Reading Paul’s Letters

Have you ever read the letters that Paul wrote to the early churches?

Most of them were a bunch of screwed up people! In fact, if you were to randomly pick a point in one of his letters, you will most likely find Paul dealing with a lack of many things. He dealt with wrong theology, fractured relationships, pride and envy, a general lack of love, legalism, and so much more.

So, I’ve got a question.

Why did Paul feel comfortable leaving them when he did, and in many cases leaving at a point in time when they still had so much to learn?

You would think that Paul felt it was necessary to stay until they had learned everything!

Might I suggest that this is the exact reason why so many leaders fail? We try to hold on, teach longer, train longer, as if WE are the reason for someone’s success.

Here’s why I think Paul decided to leave…some have verses, while others do not. If you disagree (or agree), let me know.

1. There are some things people can only learn “on their own”. As long as the original leader is in the picture, most people will tend to defer to their leadership, instead of jumping out and learning to swim in the deep end. I believe Paul understood this.

2. There were still too many places to reach. Paul couldn’t afford to stay too long in one place, therefore limiting the impact of the Gospel.

3. Paul understood that the HOLY SPIRIT is the true teacher, not him. As a result, he could entrust people into God’s hands, because God cared for them long before Paul ever did.
1 John 2:27 “But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true—it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ.”

4. If God entrusted broken humanity with so many responsibilities (having babies, growing food, running businesses, caring for the earth, etc), then surely He can entrust us with His church. Many people believe that people need to be controlled because they are “dumb” and can’t do things on their own. Apparently God doesn’t think so, and neither did Paul. Take a look at a verse that many have memorized.
Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”

Who do you need to release into their full “Christ-potential” today?

 

Are Your Lights On?

The other night as we were coming home from the store, everything seemed normal.  I pulled out of the parking lot and made it onto the street.  I successfully navigated the dangerous reality of modern day driving!

A couple of minutes later, I pulled onto a street in our neighborhood and immediately realized that something was wrong.  There was a noticeable change in the environment around me and I couldn’t tell what it was.  A moment later, I realized that the problem was not the surrounding environment.  Rather, it was me.

My car’s headlights were off!

Why didn’t I notice it before?

Simple.

While I was on the main street, there was an abundance of street lights, so I never realized that my car’s lights were off.

When the environment changed (no more streetlights), my problem became noticeable.

A couple quick points:

1) Sometimes, in order to more properly know what might be wrong/stuck/incorrect in our own lives, we need to change the environment.  Certain problems are only revealed in different settings.

2) As a Christian, we are called to “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” That’s found in Matthew 5:16.  The only way to know if your light is truly shining is by spending some time in dark areas.  Get out of the “light only environments” of church services, Christian meetings and spend some time in some darker areas.  Your light was meant to shine!

Thoughts?

 

Perfectionists Not Allowed

Perfection is required to do a number of things on planet earth.

My three month old tv just stopped working.  If one part is messed up, it ruins the whole thing.  It needs to function perfectly.

The gas pedal and the brake pedal on my car need to function perfectly.  If not, the result will most likely be an accident.  There isn’t room for error.

And so it must be.  Much of what we experience needs to be done perfectly, especially when it pertains to life or death (airplanes, cars, medical equipment, etc), or “on” and “off” functionality (electronics, Internet connection, etc.).

But, beyond that, why the need for perfection?  When we as humans attempt to achieve perfection, we limit the amount of what we are capable of doing.  We end up taking few risks, while attempting to keep our “batting average” at 100%.  Even in the above mentioned concepts, the idea of perfection is flawed.  The world is constantly changing and new information is constantly discovered, so the brake pedal that you use today will be understood to be “imperfect” tomorrow and will need to be upgraded to a better, more “perfect” model.

This happens in churches, in businesses, in non-profits, in schools, and even in families.  We value perfection.  Being “exact” is the key to success (supposedly).  But, in the process of achieving perfection, we eliminate innovation, creativity and risk-taking.

Might I suggest a better way?

Excellence.

Could we motivate people towards excellence?  Could we communicate to people that we desire for them to take as many risks as possible to achieve the best possible outcome that they can dream of?

The best baseball players will never achieve a 100% batting average.

The best soccer goalies will let at least a few goals pastthem during their lifetime.

The best musical artists will have some horrible songs along the way.

Even the best actors will fail on their road to success…just ask Sandra Bullock about winning a “Razzie” award and an “Oscar” within two days of each other…epic fail one day, then overwhelming success the next.

Let me stress this:

Food doesn’t need perfection…it needs creativity.

Acting doesn’t need perfection…it needs passion.

Music doesn’t need perfection…it needs soul.

A sport doesn’t need perfection…it needs drive.

Speeches don’t need perfection…they need authenticity.

You don’t need perfection.  You need excellence.

 

 

Stop Dreaming

Yes, to all you Dreamers out there, PLEASE STOP DREAMING.

Now, if you haven’t started dreaming yet, this post is obviously not for you.  You can’t stop something you haven’t started.  My advice to you: START dreaming.

But, once again, to all of you who dream, please stop dreaming.

And…

Start doing.

Dreams cost nothing to make, yet they cost everything to obtain.  Dreams created come in multitudes.  Dreams completed are few and rare.

I’ve talked to some people recently who are great dreamers.  One of them is myself (I guess I’ve had conversations with myself also).  For those of us who dream, we tend to spend a lot of time talking to others about our great dreams and what we believe can be accomplished.

Imagine if we took the time spent TALKING about the dream and reinvested it in DOING the dream!

What would the world look like then?  How would things be changed if we did that?

I don’t want to see your designs, poems, music, technology, scientific discoveries, book ideas, etc only in my mind!  I want to experience them firsthand.

I want to READ your POEMS.

I want to LISTEN to your MUSIC.

I want to WALK in, TOUCH, and FEEL, your ARCHITECTURAL creations.

If you don’t put action to your dreams, all you end up doing is raising the emotional expectation of others about what they will get to experience, then betraying those expectations, causing mass disappointment and discouragement.

By the way, there are many people who are willing to invest in dreamers who turn those dreams into reality.  There are very few who will invest in dreamers who only know how to talk about their dreams.

When you stop dreaming and start doing, you will make the rest of us much more willing to listen to your next dream.

Move past your fear.  Don’t focus on your lack of resources.  Stop complaining about others who don’t believe in it.  Start.  Take a single step.  Move.

Here’s my promise: When you start doing, I will ask you to keep on dreaming.

Until then, please stop dreaming.  Start doing.

 

What’s in a Word?

At the end of Jacob’s life, he chose to spend some time blessing his children.  Genesis 49 gives an account of all of the blessings he gives.  These blessings ended up being prophetic words, speaking about the future of his children’s lives.  One of these blessings is particularly important.

Genesis 49:8-10 says, “^8′Judah,your brothers will praise you;    your hand will be on the neck of your enemies;    your father’s sons will bow down to you. ⁹ You are a lion’s cub, Judah; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness—who dares to rouse him? ¹⁰ The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongsshall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his.’”

These are clear words that show the future entrance of the Messiah (Jesus).  We know that Jesus was the clear fulfillment of that prophecy.

What’s interesting to me is this:  Did Jacob know what he was talking about?

Think about it…did he really understand that he was speaking about the King of all creation, the Creator of all things?  Did he really get the fact that the fulfillment of this blessing/prophecy was God Himself?

I don’t think so.

And neither do you.

You don’t know what the future of your words will be.  You don’t know how God might choose to use your words for His purposes.

I am NOT saying that you will write another Bible.  Nor am I saying that your words are a future prophecy of Jesus coming back.

I am saying that God could use any words you say to accomplish His purposes.  This should give us cause for reflection.

Are we speaking words that God could actually use if He wanted to?  What words actually come out of our mouths?  Do our words tear people down or build them up?  Do our words bring slavery or freedom?  Do our words bring a heavy load or relief to the listener?

This post is just as much for me as anyone else.  Let’s be careful of the words we speak…we never know when God might use them for something grand!

 

Made from dust

Adam was made from dust. You and I were made from dust. We will return to dust.

Have you ever asked yourself the following question: Why did God make us from dust?

Dust is essentially useless.

It’s dirty.

It’s ugly.

It’s weak.

I’ve never seen anyone admire dust.

So why did God make Adam (and us) from dust?

You have already read the reasons.

God designed it this way. You see, HE makes us useful.

HE makes us clean.

HE makes us beautiful.

HE makes us strong.

In order to be all of these things, we are required to return to Him and depend on Him.

The amazing things of our lives are not defined by who we are, but rather by what He does in us.

I’m glad to be dust. Are you?

 

Learning to Walk

David is my fourth child.  He’s just started to stand up for a few seconds without needed support.  He’s almost ready to walk!  Once that happens, we will have FOUR completely mobile children in the house.  I’m getting ready for the disasters that might cause!

In the learning process for walking, every baby falls.

They fail.

And after they fail, they get up again, trying over and over until they are able to walk.  I have never seen a baby (except for those with physical difficulties) choose NOT to walk after a few falls.  Every single one, without exception, after some pain and possibly tears, gets right back up again and tries to walk.

Why do they do this?  I believe it is because walking is normal.  They see others walking and figure that they should do it too.  Maybe they also walk because we encourage them to do so.  When they stand for a few seconds, we cheer them on.  When they take their first steps, we applaud them, while also filming them and showing it to the world.

SO WHY HAVE WE STOPPED LEARNING TO WALK?

Along the way, as we have grown and “matured”, we lose our commitment to take risks and to fail.  Because of this, we end up never doing new things, staying stuck where we are, and never progressing forward with creative ideas.

Might I suggest to you that this is not normal?

Unfortunately, not only have we stopped doing new things, but we end up getting threatened by the few who do.  As a result, we turn into cynics.  The same crowd that applauds and cheers on the “new” abilities of a baby attempt to suppress the ”new” ideas of others.

This is not normal.

New is normal.  Creative is normal.  Risks are normal.  Failure is normal.  Learning from failure and taking more risks are definitely normal.

Staying the same is not normal.

Who’s ready to learn how to walk again?

 

 

Separated

I was reading in Genesis chapter 1 recently.  I’m sure there are many Christians doing the same, since so many start at the beginning of the Bible when a new year starts.  In fact, I would guess that Genesis 1 is one of the most read chapters in the Bible.

There’s a few verses I’d like to share with you regarding this chapter that I think will help guide you as you begin the new year.  Read each one…you’ll see what I mean!

Genesis 1:3-8, 14-15

³ Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴ And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness.  ⁵God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.”

And evening passed and morning came, marking the first day.

⁶ Then God said, “Let there be a space between the waters, to separate the waters of the heavens from the waters of the earth.” ⁷ And that is what happened. God made this space to separate the waters of the earth from the waters of the heavens. ⁸ God called the space “sky.”    And evening passed and morning came, marking the second day.

¹⁴ Then God said, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. Let them mark off the seasons, days, and years. ¹⁵ Let these lights in the sky shine down on the earth.” And that is what happened.

“Separate”

“Separated”

That word is repeated various times in these verses.  Why?

From the moment that God creates everything, He separates things and gives them individual identities.  He doesn’t just “separate” light and darkness.  He actually separates them so that each one can fulfill its designed function.  The light was meant for the day and the darkness for night.

Without separation, there is no fulfillment of roles and responsibilities.

God even did this with humans!  He made females and males, and there is NO doubting the differences between us!

God did not create some cosmic puree where everything looks, tastes and feels the same.  God created a heavenly stew!  He made every individual ingredient with its own unique identity that when combined with the others makes something incredible.

As you move into 2012, will you be “separated”?  Will you allow the unique qualities that God has placed inside of you to shine?  It’s possible that for a long time you have tried to be like others, look like others, fit in to the mold that others have for you, and act like others.

It is time for this to end.  It is time for you to be you!  One of the greatest ways to honor God is to be faithful to who He has created you to be.

God gave clear distinctions right at the beginning…it should be no different for you.

Resolve to live this year according to the identity that Christ has given to you.  If you choose to do this, you will find the greatest fulfillment you have ever had.

 

I like to help my dad

After a two year search, my family has moved into the first home that we have ever owned. It is an amazing God-given place that we are thankful to have.

A couple of weeks ago, after we had received the keys to the house, we started doing some work to paint and remodel some parts of the house. One day, while I was with Caleb, we knocked down some wood paneling. As we were in the car returning to our previous rental home, he asked me if he could come with me again the next day.

At that moment, I asked him why he wanted to come with me. His answer?

“I like to help my dad”.

I almost started crying as I was driving.

Almost.

There are a few things that he understood about helping me. First, Caleb knew that it was my job and he had the opportunity to play a supporting role. Second, since he was helping, he knew I would be there to support him if there was something he couldn’t do. And third, through helping, he got to spend time with me! Our relationship has the opportunity to deepen because we are together.

I didn’t have to tell him any of those things…they exist because they have been formed that way.

And it got me thinking…how do I view “working” for God? Over all the years that I have been a Christian and involved in ministry, I have seen many people become burdened with doing God’s “work”. Also, there tends to be a clear distinction between working for God and spending time with God. Those are viewed as two separate practices.

Might I suggest a different way?

I believe that God’s work is GOD’S WORK. It is His to initiate and His to complete. I believe we end up being burdened by things that are not His work. Let’s be free from this!

Also, I don’t believe that we are supposed to be doing God’s work. I believe we are supposed to be helping Him do His work. We are in a supporting role to God’s amazing plan for all of mankind. And, inherent in this is the idea that He will be there to support us when we can’t do something. Dependence on Him is required!

And, isn’t it possible that intimacy with God can be developed at any moment, whether we are working or not? There are times for alone time with God where we do nothing but talk to each other. There are other times where intimacy is developed as I partner with Him in His work.

I believe if we change our paradigm we can be free and see many more results.

When Jesus’ parents come looking for Him after realizing He had stayed back in Jerusalem, Jesus says to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49 NKJV)

Even Jesus understood it!

Let’s put it this way: Instead of working FOR God, why don’t you try working WITH God?

That makes all the difference.

 

Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street.

Some are for it.  Others are against it.

Some Christians are for it.  Other Christians are against it.

What to do?

I’ve watched the news, I’ve paid attention to social media and what people are saying on Facebook and Twitter, and I’ve spoken to a few friends about it.

So, what’s my conclusion?

Whether there are injustices or not, we must put our trust in Jesus.

I decided a long time ago that no matter who the president is, no matter what political party controls congress, and no matter where our country finds itself economically, my trust needed to be firmly placed in Jesus.

He is the Provider…not Wall Street…not the government.

He is the Ultimate Judge and He brings TRUE justice…no government or economic entity will ever be able to do that.

He takes care of the rich and poor alike, and He does it fairly.  Even humanity’s best attempt will never get that one right.

So, as far as I’m concerned, the best way to solve the world’s problems is to occupy Jesus Street.  If we spend more time with Him, maybe the changes He brings to our hearts and the ideas He brings to our heads will actually bring REAL change in a broken society.

Maybe Jesus really IS the ONLY answer.

Think about it this way: the reason our country is the way it is has MUCH to do with our commitment to Jesus and living out the values according to His Word.  Maybe the path to true societal change is not SIMPLY through politics, but through knowing Jesus more and teaching others to do the same.

For those of you who still want to be involved in the political realm (which is PERFECTLY acceptable for Christians), form opinions and spread your thoughts to others, let me give a few suggestions:

1. Communicate with the grace, love and respect of Jesus, no matter who you’re talking to.
2. Get the WHOLE STORY, from BOTH SIDES.  It is amazing to me how naïve many people (especially young people) are and will simply watch one video from one place and form their entire opinion based off of that.  Be intelligent…do some research.
3. Remember that the 1% includes many people you like, including actors, musicians, authors, and others…not just Wall Street execs (and many of them do a whole lot of good).  Remember that every time you go to a movie, buy a song, or purchase a book, you are supporting them.  If you are against them, be consistent. If you are for them, enjoy!
4. Don’t be surprised that when people break the law, they will get arrested.  Everyone has a right to voice their opinions.  Everyone also has a right to protest…this is the grand experiment that has made up the USA for hundreds of years.  But, we DON’T have the right to call it unjust when we have to suffer the consequences of illegal or dumb actions.

And, to finish this off: once again, trust Jesus.  He ALWAYS knows what to do.