Category: Proverbial Thoughts

Life’s proverbs I’ve collected growing up from mentors and just living life.

Act don’t react: Odd Rapid Chemical Reactions

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DSC_0336Act don’t react is a core proverb I follow. In studying history, particularly church history, I found people tend to react more than act. This often causes an unbalance or defining yourself as what you’re not vs what you are. Acting means to operate and explain who you are. Given my feeds lighting up with the “Strange Fire” conference, here are my thoughts to illustrate the proverb:

People don’t respond well do a direct assault.
Carefronting is done best from the side door because it focuses on relationships. Rather than set up a conference as a reaction to something, set it up to promote who you are. As such you teach truth and through that you can also rightly critique in error movements. Direct assaults, particularly in today’s culture, can inhibit your point.

Love really does matter!
Can the what about truth, what about sin garbage! If those were your first two thoughts, serious time needs to be spent in 1 Corinthians 13. Love does not equal being wishy-washy. What love focuses on is making a difference, not a point. The cross wasn’t pleasant, easy, or wishy-washy, but it was love. People who often here love and then think “what about truth, what about sin” often want to make a point and not a difference.

Rhetoric matters.
Paul instructs Timothy to guard his doctrine AND his speech. Speaking truth wrongly is sin just as teaching false doctrine is sin. Jesus made a joke about this scenario, something about removing a log from our own eye. We ACT based on what we BELIEVE. Bad rhetoric stems from a bad belief system. Further, bad rhetoric inhibits your goal. Stating “well, I’m standing for the truth” is no excuse. Rhetoric should first promote who you are.

It’s messy!
Ministry is messy! Acting vs reacting is grueling, hard, and takes time. It is not clean cut, often doesn’t get you accolades, but it is what the Spirit teaches us. I’ll let Paul speak to this:
“And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.”

God has a plan, and we’re not God.
The story of Joseph makes this point well in Genesis 37-50. God’s plan will not be thwarted, even by our own mistakes! We’re not God, and while we’re called to guard our doctrine and speak truth, we should ACT on that vs react to other movements. Gently guiding and teaching people about is avoids the egg-shell walk. It also demonstrates class. Finally, it demonstrates humility by letting God be God. After all, God is the one who brings people to repentance.
The bottom line:
Act, don’t react!

Proverbial Thoughts: Pragmatism went down with the Titanic

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titanicAs a first grader the Titanic captivated my attention. It was recently discovered by Dr. Robert Ballard and a classmate had a grandmother who was on the Carpathia during the rescue. At one point I had just about everything memorized about the ship that an elementary student could.

I discovered in college the reports on the Titanic investigation. The clever intro to the report was simple: Pragmatism went down with the Titanic. The Titanic set sail the way things were always done. Even with new technologies and size, no one challenged the status quo. New technologies gave a sense of false safety or their potential ignored. New size changed the way things operated. Sailing at full speed on a calm night was normal practice and no injuries happened as a result… until Titanic sunk.

The bottom line:
Change in life happens. Challenge the status quo went changes arrive. Because it always worked doesn’t mean it will work in the future. We cannot predict the future, but we can always revisit why we do what we do. Principles don’t change but methods and programs do and must. After all, pragmatism went down with the Titanic.

Proverbial Thoughts: Eating Elephants

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elephant2How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time ~Dad

I’m sitting in a seminary class with the normal heart palpitations you get when the evil syllabus is handed to you. Dr. Engle, barely looking over the lectern with his coke rim glasses, quotes this proverb with a slight Hebraic accent. Often proverbial sayings of a parent are echoed by others. When I banged my head on the desk, the prof smiled and stated “So, you’ve heard this often, have you?”

Big projects are made of small steps
The point of the proverb is you need to break big things into its smaller steps. Right now as you’re starting a new year, new project or a new semester you have what I call syllabus shock. This is where you feel the rush of emotion at all that needs to get done. (For those newer in their academic career, this doesn’t go away, you just learn to manage it better.) ASAP, look to break the big elephant into bites.

There’s not way to get this done
I’ve said that a few times. And a few times dad stated the elephant thing. There is a difference between being simple and being a simpleton. We often confuse proverbial statements as being a simpleton, but really the most profound truths and answers are simple. Let’s face it, you’re not the first person to face a large task.

Big 3
The hardest part of a project is getting started. I learned that sometimes the best thing is to focus immediately on the first 3 tasks that need to be accomplished. This helps get the ball rolling. What are the first three bites you need to take? Often meats taste better with condiments, so is there a resource or a person who can help you name the big 3?

Hamburger, steak or roast
Some things can be done quick, others take some more art & finesse and others need to be on the back burner for a while. As you look at the different tasks, which can be done quick, which need time and attention, and what needs to be started early so they can roast in the back of your mind for a while? If someone says you don’t need to worry about something right away, good chances it’s a roast. If the reason for not worrying is it can be done quickly, schedule it for later. If it needs attention and detail, turn on the grill, tis time for steak!