Tag: humility

Civility, Civility, where art thou?

· 2 Comments ·

Last Thursday I wrote about my desire for my boys to live in a world of civility. The thought process started when Gavin said thank you to me after giving him a simple treat. I treasured the event. Given the grievous incident in Arizona, my wish for my boys grew even stronger.

Two wrongs don’t make a right
The Bible puts it this way: “A soft word takes away wrath.” I have no wish to take political sides on this blog. Even in irate anger, one can show the civility one so much desires. The political vitriol displayed lately is alarming. It is akin to fighting a fire with gasoline.

Evil and responsibility exist
There is evil and brokenness in life. Even with this, people are responsible for their own actions. Evil or brokenness is the root cause of tragedies such as happened in Arizona. Civility, compassion and graciousness are the greatest weapons against evil and brokenness. It’s what Jesus did.

Two prescriptions of civility:
1) Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger… Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. ~ Ephesians 4:26,29

2) This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. ~ James 1:19-20

The bottom line
We are responsible for our own actions. Anger is not wrong, but we must be prudent and thoughtful in how we exercise and work through our anger. For sure, in public discourse great restraint and gracious must be demonstrated. Truth can be declared without being inflammatory. Restraint isn’t a lack of authenticity or genuineness. Restraint  is an exercise of wisdom and humility. Our culture could use a large dose of both. These are skills I want my boys to have in abundance.

Why not Wednesday? Return to basics Phil. 2:5-11

· 1 Comment ·

My high school gold team was in a slump. Coach did what coaches often do, give a fiery lecture that made you prefer warm eternal regions of existence and then drilled marched us into basics. Not swinging, putting, chipping, or driving. We practiced our pre-shot routine… for what seemed like eternity: Choose club, pick target, grip, set up to the ball, repeat. We were not allowed to hit a ball until we had it down. Ministry has its own setup. It’s humility.

Humility is our pre-shot routine
Paul focuses on attitude before he instructs to work out our salvation. The attitude should be that of Christ. Summed up, our attitude should be humble. Christ shows what this looks like.

Choose club: Let God be God, and let God be enough.
6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped

Pick target: Seek to serve not be served
7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

Grip: Embrace humility
8a And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself…

Set up to the ball: Obey God’s calling
8b … and became obedient to death– even death on a cross!

The bottom line:
Get back to basics. Basics isn’t the shot, it’s the set-up. Have this down pat, and you will get to enjoy a great shot.

9-11 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Why I stayed in church

· 1 Comment ·

I’ve constantly dealt with the question of why 20’s and early 30’s were leaving the church. I never asked why I didn’t leave. Here is a first attempt at answering the question. It revolves around one key thing: God.

“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” ~Philippians 1:6

Religion is a crutch
True. We do not need a crutch, we need a savior. We don’t need help or an aid, we need something that will radically change us. The biggest thing to me about the church is the Gospel. The central message of the Gospel is death to life; sin to righteousness. This isn’t found by a right of passage or a self-help crutch. It is founded on Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection.

Christians are just hypocrites
True. We’re also liars, thieves, fornicators, cheats, gossips, gluttons, drunkards, murderers, slanders, etc. Funny thing is, as I look across the human experience, I see the same thing. The church isn’t made of perfect people, and if it were, we’d at least be liars according to 1 John. Church is family. We’re not perfect, but being perfect is not the point. Again, it comes down to the central message of the Gospel. Church is filled with redeemed people not perfect people.

Church doesn’t meet my needs
True. Here is the paradox of church: If everyone comes to church focused on meeting everyone’s needs, everyone’s needs gets met. Church is not about what you can get, it is about what you can give to others. Why would someone join something that is not about them is a bit crazy. This goes back to the central message of the Gospel: Jesus gave Himself on our behalf. His focus was on our needs and the Father’s will, not Himself.

The Gospel
I did not quit because I believe Jesus died and rose again. Believing this means being a part of a community of people who also hold that belief and seek to proclaim the message of death to life. The Gospel is central. Church is not about what I get, but as Jesus modeled, church is about what I give. The hardest principle to get is realizing the church is not about me, it’s about Him.

The Church
I embrace the church because it is Jesus’ most prized possession. In pursuing Christ and helping others, ultimately our own needs get met. In getting the focus off ourselves we gain depth and a spirituality that can only come from the grace of the Cross. In church we realize the greatest need of all mankind and the only solution. We’re messed up, and knowing that fully, Jesus still reached out to us.

The bottom line:
I did not quit church because Jesus did not quit on me, those in the church, or those who still have not heard the Gospel. The church isn’t perfect and neither am I, and that’s ok. Christ is the one who makes us complete and perfect. The problems of church become less and when I pursue God and help others more.

President Bush

· Leave a comment ·

I read some interview articles about President Bush’s book “Decision Points.” The book sounds like a good read.

What impresses me about President Bush is how secure he is in who he is. As president he took responsibility for problems regardless of cause. While his ‘New Tone’ policy is debated, Bush demonstrates nobility by it. The carry over to his post-presidency is shown by not critiquing Obama. Further, President Bush seeks anonymity.

As is any presidency, people will debate the Bush years. But, I greatly admire the man. He is not full of himself. His ambition to stay out of the political fray brings a fresh nobility. To let history make its own judgements by not rebutting criticism takes humility.

I’m interested if these thoughts will continue or how they will be altered after reading his book. For sure, it would be nice to see more leaders with a depth like President Bush, regardless of political ideology.

Dream: You say that I’m a dreamer…

· Leave a comment ·

Dreamers pursue God. They are not inward focused, self-serving, trite or vengeful. Dreamers pursue reflecting who God is.

“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” ~ Philippians 1:6

“Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” ~ Philippians 3:13-14

The goal beyond self
We choose our attitude. The book of Philippians focuses on Paul’s attitude. This attitude, and the whole mindset of the book is a passionate pursuit of God. The book is an internal focused book. It is an attitude check. The goal Paul refers to is beyond self. The key is found in Phil 2:5- having the same attitude that was also in Christ Jesus.

Being is the focus
The best dreams are ones that focus on being, not doing. If there is any lesson that is crystal clear in the Bible it is this: we cannot earn favor with God. Doing, achieving, possessing means nothing if we fail to be who God wants us to be. Focusing on who we want to be will have greater impact on what we do. Our attitude affects everything. Dreamers need humility. Great leaders and people in life show this attitude. Focus on being humble. It works! Look at Christ.

God is the dream
Regardless of our history, our present or our future, we get to be with God. This is why our attitude and our focus on being is so important. No matter how good or bad, rich or poor, healthy or ill, we can posses our dream. This is why the best dreams are the ones that focus on being. A slave can be a dreamer. An alcoholic can be a dreamer. A murder can be a dreamer. A single mom can be a dreamer. An orphan can be a dreamer. Dreams are not about our situation but our destination. The Gospel forges our dreams in Christ, not our wishful thinking or our own power.

Why be a dreamer
There is more to life than now. There is more to life than our preferences and whims. Dreams move us beyond ourself. Dreamers pursue being the kind of person God designed us to be in the places He puts us. God did not create us as an afterthought. God does not save people to merely escape Hell. There is a story, a masterpiece that is your life. Pursuing God paints this work of art.

The Bottom Line:
In the craziness of life, no matter how upside down it us, we have a choice: we can pursue self or we can pursue God. God made us to reflect who He is. Perhaps it is time we take God seriously. There is a work that He wants to accomplish in our lives. It starts with an attitude change and a focus on being who He wants us to be. Reflect on this thought:

“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” ~ Ephesians 3:20-12

The bride is not ready yet…

· Leave a comment ·

Jesus said the meek shall inherit the Earth. I feel as though we are not always meek, for sure I am not. It seems we are awfully arrogant, more than we would care to admit. This is not bad in the sense of being overwhelming to us. It just means God is not done perfecting us yet. Here are a couple of examples:

Jesus: Whoever is not against you is for you.
I remember sitting in class and the prof started to list out different movements in evangelism, their proponents, and the ensuing criticism. The discussion fascinated me. There wasn’t a linear progression of understanding. It was a cycle we were already repeating. The realization went like this:

“How many of you thought big-ten revivals were a good thing? Uh-huh. And the seeker sensitive movement? Not so many hands this time? In about 150 years evangelism in America came full circle and is now repeating the cycle.” Ouch…

Rather than criticize form we should learn from each other. A large part of a method’s success is its context: both historical and cultural. Granted every method, movement and church carries problems. The problems may be significant, but it doesn’t make them completely wrong nor completely right. We need to listen and discern better.

Paul: Instruct men not to teach strange doctrines…
God really does care about solid doctrine. Paul did not tell Timothy to remove, separate, ignore or burn the men of Ephesus at the stake. Throughout his writings Paul told Timothy to use love and patience, to instruct as a son to a father or a brother to a brother. Said another way, Paul sent a young guy in to help, clean up and correct the church by leveraging humility. Not exactly a quick, authoritarian method to clean up what was a doctrinal mess.

I sense as Christians we speak right past each other. We are great at making straw men and even better and beating them. Confidence of one’s doctrine and humility are not mutually exclusive. The elder professors I had in seminary were very confident in what they taught, but their humility was excessive. They listened and asserted, held firm but still learned with open minds.

One day I purchased a large number book and proceeded to move them to my car. One of the elder professors put his stuff down on the floor and helped me. He taught none of my classes at that point during seminary. I saw and better understood the relationship between confidence, faith and humility when I did have him as a teacher; all based on this event. We need to pursue humility as a path knowing God and truth.

The bottom line:
Other than Christ is it seems the other thing we Christians have in common is our arrogance. We all to easily forget that it is Christ who wills and works in us. It is He who will carry our work until the day of perfection. Christ washes and purifies the bride. In the arrogance we all have in common we can continue to act that way, get overwhelmed, or we can rest in the fact that God isn’t done with us yet. We call can improve in listening, discernment and humility while also laying aside our straw men.

I wonder if we lack peace in what we do because we don’t follows Paul’s instructions if Philippians 4. We are a very anxious people. Yes, there are differences in our churches. But, we can still be thankful and pray for each other. Yes as Christians we disagree on points of doctrine. We can still learn from each other. Christ leveraged humility in leading us, and we should do the same when interacting with each other.

Have we lost commonsense & responsibililty?

· 1 Comment ·

I am an Apple fanboy. This is not about defending Apple.I am merely raising a question.

I remember years ago laughing out loud when hearing the joke “Someone sued McDonald’s because the coffee was hot.” I stopped laughing when I heard it was no joke. It seems the greatest sin these days is to inconvenience anyone. iPhone 4 is another hot cup of coffee.

Lawsuits being filed against Apple for iPhone 4 antenna issues.
Seriously!? Stores sold the iPhone 4 barely a week ago. Within the last few days people had three options: 1) Return the phone 2) Get a case 3) Hold the phone differently. Granted these options may not be convenient. But, suing Apple for a new product that sold less than a week ago is absurd.

I had two phones which had a similar issues: Samsung & Nokia. One I returned within a week, the other I just lived with. Commonsense: Don’t buy a product the first day it comes out, it normally has some flaws. Responsibility: If I violate the general rule, then I need to deal with the inconvenience of the options mentioned.

Have we lost perspective?
Nothing is perfect. We act that way though. The root of our anger and frustration towards anything inconvenient points to a bigger issue. We think the world revolves around us. Worse, we think our lives of première importance to all others. I can’t help but wonder if our sue happy culture is really shirking commonsense & responsibility. Sure, Apple could handle the mess better… Isn’t that thought another form of shirking commonsense & responsibility? “They’re not doing their job right, so I’m ok in how I am…” Frustrating times speak volumes about us and the state of our soul.

Humility, meekness, servant-hood
Humility, meekness and servant-hood are three things our culture could benefit from. Because we ‘can’ do something doesn’t mean we always ‘should.’ Sometimes the prudent thing is to not act on our rights. In all cases we should use commonsense & responsibility. Suing Apple barely a week after a new product coming out is like suing McDonald’s for their coffee being hot. It would be an interesting study to see the economic cost of shirking commonsense & responsibility.  I’m sure the health-care world would have some thoughts on this.

The Bottom line
There is a nasty trend in our culture that needs to change. I am sure there are many more dynamics to the iPhone 4 issue, but those dynamics do not negate our response to that situation or any other. Whether fair or not, warranted or not; we are responsible for our actions & attitudes.  The soul is selfish and loves to blame others, shirking its responsibility for its own lack of commonsense.