Thérèse de Lisieux: Let everything you do be done with love

“Without love, deeds, even the most brilliant, count as nothing.”

Thérèse de Lisieux (1873-1897) in Story of a Soul, Chapter VIII.

Read more

“This is the first vital key to creating a culture of stewardship in your church. You first have to live it. We have taught our staff and our people what we’ve personally experienced: that giving is a joy in and of itself, and that it’s an act of worship, and that it’s the one act that makes us most like our heavenly Father.”

Robert Morris in The Blessed Church (Colorado Springs: Waterbrook Press, 2012) 168.

Read more

“Give to the one who is wishing you well; it’s Christ himself. He’s asking you for what he has given you. You should blush for shame…Give something to your brother, give something to your neighbor, give something to your companion. You, after all, are rich and he is poor. This life is a road, you are both walking along it.

But perhaps you’ll say, “I’m rich, he’s poor.” Are you walking along together, or not? What does it mean, your saying “I’m rich, he’s poor.” but “I’m overloaded, he’s traveling light.” “I’m rich, he’s poor.” You’re mentioning your burden and praising the weight you carry. And what’s more serious still, you have strapped your burden to your shoulders; that’s why you can’t stretch out a hand.

Overloaded, tightly strapped up, what are you being so proud of, why are you praising yourself? Undo your straps, decrease your burden. Give some of it to your companion, and you are helping him and giving relief to yourself. Among all these words of yours in praise of your burden, Christ is still asking, and not receiving anything…

For when you did it for one of the least of mine, you did it for me. Haven’t you read that, haven’t you taken any notice of it? When you failed to do it for one of the least of mine, you failed to do it for me (Mt 25:40, 45). Haven’t you read that, hasn’t it frightened you? Look who’s in want…your Lord.”


Augustine of Hippo (354-430),Sermon on the Christian Discipline 399.7-8. He delivered this sermon around 398, most likely in Carthage during a meeting of an all-African council. Augustine insists that Christians are called to love God and their neighbors more than they love their money, and he employs considerable irony and sarcasm to counter the skepticism that meets his challenge.

Read more

Gracious and abundant God,
Strengthen my belief and
Lead me to service.
Nurture my generous heart and
Love me in Christian community.
Teach me to praise and worship and
Receive my thanks for abundant life.
Give me courage and understanding and
Bless my desire to live in your love.
Amen.

Glen Mitchell serves as Stewardship and Gift Planning Director for the Diocese of New Westminster of the Anglican Church of Canada. For this prayer and other resources, visit: thegoodsteward.ca

Read more

Gerard Berghoef and Lester DeKoster define holistic stewardship as “willed acts of service that not only make and sustain the fabric of civilization and culture, but also develop the soul.”

This is an excerpt from Faithful in All God’s House by Gerard Berghoef and Lester DeKoster, ed. Brett Elder (Grand Rapids: Christian’s Library Press, 2013).

Read more

“People learn best by watching what others do. Children watch their parents. Adults watch their neighbors and work associates. Nonbelievers watch Christians to see what difference Christianity makes in their lives. One way we can positively influence the world is by giving generously, sacrificially, and without fanfare: allowing the world to see that we understand where our wealth comes from and how to use it in a godly manner. We are not to take our giving cues from the world; instead, the Bible calls us to set the standard of generosity in giving.” [cf. Acts 4:36-5:10; 2 Cor 9:13]

George Barna in How to Increase Giving in Your Church (Ventura: Regal, 1997) 83.

Read more

“God’s will for our lives is that we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. The most important decision we face is the daily decision to live for Christ and die to self. If we do these two things, then we are free to choose between jobs and schools and locations. God wants us to stop obsessing about the future and trust that He hold the future.”

Kevin DeYoung, Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God’s Will (Chicago: Moody, 2009) 63.

Read more

“The Christian life must be lived out among the regenerate in every area of activity until even the unregenerate are moved by Christian standards, acknowledging their force…To the extent that any society is leavened with Christian conviction, it becomes a more hospitable environment for Christian expansion…for it is the redemptive element that distinguishes Christianity, and it is the redemptive element that the jaded world culture so sorely needs.”

Carl F. H. Henry (1913-2003) the first editor-in-chief of Christianity Today in The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1947) 71-73.

Today’s meditation recounts a leading voice in earlier history of the Evangelical Free Church of America who proclaimed Christian social engagement well before its time. I read Carl Henry this morning as I am at an EFCA conference in New Orleans and my prayer is for this movement (and all Christ-followers) is to find inspiration from leaders like Carl Henry to generously live out the gospel in every area of activity, because it is what our lost world so desperately needs.

Read more

“I believe that God created me along with all creatures. God gave to me: body and soul, eyes, ears, and all the other parts of my body, my mind and all my senses and preserves them as well. God gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and land, spouse and children, fields, animals, and all I own. Every day God abundantly provides everything I need to nourish this body and life. God protects me against all danger, shields and defends me from all evil. God does all this because of pure, fatherly, and divine goodness and mercy, not because I’ve earned it or deserved it. For all of this, I must thank, praise, serve, and obey God.”

Martin Luther (1483-1546) in The Small Catechism, Article One, updated in modern language in Creed: A Seven-Week Reflection Guide on the Apostles’ Creed by J.D. Walt (Wilmore: Seedbed, 2012), 25.

Read more

“I am afraid we are getting too much publicity.—A few things I heard this evening made me feel cold with fear. God preserve us. Please pray for me—that I be nothing to the world and let the world be nothing to me.”

[Mother Teresa] was aware that it was “God’s work”; she was but an instrument in bringing “souls to God—and God to souls.” for such a mission, prayer and sacrifice were essential: united to Jesus’ redemptive suffering.” [Galatians 2:20]

Mother Teresa in her letters to Archbishop Périer on June 5, 1947 and April 17, 1953 as collected in Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light edited with commentary by Brian Kolodiejchuck (New York: Doubleday, 2007) 152-153.

Read more