Category: Motivation

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Performance Based Faith

Today I was thinking about one of the major conundrums in life; we live in a performance-based world with grace-based salvation. It is tough for me to keep the two separate.

When I was young, I loved to help my dad; sometimes, he had something to teach me, and other times it was to learn to be more like him. When I got involved, the projects got done but a little slower and maybe not as neat, but done all the same. At other times, I seem to get in the way. The project still got done just after I have left. Every time, I grew closer to my dad by being involved.

The results were never mine to control; it was his project, not mine; I was “helping.” I didn’t get to control the process or the timing. If I, as a child, told my dad that I thought he should take on a given project and he needed to use a particular material or a specific process to achieve my goals, he would remind me that it was his house. He was the one who sacrificed to have a home in which I could live. He would enjoy my help finishing the projects he had prioritized, but that was my choice to help him, not the other way around.

Christ modeled our relationship with our parents after our relationship with Himself. He wants us to learn from Him and grow closer to Him through involvement with Him.

Ephesians 2:19, “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household.“

TRANSACTIONAL FAITH

In a performance-based world, we become obsessed with goal orientation. We, through constant reinforcement, fixate on achievement. From childhood, we are constantly reminded that results matter. When we take on a task, we want to know why. Is it the best use of our time? Is it within our calling, aptitude, and gifts? We somehow can’t take our hands off the wheel; if we can’t drive, we want to navigate; even when we don’t know the destination.   

Colossians 3: 23-24, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

The key to this statement is “as working for the Lord.” God was very clear from the beginning that we needed to be active while we are here. That activity must have a purpose, and with purpose comes achievement. Our part is to be obedient in doing the task before us, not the outcome of the task. The outcome is the exclusive domain of God, not us. Whatever God puts before us is part of His plan for our lives. We must do it with peace and joy. God does not get His highest pleasure from our achievements; He gets it from our obedience.

Ephesians 3: 12-13, “I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God.”

The implication here is not that we get satisfaction from what we accumulate or accomplish but from the tasks that God puts before us because it is a gift from God. Being the person God has made you be isn’t about creating something; it is about discovering something. The pursuit is progressed not by the honors that we accumulate but by our obedience to God’s plan for us.

BUT PERFORMANCE COUNTS

Work is one of the ways we demonstrate God to non-believers. If non-believers cannot trust us with the worldly endeavors one can see, how can we be trusted with spiritual endeavors that require faith?

1 Peter 2:12, “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”

So we endeavor to meet a high level of performance not to please God but to glorify God to non-believers. In life, we are held responsible for our results; we need to take that seriously. We are created to work; setting and meeting goals is part of the responsibility. From a worldly perspective, it is this responsibility that produces the most anxiety in our lives. It not only affects the way we perceive the nature of our work, but it also affects other aspects of our worldly existence.  It affects our self-perception and self-image and our drive to have better material goods and standards of living.  One of our obligations as a Christian is to be a good employee, employer, parent, child, and spouse.

2 Thessalonians 3:12 “such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat.”

BUT NOT TO GOD

Ephesians 2: 8-9, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”

For most of us, it is hard to turn that switch off. Somehow we still try to do good works as if they are the keys to salvation; they aren’t. That is not to say that we should not strive to do good works; it is just that those good works will not get us to heaven.

Matthew 7:16-20, ” By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.”

It is when we start to believe we can be good enough, fruitful enough, holy enough that we lose sight of the beautiful gift of God; eternal life with Him in heaven through grace. The balance we need to strike is to understand that while the world required performance as a means of measuring worth, God does not. Spiritual performance is a by-product of grace, not a goal.

Philippians 4:19,  “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

We need to get back to helping our Father with His business. We are to be obedient to His will. We cannot control the outcome or the timing; we can only enjoy working in His presence.

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Small Choices

Small choices build the foundation for more meaningful decisions in our lives. Big decisions are not so much a choice at the moment but the culmination of many small decisions made over time leading up to the moment.

“What is always true is that the decisions we make today determine the stories we tell about our lives tomorrow” – Craig Groeschel, Divine Direction

The decision to choose one job over another was started with smaller choices. Maybe it was the choice to look for a new job, or perhaps the decision to investigate a new profession. It could have been a decision to have coffee with an old workmate. The decision to ask someone to marry you might have started with a decision to attend a party. Our many small decisions craft the environment in which we make our big decisions. 

When we try to understand God’s purpose in our lives, what are some of the small decisions that directly or indirectly impact our understanding? Do we make small decisions that inadvertently eliminate opportunities to achieve His purpose?

1 John 2:15-17, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”

I’m sorry folks I can’t get over the waste of humanity. All of those people walking the face of the earth living substandard lives thinking they have made it. People whose greatness is shrouded by the perceptions of the world. We compromise and compromise and compromise; not knowing we are planting the seeds of an unfulfilled life. 

Starting a New Habit

One of the most straightforward small choices we can make that will immensely impact how we make big decisions is to create a new habit that changes our worldview. We are inundated every day with an overwhelming amount of new information. All of this information is like dripping water on a stone. If the drip continues long enough, it will eventually wear down the stone.

Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

We need to create a new habit that counteracts the damage of our old habits. We need to consciously ingest good, positive, and Godly information to replace much of the anxious, negative, and worldly information force-feed to us daily. The idea is not to radically change our environment; some people are capable of this, most are not. The objective is to slowly shift our attention away from those inputs that dominate us today.

The new habit might be a quiet time to contemplate God’s blessing, time in the scriptures, or journaling about answered prayer. I would suggest early in the morning before your day begins or late at night as your day is winding down. Don’t think revolution; think revelation. Try to create a new habit that you can maintain for the rest of your life. If you think of something, ask yourself; can I do this every day for the next ten years? If you can answer that yes, you are on the right track to do it the rest of your life.

Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

Stopping an Old Habit

Many of the habits we have in life we don’t view as habits. We have done them so long that they have become part of us. Many of those habits, if not unhealthy, are at least unproductive. Here is a habit I am still trying to break. It is the habit of negative thought. I get into arcane mind games where I debate with myself over controversies that will never happen in real life. I don’t know when this started in my life. It seems it has always been there. I used to think of it as preparing to overcome an objection before anyone objected. It was a good thing to think through my position and internally discussed its weaknesses. Nice rationalization. The reality is that it is just negative thinking.

1 Corinthians 10:13, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

Each of us has something that stands in the way of our hearing God speak. Trust me; God was not involved in my internal debates; it was all me. They caused me to think negatively about people without giving them a chance to do something about which to feel pessimistic.

Maybe you start the day listening to the news or reading the latest political column. Perhaps you spend too much time with the wrong people, watching the bad movies, or reading the wrong books. There is always something.

Pick just one thing that you want to stop doing, then commit to yourself to stop doing it. If you need an accountability person or group to be successful, get them.

Staying When We Want to Leave

If you have not run into this by today, you will eventually. You find yourself at a crossroads. There is a decision to make. Should I keep doing what I am doing, or should I change? There are so many times when what I am doing does not seem to produce fruit. I feel that I am doing it out of obedience, but I start to question even that. It might be a job or a relationship, or a calling.

1 Corinthians 15:58, “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”

This post is one for me. I’m an engineer, a computer geek, a high type “A,” and highly goal-oriented; these are not the character traits of someone who writes. Although there are times when what I write speaks to me so loudly, I know it is right. There are also times when I wonder why I am doing this? If God is not inspiring my words, they just don’t come. It is like staring into a vast black void waiting to hear an echo. My commitment to myself is to stand firm. I have no idea what the fruit of this labor is; I only know that God wants me to continue.

It takes tenacity, perseverance, and faith to stand when every fiber of your body says to run. There will be times in your life when staying may seem like the most painful thing ever ask of you. It is in these times when you have to lean on God to give you the strength. He will never give you a burden that you cannot endure. He will never test you to see your reaction.

It is hard to see the sun in the middle of a storm, but it is always there just above the clouds. When you find yourself at a crossroads, seek God, He is always there just above the clouds.

Deuteronomy 31:6 “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Going When it is More Comfortable to Stay

The other crazy dilemma is when to leave. I was sitting in the garden of our residence in Kyrgyzstan early one morning, relaxed, having my morning coffee, when suddenly I asked myself, how did you get here? I hadn’t thought about it. The trip here is 17 hours in a plane over ten time zones. It is not cheap, it is certainly not convenient, and The State Department says it is not advisable. But the question wasn’t really about the travel arrangements or the comfort; it was about the intent. What was my intention in being here?

Joshua 1:9, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

My home is very comfortable. My life has a nice cadence to it. The food is good, my friends are great, and fellowship with other Christians is easy and numerous. I can be useful at home. But, that is not God’s plan for my life.

“A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for.” ― John A. Shedd

At some point in your life, God will ask you to move. It can be as simple as changing seats to interact with a stranger or travel 7,000 miles to a country where you have never been. It can be changing jobs, changing cities, or changing relationships.

1 Corinthians 15:33, “Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”’

Small Decisions Big Consequences

In every case, you will find that God gave you several small decisions that led to the big decision. Life isn’t a pop quiz; life is an essay exam. It is paying attention to the details and writing the story. If we make the small correct decisions, the bigger ones make more sense. God will never abandon you; He will never forsake you. He will never test you beyond your endurance. There is no wasted effort or bunny trails. And in all of this, He wraps it in love. His love for you is unimaginable. His desire to have a deep, meaningful, and joy-filled relationship with you is without bounds.

Matthew 25:23, “‘Good work,’ his master said. ‘You are a good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over this small amount, so now I will give you much more.’

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To Infinity…and Beyond!

Proverbs 22:29, “Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.”

This week I find myself in Toknok, Kyrgyzstan, helping teach a class in micro-business development. I am here with two other men to teach local Kyrgy’s how to create and operate Kingdom Impact businesses. I love being here because it is all about chasing your passion for Christ. The first thing we discuss with them is that God has to be the leader of your vision. Without the Holy Spirits’ direction, their new business will be another business; it might create wealth, but it will not fundamentally change the world. If God is driving the vision, then the business will have an eternal impact; it will drive changed lives and brighter futures.

1 Peter 4:10,” Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”

KINGDOM IMPACT BUSINESS

A Kingdom Impact business is a business that applies Christian principles to the way the owner interacts with employees, customers, suppliers, and the community. It impacts the way they manage their finances, their wages, and their prices. Most of all, it drives their need to share the joy of the gospel with the community in which they live and do business.

2 Kings 12:15, “They did not require an accounting from those to whom they gave the money to pay the workers, because they acted with complete honesty.”

I learned to appreciate how God works; it is best to visit third-world countries. These people have not been jaded by first-world expectations. They haven’t been told what they can accomplish and what they can’t. They are both teachable and passionate. God has opened them up to possibilities beyond their expectations. There is a fearful excitement about the future.

I learned how to be brave. In many cases, the hardship these people face daily would break most of us. Some of the places I have been to don’t have electricity or clean water; they live in a hut with a dirt floor. They don’t go home at night to TV and the internet, but only darkness. What they have is a hope in Christ that overshadows their environment. Most of the people I deal with are filled with joy and hope. They are hungry for God’s direction and confident that no matter how difficult life is, heaven awaits.

When we talk about being an example for the community, they get it. These people understand that they are the light in the darkness around them. They know from their experience how tough life is without hope. They want to share that hope with others.

Philippians 4:11-13, “Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

They want their business to be successful in supporting their families and lifting the community, and drawing others to Christ.

Acts 20:35, “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ “

BACK HOME

Is that the way we live? When we go to work, do we see the blessing of work as an opportunity to build up our peers and draw them to Christ? Do we operate from a Kingdom Perspective? I know that question isn’t fair. When you have nothing, everything is important. But when you have everything, nothing is important.

Our lives are consumed with keeping all of our stuff straight. We have careers and college education funds and retirement funds about which to worry. We have homes with mortgages or rent, taxes, and insurance. For many of us, it is the condo association or the homeowners association that we must appease to maintain peace . Our kids not only have to have a good education, but they must also grow up to be well-rounded. We are busy chasing the American Dream.

1 Timothy 6:17-19, “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.”

This is all to say we get lost in our stuff and forget our purpose. We forget that everything we have or will ever have come from the creator of the universe that loves us unconditionally, and we should show it more often. We should take a lesson for our less fortunate brothers and sisters in Christ. We should use all that God has given us to lift the community we live in and draw others to Christ.

I don’t mean to shame anyone; really, I don’t. It is to say we live complex, busy lives. It is extremely easy to become so busy living that we never realize we are not living; we are marking time. We find ourselves devoting way too much time reaping the harvest of the blessings that we forget the source of those blessings. It’s not intentional; it just happens. Periodically we catch our breath and whisper out thanks.

FINAL THOUGHT

Maybe we should think about putting a task on our calendar every day to remind us to take a moment to remember our purpose.

Well, I’m going to enjoy this week. I’m going to enjoy the country, love the people and reset my perspective. Then I will come back home with a healthier understanding of what God has done, is doing, and will continue to do for and through me.

Proverbs 13:22, “A good person leaves an inheritance for their children’s children, but a sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous.”

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Dream Big

Proverbs 16:9, “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”

A comedian, Jeff Allen, made this statement in his routine: “Dreams are the engine that will drive you through life, Prayer is the fuel that will drive these dreams, Trust me, when you stop dreaming, when you stop praying, you are going to dry up, bitter up and die long before your heart ever stops beating.”

I found this insanely profound. Dreams are the engine of life. They are the directions from the spirit that pushes us forward. Prayer is the fuel that gives us the tenacity to strive to achieve those dreams. Without prayer, without God’s intervention, we will, as Solomon put it, be chasing after the wind.

Ecclesiastes 1:14, “I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.”

What are your dreams? What are the visions and passion God has put in your heart? Jeff Allen, in his routine, put this question to his kids; Dream big, if you could be with anyone you want, be anywhere you want, and doing anything you want, what would it be? The spiritual answer is setting at the feet of Christ for eternity; what is the worldly answer? God put us here for a purpose; what is your purpose?

If you could be with anyone you want, be anywhere you want, and doing anything you want, what would it be? Where your treasure is, there is your heart.

Matthew 6:21, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

In his book, Don’t Waste Your Life, John Piper said, “Desire that your life count for something great! Long for your life to have eternal significance. Want this! Don’t coast through life without a passion.” Most of us think that if our life could be good enough, it might just be good enough. We settle for being someone of note when we could be someone of significance. When we think of what we could be, we believe in terms of what we know. If we were ever to think of who God made us be, we would have to think in terms of faith.

Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

The author William Ward wrote a popular book, “If you can imagine it, you can achieve it.” He told his readers, “If you can dream it, you can become it.” That, my friends, is thinking small. God’s vision for your life is greater than your imagination. We cannot start to comprehend the complex and intricate ripples through generations of God’s plan.

“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” – Corrie Ten Boom.

Don’t fence in your dreams. Don’t limit what God can do through you by your perceptions. God speaks; you act. God directs; you go. One of the big regrets I hear from people my age is that they never chased their passion. The other big regret, by the way, is not that they let an opportunity slip away, but they let a chance to mend a relationship slip away. Regret is not about material things but relationships. God’s plan for you is about people, not things. God will not fill that passion-shaped hole in your heart with things; God will fill it with memories of people and relationships. Things are just tools.

Ecclesiastes 9:10, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.”

The material resources and the physical locations God uses to achieve your dream are His props. They are the tools God has given you to fulfill His purpose in your life. Your passion shouldn’t be to write a book or build a company. It should be to use those endeavors to impact lives for Christ. A mission trip to a third-world country isn’t about the third-world country; it is about the people that live there. Going anyplace God sends you is about getting in front of the people who need you.

“God will meet you where you are in order to take you where He wants you to go.” – Tony Evans.

One cautionary note to dreaming big; before you can drink cool water from the well, you have to dig a deep hole. God’s plan for you isn’t a walk in the park. There will always be times when you are not sure. There will be times when you want to quit. To achieve God’s dream for yourself, you have to work hard. Sorry, that’s life. Hard work is the invisible hand that creates success.

That is why prayer is the fuel. Prayer is the energy you need to keep pushing forward. I have always found that when I am at my most discouraged, a nice long talk with God builds me back up. He reminds me that I am made in His image to achieve His will, and nothing can stop Him.  

Dream big, work hard, love long.

Romans 14:17-18, “for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.”

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When Humbleness Turns to Insecurity

The title should have been “How to Lift Yourself up Out of the Mud to Stand on Dry Ground,” but it was too long.

We all go through times when life sucks. For some of us, it means complete alienations; for others, it is loneliness, a hollow feeling that hangs over us.  There are times when insecurity engulfs us like a dense cold fog rolling in from the ocean on a moonless night. We all struggle with this at times. For me, it is not a perpetual state of being but a season of unworthiness.

I think of John 11 when Lazarus has died, and Jesus comes several days later. Martha meets Him and asks why He didn’t come earlier when He could have healed Him. Martha knows Lazarus will be raised in the last days but thinks it is too late to save him now. There are times when we should know salvation is ours, but question what about today? There will eventually be joy in Heaven, but what do we do until we get there? Will there be relief this side of Heaven?

WHEN HUMBLENESS TURNS TO INSECURITY

What happens when our humbleness turns to insecurity? How do we cope when we pass over that tipping point and start to believe our trash talk when we start buying into the sin-is-greater-than-love scenario. As humans, we all do this at times. We let our regret and guilt override our knowledge of who we are in Christ.

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

God forgives, but do we? I know that I am saved by grace and not by works so that no man may boast. But is that enough for me today? Do I find peace in the fact that I have grieved God and others and been forgiven? I don’t know about you, but some days it is not enough to be forgiven; I need repatriation. I need an act of restoration. I need to somehow show my worthiness for forgiveness.

Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you were saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is a gift of God, not a results of works, so that no man may boast.”

I can’t change the past, but I do manage to relive it. I mull it over and over in my mind wishing it had never happened. I punish myself even when God has forgiven me. Why? Because I separate the eternal from the worldly. I accept that I have been given eternal life through Christ’s death on the cross, but I still want earthly peace through some final act of attrition. There are days when I am Martha. God, I get that you love me unconditionally; I get that through your sacrifice on the cross, I will live with you forever in Heaven, but what about the guilt I feel today? Have you arrived in my life too late to heal me of my past?

WHEN DO WE GET TO THE FEEL-GOOD PART?

First of all, try to keep things in perspective. This feeling is an in-the-moment issue; it is not an eternal issue. For Christians, this is not a desperate need for salvation that is already assured. It can seem like a desperate need for acceptance. I made a horrible decision over 40 years ago that was a correction decision to a previous atrocious decision. Unfortunately, that is what happens with sin; sin begets further sin. I have lived with the guilt of these decisions. I see the parties involved from time to time. Each time I see them, it reminds me of my weakness. Had I made the first decision correctly, I would not have hurt so many people afterward.

It has all been forgiven, both by God and the offended parties, but not by me. I know that there was a domino effect from my decisions that eventually made other people better off. I would never want to reverse their future happiness by erasing my wrong decision. This story is part of the “God works in strange ways “discussion, but my guilt remains. It is one of the echoes of the past that makes me question my worthiness. If we are honest with ourselves, we recognize that we have them. They are barriers to living a life worth living.

THE GOOD PART

Spoiler alert: Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. He was not too late.

Most self-doubt is created by a historical focus overriding our eternal focus. We forget that God put us here for good works prepared for us in advance. (Get the first part in the verse below; We are God’s handiwork.) There is no need to continue to dredge up the past, we will, but it is a waste of time.

Ephesians 2:10, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Here is what is essential for those who believe in Christ

2 Corinthians 5:10, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”

For Christians, it is not The Great White Throne Judgment, described in Revelation 20. God will not judge us for our past sins; they are already forgiven. God will hold us accountable for what we have done for Christ since we knew Him. This judgment is not to determine our worthiness to spend eternity with Christ; we have already been accepted to Heaven; it is a review of our fruit derived from that relationship. 

Romans 14:12, “So then everyone of us shall give account of himself to God.”

Back many years ago, I was given a cassette tape, you read that right, of a one-person play performed by  Pete Briscoe, “The Judgement Seat of Christ.” This is a link to the video for those of you that no longer have a cassette player. The original book was written by Tim Stevenson, with no relationship. It talks about The BEMA, the judgment seat of Christ that we must all stand before. It changed my view of Christianity. It moved me from a self-view to an others-view. It shifted my focus away from me being a better person to serving others just as I am.

I don’t know that I will ever get over my past sin. I know there will be times when it comes back to haunt me. But if I can check my self-incrimination and turn my focus to why I am here, I can get past it. Life here on earth can be joyful and peaceful. God does not want us to live a life of regret and guilt. He wants us to enjoy the fullness of His presence.

As hard as it is to believe, our past is forgiven and gone. If we waste our time fretting over the past rather than doing the good works prepared for us to do now; well, we build up more regret and guilt.

James 1:22 “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.”

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Greatness

Greatness: noun: the quality or state of being important, notable, or distinguished: The goal of greatness is to inspire others to achieve excellence by taking risks, working hard, and pushing their limits.

We all want to be the hero of our own story. This desire does not make us arrogant, narcissistic, or self-absorbed; it makes us human. In many, this desire drives over achievement. In others, it creates a vacuum that they fear they will never fill. God has created each one of us to be great, to be greater than great. God has created each of us to be unique and treasured in all the universe.

Most of us never live up to our potential. For most it is because we set our goals too low. We look around our environment to determine our potential. We seldom look to our maker. We seldom look at our impact from an eternal prospective. We can’t visualize the ripple effect of our actions that send waves to the horizon and beyond. We are here, we produce and we are gone. Maybe we leave a little something for our children, but that is the extend of our vision.

Ephesians 1:11, “In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will.”

He works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will. You must answer two fundamental questions before you can achieve His greatness. They are WHY and HOW. Most people start with the HOW because it is more objective. But without knowing the WHY, the HOW is almost irrelevant.

Colossians 1:16, “For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through Him and for Him.”

God created each of us with a unique set of attributes; aptitude, passion, intelligence, skills, personality, and drive for Himself. No two of us are precisely the same. This stew of attributes is what God designed so that each of us could achieve His specific plan for our lives. If we choose to live a life that does not align with God’s plan, we will never achieve contentment no matter how worldly successful we become. We will not live to the fullness of His purpose.

John  15:11, “I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”

Before we start out investing in resources to achieve greatness, we need to assess our goal; is it mine or God’s? I can achieve worldly success outside of God’s plan for me, but I cannot achieve true greatness. I will always feel it is the next “thing” that is missing and will bring me that contentment, that ounce of joy.

John 15:5, “I am the vine, you are the branches. The one who remains in Me  – and I in him – bears much fruit, because apart from Me you can accomplish nothing.”

A CAUTIONARY TALE

I have a friend who has spent the a significant part of their adult life being good at something; it’s been their chosen profession. The profession pays well. They came to this profession by looking at the job market and determining where the demand was today and which vocation had future growth potential. They then set out to be very good at what they do; God gave them this personality trait. They have been rewarded handsomely for their effort.

Now they are at the tail end of their career and are counting the days until they can quit. It is not that they hate their job, they feel blessed that it has supported their family for so long. They don’t love it; it’s just a job. It’s what you do, you work for a living. If they had just a bit more money, they could retire happy; they could finally do what they always wanted to do. They would be free.

Throughout their successful career, they have never experience contentment. They have met great people, had great experiences and had fun at times. But, they have never known what it feels like to be in the center of God’s will. Why didn’t they chase God’s plan in their life all along? They didn’t pursue their God-given passion because the HOW got in the way of the WHY. As time went on, what my friend was doing grew in monetary rewards so that they didn’t know how to transition from what they relied upon to what they loved. They kept doing what they were doing, building more skills around it, and eventually trapped themselves in a life less rewarding. Now they have lived the better part of their life waiting for this phase to end so that they can try again to be content.

Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God – what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.”

They do have an extraordinary skill that they have ignored. It is something my friend loves to do but doesn’t have time for doing it. Why? Their job keeps getting in the way. They have always passed it off as a hobby or non-profit passion. They never really looked at its monetary value because they would have done it for free if they could.

I know their story. I see the number of times they went without food or worried about the rent because they were starting their career. I know the times they did side jobs to make ends meet. They did all of this for something they don’t even like doing. They are good at it; over time, they have become proficient at it, and people are willing to pay them to do it; but it has never truly made them happy.

Don’t spend your entire life with the taste of bitter grapes in your mouth.

Hebrews 13:5, “Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He, Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,”

How do you think their lives might be different if they had applied that same grit to chase their passion? Do you think they might be good at it, might be proficient at it, and maybe, just maybe, people would pay them to do it?

PAYDAY

Proverbs 16:3, “Commit your works to the Lord and your plans will be established.”

We know from The Book of Ester that God’s will is unstoppable; if we don’t do it, He will raise someone else to take our place. Do you think that maybe today, my friend would still be counting the days until they can quit if they were living according to God’s will? Or, do you think my friend might be mentoring others so that those people could experience the same contentment my friend would have experienced?

Philippians 4:19, “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

I assure you that you can monetize any skill, to varying degrees, of course. If what you are chasing is within God’s plan, He will not let you fail. He will always make sure to meet our needs. There might be a few terrifying times, God will test your resolve, but you will make it through those times. People will seek you out because of the joy and passion you bring to what you do.

What will be your legacy, will it be worldly possessions that will fade or wisdom passed from generation to generation?

John 4:13-17, “Some of you say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to some city. We will stay there a year, do business, and make money.” Listen, think about this: You don’t know what will happen tomorrow. Your life is like a fog. You can see it for a short time, but then it goes away. So you should say, “If the Lord wants, we will live and do this or that.” But now you are proud and boast about yourself. All such boasting is wrong. If you fail to do what you know is right, you are sinning.”

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Exploding into the Night

Don’t you want to live a life that leaves a brilliant streak across the night sky? Do you want that streak of light to end in a fourth of July extravaganza; an explosion of light, thunder and amazement? Do you want the world to look toward that darkness and see your impact, all for God’s glory? Do you want your impact to be bigger than life itself?

Psalm 97:4, “His lightnings lightened the world: The earth saw, and trembled”

To be what you are capable of and who God created you to be, you have to grab the opportunities God puts in front of you and let go of the baggage you have pickup up along the way.

We think too small. We think in terms of what we know and understand. We need to stop doing that. We all struggle with self-actualization, the need to be validated based on our perception of what could be; the ripple effect through eternity is beyond our comprehension.

Colossians 1:16, “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.”

God’s plan for us should be like the Scream Machine at Six Flags Amusement Park, thrilling, scary, exhilarating, up, down, and around, relying on the creator for our safe arrival; it’s a step up, strap in and hold on, ride.

Do not be afraid of God’s plan. Don’t be scared to step out on faith. Abandon your perception of worth; you are more valuable than you can imagine. God will use you to achieve things that you cannot imagine and may never see this side of heaven; all of this, according to His unique creation, you.

Psalm 8:3-6, “When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars you set in place. What are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor. You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority.”

It is not about believing in who God made you; who God made you is a fact since the beginning of time. Your belief does not determine its existence. I want you to accept who God made you. I want you to drop the pretenses of this world and grab on to the reality of God’s power to become more than you ever thought you could be.

Part of the problem is that we determine greatness through the lens of the world. We look to others to determine what greatness is. God created each of us to be excellent in our unique way for a purpose individual to us alone. There is no comparable standard. God’s standard for us is unique to us.

Psalm 139:16, “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”

The Bible translates the term Shema to mean, listen, but it means more; to listen with the intent of doing. As we go through life and God speaks, we should listen to do. The act of listening is not passive; it is active; it requires movement. We all too often determine God’s direction in terms of our perceived ability or desire. We believe God would never ask us to do something we are not equipped for, and He won’t; the problem is that we don’t fully understand what He has already done for us so that He can work through us.

You can be very effective for God’s kingdom by plodding down the road, one foot in front of the other, into a headwind. You can serve God by being yourself. You can be tenacious and determined. You can see evidence of positive impact. You can do all of this without living to your potential. You apply what you know to where you find yourself and produce fruit.

What if you cast all of that aside? What if you recognized that there is only one aspect of life you have some control over, that is obedience. What if you decided to do whatever was asked of you, no matter how foolish it might sound. Remember, God created you with specific attributes to do particular things for His Kingdom. Obeying God will not cause you to spiral out of control.

Deuteronomy 5:33, “Walk in obedience to all that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.”

In a couple of weeks, I am going to Kyrgyzstan. If you asked me if I wanted to go, I’d have said: “not really.” But Kyrgyzstan is just a destination, a place on the map. The journey is about changing people’s lives for Christ; they happen to be in Kyrgyzstan. Is there a lot of uncertainty, absolutely? It is not just the everyday safety issues with third world countries; it is also the complications of COVID. Then there are the 19 hours sitting in an aluminum tube hurtling through space. What I do know is that God would not ask me if He didn’t already know how it was going to turn out.

Part of the thrill of being the person God made you is the unexpected. God will show us that we have the power to change the world, one person at a time. It can happen in your backyard, your community, or some backwater place, not on any map. 

Listen with the intent of doing. Our worldly lives will all burn out at some point that we cannot stop. People will not remember your social status, position, wealth, and possessions, but they will remember that explosion in the night sky from a life worth living. Make it a big one.

Ephesians 4:1-6, “Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all.”

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Own Your Impact

Don’t let your disappointment in who you think Jesus should be, distract you from who He is.

My passion in life is that God did not create us just to fight our sin nature; He put us here to bask in the glory of His love. There are enough Christians around to remind you of the fire and brimstone that accompanies an unrepentant heart. We know that the wages of sin are death. I want to represent a more positive corollary proposition. For those non-math whizzes, a corollary is a proposition that can be readily deduced from the original proposition or is self-evident from its proof.

Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

MY APPROACH

Shorthand – Do we do good so God will love us, or because God already loves us, we do good?

Do you believe in God to avoid the pain of damnation, or has God’s love been so incredible in your life that you want to share it with others? You will never be good enough to save yourself or anyone else, but you are already good enough to love yourself and others. You are God’s creation, the work of His hands.

1 John 4:19, “We love him, because he first loved us.”

Once we stop fixating on the things we shouldn’t do, we open our eyes to the things we should. Once we cast off the chains of fighting against sin, we free ourselves to freely and openly love others. Rather than spending our lives trying to demonstrate perfection, how about we spend our lives sharing the love that God is raining down on us.

It is impossible to sin and reflect God’s love at the same time. We can spend our time beating ourselves up over sin or spend our time loving God and demonstrating that love to others. In my opinion, the second approach is more rewarding. The second approach leads to a life worth living.

Because of God’s love, we will want to avoid sin (which separates us from God), and we will want to attract others to that love. We will not be tied legalistically to rules, but we will want to please God and show His love to everyone.

HEALTHY FEAR

Proverbs 16:6, “Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear of the Lord evil is avoided.”

When the Bible refers to the “fear of the Lord,” it means having deep respect, reverence, and awe for God’s power and authority. Rather than causing someone to be afraid of God, a proper “fear of the Lord” leads one to love Him.

We cannot find our purpose in life if we do not grieve for those God has put on our path. If you only “care about people” or “worry about people” in the mission field God places you, is that enough? Do we feel compassion and love because we understand, from our own experience, the condition of their hearts?

Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor inspirit for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.”

To be the person God had created you to be, you have to focus on the right things; you have to free yourself from worldly perceptions and bias. When you understand the original condition of your heart and the pain associated with it, you can become more compassionate with others. Forgiving and loving others starts with understanding what got you here. What got you here is God’s unconditional love for you despite who you were or what you had done. When you stop running from damnation and start running toward love, you begin to live the life God has always wanted for you.

CONTRITION AS A BLESSING

Requirement for a humble and contrite heart: (The Essential Commandment “A Disciples Guide to Loving God and Others”, Greg Ogden)

    • A person with a “broken heart” has given up the pretense of pretended goodness.
    • The person with a “broken heart” has no room for self-righteous judgment of others.
    • Those whose hearts are broken are eminently teachable.
    • Finally, the humble and contrite heart draws delight from the Father.

It is not and will never be about us. It will always be about Him.

Psalm 51:17, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”

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Living Large(r)

Isaiah 43:1, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine!”

God has created you for great things, things you can’t even imagine; many of those things will not be revealed to you this side of Heaven.

Job 37:5, “God thunders wondrously with his voice; he does great things that we cannot comprehend.”

MY STORY

I want to tell a story; it involves my life but isn’t about me. It is about what God has done that demonstrates the beauty, mystery, and elegance of his plan for each of us. Back in the early 1980’s I had a perplexing heart problem. I had no heart damage; it just stops beating every once in a while. It was a partial heart block that morphed into a complete heart block. My cardiologist was Doctor Charles Wickliffe. One night in the Emergency Room, Charles saved my life. I was joking with him one minute and waking up in surgery the next. I love this man, not only because he saved my life, but he has become a great friend. He retired from his practice a few months ago. I’ve never really connected the dot for him concerning the impact he has had. Here is what I will tell him the next time we meet.

HIS STORY

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

At three o’clock in the morning, you got out of bed to come to see me in the Emergency Room when you could have passed it on to the on-call resident. In doing so, you were the man that God created you to be, skilled, compassionate and caring. Neither of us knows the eternal impact of that evening. You see, I went on to spread the Gospel into over 50 prisons through the Champions for Life prison ministry. I spent over 20 years serving in the High Tech Ministry in Atlanta. I was on the board that created Roswell Day of Hope to reach the underserved in Roswell, GA. I now work with International Mission Connection in Honduras and International Micro-Business Development in Kenya, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, and Honduras. All of this was made possible by your act of obedience. All of this, and more, is to your credit. God rejoiced that night not for what happened that night but for what was still to come.

Zephaniah 3:17 “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”

YOUR STORY

“How you live your life is a testimony of what you believe about God.” – Henry Blackaby

All of us have a story, but more importantly, someone out there has unknown stories about us. Your greatness and your true impact are yet to be revealed. I don’t know a thing about your life. I don’t know what you have done, what you have avoided doing, or the darkness you hide (we all do). I know as certain as I know there is a God in Heaven; God created you for greatness. Quietly, through everyday actions, you have encouraged others and you have shown the Gospel through your character. Some of those people who came in contact with you have, or will, go on to have a major impact for God’s kingdom here on Earth.

Matthew 23:10-12, “Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

Greatness isn’t always an act of courage or sacrifice; it starts with a small act of kindness that blossoms through eternity to create a garden, each plant propagating more plants. Life is not easy, but it has meaning. If God answered every pray precisely as we prayed it, would we need faith? If our lives were perfect; we were well educated, best job, best spouse, and best everything, would we seek God?

We spend a great deal of time punishing ourselves for the person we are rather than rejoicing over who we could be. Today be that new person. Know that there are acts of kindness that will not show fruit this side of Heaven. But that act, the one you do today, maybe the seed that grows a garden.

Matthew 13:31-32, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”

Charles is known as a great Cardiovascular Surgeon; he has saved many lives, some were important people. God knows him not for all of those physically healed, but for the ones who went on to spiritually saved others, which saved others, that saved others.

We are His. We should start living our lives like we believe it.

1 Corinthians 1:27-31 “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.”

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Living a Life That Inspires

There are leaders and those that lead. Leaders hold positions of power; those that lead inspire.

There is no louder voice in your life than your character’s voice; it is the drumbeat that announces the consistency of your actions over time. I have seen people of character make incredible decisions of great sacrifice without saying a word. They just did what was right because it was right; nothing more. It cost them a lot, but not as much as it would have cost to live otherwise.

Luke 8:17, “For nothing is hidden that will not become evident, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light.”

As we strive to become the person God made us be, we must face hard choices. It is the hard choices that define our character. The easy stuff anyone can do. To temper steel, it has to be super-heated. Steel is tempered to achieve greater toughness by decreasing the hardness. We must be tested in the heat of life to perfect our toughness by reducing our hardness. We are to reflect hope by discarding our bitterness; humility by turning our back on self-centeredness.

1 Corinthians 3:13, “each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.”

I’m reminded of a story in John chapter nine. It is the story of Jesus helping the blind man see. The disciples ask Jesus whose fault it was that the man was blind; was he or his parents? Jesus replied that it was through his blindness that others would see God.

John 9:1-4, “As He (Jesus) passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

The people in our sphere of influence watch how we live and draw conclusions concerning our character. It is easy to display a positive persona when things are going right, and all is good in the world. The critical test is what do we look like when things are not so good? Do we still exhibit trust in Christ? Do we still project hope and reassurance when everyone knows our life sucks?

As much as I  would prefer it was different, I now look at challenges as opportunities to show others my faith. When I am in a  dark place, I need to let Jesus’ light radiate through me. This opportunity is the very moment of truth that God can use to spread the Gospel.

Ephesians 5:13, “But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light.”

Very few people live to be tested. Most are like me; try me if you must, but make it either multiple choice or fill in the blank. I dread the heart wrenching tests, like losing a loved one, cancer, or job changes. But I know those will take supernatural powers that I don’t have. The test that catches me off guard is the pop quizzes; you know, deception, anger, or jealousy. So many times, I fail those because I didn’t prepare for them. The big test I cram for; I pray, read scripture, and seek a Christian council. The pop quizzes find me lacking. The bible would say a lamp without oil.

It is natural to focus inwardly in times of peril. It is important to remember of the many people in your sphere of influence whose eternity might rest on what you do next. God has created you for moments just like this. The God that spoke the universe into existence loves you and will not set you up for failure. God’s testing is not to find you lacking but to display His power through you.

Paul concludes his letter from prison to the Colossians by asking them to pray, not for his release from prison, but that God may open the door for the message so that he may proclaim the mystery of Christ. He asked that they pray that he may make the most of the opportunity and that his speech be gracious, seasoned with salt.

Colossians 4: 3-6, “At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.”

Live to inspire. Let your light shine brightest when darkness comes.

1 Peter 1:7, “so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ,”

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