Reviewing Goals

With moving this year I realized just how much stuff I have and maybe a reminder of what I need to throw out. In the middle of all of this stuff, I found a laminated paper of my 4-year goals from 2017. (I'm deleting 2020 as a year for my goal list)

After a quick look, I wanted to throw it away as there were several things on it that were not even close to being completed. Getting a complete understanding of basic Spanish just didn't happen. Being in perfect shape for my age, no, going to ignore that. I didn't hit the New York Times bestseller list but then I didn't get published traditionally either so, I missed that too.

I looked over the failures and wanted to throw it out. However, I didn't. I stopped and looked at it again.

So I didn't get Spanish down, but truth be told it was a wish and never made a real priority, so it shouldn't have been on the list. 

Find accountability, yes. 

I didn't publish a fiction book but I did write 4 and instead of publishing one non-fiction, I got 10. My estimate is I wrote 400,000 words for books in the last 5 years. Yes, this was a win. 

I helped more than 3 people get published.

I did all that I was asked on the district I was part of.  

I didn't get in perfect shape but I have lost 50 pounds so that is a win.

I could go on but when I finished going over the list I hit half of them and made a real dent in half of the rest. In fact, the only ones I missed were the ones I mentioned at the beginning of this blog. So where is the failure in this list?

I should be rejoicing. Yet, even as I write this I'm still fighting shame. We are really dumb sometimes, aren't we? We have great victory and yet we focus on the misses.  

NOT THIS TIME! I'm here to say that though the last few years haven't turned out how I hoped they have been victorious! 

With God's help, I WON! and I bet you have to if you really take time to look. 

A Command to Hold

 It seems to me, the western church lives in a culture predisposed to action: do, act, grow, move… Yet, I have wondered if there are times when God’s will is actually for us not to be active? There is clearly direction for taking times of sabbath, which is absolutely a time of non-activity. When I read again the words Jesus spoke to the church of Thyatira (Revelation 2:24-25) I was again brought back to the idea that there are times when action is not the correct decision.  

Jesus said, “Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets, ‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’” NIV

Hold on? Is that it, Jesus? What!? No, take the castle, drive out the devil, or be victorious in Me?

“Hold on to what you have” was his command. Now there is action is keeping what you have but the command doesn’t sound like a battle cry. It’s more like a command to hunker down until the storm is over. This to me is a reminder (as well as other examples in scripture) that there are times when God’s people aren’t called to be active beyond keeping their faith. Even for a time, Elijah was ordered by God to hide. Perhaps we need to remember that working for God isn’t always a victory march.

John Wesley's Covenant Renewal Prayer gives God permission to set us aside if that is his will.  Therefore, we shouldn’t feel guilty if God sets us aside for a time to rest or to take shelter. I would add that we shouldn’t make others feel guilty if God has set them aside for a time. It is God’s will we want, not our preconceived idea of what we or others ought to be doing for God.

I wouldn’t use this as an excuse to be lazy, but I conclude there are times when God tells us to just hold on, period. At least until He comes and changes things.

Dream Team (this post is for me)

 DREAM TEAM

 

In the book, Talent is Overrated, author Geoff Colvin pointed out that many “Dream Teams” had two people. Being a great team required trust and a willingness not to seek to be first at another’s expense. This showed forth that many of the teams Colvin noted had a person who stood out and was known and a second who was content to stay in the background supporting that person and, in a way, point people to them.

I am considering that if I want Sam (the head pastor I work for) and I to be a dream team, I must do all I can to be the person in the background. I need to remember not to seek my glory or recognition, but to point, of course, to Jesus but them to Sam. It is after all his faith in me that has opened this job. He put his neck on the line for me with his board recommendations. So, I must let him be the lead, the one in the spotlight. Besides, no church has ever grown with people saying, I like the associate better than the pastor. Thus, if I want to see God’s mission in this church done, I must decrease.

It is also true that if I keep this attitude, then Sam will be able to trust me as I take up his vision for the church.

Finally, or at the least the last point I will make, I believe Jesus called us to be servants. Sam is the servant to the church, and I am to be the servant to him. Though he is Sam, I need to be Samwise (if you don’t know Lord of the Rings, let’s say a dedicated servant).  

Time to Think Differently (or not)

 I don't know how many advertisements for leadership training begin with "It's time to think differently" or "Grab a Great New Paradigm." By the way, I'm not sure they know what Paradigm means because what most of them are selling/teaching is just different versions of the same thing. That isn't what I want to talk about today. 

What gets me is what if the way you are thinking is correct? What if your worldview is just as God would have it right now? Do you really want to change if you are not wrong?

Now I do want to say there are lots of times when we need to change the way we see things. When you get married you need to stop looking at anyone other than your spouse as (you know, enough said). When you grow in Christ and all of a sudden you see a need that you didn't before because God is laying it on your heart to deal with it. It could be when you're holding on to prejudice and you need to see others as God does. 

Let's just say there is a time we absolutely need to change the way we see the world.

There is also a time when we need to perhaps see new options. If you are running a business and the cheese danishes aren't selling and everyone is asking for fruit. You don't change your way of thinking about preparing food (unless it's bad), you do change the menu. I really like seedless raspberry by the way. 

When the community demographic has changed and now 95% of the population is over sixty then investing in a youth pastor is probably a less than a wise idea. Okay, it is a complete waste of money. You don't quit reaching out to people. You have a different demographic to consider. Yes, I do understand some people have a gifting to reach a neglected or underserved group, but let's not get distracted more than I already am. Your mission is still to reach and help others but the methods and focus change, not your thinking. 

My concern is that we are so focused on changing our way of thinking to accomplish some good thing that we open ourselves up to changing things that should never be. It's something to consider. 

More gravy than grave in that spirit.

I was writing a sermon on Mark 14:37-41 and the disciples falling asleep and realized something I hadn't thought about when reading this scripture.

Consider this: Our humanity will pull us down spiritually and can hinder our spiritual impact.

You can't expect to serve God faithfully if you don’t do what you can to keep your body in the proper shape. 

Do we give ourselves margin, space in our lives?

Do we overdo it? 

I’ve been guilty of this?

We also need to realize it isn’t easy to fix. A few weeks back  I was hoping to get a bit of a spiritual retreat and woke up with a migraine. I looked around, once I was able to get up, and found I didn’t have anything to take for the pain. I called over to the people who watch over the retreat and they brought me Tylenol and Advil. I took it immediately and by the end of the day, I was doing fine.

Years ago, I would have refused to take anything saying needed to be tough. I ended up with migraines that would last a month. It wasn’t until a doctor asked me when was the best time to stop an avalanche? The answer was at the top. To stop the one boulder that would roll down, gaining speed and dislodging other boulders until at the bottom there would be no stopping it. She said that was the way it was with my headaches. I needed to take something immediately because if I did I would stop it from becoming an avalanche of pain. She was right and though I have had headaches and migraines since then they have never lasted that long.

The lesson for us in this message is our bodies can affect what we can do spiritually. They affect our moods and our ability to minister. We don’t often realize that taking care of our bodies is a spiritual act. I’m not saying we need to put a gym in the church and put everyone on a diet. However, I believe there is a time in our lives when God will say, You need to deal with this if you are going to grow more.

Let’s be careful also about how we judge how healthy we are. I had a boss once who exercised regularly, followed a strict diet, and was not at all healthy. The blood test that the doctors ran showed all kinds of problems. What kind of irritated them was that my numbers were perfect. I didn’t watch my diet and I have never been thin. The problems were not a result of diet but stress.

So let’s be careful and not judge people spiritually by their outside appearance. Also, we don’t know what God is working at them with and perhaps what you see isn’t the problem God thinks is critical.

This being said we need to realize and sometimes give others grace when they struggle because it may be that there is to steal a line from A Christmas Carol, there may be more "gravy than grave" about their spiritual problems. 

There might be more going on in us because of our body so we need to treat it well.

Just Drop It

I got an encouragement text from Author and Speaker Jon Acuff. He sends them out every week or so to everyone who signs up, so no I don't get personal texts from New York Times Best-selling authors. I'm open for a call though it would be cool. 

Anyhow, the message said, "“Jon Acuff here with some micro motivation! If you picked up any bitterness this year, don't miss your chance to put it down this week. Don't carry last year's rocks into next year's garden. Don't paint next year's canvas with last year's colors. Don't write next year's story with last year's words. You might need to choose to drop it 100 times, but leaving bitterness behind is always worth it”. Text sent 12-28-21

 I can’t help but agree with Jon here. If you find yourself picking up bitterness and it happens. You need to drop it again. Life is too short to hold on to this stuff and it will steal from you. Don't take up a guilt trip for picking it up, just drop it. Your life will be the better for it. 

HOWEVER, (there's always a qualifier) sometimes you don’t pick the issue up but you look and see you're holding the ball. How did this happen? It is then you remember someone else threw it to you. You grabbed it on reflex. The problem remains you are still holding the ball. 

I have on occasion had people throw me something and I caught it. What I found I got was holding something covered with goo. I dropped it. Okay, I might have thrown it back, but they were smart enough not to catch it. It was disgusting and even though I wasn't holding the disgusting thing I was contaminated by it. Yuk. 

I was forced to find a way to clean off the mess. Often it was to wipe my hands on my dirty work clothes, but at other times I had to find a bathroom because I couldn't afford to get the stuff on my clothes. Let me tell you some of that stuff I never what to know what it was.  

Emotionally it's the same. You didn't mean to hold on to the issue, bitterness, anger, whatever it was, but now you're holding it. So drop it, holding it doesn't help you. And if it’s really messy like a muddy football you will probably need to wash your hands and maybe even change. It will take time, but it’s worth it. 

One final piece of advice, don't feel guilty if you find the issue in your hands, just drop it, clean up and go on. You will find life is better when you do.  

Photo by John Torcasio on Unsplash

Where should I Give?

I have heard some people say that it doesn't matter who you give to it's your attitude is all that matters. That might be partly true but if you give an obviously deranged person (they are murmuring about killing people) money and they buy a gun and they shoot up a place, I'm not so sure. No, I am sure it was wrong of you. 

This being said there are times that we do give to what seems legitimate causes and the money is misused. In this case, it is absolutely not you. 

Scripture teaches us that we need to be wise (and generous) with our resources. In the above examples, there is a case in which a person is being not the following scripture and a person was trying to. Perhaps in the second case, they should have done some research, but let's assume they did so aren't responsible. 

However, the bigger problem I see is there are so many great causes to give to. 

We are stuck with the question do I give to missions (this gains eternal rewards) but then the Bible (James) teaches that if we only give prayer and not tangible help then we fail. Should I give to those in my community which if you're in the USA means you're giving to the richest people in the world but they are our neighbors and we are to be good to our neighbors. What about starving children, dying patients, curing diseases, environmental causes (this is the only planet we have), and then there is that uncle, child, grandchild, or friend that needs money.   

AHHH!!!

It's enough to lay an eternal guilt trip on you (and some want to) or cause you to quit caring. Both of these are bad and neither are what God wants. So what do we do?

Give wisely.

I could probably write a small book on the subject but to make it simple. 

Do a budget (you will get in a mess if you don't)

1. pay your tithe 

2. pay your bills (you aren't representing Jesus well if you aren't)

3. Decide to give to a cause you believe in (one or two) remember there are others with different passions and they will take care of the rest.

4. set aside an amount to give to things that pull on your heart (impulse giving) don't give more than this.

5. Refuse to feel guilty but don't become jaded.

As stated in #3, there are lots of people in this world and if all do their part the needs will be met. If you try to do everyone else's part you will fail and then no one will be helped. Understand this, you can only control yourself. Don't focus on other people's giving if you do you will be miserable. 

I could say more but I've given enough here. 

God Bless.