John V. Taylor: Enough is enough

“The word ‘poverty’ has come to sound so negative and extreme in our ears that I prefer the word ‘simplicity’, because it puts the emphasis on the right points…Our enemy is not possessions but excess. Our battle-cry is not ‘nothing!’ but ‘enough!'”

John V. Taylor (1914-2001), Bishop of Winchester, in Enough is Enough (London: SCM, 1975) 81-82.

I am learning that until we draw the line of how much is enough, which is linked to simplicity and contentment, we can’t embark on the journey of generosity. It is hard because our society reinforces the opposite message that enough is never enough.

In response, Bishop John V. Taylor, friend of John R. W. Stott, calls us repeatedly to ask and answer the countercultural question: How much is enough? For instance, as we look at townhouses in our process of downsizing, we ask ourselves: How much is enough?

As we take our time in answering the question, we have found that the path of simplicity becomes more clear. We are coming to grips with the fact that we need a whole lot less than we thought we did. Join us. Ask and answer this question for yourself.

“Generosity has nothing to do with what one has or does not have. Generosity is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. It is not the “gift” of the few, but a possibility for all. Few things are more encouraging than to encounter a truly generous person. I want to be that person. Don’t you? COME HOLY SPIRIT!”

J.D. Walt in “How Democrats and Republicans miss the point on Poverty” blogpost on 29 June 2014 at seedbed.com.

Amen J.D.! Generosity is a “possibility” for everyone! The best part is that while it is not possible by our power or resolve, it is possible for everyone by the Holy Spirit. So in antiphonal response to J.D., here’s my prayer for you and me today: COME HOLY SPIRIT!

May the Holy Spirit fill you today, this week, this month, this year, and for the rest of your days with “…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, GENEROSITY, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control…” (Galatians 5:22-23 NRSV).

I love J.D. Walt, chief sower at seedbed.com, because he is sowing for another great awakening. Check out his site. I produced a couple videos for the seedbed on Christian generosity which can be found by clicking on my seedbed blog.

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket—safe, dark, motionless, airless—it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perterbations of love is Hell.”

C.S. Lewis in The Four Loves (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1960) 169.

The generous life calls us to take risks and to set aside selfishness and the perceived safety that luxuries offer. Are you willing to take risks to live and love generously? If not, what are you afraid of?

If Lewis were still with us, I think he would echo Jesus (Mark 8:36) and say: “Do not try to gain the whole world and lose your soul! And don’t say I didn’t warn you of the implications of such decisions.”

“Time is your most precious gift because you only have a set amount of it. You can make more money, but you can’t make more time. When you give someone your time, you are giving them a portion of your life that you’ll never get back. Your time is your life. That is why the greatest gift you can give someone is your time.”

Rick warren in The Purpose-Driven Life: What on Earth am I Here For? (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002) 127.

This week we have spent some quality time together driving to California for our nephew’s wedding. Why make the long drive? We wanted to celebrate the special day with loved ones, as it was a once-in-a-lifetime event. Since life is short, let’s make the most of the time given to us and bless others every chance we get by giving them a piece of ourselves.

“Greed is a particularly dangerous sin because it hides in our hearts while binding us to our materialistic desires. Money has tremendous power over us: for some it is our significance, for others it is our security. We can break free from our slavery to money by treasuring Jesus, who was willing to pay the ultimate price so that we may be his ultimate treasure.”

Tim Keller in a sermon entitled “Treasure vs. Money” delivered on 2 May 1999.

Many think the way to get free from the power of money is giving. I think that’s part of it. I think we must also treasure Jesus. When we let go of money and take hold of Jesus we start to realize that we have all we will ever need, the ultimate treasure.

“While most people today measure treasure in monetary values, real treasure is seldom found in what is valued by the powerful or rich of this world. Real treasure, lasting treasure, is found in relationships with others, in friendship, in love, in faith, and most of all, in the word of God, the knowledge of which leads to eternal life.”

Ann Gibson in “True Treasure” from Dynamic Steward Journal 16:4 2012.

Today I am investing in my relationship with my son. We are fly fishing for Bonneville Cutthroat Trout in Utah en route to our nephew’s wedding in CA. Jenni will spend the day with Sophie. Why mention this?

We have to work to give ourselves to things that matter and have lasting value. Time with God and loved ones are among the greatest treasures of our lives. Giving ourselves to these relationships may well be among our greatest acts of generosity.

“We can’t have it all—the prevailing level of consumption, a life of deeper meaning and relationships, and global equity and sustainability. To realize these good dreams we must adjust our values and practices and seek creative solutions.

Embracing simplicity in order to live a life worth living is the theme that animates Free: Spending Your Time and Money on What Matters Most, Mark and Lisa’s eminently practical guide to developing greater financial freedom, a more sustainable lifestyle and the ability to pursue a life of deeper meaning and purpose. Mark and Lisa outline seven steps to help readers clarify their own life vision and values and develop the practical skills needed to align their time and money with their deeper longings:

1. Name what matters most to you.
2. Value and align your time.
3. Practice gratitude and trust.
4. Believe you have enough.
5. Create a spending plan.
6. Maximize your resources.
7. Live generously and spend wisely.

As an adventurous “simplicity boot camp,” Free will empower readers to forsake the lie of the American dream to embrace what matters most.”

Mark and Lisa Scandrette in Free: Spending Your Time and Money on What Matters Most (Downers Grove: IVP, 2013) notes from press kit PDF.

Jenni and I are often asked for suggestions regarding books that promote a biblically-based alternative to the American dream. This looks like a good one. I have just added it to my summer reading list. We are learning that simplicity (that is, living on less, not because stuff is bad, but so that we can deploy more resources in other ares) is liberating.

“When you have a relationship with the living God, heart prompts will test your faith abilities, not just the financial ones. God may initiate heart prompts to give an amount that matters in a big way. You might not think you can afford the gift. Or maybe you can afford it, but you’re not sure how it will affect your retirement, next summer’s vacation, or maybe even paying next month’s utility bill.

The impoverished Macedonian Christians did not have much financial ability to give. But their faith ability carried them through in giving a powerful gift to the famine-ravaged Judeans. We learn in Hebrews that “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). Since acceptable gifts are gifts that please God, it’s reasonable to assume that our giving should involve faith.

Remember, giving is part of our relationship with God. It’s not a duty or a financial formula. As we engage in that relationship through giving, God grows our faith to deepen our walk with Him.

Jeff Anderson in Plastic Donuts: Giving that Delights the Heart of the Father (Colorado Springs: Multnomah, 2012) 85-86.

Has your heart prompted you to give in a faith-stretching way to something or someone lately?

General William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, was asked the secret of his amazing Christian life. Booth answered, “I told the Lord that He could have all that there is of William Booth.”

William Booth (1829-1912) as recounted by James S. Hewett in Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House, 1988) 98.

I am just outside Valley Forge, PA, at a leadership retreat with IHS Global (IHS stands for International Health Services). They teach Christian medical professionals how to share Christ’s love at the time of need, patient by patient. So what do my meetings have to do with William Booth’s remarks?

My prayer is that the IHS Global leaders make the choice to give themselves to the Lord with the same resolve, so that the growth of this ministry around the globe is not by their power or might by God’s Spirit powerfully at work through them.

Booth would likely suggest I pray this for all readers of my Meditations so I think I will! God, please help each person reading this take hold of the amazing Christian life–the life that is truly life–by giving themselves completely to You!

“The bigger house, the higher salary and the comfortable retirement are poor substitutes for the Bible’s idea of peace and prosperity: shalom. Rather than defining prosperity as many Christians typically do in terms of personal affluence and professional success, shalom is a far richer sort of prosperity that encompasses every dimension of life. Perhaps most importantly, shalom measures material abundance in terms of a community’s ability to flourish as a whole, not just as individuals.

One of the Old Testament’s clearest illustrations of what true prosperity looks like can be found in a letter written by the prophet Jeremiah. Remarkably, this letter was written to a group of Jewish exiles who were anything but prosperous. Their homeland had just been destroyed, and they—along with all their material resources and possessions—had been carried off into captivity in Babylon. Nevertheless, it was in the midst of this economic disaster that God wanted to teach his people how to achieve true peace and prosperity.

Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper. (Jeremiah 29:7)

To the utter shock and dismay of the exiles, Jeremiah told God’s people that their personal peace and prosperity would come as the fruit of absolute service to others. They were supposed to seek the peace of the city that had destroyed Jerusalem, “the city of peace.” They would prosper only if they spent their energy and prayer seeking peace and prosperity for those who had robbed and oppressed them. In this sense Jeremiah’s letter to the exiles foreshadows the radical teaching of Jesus, who called his followers to seek their own welfare—and in essence the very kingdom of God—by seeking the peace and prosperity of others here on earth.

Jesus even told his disciples to be generous to those who steal from us (Luke 6:29-30) and to pray for those who curse and mistreat us (Luke 6:28). This was precisely what Jeremiah told the exiles to do in Babylon. By seeking the peace and material well-being of their oppressors and praying for their enemies, they actually would be establishing the kingdom of God in the heart of Babylon (Matthew 5:14-16; cf. Isaiah 42:6; 49:6; 51:4). Likewise, as Christians, whom the New Testament calls exiles and “strangers in the world” (1 Peter 2:11), we are to seek first God’s kingdom, not by seeking personal peace and prosperity for ourselves but by seeking the welfare and shalom of the communities in which we live (1 Peter 2:12).”

Justin Borger in “Personal Peace and Prosperity” on Generous Giving website.

Why is my mind orbiting around ideas like Borger’s linked to generosity and peace while an exile or stranger in this world? I can think of at least three reasons on this Lord’s day.

(1) I just finished teaching my summer school class and shared a resource with my students that is a must-view video series, “For the Life of the World: Letters to the Exiles” produced by my friends at the Acton Institute. Check it out! It’s a great tool for your personal growth, your family, or a small group study.

(2) The Peacemaker Conference is slated for September 25-27, 2014 in Colorado Springs, and I have been invited to serve as one of the speakers. If you want to hear what I am learning about shalom and what that has to do with topics like reconciliation and generosity, register for the conference on their website today.

(3) I am praying today for the peace of Chicago. My brother lives in the north suburbs and last night I got to go to Wrigley Field with him, Linnea Smith of Alpha Chicago, and her close friend Jim. Thanks Linnea for sharing the tickets that God provided to you! What was so ironic was that Jim and Linnea asked, “So this is your first time to Wrigley?” I answered, “Yes!” To which they replied, “so what other MLB teams have you yet to visit at home.” I flipped through the standings on my iPhone and realized…this was my 30th out of 30 MLB team ballparks in my lifetime! This fan was surprised by joy to realize the gift I had received! After a great visit over a Cubs helmet full of nachos during the rain delay we enjoyed a peaceful night at my dear friend Dan Busby’s favorite green cathedral. May God continue to bless the work of David’s hands at Trinity, Linnea at Alpha Chicago, and Jim at his lighting business! And may someday a World Series banner fly at Wrigley.