and stockpile it, hence the charge to master, rather than be mastered by, possessions.

Bellarmine offers instruction here that echoes Jesus and Paul: use creaturely consolations with sobriety and share them cheerfully. Jesus enjoyed life in community and lived as simply as anyone; He did not even have a place to lay his head. Paul enjoyed fellowship with the saints too, and he traveled lightly and missionally through life.

For the rest of us, the sober use and cheerful sharing of creaturely consolations requires intentionality. We must daily choose this lifestyle. When we do, we build community, reflect Christ’s love, and our decision helps us remain detached from the destructive power of consumerism.

“I have now disposed of all my property to my family. There is one more thing I wish I could give them, and that is faith in Jesus Christ. If they had that and I had not given them one shilling, they would be rich; and if I had not given them that, and had given them all the world, they would be poor indeed.”

Patrick Henry as recounted by Ross Campbell and Gary Chapman in How to Really Love Your Adult Child: Building a Healthy Relationship in a Changing World (Chicago: Northfield, 2011) 184.

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever wants to lose his life for me and for the Gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Mark 8:35-36

Campbell and Chapman add this comment with this quote: “The heart of your legacy to your adult children is not financial but spiritual. Praying for your children daily is a living legacy that can influence their behavior now and for years to come. The praying parent not only becomes a wiser person but is forever an influential parent.”

Make it so Lord Jesus as we (and many others we know) seek to launch our adult children in the days to come in a crazy world.

What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they do not; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away. 1 Corinthians 7:29-31

“All Christians should therefore sense an urgency to serving the Lord, caused by the uncertainty of the time of the end, after which point it will no longer be possible to win any more people to Christ or to disciple them to maturity. Paul is well aware that distractions of marriage may temper this urgency. So those who choose to web must not become so preoccupied with their families that they can no longer effectively serve Christ (v. 29b). The same is true with other normal human activities–celebrations and wakes, commerce and shopping (vv. 30-31). All are legitimate endeavors, but all remain fleeting. The Christian should therefore be less involved in the affairs of this world than the non-Christian. The balance Paul seeks to achieve leads one writer to label him a “worldly ascetic.”

Craig Blomberg in 1 Corinthians (NIV Application Commentary; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994) 152. Blomberg credits Vincent Wimbish for coining the term “worldly ascetic” linked to the Apostle Paul.

People ask me how simplicity, detachment, and generosity look in the context of marriage. Thankfully Paul addresses that here, as does Blomberg with these comments, at least by saying essentially that marriage commitments should not hinder missional engagement. Likewise, possessions may be used, but they must not be things with which we are engrossed.

The label “worldly ascetic” is a creative one. Paul calls the Corinthians (and other believers like us) to a lifestyle that avoids self-indulgence, specifically pertaining to the things of this world (cf. Galatians 5:13-14) while enjoying marriage and using things. The balance he seeks for them (and us) is maintaining a missional focus in our relationships and stewardship of stuff.

“Do not fix your heart on anything that passes away…One clear sign of detachment is genuinely not to consider anything as own’s own.” Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer (1902-1975) in The Forge (New York: Scepter, 1988) 703.

In recent days we have been exploring attachment to God and detachment from things as a basis for generosity. Josemaría Escrivá gives us both an exhortation and a sign related to this. The exhortation is not to attach to anything that will pass away. That makes sense. The sign that we are on track is a non-possessive willingness to share. Sounds just like the early church.

All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need. Acts 4:32-35

May God’s grace, which was so powerfully at work in the early church, be poured out on us and our congregations in abundance, so that our hearts remain fixed on Him and our hands open to those who are in need among us as we testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

“I cannot understand how humility exists, or can exist without love, or love without humility, and it is impossible for these two virtues to exist save where there is great detachment from all created things.”

Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) in The Way of Perfection as recounted in The Quotable Saint ed. Rosemary Ellen Guiley (New York: Visionary Living, 2002) 61.

Detachment from things is the only way to come to the point of ever enjoying and sharing them in a manner that exhibits love and humility. I have learned this from wife, Jenni, whose birthday I celebrate today. I honor her today because her life reflects this truth.

Don’t misinterpret it. Teresa is not saying we must detach from things because they are bad. She’s saying that when we are attached to created things, which demand our time, attention, allegiance, etc…it hinders our ability to attach to the uncreated One (that would be God) who is love and humility.

Conversely, when we are attached to God, who is love and humility, the Holy Spirit conforms us to His image and we are free to share His abundant love and humility with others. That’s generosity. I see all this in my wife. Happy birthday Jenni!

Why is there so little generosity in the world today? I think it is because far too many people are attached to created things. What about you? Are you attached to created things or the uncreated One?

“For we fast by abstaining from wine and flesh, not because we abhor them as abominations, but because we look for reward; that having scorned things sensible, we may enjoy a spiritual and intellectual feast, and that having sown in tears we may reap in joy…disregard [good things] for the sake of better spiritual things set before thee.”

Cyril of Jerusalem (c.315-c.386) as recounted in Catecheses, a series of 18 instructional addresses for Lent, IV.27.

Why fast? If there is nothing inherently holy or praiseworthy in fasting, then why do it. Early church father, Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem, clarifies “the why” for us. The reward of fasting from good or sensible things is not gold stars in heaven, but rather, to discern spiritual things.

So what does fasting have to do with attachments and generosity? Once we think we “need” something, we have become attached to it, and subsequently, we commit our attention and resources and allegiance to having and keeping it. Where this complicates matters, or to put it more plainly, where attachments complicate life, is we think we need this, this, this, this, this, and this to be content.

No wonder our culture has become so discontent. We have everything, and yet nothing. What’s the bottom line on this Lord’s Day? Detaching from things positions us to attach to God, and two fruits of such attachment are contentment and generosity. If we remain attached to things, then discontentment and abysmal generosity prevail. May God help us detach or fast from things (cf. Matthew 6:25-34) for the reward of fasting is attachment to Him.

“It is not that prestige and worldly pleasure and other people are evil in themselves; what is evil is our attachment to them when by such attachment we disregard the sweet commandment of God.”

Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) as recounted in The Quotable Saint ed. Rosemary Ellen Guiley (New York: Visionary Living, 2002) 13.

Catherine offers a keen insight here. Attachments lead us to ignore, not care about, and consequently, disregard God’s instructions. God forgive us for attaching to anything but You. How do we determine what we are attached to?

In the coming days I want to explore further the function of fasting linked to attachments. I believe attachments are a key reason we often ignore biblical teaching linked to generosity. Other things have our attention and allegiance.