Leading through our God-Given Strengths

For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother's womb,

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Ps 139: 13-14

Do you really believe that the Lord made you who you are?  Do you believe that He composed your soul and personality right alongside your body while you were in your mother's womb?  I think many sincere folks doubt that the Lord knew exactly what He was doing when He put us together.  We look at our sin tendencies and our hang-ups, and we wonder how God could use us.  We are so _____ (fill in the blank).  We might be cautious or aggressive; thoughtful or spontaneous; or quiet or outgoing.  We make so many mistakes!  How could God use us like we are?

It is so much easier to see what holds us back instead of how God could and will use us as He made us.  Today I wish to focus our thoughts on leadership and how God uses our strengths to lead His people.  Ironically, we often find that our greatest strengths as also our greatest weaknesses.  At least this has been my experience as I have grown as a man, pastor, and leader in the Church!

To help get into this subject, I will share what I laid out to the leadership of First CRC of Seattle as I prepared to minister in this new place.  I began my life in this new church by using the Strength-Finder's material to describe the person God has made me to be.  I recommend this material to anyone who wishes to discover their natural strengths.  

Strength-Finder 2.0 can be accessed by purchasing one of their books.  There is a code in back, which allows you to take the on-line test.  Through a series of questions, the on-line resource helps access your top five strengths.  Someone was telling me you can get the order of all 34 strengths for only a nominal fee of $500 or so.  Personally, I will stick with the top five!

I do recommend this test.  I have taken many personality tests and such.  I find often these tests demonstrate more how I felt on a certain day than who I am.  In fact, I have taken some tests multiple times, and I have found the tests pointing in opposite directions depending upon when I took them!

In terms of the Strength-Finder's test, I have taken it two times.  The first time I did it to help a fellow pastor who was going through the training.  He needed another test taker immediately.  I really did not have time to do it, but I agreed to help him out.  

I took the test in a hurry.  It asks questions of which you prefer on a scale of 1 to 7.  For the first 100 questions, I answered each question in 2 seconds or less with either a 1 or 7.  At that point, I knew the program would think I was insane and impulsive.  I finished the test, but took it with a grain of salt.  

Then I got the results.  I found it helpful that it listed what each strength meant for how I approached the world.  I also found it very accurate as to how each strength also has possible weaknesses.  In 20 years of ministry, I had found these weakness to true in my life.  In fact, I have spent so much of my ministry life being obsessed by my weaknesses!  Yet, as I talked with my pastor friend/Strength-Finder trainer and several other friends about the test, all affirmed they thought it was an accurate picture of my greatest strengths.

I was skeptical.  It ends up that one of my greatest strengths is strategy, and I figured I could throw the test if I wanted to.  I also figured that it ended up with the published results (like saying I have the gift of self-confidence) because of the way I took the test.

I really did not pay the test much attention for the next year.  Then, Borders went out of business.  As it was closing, I purchased several leadership books at a huge discount.  One of these books was Strength-finders for Leadership. 

I decided to re-take the test.  I would do it under a new name, so my past time taking the test would not shade my results.  This time I took the test being careful to answer each question with thought and less impulsiveness.  I honestly and painstakingly went through the test.  Then I got the results.

To my amazement, I had the same top five strengths.  The order was slightly different, but the same five were there.  I believe this illustrates an accurate and helpful test.

At the Leadership retreat, I began by sharing my strengths as illustrated by the test.  I also shared that my strengths also mean some will misinterpret who I am.  For example, my number one strength is context.  I want to know about everyone's past.  I want to know about a ministry's or church's past.  I want to know context!  Why?  So I can use my second strength, which is strategy.  I use context to determine how to relate and move forward in the present and future.

What does this mean?  I ask a lot of questions.  I ask these questions of individuals and I ask them in a group setting.  Why?  Not because I wish to be a pain, but because I want to know why and how you think.  To some this can be very disconcerting!  I tried to share that I do not wish to make someone feel on the spot, but I do wish to know them.

Another one of my top five strengths is self-assurance.  This gift means I have an inherit confidence in my abilities and in what I do.  Personally, I think it means that if I feel like God is leading, I will move forward without question or doubt.  This is a helpful strength for leadership as it does help give confidence to others.

Yet, it also can be seen as arrogance.  This is particularly true if someone does not have that same sense of confidence!  So I tried to share that I need folks to give me the benefit of the doubt when I am confident in what I can or cannot do.  I truly do not mean it as arrogance!  In fact, I am more than willing to confess my weaknesses!  I want to be approachable and I want to know people. 

One thing I have learned in my years of ministry is that all of us cannot help but lead from our strengths.  This is because we should be who God made us to be!  It is really no good "faking it until we make it."  God can and does use all of us and He does use every personality type and strength mix in building His Kingdom.  He can use you!  (Another of my strengths is activator.  It means I naturally seek to encourage others to do what God is calling them to do.  Ironic isn't it!)

The problem is that so many of us take too much time focusing on our weakness instead of our strengths.  I know early in my life and ministry well-meaning folks would try to tell me that I really need to change.  These critiques would come on two fronts.

First, they would say that I really needed to be more "pastoral."  What did they mean?  Stop leading and asking so many questions.  Just "be with people" and let them know you "love them."  On the surface, I so much agree that these traits are an important part of pastoral ministry.  Yet, they can be achieved in different ways!

Personally, I spent many years seeking to build up that which was perceived as "weak" or not natural and neglect working within our God-given strengths.  Such labor led to burnout, stress, and great frustration.  I now see that what these folks wanted was for me to be more like them.  They really did not care who I was.  They wanted to make me in their image.

A second critique that was often made was that I needed to stop trying to lead with my strengths.  I had many folks who would point out my confidence in God or my ability to see possible future issues and they would call these God-given abilities weaknesses.  They would ask me to stop trying to lead and instead to learn humility.

Early in my ministry career, I worked at a very large church on staff as a middle school youth director.  The church was in an interim period, and the staff was making decisions about the directions in ministry.  After a month or so, I began to point out possible difficulties with some of their decisions and I offered other possible solutions.  I was honestly told, through body language and other not so subtle clues to shut up!  Yet, I could not help but offer my opinions occasionally.  Then I noticed something.  One of the senior pastoral staff would write down what I said.  I would be ignored in the meeting, but in the next meeting he would bring up my exact idea and it would be adopted!  Looking back I can see that the problem wasn't my strengths being weakness, but I need a place to lead not a place where I was a junior and unimportant staff member!

In other words, know your strengths and work within them!

That being said, it is true that all of our strengths also have potentially negative relationship and directional issues built into them.  Why?  Not everyone is like us!  Furthermore we live in a fallen world and we are fallen people.  We must be aware of our potential weakness and confess them.  If we hurt others, we need to repent and be open to correction.  Christian Leadership means true humility.

This post is getting long, so I will end here.  Hopefully tomorrow I will share more thoughts concerning leadership.

For such a time as this?

"For if you remain silent  at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish.  And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"

Esther 4: 14

I love a good question.  As a professor and communicator, I have seen how asking a good question can open minds and hearts.  I love seeing a person wrestle with their thoughts as they attempt to answer a question they have never thought about!  I think often in the midst of these questions, the Holy Spirit shows up to change someone's heart and mind.

The book of Esther is a strange OT book.  The main character of this book is probably Mordecai, but the book gets named after his cousin Esther instead.  

The setting for the book of Esther is the Persian Empire, which at this time is ruled by a somewhat unpredictable and crazy king named Xerxes.  In the first chapter, his queen, Vashti, disobeys and embarrasses the King before his nobles.  In a rage, he casts her out and he begins to look for a new queen.  The nobles come up with an idea to which Xerxes does not object.  All the beautiful virgins within the kingdom will be brought to him for a night, and he will choose the one he wants to be his new queen.

As you can see, this is not a great spiritual story!  It is very base and earthy in all of its components.  Into this cultural mix, Esther is brought into Xerxes' harem.  She is given beauty treatments and brought before the King.  He obviously likes her as he chooses her to be his bride!

Let us pause for a moment and see what great spiritual attributes Esther brings to the table.  She is obviously beautiful.  In fact, she must be smoking hot to be chosen as the most beautiful woman in the entire Kingdom!  ... That is about it.  I do not think she had to be a great conversationalist for what was expected of her.  She was good looking and willing to be part of Xerxes' harem.

I find it so ironic that many, throughout all of history and in every time and place, believe they are not qualified to do God's work.  God can truly use anyone!  

If our history is not noble and is marked by bad choices, God can use us!

If our knowledge and skills are low, God can use us!

If the best we can do is cry out, Lord have mercy on me.  God can use us!

In the book of Esther, she is now queen.  She is performing her duties as queen and Xerxes obviously likes her.  Then Mordecai uncovers a plot to destroy the Jews.  Why?  Because one of Xerxes' officials hates Mordecai!  Mordecai approaches Esther and asks her to risk her life to get the King to change this awful plan.  What must she do?

Esther must come before the King without his having called her so she can give her petition.  In the Persian empire, you could not come before the King without his having summoned you.  Xerxes had not summoned Esther.  She would have to break the law, almost in the same brazen manner that Vashti did, to bring her petition to the King.

Our opening passage includes Mordecai's answer to Esther's objections to coming before the King.  "And who knows but for such a time for this you have come to your royal position?"  Obviously this is true.  Yet how does she know for sure?  

Here is where we also struggle for clarity.  Just as Esther had to overcome her fear, so do we if God is to use us.  We have to step out in faith and do that which God has laid upon our hearts.

So, I ask, "For such a time as this", God has brought you through all of your life.  Will you step out in faith and do what He is leading you to do?  You are uniquely qualified to perform whatever task God has brought you to.  Will you do it?

It does not take great "spiritual strength" (whatever that is), but a willingness to believe.  Faith means looking past our fear because of the knowledge that God is at work.  He is doing something.  Even if I perish in the attempt, I will do what He is leading me to do!

So, what is God calling you to?  Is it a call to ministry?  To missionary work?  To talking to your neighbor about Christ?  To going back to church?  To loving your spouse even though they do not deserve it?  What has God laid upon your heart?

Even with all your heartaches and hang-ups, God has uniquely qualified you to do the task He has laid upon your heart.  Repent of your unbelief, trust in the Maker of all things, and watch Him work through you!

The Wrong Cause of Fear

As we move into another weekend, I have been wrestling with what to post.  As I have been praying, I am reminded that this week I have been wrestling against much more than indecision on what to post!  

At least once a week since I moved to Seattle, I have been awakened in the middle of the night with deep seated fear.  My heart is pounding and I am convinced someone or something is in the house.  Yuck!  After I awake with such a start, I then cannot get back to sleep for hours if at all.  What is going on?

Two nights ago it happened ago.  M.E. went to bed early and I followed around 11.  We did pray together since she was asleep.  I awoke with this fear at 1:15 AM.  After determining no one was in the house, I was flooded with thoughts of my house not selling, nothing working out in this new ministry, fear for my children.  It was awful.

I prayed about each of these thoughts and much more for hours.  Still I had no peace.  Then, I realized this was a direct spiritual attack of some kind.  I prayed that the Lord would deliver me from the evil one and his schemes.  I prayed for protection and against his lies.  Within minutes, I slept soundly until 8.

So, what is going on here?  I believe I did experience, and I have been experiencing direct, fear-producing attacks from the evil one.  By God's grace, I will "resist him, standing firm in the faith."  Please join me in prayer!  Often when the Spirit is doing about to do something great or is doing something great, the evil one will try to stop it through direct attack or through using division within the body of Christ.  

Please pray for me and with me against these schemes.  Pray that the Spirit will run freely here bringing many to faith and many others to a place of deeper repentance and trust!  Pray for my family that they might find renewed joy and hope with this move.  Also pray that my house sells in Maine so that burden is lifted.  It is such a great place with so much property, I am shocked it has not been seen by more people.  Pray that the veil will be lifted so people will look at it, love it, and buy it (or at least be good renters for many years!).  

The following is a reminder from April.  The Lord casts out fear with His awesome grace and love!

"For the Lord has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and self-discipline." 

2 Tim. 1:7

"Be of sober spirit, be on the alert.  Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.  Resist him, standing firm in your faith;" 

1 Peter 5: 7-8

I am not a man who walks in fear often.  My much like sin tendencies is the opposition: I often blunder ahead with too little fear or self-concern.  Yet, today I am not feeling well, and I feel very unsure about everything.  It is not that I am quaking in my boots, but I lack direction and empowerment from the HS.  I have gnawing doubts and, dare I say it, fear.  Perhaps I might be better off if I just take a nap!

Even as I feel this way, I was running through these scriptures and claiming the Lord's victory in my life.  What's going on?  My youngest has had a high fever for three days.  It is easily treated with Ibuprofen.  When the fever is down, he is up playing and laughing.  When the fever rages, he is lethargic and fussy. Is this the same mystery disease that plagued another of my sons for almost five years?  Every 26-30 days for these five years, my son would have a terrible sore throat, a really high fever (104-106) and lethargy.  When the fever is treated with Ibuprofen, he was up and playing.  This condition is known and I have a doctor's appointment for him at 3:45 to confirm.  (By the way, this fever never came back!)

Why do my kids get this?  Does it cause permanent damage?  Why does this strike just as I feel the Lord's leading to quickly finish all my work on spiritual warfare and how it relates to authentic grace-centered spirituality?  Honestly, I stopped the work last fall because I grew so tired of the direct attacks from the evil one.  Is it worth it?

Here I remind myself of my own writing.  Perfect love casts out fear!  Here are some thoughts on fear, doubt, and the work of the devil.  May they draw us all to prayer and fellowship with the one who has the victory!

For many of us, we kind of like the way that Christian leaders and others have told us that those who sensationalize the devil have it all wrong.  We enjoying making fun of the "demon behind every bush" theology, and those who claim "the devil made me do it" when caught in any sin.  As a result, most of us do not study Satan's schemes, and we live our lives as practical secularists who deny a spiritual dimension to the temptations and issues in our lives.

On the other hand, there are churches and individuals who make every element of the Christian life a battle between God and Satan that we decide.  These folks live as practical dualists who give too much credit to Satan and his forces.  Often, they also neglect the awesome power and victory of Christ over Satan and his forces.  Neither position reflects the true direction of biblical teaching.

Both of today's passages describe one of Satan's primary methods of attack on the Christian: fear.  When we live in fear, we do not live a life of faith and trust.  Instead, we are marked by self-regard, self-effort, and a lack of knowledge of the true God.  Paul reproves Timothy because he lives in fear.  The gospel gives us a spirit of power and love and discipline, not fear!  

Peter tells us that our adversary prowls like a roaring lion.  I have heard it said that the roaring lion is not the one to worry about.  He roars to drive fear into his prey so that the intended victim runs away from the roar.  What the prey does not know is that his scheme drives them directly to the other lions in the pride so they can kill it.  

Peter warns us to be aware and alert.  He commands us to stand firm in the gospel.  The devil may roar; but when you hear it, arm yourself with the gospel and Christ's victory!

As Mark Bubeck states, "The victory of Christ over Satan is total and complete.  The person who appropriates and applies by faith the victory which Christ has purchased and provided will find a gracious, God-authored courage stabilizing his inner man." The Adversary, 80.

Fear takes many forms in our fallen world.  Some are wise and some are harmful.  It is wise to fear the 1800 pound bull in my back field.  I give him a healthy respect and distance.  Yet, I do not walk about in constant thought and fear of that animal!  I am "sober minded" about his power and I seek to respect and be mindful of his power.  I know he has a job to do, and I am allowing him to do it without putting myself, my family, or visitors in his path.  I think this is wise fear, because it is really respect and knowledge of this beast's power.

Other types of fear are mixed between wise and harmful.  It all depends upon what you do with it.  Most of these fears are even socially accepted!  For example, it is prudent to lock your doors in these desperate times.  Yet, those who live in fear of being robbed, those who think about it all the time, those who check their doors repeatedly for fear of an intruder do not walk in faith.  They believe that their resources and diligence will save them.  Where does God fit into this picture?  Most likely He doesn't.  Still, it is socially acceptable and encouraged to lock your doors!  Where do we draw the line?  That is a question for each of us.  If we walk in fear, we need to repent and ask God for mercy to rest and trust.  We need to ask for His protection.

Another example is parenting.  How many of us fear for the future of our children?  It is true that we have a responsibility to raise our children in the fear and admonition of the Lord.  Yet, study after study has shown that those in the 20s now have been "overly protected" by their parents from life's hardships.  Why? I believe the key reason was a socially acceptable fear.  We fear, so we give money, protection, shelter.  The unintended consequence is a generation that "has a failure to launch."  Another unintended consequence is that we have given Satan ground into our families by walking in fear.  We have not been sober minded and aware of Satan's schemes.  We have fed fear, and without repentance we will reap the consequences.

A final example is ministry.  How many of us have not spoken to a neighbor about the Lord because of fear?  What if they reject me?  What will they think?  The real question should be, are they in bondage and do they need the gospel?  If so, then out of love for them and in response to walking in the power of the Spirit, we need to share the gospel with them.  We need to pray that the Lord will open the door so it just flows naturally.  Most importantly, we need to say something!

Why do we not do this?  Fear.  Plain and simple, it is fear.  What about a ministry that you would love to start or be part of, yet you do not do so for fear that it will not go well or that you will "not find the time."  We so often put off to tomorrow what should be done today (to quote the great theologian Garth Brooks).

Again I say, fear is not from God.  "There is no fear in love; but perfect love drives out fear." 1 John 4:18  Do we not believe that God can work it out to bring someone to faith without making us their enemy?  Do we not believe that God can work through us, even with our frailties?  Do we not believe that God loves our children, and that He will take care of them?  Is everything really all about us?

I know what it is like to live in fear.  I know how we can busy ourselves so we avoid walking in faith.  I also can say clearly, walking in fear is not from God.  Pray about this.  Fear gives the devil a foothold in our lives, our families, our churches.  It is the primary way that Satan works to hinder the work of God.  

Pray through these passages I mentioned in this blog.  If the Spirit gives you insight into areas where you are dominated by fear, I ask you, no beg you, to repent!  Confess to God your sin and your need for His grace.  Ask Him to work instead of you thinking it is all about you.  Walk in faith.  Claim the victory of Christ and the truth of the gospel as your own.

May your life be marked by grace, trust, rest, and God's power instead of fear.  In so doing, you will defeat the schemes of the Evil one against you, your family, and your church.

The Pastoral Surgeon

The fact that we are called by God to love a particular person does not mean that the recipient of love will like it.  The specific, concrete love of God will often require us to love people who do not want our love in the way God requires us to offer it.  The love of God to sinners through us, whatever else it may be, is always the gracious demand to repent.  Even in the tenderest pastoral call on a gentle, faithful, persevering saint there is contained- implied if not stated- the quiet request to turn to God.  The saint who is tender to God will always welcome it.  It is no threat, it is sheer joy.  But to the ill-tempered, the stubborn and the proud, all pastoral ministry, all pastoral love, will be a threat.

The call to repent assaults the Old Adam in us: the life of the flesh, our involvement in the sinful structures of this world, our stubborn refusal to yield to God's will.  We cherish our sin, we clutch it, it kills us but we love it.  The gospel demands that we choose life, rejecting sin and its ungodly demands.  So the love of God in the gospel works like a surgeon.  Cutting out sin's cancer, with pain like death, the gospel heals.

Most of us do not like the surgical role of the gospel.  This is why we need God's specific definition of love to guide us in our work.  Every time the parishioner winces ever so slightly, we want to stop pastoring.  As Keirkegaard says, the pastor must "above all be able to put up with all the rudeness of the sick person without letting it upset him, any more than a physician allows himself to be disturbed by the curses and kicks of a patient during an operation.

The ministry in all its parts- preaching, teaching, visitation, spiritual direction, church discipline, church politics- works under the Lord's sovereign hand to excise the pernicious tumor of sin from the parishioners we love.  This process causes the Old Man to scream, bite, claw, threaten, slander, and accuse.

Enduring this pain is quite necessary.  No pastor in his or her right mind likes it.  Quite a few people, highly qualified for pastoral ministry in every way, find this to be the point of impossibility for them.  They must find other places to serve in Christ's kingdom.  I still don't know whether I can take it.  I take the problems one at a time as best I can.  Enduring is never a triumph.  It just happens.

David Hansen, The Art of Pastoring, 38-39.

This quotation is from the beginning of Hansen's book on pastoral life.  It has been so encouraging and enriching!  I can say it sure matches my reality found in 20 years of pastoral ministry!

I find the first paragraph in the above quote so insightful.  I was told early on that I would not survive long as a pastor if I believed that everyone had to like me.  I remember thinking that odd; but as I trusted the one giving the advice, I placed the thought deep in my mind for further reflection.  

Most pastors like to be liked.  In fact, most of us would gladly give up power or authority for the privilege of being liked.  Many pastors have ruined a perfectly good church by giving in to this tendency!  Often we avoid gospel-centered confrontation to be liked.  Unfortunately this only empowers those not in line with God's will and direction.  It diminishes the pastor's ability to speak truth and love into a congregation.  It also is the opposite of love!  We end up with a worldly church.

Hansen is completely correct that the gospel call to repentance naturally leads to the rebellion of our flesh.  Some have grown in their walk of grace so they can handle the natural, hair-raising-on-the-neck, tendency against repentance.  They wince slightly, come before God in humility, and they come to repentance and faith.  These mature believers will grow in grace, and greatly appreciate a loving pastor who leads them to deeper repentance and faith.

Yet, to the proud, such a call is more than a slap on the face.  It is a spotlight on their sin, and they hate it. They often strike out at the light-bearer to try to put out the light.  These folks may be "church people."  They may even be leaders in the church.  In fact, the more reputation they have to lose, the harder they strike out at the light!

Yet, for a pastor not to bring the gospel's call to repent before on all people, even the proud and controlling, is to neglect and ignore the call to pastoral ministry!  The gospel leads us to repentance and then faith.  Even if fallen people do not like to repent and believe, it is the central message of the gospel.  It is also the central message of pastoral work.

Does your pastor or another Christian leader sometimes drive you crazy?  Is this leader in touch with the gospel and acknowledging the grace of God as central in their life?  If they are, then the living out of the gospel might rub you wrong.  Many will question such a leader's motives.  They will even attack this leader as being arrogant and controlling.  Please notice that these accusations often perfectly match what the Lord is pointing out in the hearts of His people to whom He is calling to deeper repentance and faith!

In other words, avoid a Christian leader who always makes you feel good about yourself without calling you deeper into repentance and faith.  Such a leader is not a true pastor of the gospel.  They might be peddling self-help advice, but they are avoiding the real work of God, which is to draw us deeper into trusting the gospel.

Also, I would strongly encourage you to avoid Christian leaders who do not understand the gospel as demonstrated by their lack of emphasis on grace in the Christian life.  These folks will beat you up without ever pointing to Christ by faith.  

True pastors understand their need for the gospel, and they point you to your need for the gospel.  A good pastoral relationship will be marked by easy repentance and deep faith.  May this week be marked by the same in all of our lives!

Holy Discontent

Even though it has been almost 25 years, I can still remember the feelings of rootlessness and loss when I experienced my first major crisis of faith.  Somehow, I came to realize that my goals for life were woefully inadequate.  I remember my alarm when I discovered that which I believed and trusted to bring me happiness and joy did not and could not answer the real questions of life.  Looking back, I can see how God worked to bring about this crisis of faith.

So what happened?  As I ended my high school career, I found myself in an enviable position.  I had navigated the shoals of high school successfully: I had friends, respect, very good grades, and a bright future.  I had achieved the high goals I had set, and I was ready to move to a bigger pond to swim with the bigger fish!

Then I began to have a gnawing feeling of sorrow.  Why?  I had achieved my goals.  I knew I could set more and higher goals, work hard, and then I could continue to achieve.  But then what?  Fulfilling my goals and achieving "my dreams" really did not make me happy.  It made me proud, but not happy.

Furthermore, I also had some friends who were disappointed with their future prospects.  In their life, things were not working out.  They were looking for jobs, and they were not happy.  We would sit around and talk.  I found that the same fears, questions, and lack of happiness marked both those who were achievers and those who were struggling.  If that is the case, what's the point?

Here is where my crisis of faith occurred.  I had trusted in the Midwestern dream of hard work, achievement, and success.  I had won this race.  Yet, I was not happy or satisfied.  If I went to college and did the same, I seriously doubted that I would be happy and satisfied.  I would then move on to a career.  If I did the same, would I be fulfilled and satisfied?

What happened if I failed?  My friends were miserable, and I knew I would be miserable also with failure.  Is life meant to be tolerated instead of enjoyed?  There had to be more to life than this rat-race of attempted success.

At this point, I did something strange.  I picked up a bible and decided to see if it had some answers.  Why did I do this?  Looking back, I can see it was God's hand at work bringing me to faith.  He was calling me.  At first I could not understand the source of this call.  I also could not grasp its meaning.  Yet, as Augustine said, "My heart was restless until it found its rest in Thee."

I believe my experience is not singular.  I think it has occurred many times and in many places with many different people.  Until we find our rest in faith and trust in the Living God, we are restless.  I so appreciate Os Guinness's take on this phenomena.  As he states,

True seekers are looking for something.  They are people for whom life, or a part of life, has suddenly become a point of wonder, a question, a problem, or a crisis.  This happens so intensely that they are stirred to look for an answer beyond their present answers and to clarify their position in life.  However the need arises, and whatever it calls for, the sense of need consumes the searchers and launches them on their quest.

Notice that "a sense of need" does not justify people's believing.  People do not come to believe in the answers they seek because of need- that would be irrational and make the believer vulnerable to the accusation that faith is a crutch.  Rather, seekers disbelieve in what they believed in before because of new questions their previous beliefs could not answer.  The question of what and why they then come to believe is answered at a later stage.  As Malcolm Muggeridge's biographer wrote of the conversion of the great English journalist, "He knew what he disbelieved long before he knew what he believed."

Os Guinness, The Call, 11.

I think so much of life is similar to hearing the call of God to first faith.  When we feel an intense angst and growing discontent with our circumstances, with life, with everything, we should ask the question, "Lord what are You trying to tell me?"

This question is not only valid for pursuing first trust in the Lord.  Continuing to ask the Lord for clarification and guidance should be taught as a natural element of learning how to walk with God.  He uses our questions, discontent, illness, hardships, major positive steps in life like marriage or the birth of a child, job loss, job gain, and growing old as catalysts to propel us deeper into faith and trust.  

In what or whom do you trust?  Is it growing stale?  Does it no longer satisfy?  Please know that your feelings of discontent or wonder are natural.  They are actually brought about by our heart's need to find its rest in Christ alone.  Take some time to be still before the creator and lover of your soul so you can begin to hear with increasing clarity the call of God.

What is real Manhood?

"Brace yourself up like a man and I will question you,

and you will make it known to me."

The Lord speaking to Job

Job 40: 7

I believe in today's Western culture, particularly for those under age 40, there is no more confusing passage in all of scripture than this one! "Brace yourself up like a man?"  What in the world does this mean?

I believe there has been a concentrated and pernicious attack on men and young boys for the past forty years.  With the rise of the Feminist movement, came a prolonged attack on boys and men.  I could go into the many, many statistics to back this up, but defending this claim is not the aim of this post.  All I will say is that much like our modern political debate, instead of positively stating why women are different, special, and so needed in every realm of life, we were told why men were enslavers, manipulative, and content to keep women down.

The result?  We have leveled all of society as best as we can so as to diminish differences between men and women.  Want strange proof?  Just this week I was reading that our new aircraft carriers will no longer have urinals in the men's bathrooms.  This follows a worldwide trend.  I know several years ago a Scandinavian country tried to outlaw men urinating while standing since it was a means of showing dominance over women! 

What has been our message?  Boys and men, stop acting so "manly"!  Be calm, civilized, stop fidgeting, and stop acting like there is a difference between men and women.  We have disparaged being "macho" to the point where we have huge confusion over how a man should act, think, and be in society.

I believe we have done so to a great peril to individual men and women, the Church, and our society as a whole.  I know I have spent way too much time working with young men (and some not so young) encouraging them to act like a man.  I have found so much confusion among young men as to who they should be, how they should act, and what they should do.  For the past twenty years at least: 

Thoughtful men do not wish to be a "chauvinist pig" so they become passive around women;

Many young men struggle with their "failure to launch" so they retreat to video games, extreme sports, and they settle for part-time jobs to pay for their pleasures while they depend upon others to provide for their daily needs;

We have so emphasized our need for egalitarian relationships that men get married, but do not know how to lead a family, a Church, or a business.  Instead, they differ leadership decisions to "consensus" decisions.  Such a lack of leadership often leads to resentment, anger and broken relationships with spouses, significant others, and in all of life;

Finally, there appears to be a true lack of understanding that delayed gratification is necessary for maturity and true manhood.  If our reward is not immediate, it is not coming.  Thus our relationships, business and career decisions, life decisions, and all choices are based on our need for immediate reward.  We seem to have lost the will to live in light of next year, let alone eternity!

So what does it mean to be a man?  Our culture is so confused!  So are many in the Church.  What does the Bible have to say about it?  What does it mean to "brace yourself up like a man"?

I just read a great article in the summer 2002 Leadership magazine that I think gives some insight.  I like this following quote from Robert Lewis because it states positively what it means to be a man.  How I want my boys to hear this message!

What is your definition of manhood?

We compared the first Adam with the last Adam, Christ, and we found four differences.  They are our four foundations stones for authentic manhood.

A real man is one who rejects passivity, accepts responsibility, leads courageously, and expects the greater reward, God's reward.

What do you think of this definition?  Is it helpful?  How do we incorporate this understanding into our lives?  Into the life of our family?

The first place to start is always in repentance and faith.  If this makes you angry since I must be a "chauvinist pig" for saying it, repent and believe!  I am an imperfect person and often shallow thinker, what do you have that is better?  Share it with us!  

If you find that you have not lived as a man, repent and believe.  Confess to God, to others, and to yourself that you fall short.  Ask Jesus to help you live an authentic life.  Also, share this idea with others.  Perhaps others share your frustrations!  Let us press on to know Jesus and what He has for us.

A Life of Repentance and Rest or a Life of Religious Self-Effort

It is already 1:15 PM Pacific time, and I have not finished my blog post for today.  I have an interesting quote and thought about manhood that I would like to share, but tomorrow will be the day for that post!  Today I will share some thought I originally posted in May.  May the Lord bless us as we cling to His gospel!

The remedy for our sin, whether scandalous or acceptable, is the gospel in its widest scope.  The gospel is actually a message: here I am using the word gospel as a shorthand expression for the entire work of Christ in His historic life, death, and resurrection for us, and His present work in us through the Holy Spirit.  When I say the gospel in its widest scope, I am referring to the fact that Christ, in His work for us and in us, saves us not only from the penalty of sin, but also from its dominion or reigning power in our lives.  This twofold aspect of Christ's great work is beautifully captured in Augustus Toplady's great hymn "Rock of Ages," with the words,

Let the water and the blood,

From thy riven side which flowed,

Be of sin the double cure,

Cleanse me from its guilt and power.

Jerry Bridges, Respectable Sins, 33.

What a wonderful summary of the Gospel's content and action.  Bridges has been writing on this theme for almost thirty years.  In Respectable Sins, he is dealing with those sins that we as Christians often live with as acceptable and normal.  What sins might these be?  He argues that they are the modern expressions of those sins mentioned in scripture such as anxiety and frustration, discontent, unthankfulness, impatience and irritability, judgmentalism, and a lack of self-control.  I have not finished the book, but it has been good so far!

What particularly strikes me today is how the gospel is Christ-centered and Christ-focused.  The gospel is secure and powerful because Christ's work was finished and perfected with His resurrection.  There is absolutely nothing we can do to add to His finished work!  

Yet, how many of us live our Christian life as if His finished work is not enough?  In our mind, we affirm He is the answer, but in our real life, we labor to fix ourselves and our circumstances.  Somehow we have not learned how to appropriate His finished work into our life.

I know some will argue that our labor to fix ourselves and our circumstances flows from "His present work in us through the Holy Spirit."  If we are walking in active repentance and faith, I would agree.  If we constantly remind ourselves of Christ's finished work and claim it as our own, I completely agree.  I just wonder how many of us really live in such dependence?  Why is it so hard to find someone whose life is so marked by such a lifestyle and its resulting grace?

I know all too often my life is marked more by worry and anxiety than repentance, rest, quietness and trust (Isaiah 30:15).  How can I tell?  My inner dialogue runs through my concerns, questions, fears, and doubts more than it turns to constant reflection upon the beauty and grace of Christ.  The irony is that people often tell me that I am marked less with worry and anxiety than most!  Am I just good at hiding it or is this an epidemic among modern folks?

As I begin a new week after a glorious holiday weekend, I know what I must do.  Even with the busyness of packing and preparing to move, even with my fear and concern that no one has purchased my home, even with my constant wondering about the health of my coming child, I must repent and believe the gospel.  My worry and concern will not change a thing.  Yet, I know the One who can change all things.  I know the One who loves me and who is working for my good.  I know the source of all power and might.

Lord Jesus, have mercy on me a sinner.  Have mercy on us a people who are often marked more by unbelief than by repentance and rest!

For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel,

"In repentance and rest you shall be saved;

in quietness and in trust shall be your strength."

Isaiah 30:15

A Pilgrim on the Road of Life

The journey to the Island is very like the pilgrimage of life.  Sometimes the way is easy, level going and without hindrance.  At other times we find our way blocked and we can do nothing about it but wait.  No amount of jumping up and down or getting irate will change the situation, unless you are Moses or have the cloak of Elijah!  There are times when we must move forward without delay or the opportunity will have gone and the road before us will be closed.  Sometimes life is all at sea and then another time a road opens up suddenly before us.  At all times we need to accept the wisdom, knowledge, and guidance of those who have gone before us.  We need to plan our journey and be aware of any hazards we may encounter.  Without a doubt we are all travelers in this world, if not pilgrims.  We are all on a journey along the road of life.

David Adam, The Road of Life, xiv.

Last night I was looking for something to read.  As I was scanning my shelves, my eyes came across this book that I purchased last summer.  I immediately knew this was the one to pick up!

In the past two months, I have enjoyed the very tumultuous road of life.  I have been on a pilgrimage with my Lord, and I must confess I am still trying to get my legs under me after a long, fast moving stretch of the journey!

I have many children and one of their favorite movie is Cars.  In this movie, the title song states that "life is a highway, and I want to drive it all night long."  While I love this movie and even enjoy this song, I find that my life is more of an off-road experience resembling driving along a seldom used logging trail.  I guess I am envious of those folks whose life is just a smooth highway!  

It seems to me that the only time my ride is really smooth is when I am sitting still.  I love these times of refreshment and relaxing.  Yet, they are often brief because the Spirit speaks in the midst of them to provoke me onward.  Generally, I then start to move forward on a clearly marked section of the logging road.  Soon there is a bend in the road; and as I take the corner, I see that the road immediately ahead angles into a swamp, is rock covered, or is overgrown with bushes and recently fallen trees.

How do we not only survive but also thrive on this often bumpy road of life?

"At all times we need to accept the wisdom, knowledge, and guidance of those who have gone before us.  We need to plan our journey and be aware of any hazards we may encounter."

What great advice!  We live in a rootless age marked by shallow soil (to mix my metaphors from that of a road to agricultural terms!).  There is such a disdain for anything older than yesterday or wisdom that does not immediately match and suit our accepted contemporary sensibilities.  

Is there any wonder why so many of our youth appear to lack vision for life?  They were told that "life is a highway."  Then they begin to live and find that life is more like a winding logging road through the middle of nowhere!

Thankfully, our journey is not through uncharted territory.  The road of life, the pilgrimage each of us travels, the path we each must choose is charted, marked, and navigated.  Our North Star is the One True and Living God who calls us to true life.  This life begins with an acknowledged relationship with Him.  I say acknowledged; because even if we wish to deny it, this God is the Father of all and He is constantly calling out to us.  We never journey alone.  Learn to walk with Him by faith because He knows the way.

Second, there have been many map-makers throughout history.  These folks may not have had iPhones and the internet, but they had all the temptations and difficulties known to us all.  They have experienced broken relationships.  They have lived through tragedy.  They have been stung by sin's bite.  They have lived through the swamps and pitfalls along the road!

They have also experienced the joys of life that each of us long for.  They have fallen in love, had children, enjoyed their friend's company, thought through questions and issues, and enjoyed the small moments in life.  They have experienced great success.  These folks have lived through the smooth places and level parts of the road.  They can show you the way.

Most importantly, these map-makers can and will point you to the One who knows your path.  They will encourage you in the difficult times and the great times.  Why would we want to walk through life as if we are the only ones who could know our own struggles?

Join with the community of faith throughout all time.  Look, with the community of fellow pilgrims, toward that One True Guide who calls out to you.  Stop your refusal to listen!  Ask Him to tune your ears that you can hear His voice.  Ask Him to change your heart so that you will follow. 

We do not travel alone.  Look to the Guide, for He knows the road you must travel.

Quieting the Inner-Dialogue

Today is a wonderful day of appointments and birthday celebrations.  I just do not have time to post something original.  The following are some important thoughts about finding rest in God's character and person.  At least I found it important as it helped me preach the gospel to myself!  

The wonderful and long vacation is now over.  I so enjoyed being away, but I also enjoyed a good night's sleep in my own bed last night.  After 3500 miles of driving, I am back home.

Why was vacation so wonderful?  It provided a space and a place for me to be still before the living Lord.  We stayed right on the beach, so I went to sleep hearing the breakers roar, and I woke up each morning hearing the breakers roar.  For a week, I watched the tide come in and the tide go out.

I found it so refreshing to think that I can do nothing about the tide.  Even though I am 1300 miles away from that home on the beach, the tide still comes in and goes out.  Even as my first ancestors arrived on these shores hundreds of years ago, so the tide come and goes.

There is a God in this universe.  I am not this great God!  Neither are you.  Why do I forget this truth so much?  Why do I believe I must work and labor to make all right since God is not doing it?  I worry and think about so many things, but it would be wiser to rest in the living God's strength.  Just like the tides, He will work His purpose and will.  I praise Him for His goodness and mercy.

So, what did I learn or should I say relearn?  Rest and believe.  Trust and know.  Enjoy His presence and all goes well.

This reminds me of a quotation from David Adam in his book called The Road of Life.  Adam was the Vicar on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne for 13 years.  This island has been a Christian retreat center/monastery almost 1500 years, and it is the destination for many seeking peace and the presence of God.  

Adam was discussing how we as humans always bring our sin tendencies with us.  Even on "retreat" or a vacation, we can find our mind thinking about our issues instead of focusing on the living God.  As he states,

Often people come to the Island for peace; some are fortunate but others find they are the same on the Island as they were at home.  I try to persuade such people to give up seeking peace.  Do not look for a present, look for the Presence.  In seeking peace we are like the child playing with the box and the wrappings while ignoring the real gift.  We may get deep delight from peace, but there is a far greater gift offered.  God offers himself to us.  God is willing to walk with us, to listen to us, to care for us.  When God is recognized, when we abide in his presence, we also receive the gifts we sought.  God says, 'My presence will go with you and I will give you rest' (Ex. 33.14).  In this world the only lasting peace we will find is in his presence.  

p. 97

I could not agree more!  Yet, I find so many who do not know how to come into the presence of God.  They "feel him" in worship, so they become worship junkies.  They "feel him" in nature, so they become nature junkies.  Others "feel him" at the beach, so they always go to the beach!  There is a great problem with this.  

Like any addict, the effects of the outside stimulus diminish over time.  God is not "felt" in worship like He was.  So, we trade churches looking for a new high.  We do not see him in the same old natural places, so we look for new activities and new places.  We might become a thrill seeker.  We do not find him at the same place again in the same way, so we look for a new and better vacation spot.

God's presence is found when we seek Him in humility.  When we repent and come naked before Him asking for mercy and depending upon Christ, His presence is found.  With His presence comes peace and life-changing power.

As a pastor, I often come at this issue in the opposite direction.  Do you lack life-changing power?  Do your addictions to sin and self dominate your life?  The power to break sin only comes in the presence of God and by His grace.  You cannot use God as a self-help motivator.  You must enter His presence and allow Him to work as He wishes.  He will put away sin and He often leads us in ways we would not naturally go.

Seek His presence today.  In quietness, repent of your sin.  It might take time.  You have much clutter in your mind and heart!  Ask the Lord to put it in order or to take it away.  Begin the journey with the true source of power and peace.  Seek His presence!

The Trials of the Sluggard (like you and me!)

"I passed by the field of the sluggard, and by the vineyard of the man lacking sense;

and behold, it was completely overgrown with thistles,

its surface was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down.

When I saw, I reflected upon it; I looked and received instruction.

'A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest.'

Then your poverty will come as a robber, and your want like an armed man." 

Pro. 24: 30-34

As I have shared before, each day I read a chapter of Proverbs.  This book has been my constant friend, companion, and instructor for over 20 years!  Proverbs is a book in the OT located just after the Psalms.  It is a very practical book that gives pithy statements of general truth.  In the ancient near eastern cultures, such statements amounted to important cultural intelligence.  To know these proverbs well and to apply them in life illustrated good education.  Solomon was the wisest man in the world because he knew, composed, and passed on these proverbs.

As I was heading to the Proverbs for today (chapter 17), my eyes caught this passage.  I have met this sluggard.  I have known him in every church I ever served.  This sluggard, whether a man or a woman, often wants much in life, but they just lack the energy to do anything about it.  It is not like their intentions are wrong or bad.  They merely lack the ability to put any plan into action that will help them achieve their desires.

I have seen the sluggard lose everything.  I have seen people who literally live in homes that are falling apart on a piece of property that is falling apart.  I have also seen folks who desire a better relationship with their spouse or children, yet they spend all their spare time doing nothing but watching sports on TV.  I have witnessed people who eat themselves to poor health and even death because they lack the will-power or desire to begin to exercise and change their eating habits.

I have also closely observed folks who do none of the above, yet have definite sluggard tendencies.  I know first-hand that one can be a sluggard by not following the leading of the Holy Spirit.  I am afraid that all too often, I am that type of sluggard!  How so?  

I have a horrible tendency to put off to tomorrow what I could do today.  Each of us are given 24 hours to live each day.  No one has more time than others.  So why do some of us get more done than others?  They use their time wisely!  As I look back on the first half of my life, I sure have wasted a ton of my God-given time!  I have spend it on amusements, laziness, and non-Kingdom based activities.  I have folded my hands in rest and said to myself, "Tomorrow I will start."  The problem is that tomorrow never comes!

When I was a kid, we had an old bar called the Trading Post where we loved to eat dinner.  It had great food and homemade pies!  It also had a sign outside that said, "Free Beer Tomorrow."  If asked about it, the owner would say, with a sly smile on his face, "Come back tomorrow and all the beer is free."

Tomorrow never comes.  Take the five minutes to start that new project today!  Be in motion for the Kingdom.  Call that friend the Lord lays upon your heart.  Do not put it off!  As you follow the Lord's leading He will give you more strength to face the day.

Our characters are formed by repeated choices.  We can be transformed by God's grace and by asking the Spirit to apply what we hear from the living God.  Ask Him to use you!  You will be amazed what He can do!

"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we can ask or think, 

according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory..." 

Ephesians 3: 20-21

Monday Economics and the Grave-Digger Thesis

Another Monday morning has dawned in the Pacific Northwest.  Yesterday was a blessed day.  Blessed, but I have to admit tiring!  I am thinking about several different issues right now, but I am not ready to share what I am writing.  Thus, I will borrow from others and comment on their thoughts.  

This morning I would like to focus again on Os Guinness' book The Call.  Toward the middle of the book, he is discussing the spiritual component of money.  He begins the chapter with a startlingly accurate assessment of what happened in the West with our financial crisis of the past couple of years.  As he writes,

"The decisive question for the West is its capacity to direct and discipline capitalism with an ethic strong enough to do so.  I myself don't believe the West can do it."  When the Singapore economist I mentioned in chapter 7 delivered that blunt assessment a few years ago, a shiver of excitement ran through the room.  There were no academic ifs, ands and buts, here was a plain-speaking, "one-handed" economist who would have delighted Harry Truman.

Such a challenges makes many Westerners uncomfortable.  Yet another tiresome assault on our materialism?  But the unease is odd because the criticism is not new, and it is Christian in origin.  It forms the so-called gravedigger thesis, the notion that capitalism may undermine itself by its very success.  This idea got a bad name because of its association with Karl Marx- "What the bourgeoisie produces above all is its own gravediggers."  But in Christian history it was a key part of Puritan analysis before Marx picked it up.  In eighteenth-century America, for example, Cotton Mather warned that unless there was vigilance, a sense of calling would bring forth prosperity, only to result in prosperity's destroying the sense of calling.

The Call, 134.

What I find most profound about these paragraphs and the statement made by the economist from Singapore is its keen foresight.  This book was written in 1998!  Ten years later, we witness a financial meltdown brought about by unfettered greed (called capitalistic speculation) made by banks and supported by governments that argue they are "too big to fail."  How could this happen?

When the making of money becomes the most important issue, some people and groups of people will always go too far.  We live in a fallen world.  If lying, deceit, and improper means will help one find "security" in money, fallen people without a sense of God's all-seeing eye will do anything secure more money!

How do we deal with this tendency?  Well there are two options.  First, we empower the government to "crack-down" on these low-down scoundrels.  We create more and different laws to "regulate" business.  This is the path the West is now trying.

I am afraid it will not work!  Those making the laws are fallen individuals who are deeply influenced by fallen individuals.  Thus, the law have too many loop-holes and other means of being deprived of their power.  All we have done is move the power from the market to the government.  What guarantee is there that the government is not equally corrupt?

Furthermore, does the law really have power to change the human heart?  Does not the law and its demands often inflame deeper disobedience?  If the heart of the people is not changed, all the law will do is influence smart folks to pursue dishonest or immoral gain in different ways.

This leads to the second option for how to deal with undisciplined capitalism.  The second option is a great and pervasive revival of true spirituality.  While in a fallen world there are always those who reject God's judgment on sin and pursue dishonest gain, we need a greater heart understanding of right and wrong.  Until we get such heart change, we will be digging our cultural grave deeper and deeper.

We have lost our sense of right and wrong.  All that is left is individual pursuit of whatever happiness they desire.  As we take away a divine frame of reference, we are left with nothing but individual complete liberty or might-makes-right government action as our guides.  Both of these sources of meaning and direction are short-sight, radically selfish, and lacking the power to promote true love of others over self. 

In other words, the economist is correct about the West.  Unfortunately, he is wrong when he affirms that the Asian way is beyond the lure of capitalism.  As he states,

"What we in Singapore want," he said, "is the modern world, not the West.  We want the Asian way, not the American way.  We want to follow Confucius, not Christ."  Continuing, he explained, "Having given rise to the modern world, the Jewish and Christian faiths have now been reduced to ruins by the modern world."  Asian countries, he concluded, should take a different path.  They should pursue the best opportunities of modern capitalism, industrialized technology, and telecommunications within the setting of their own beliefs and cultures.

Quoted in The Call, 58.

I fear that the Asian way of following Confucius will also fall prey to secularism within a generation. I know they are guided by a deeper sense of family honor than the West.  How long will it take before family honor is associated with financial "security and affluence"?

The problem with the love of money is the human heart.  Individual hearts must be transformed to find security and meaning in Christ.  Money is a shallow idol.  It is never enough.  It is a demanding task-master that is never satisfied!  

As the West and increasingly the East is seduced by security apart from God's presence and relationship, both will grow increasingly corrupt, selfish, and power-hungry.  What is needed is a world-wide revival of true faith!  Lord, have mercy upon us.