Christian Blogs Archives - Tomme Stevenson

September 20, 2022October 22, 2022

Turning Kingdom Intent to Kingdom Impact

1 Corinthians 4:1, “This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.”

“Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.”

With all the talk of fishing in the New Testament, you would think this quote came from the Bible. But it doesn’t; it is a Chinese proverb, among many other contested theories. The critical idea we should take from this is how we help others. We are commanded to be good stewards of all God has entrusted us. We are also commended for helping others when we have the means to do so.

1 Peter 4:10, “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.”

We have this challenge of using what God has given us to support our families while simultaneously being obedient to God’s call. There is a visual worldly Impact of material poverty, but there is also the hidden darkness of spiritual poverty. Alleviating spiritual poverty is restoring people to express their humanity fully. It is about helping them become the person that God created. In some cases, this is helping them to fulfill their calling of glorifying God by working and supporting their families and themselves with the fruit of that work. At other times it is lifting them out of their spiritual quagmire to recognize that they were created in the image of God.

Luke 16:10, “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.”

Both situations require effort. Both situations require resources. The most important aspect is knowing where you fit in God’s plan for another. It is understanding the balancing act of helping to alleviate suffering while not getting in the way of God’s intended purpose.

The poor feel powerlessness and an inability to make themselves heard. – Voices of the Poor

The spiritual poor live without hope and under the yoke of silence. Because they see the world as a finite entity run by rules that favor others, they feel it is impossible to achieve true peace. This, in turn, silences their cries for help. They don’t know if God will hear them or even care about them.

Where does fishing come into play? The easiest way to solve a problem is to paint over the cracks. Most spiritual poverty is met with platitudes and shallow intentions. We give people fish to get them through the crisis they are experiencing. It alleviates their immediate pain, which makes us feel good. Sifting everything down to a project is easier than getting involved in people’s messy lives.

In the book “When Helping Hurts,” giving someone a fish falls into the category of Relief. Relief is about stopping the bleeding. It’s a bandage. It is temporary. Sometimes this is needed. But stopping at Relief eventually leaves the person right back where they started. The bandage has to be replaced, or it becomes reinfected. The next step, Rehabilitation, is about teaching someone to fish. It is about making them strong enough to survive without you.

1 Corinthians 4:2, “Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.”

When we stop Relief, we have exercised Kingdom Intent with minimal Kingdom Impact. We’ve demonstrated compassion without expanding the Kingdom.

Telling someone that you will pray for them is giving them a fish. Teaching them to pray with you helps them learn how to fish for themselves. Demonstrating to them the power of pouring out your heart to God shows them the real possibilities of salvation. The same is true with telling them about your church instead of picking them up and taking them to church. Quoting verses from the Bible, verses teaching them to study the Bible with you. Giving a fish is always easier than teaching to fish. But giving someone a fish is short-term. Once the immediate pain is resolved, attention goes elsewhere until they are in pain again.

Titus 2:7, “Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity.”

Once the bleeding stop, Rehabilitation starts. Rehabilitation is about restoration. Rehabilitation is about giving people the tools to solve their problems. It is teaching them to fish for themselves. Alleviating spiritual poverty is about creating an environment where people can experience God’s love for themselves. This takes effort. You have to see the person, not just the immediate problem. You have to want them to have the same Godly experience that you have experienced. You must be willing to invest in them for the long term.

Most of us are good at Kingdom Intent. We want to help others, but the worldly issues of family and jobs limit our impact. We are willing to contribute to the cost of a bandage, but we don’t want to invest the effort of continued healthcare.

Kingdom impact moves someone from a limited worldview to an eternal spiritual view. Long after you have gone, God will still be working in their lives.

Matthew 6:19-21

“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

March 8, 2022February 21, 2022

Godliness with Contentment

King Solomon was not only favored by God; he was considered one of the wisest men ever to walk the earth. He made this statement:

Ecclesiastes 9:11, “I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.”

We all struggle with insecurity. That insecurity can be job security, basic provisions, self-worth, or purpose. We live in a marketing-driven world that demands that we strive for perfection. We are continually comparing ourselves to others. It is not always vanity that drives us; sometimes, it is pure competition, the need to matter, or the need to stand out in a noisy world.

Galatians 6:4, “Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else.”

When I think about what Solomon said, I sometimes go to Hugh Heffner. That is right, Mr. Playboy. Hugh Heffner lived a bohemian lifestyle, devoid of a moral foundation by almost any standard. He promoted a completely hedonistic lifestyle, not just for himself but also for everyone; He carried the banner for Godlessness, yet he was a multi-millionaire. The Playboy Enterprise was called an Empire. What killed his business model was their success. Pornography has become so widespread and accessible; Playboy could no longer make money.

If the measure of Godliness is worldly wealth and fame, why do the Hugh Heffner’s exist? Just as Job’s friends tried to explain, we should be able to look at the material value of a person and see their Godliness. But it doesn’t work that way.

1 Timothy 6:6-8, “But Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.”

King Solomon reminds us that we are not in control of our future. We can do everything right, and it still can go wrong. We can watch others do everything wrong and prosper. Timothy tells us to be content with whatever happens. He reminds us that we should seek Godliness with contentment.

Romans 14:17, “For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

As Christians, our purpose in life is to know God and bring Him glory. Therefore, we should first seek His glory and be content with the outcome in everything. Larry Crabb talks about making the first things first. He warns us about putting worldly issues in front of God’s glory. He states, “The forces of darkness value blessings; they call them life, they feel entitled to them, and they’re willing to do whatever it takes to get them.”

Augustine said, “There can be only two basic loves, the love of God -unto the forgetfulness of self, or the love of self-unto the forgetfulness of God.”

Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Do our words and deeds glorify God, or do they glorify ourselves? If we live a life focused on praising God, are we content with the outcome? God knows what we need as aliens on the earth. He understands the environment in which we live. He wants us to live a life that is attractive to others so that we can share the Gospel. Therefore, everything we have or experience should glorify His name to attract non-believers to the contentment within us.

We should use the gifts that God gave us in the environment that He has put us in to succeed in what He has set before us. But we do this for His glory, not ours. We are working for Him, not for our gratification.

Colossians 3:23, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.”

March 1, 2022February 28, 2022

Performance-Based Faith

I have just returned from a trip to Honduras, where we were vetting a potential future project to help locals create micro-businesses. These trips present a cadre of potential conflicts. First, we have the friction created by my obedience to God’s call. It conflicts because I am responding to what I believe to be God’s vision for my life, but I am also judging my effectiveness; how much good am I doing. The second has to do with what we are teaching. We are teaching people to use Godly principles to create for-profit businesses. Most of us see the potential conflict in that. We must balance living in a performance-based world with grace-based salvation. It is tough to keep the two separate.

Genesis 2:15, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.”

Christ modeled our relationships here on earth after our relationship with Himself. He wants us to learn from Him and grow closer to Him through involvement with Him. But, we are to honor the originator of all things in the process.

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. Our parents remind us that results do matter. So 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 living the life He has created for us. That activity must have a purpose, and with it comes achievement. Our part is to be obedient in doing the task before us, not the outcome. 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.”

In The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren writes, “Work becomes worship when you dedicate it to God and perform it with an awareness of his presence.”

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. But, if non-believers cannot trust us with the worldly endeavors one can see, how can we be trusted with spiritual works 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. We are held responsible for our results; we need to take that seriously. God created us to work; setting and meeting goals is part of the responsibility. From a worldly perspective, this responsibility 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 living standards. One of our obligations as Christians is to be a good team member, 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 requires 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.

February 22, 2022February 21, 2022

A Gift Worthy for a King

I was loading more music for my car today and fell down a rabbit hole. I have a media server with more than 60,000 songs collected over the last 60 years; it went from records to cassettes to compact discs to solid-state drives. It is about every genre. I listened to the song In Christ Alone by Christina Grimmie, and the rabbit hole opened up.

She was about 15 when she recorded it. She was a neat kid and a great Christian. Initially, she only performed on YouTube with almost 4 million followers. Later on, she stared on The Voice and rose to an acceptable level of fame. Then, on June 10, 2016, Christina Grimmie was fatally shot at the age of 22 while signing autographs following a concert performance at The Plaza Live in Orlando, Florida. Her assailant committed suicide, leaving no evidence of motive, only speculation.

Every time I hear this song, I can’t help but think about what could have been. I do not doubt that God cried on that day. Not because it was unexpected or unknown, but because the world would lose out on an extraordinary talent. I understand that God uses all things for His glory. We, the ones left behind, lose a light illuminating the darkness. Six years after her death, people like me are still affected. People like me ask this one fundamental question.

If my life was asked of me today, and my greatest passion in life was laid at the feet of Christ would He weep because of a life cut short or because of a life lived unfulfilled?

When Jesus heard that Lazarus had died, He wept.

John 11:35, “Jesus wept.”

As He was entering Jerusalem before His crucifixion, He wept.

Luke 19:41, “And when he came near, he beheld the city, and wept over it.”

When I look at the passions of my heart, what do I see? How do I invest my time, money, and gifts? What do I think about when I go to sleep at night? What books do I read, what podcast do I listen to, and what discussions do I gravitate toward? What’s my passion?

When I lay that passion at the feet of Christ, how would he react? Is it a worthy gift for a King?

“If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.” – Anonymous 1926 Methodist church announcement.

Isaiah 1:17, “Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.”

We all have a desire to have meaning and worth. We all create a unique sphere of influence to leave our mark. If we don’t have purposeful intent, we will be part of someone else’s meaning and worth. Chart your course. Through prayer, scripture, and Godly counsel, find your path. Once you have found it, own it; make it meaningful. Don’t worry about results, only obedience. It’s not about creating a ripple through eternity; it’s about creating a tsunami. Never sell yourself short. Never let the world determine your worth. You are more than the sum of your experiences.

Some people, maybe even most, would equate passion with calling. They might say that we are called to something by God, which becomes our passion. I add a slight nuance to that. I believe our calling is to a people group; it might be children, young adults, inner-city or a foreign country. Our passion is the gifting we use to execute our calling; we may be teachers, artists, musicians, or leaders. Our calling may change over time as we mature. God will send us in a different direction. Our gifting, and passion, may vary when we are younger as we experience new things, but at some point, it comes to rest on something. The problem is that we often don’t know how to use our passion to make a living and minimize its importance. We see the value of God’s calling on our life, but not necessarily our passion.

J. I. Packer, in his book “A Quest for Godliness,” stated, “a half-truth masquerading as the whole truth becomes a complete untruth.” Therefore, don’t deceive yourself concerning who you are. When you lie to yourself about any aspect of who God made you, you degrade all of who God said you are.

1 Corinthians 7:17, “Nevertheless, each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to them, just as God has called them.”

My greatest hope is that we all find our passion that glorifies God and chase it all the days of our life; that we take the riches that God has created within us and use them to praise Him. My primary passion is small business development. My current calling is to help impoverished third-world Christians rise above their poverty. I have secondary passions like black and white photography, the outdoors, and listening to music. All of our passions should be to glorify our King. Secondary passions are the ones we hold with an open hand. Our primary passion is the gift we set as His feet; it is the first fruits of our existence. It is what gets us up in the morning and lulls us to sleep at night.

Micah 6:8, “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good and what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

Christina Grimmie found and chased her passion throughout her short life. She did not wait for a better time or more clear direction. She didn’t wait for her passion to be discovered; she put herself out there. Her life was cut short by what still seems like a senseless act, but her impact continues. People like me, and maybe you, ask ourselves; Do we use our passion to present a worthy gift to our King? She did. Will you? If you do, the ground will shift on the ocean floor and the tsunami will rise.