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Live Well

May 19, 2010 in God, Life, Love, Philosophy, Worship with 0 Comments

I was asked by a friend who’s life was falling apart why he should live according to God’s Word. After all, good behavior had gotten him nowhere; in fact, he considered himself worse off because of it.

The second part of our banner is Live Well. We covered Love Much in a previous post and Light Your World is coming up. What used to come to mind for me when I heard the term “live well” was keeping my nose clean and staying out of trouble, but I’ve come to learn it’s much more than that.

Just like loving much involves more than taking someone some chicken spaghetti when they break a leg, living well is much more than staying out of jail. Evidence of this is found in the Gospels (first 4 books of the New Testament of the Bible) in the way Jesus talked to those He met. The call was (and is today) to go and sin no more.

That’s it.
Very simple command.
Very difficult implementation plan.
And He knew that!

You see, you can’t go very far down the Live Well road before you understand that you must Love (Him) Much first. Living a life well is a response to His Love and must be rooted in some very weighty beliefs.

First, you must believe that God desires the very best for you. When Jesus talked about the abundant life, he wasn’t talking about a life free of pain and struggle. He was talking about a life that is used to it’s fullest potential to impact His Kingdom. He was talking about life lived with His perspective, not ours. With His priorities, not ours. With His values, not ours.

Second, you must believe that God has a purpose for your life. He uniquely crafted you with abilities, skills and experiences for His purposes. Exploring what those things are, with an eye purpose, is a fantastic way to understand why you are still sucking wind behind your keyboard. Assessments, other people and some good ole soul searching are great tools to uncover this information.

Finally, you must understand that a life lived well typically will mean hard times become the norm. There’s an Enemy lurking for anyone who starts making waves for God. For some, that will be enough to return to status quo, but for those resolute few who really desire to live well, it merely strengthens their resolve. Additionally, there is still Joy to be had when hard times come because we now have a perspective that we’re being used to make a difference.

So, the question about why we should live life well goes all the way back to a response to His Love and moves out from there to being effective in Lighting the world around you. Hmmm…that seems to be the next topic.

*PARADIGM CHECK: Are people asking you about how or why you live life the way you do? A life lived well is different from the world – different decision grids, different actions and certainly different values. If you look, act and smell just like everyone else, perhaps it’s time to examine your life from His perspective and ask some overdue questions…on your knees.

Implementation Process Illustrated

April 28, 2010 in Business, Leadership, Life, Philosophy with 0 Comments

Whether talking about a person or an organization, there exists a framework – intentional or not – that dictates how decisions are made and situations are handled. Greatness can be described as an intentional examination of this framework and rigid adherence to it. Great leaders know how to develop and use each part effectively.

Below is a graphical representation of that framework. The core is critically important as it provides the basis for all other parts. Integrity among the elements of the core will help to ensure that the Strategies and Tactics are unambiguous and clear results can be achieved.

Meat and Potato (MP) Sermons: Margin

April 26, 2010 in God, Life, Philosophy with 0 Comments

I’m starting a series of posts that will talk about sermons topics I wish would be taught on a regular basis – every year or perhaps even every quarter. These are the key truths that seem to be the linchpin to unlocking vast treasures of understanding – at least the way I see it (it is my blog after all).

The first one will be no surprise to those that know me: MARGIN.

Margin, by definition, is extra space allocated for a particular reason. We see it in books, roads and even in how the chairs are arranged at church. Have you ever seen a book where the words ran right up to the edge of the paper? It’s maddening to try to read – your eye has an extremely hard time transitioning from one line to the next. Or been driving in a construction zone where the road narrows and there just isn’t much room between you and oncoming traffic? Or sat down to someone and felt like you were too close?

Principle One: The lack of margin requires that you pay extra attention to the edges.

I don’t desire to have our pastors teach on proper book formatting or how to properly space the chairs in the worship center, but the concept of margin exists in some very key areas of life:

  • Time
  • Finance
  • Morality
  • Energy (physical)

Margin in our schedule is probably the one that we just hear and shake our heads at and say, “Yep – I know, but I’m simply too busy.” We know that we are running too hard and are missing life as we hurry along. Strategies and principles of how to create margin in one’s schedule is needed.

Financial margin is another place where we know the good of it, but don’t have any idea how to achieve it. Unless you have a money tree that you haven’t planted, obtaining financial margin will require some very hard lifestyle choices that hurt on the front end, but bring freedom in the end.

Moral margin is not talked about much, but it is simply staying far away from situations that pull you into the deep weeds. We live in a world that is ruled by one who would love nothing more than to see you and I be pulled into something that takes us out of the game. Thinking strategically about this area is what we need help with.

Finally, margin with our physical energy is something that is tied to all other areas. We are either too busy or too stressed to do what is right for our physical bodies. Physiologically, our bodies need rest. When we sleep soundly, our body goes to work repairing all of the crap we do to it when we’re awake. If we either don’t get enough sleep or aren’t able to sleep deeply, that regenerative process can’t accomplish its goal. The results are numerous and affect our lifestyles greatly.

Margin isn’t just a concept to be admired from afar and it’s not a fairy tale either. It is a choice. A personal choice. A personal choice between life and death – literally in some cases and we need our spiritual leadership to lead by word and example to embrace the importance of margin.

Margin is simply putting space in one’s life that is left for God to fill as He sees fit. The margin-filled life is the key to experiencing God’s spontaneous nature and associated blessings..as we go.

Faith of the Mind

April 23, 2010 in God, Philosophy with 0 Comments

In college, I was surrounded by very smart people. I went to a small Liberal Arts college in Central Arkansas that had a reputation for excellent academic standards and somehow they let me in, but that’s not the point. I started my freshman year with a small idea about who God was, but had no faith in Him whatsoever, but that changed on April 1, 1991 – the spring of my freshman year when I was re-introduced to the person of Jesus and I placed my faith and heart in Him to do with my life whatever He wanted.

I tell people I was drafted because the next three years were a flurry of activity. I was being taught and was teaching others who wanted to learn about Jesus and it was in talking with other students that I often found myself in a recurring situation. Because the average student was brainy – the discussion invariably came down to understanding God with their mind before they would allow their heart to hear His call. A hard conversation to have for sure if you are wanting people to believe something, since beliefs are rooted in the heart.

Recently, I was having a Facebook “discussion” with a proclaimed Atheist that took me back to those days in college, but something was different. I think that part of my roadblock back then is that I didn’t know how to get people to move past their mind and listen to their heart. Today, that’s not the case. You see, I think God understands how we work – at a physiological level, we have to “get it” with our mind first.

The “ah-ha” for me came when I realized that in order to understand God mentally, I had to broaden my capacity to embrace something that I couldn’t prove, touch or existed in my past experiences. It’s hard to do – don’t get me wrong, but completely possible and it starts with humility. Recognizing that there exists a possibility that I don’t know or even have the capacity to grasp everything about this universe is the first step, which is hard for brainiacs.

If your mind is open, if just a little bit, to that possibility, the door to your heart will start to open and His love is able to make all things seem right – both mentally and emotionally.

I believe God wants to engage the WHOLE person – mind, heart and soul – and He designed our minds to be the gatekeepers of the heart for a reason. The pursuit of knowledge is a worthy one – we are made to learn and use that knowledge to enhance our world. That pursuit should include, most especially, those things that we can’t explain or readily understand.

Moral Authority

April 22, 2010 in God, Philosophy, Politics with 0 Comments

Today, I heard Rush Limbaugh talk about how he doesn’t think “positionally” when he thinks about politics. He was describing how he doesn’t think about the need to elect/appoint people based on filling a quota or making sure some sense of positional “fairness” is obtained.

This made me think and immediately disagree with El Rushbo based on the fact that we (conservatives) do desire people in office that subscribe to and believe in a moral authority. Let me explain what a moral authority is. Morality is our sense of right vs. wrong and is built in us from a very early age most notably from our parents. Their morality is impressed on us and shapes our morality and somewhere along the way, we build a moral authority in our minds that then helps us filter decisions based on right vs. wrong.

The problem with individual morality is that there is no consistency from one person to another and that leads to what seems right to one person is heinously wrong for another. It is in that tension where trouble is born. This discrepancy played out in politics is the recipe for corruption and closed-door deals that are not in the best interest of the majority.

The way through this seemingly natural difference between what is right and what is wrong is to agree to subscribe to a higher moral authority – one that isn’t subjective and based on our own experiences, but rather objective and based on timeless principles. For followers of Jesus Christ, this moral authority is God and His Word.

Even without the proclamation of faith in Jesus, we see proof of a even more basic moral authority and the evidence of that is when we can all look at something and all identify it as wrong. Take the World Trade Center (WTC) attacks of 2001. The majority of Americans identified that attack as wrong and most went on to call it evil. How on earth were we all able to agree on that if it weren’t for some basic moral authority we all subscribe to?

What separates that morality from the morality of God is the source from with the determination of right vs. wrong is made. General morality is man-based and isn’t universal. Again, look at the WTC attacks – apparently the terrorists that carried out the plan didn’t think that was wrong and it is that kind of disconnect that prevents us from being able to trust general morality to ensure we all make the right decisions – it is still subjective because it is a construct of man.

The morality of God is a construct of the One who exists outside of time; who is completely consistent; who is all powerful; and who isn’t surprised by anything. So when He says something is wrong – we can all trust that it is.

So, when we vote people into office without looking at whether or not they subscribe to God’s moral authority, we should not be surprised when they act in a way that is inconsistent with how we would act. Their decisions are based on a personal moral code.

So, Mr. Limbaugh, I disagree that we shouldn’t elect/appoint people based on positional qualities. I do agree that we shouldn’t care about their race, color or gender; however, we should care a great deal about their character and to which moral authority that character submits. Most notably, you’ll find submission to the higher moral authority in people that profess to have a faith in God. In light of this, religious position must be a characteristic by which we choose candidates. At least then there is hope that they will act in a way that is consistent with an objective standard of right vs. wrong. No guarantee, but still hope nonetheless.

Relational Intentionality

April 19, 2010 in God, Life, Philosophy with 0 Comments

As part of the human condition, we will naturally gravitate toward what is not good for us or others. It’s OK, we can all finally admit it – we are not inherently “good” by any definition of the word. This is unequivocally true when looking at the person of Christ for He is the only good man that has ever lived and died on this spinning rock.

Which brings me to the importance of being intentional and keeping the things our renewed heart longs for right in front of us and chasing hard after them. Because, as Christians, we have been changed at a fundamental level, life – true life is now obtainable in a world where death is all around.

I’ve been reminded (again) that life is not found alone – for some reason, God designed life to be found, experienced and given in the context of intentional relationships. Seeking out others and doing everything you can to ensure the relationship survives thrives is what is required.

If you look at the life of Jesus, He chose His followers with a great deal of intentionality – seeking out just the right men to train and eventually hand over the future of His church. It wasn’t random or left to chance – it was tactical precision based on the end He knew was coming.

For us, such precision isn’t possible because we can’t see the end of our story, so we have to explore and evaluate what God is doing when He brings people into our lives. Sometimes, it works and sometimes it doesn’t, but being open to taking a look is the key.

James Bryan Smith writes in the last chapter of “The Good and Beautiful God” about pickles. It is an analogy to God’s people and just as the ordinary cucumber is transformed into the mighty pickle through the right environment over time, we are transformed when we soak in His spices (Prayer & Scripture) and bunch up with other people in the process throughout life.

Making pickles is a very intentionally transformational process – one that can’t be rushed and produces a wonderfully unexpected result. It is time we become intentional about relationships again and commit to putting the small stuff behind us and allowing the Grace of God to overcome our bumpy exteriors.

Who is in your life that knows EVERYTHING about you and loves you anyway? If the answer is “nobody”, let me suggest that you add that request to your prayer time. It might take some trust and will for sure take some faith, but in the end, we were always meant to be a Sweet Baby Gherkin rather than just small cucumbers.

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