Tag: motivational

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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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Even if God Doesn’t

Daniel 3: 17 – 18, “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. “But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

What happens even when God doesn’t? I think at one time or another, we all confront our Nebuchadnezzar, that person who is so full of themselves and powerful enough to cause us great pain.

THE BACK STORY

This story takes place in the time of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzar had conquered Jerusalem. The Lord delivered Jehoiakim, king of Judah, along with some of the gold from the house of God.

The King then commanded that the Chief Officials should bring Israelites from the royal family and the nobility— young men gifted in wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, to serve in the king’s palace. Among these young men were: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. The chief official gave them new names: To Daniel, he gave the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.

Daniel proved to be wise and diplomatic as he interpreted dreams of the King that others could not. As a result, the king made Daniel ruler over the entire province of Babylon and chief administrator over all the wise men. At Daniel’s request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to manage Babylon’s province, while Daniel remained in the king’s court.

All’s good up to this point.

THEN THE WORM TURNS

Nebuchadnezzar started to think much too much of himself. He created a giant golden statue of himself that was to be worshiped by everyone in his kingdom. The penalty for not bowing down to this idol was death. The bible doesn’t say why he did this, but we have to believe that he must have had an ego out of control.

When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse, the stage was set. We know that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into the fire and not only survived but came out unscathed.

Daniel 3:25, “Look! I see four men loosed and walking about in the midst of the fire without harm, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods!”

This is the point in the story when it takes on a more contemporary tilt. But what about us? When things go south, what happens to us?

WHAT ABOUT ME?

There are two crucial lessons from this story. Well, there is more than that, but for this writing, there are two; “our God whom we serve is able to deliver us” and “But even if He does not.” These are important because we, as a Christian community, sometimes think God doesn’t because God can’t. There are many ways to come to this conclusion; most of them stem from us dictating to God what is best. When He doesn’t do it, we assume He either doesn’t care, can’t hear us, or can’t perform. The fourth reason I cringle at; I am not worthy. Folks put all these in the circular bin; they’re not true.

Epicurus in the fourth century BC said (and I paraphrase it): If He is good, He would. If He could, He should. That He doesn’t means He can’t or He won’t, which really means He isn’t.”

The implication here is that we can know as much as God and, therefore, can have the ability to determine His motivation. Adam Clark, British Methodist theologian, contends we are not nearly as wise as God, and God’s “purposes and actions spring from himself, without foreign motive or influence.” We might think – if He could, He should – but He doesn’t think that way.

There are so many stories in the bible that reinforce the idea that God has a specific plan for us, and that plan sometimes doesn’t look right to us. Moses didn’t know God’s plan for him when he ran from killing the Egyptian. Joseph’s time in prison maybe didn’t feel so good to him. David was constantly trusting God despite Saul trying to kill him. Gedeon was a little shaky about his 300 men against an army of 135,000. What about Ester and Noah? Over and over again, God proves His plan is the best.

THE POINT

The point here is that even when God doesn’t deliver us in the way we thought, it doesn’t mean He didn’t deliver us. We just got something different than we expected. Sometimes the manifestation of that blessing doesn’t materialize for years. God sometimes blesses us by not letting us know how bad things would have been had we gotten our way.

Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.”

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had faith that God was sovereign over their lives and would do what is best for them, even when they didn’t see it. We all have our Nebuchadnezzar’s and our burning furnaces. What we need to ask ourselves is; Do we trust God with our lives? Do we truly believe God has a plan for us, what is happening is part of that plan, and God will deliver on His promise?

It is not blind faith. It is faith-based on our personal experiences with God. We need to look back on the many blessing we have in our lives and know there are more to come. Many of those blessings we will only see in the rearview mirror.

Ecclesiastes 8:16-17, “then I discerned all that God has done: No one really comprehends what happens on earth. Despite all human efforts to discover it, no one can ever grasp it. Even if a wise person claimed that he understood, he would not really comprehend it.”

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A God too Small to Love Me?

John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”

Have you ever said, “That’s unforgivable.”? Do you believe that there are certain behaviors you should not forgive? Do you have trouble letting go when someone has treated you poorly? We all tend to worship a God created in our image. For most of us, this is not intentional; we can’t imagine anything different or more significant than our experiences.

We try to squeeze God into a mold of our making. We try to define Him through our logic. We view Him as a better, more benevolent and kinder version of ourselves.

What if God was bigger than you can imagine? What if you could not describe God in human terms? What if that God was passionately in love with you?

This Easter, think about this verse, especially the last word; Friends. I am a friend of Christ. He did not die out of obligation or some misplaced sense of altruism; He died for me because I am His friend. We are not strangers in a world far away; we are brethren.

John 15:15, “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”

God chose us before the foundation of the world; that is incredible. We need to grasp the intentionality of God’s grace. To God, we are not just a member of a herd called the human race; we were chosen from the very beginning and are considered holy and blameless before Him.

Ephesians 1:4, “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love.”

WHO IS GOD?

Adam Clark, British Methodist theologian and biblical scholar in the early 1800’s described God this way:

God: The eternal, independent, and self-existent Being: the Being whose purposes and actions spring from himself, without foreign motive or influence: he who is absolute in dominion; the most pure, the most simple, and most spiritual of all essences; infinitely benevolent, beneficent, true, and holy: the cause of all being, the upholder of all things; infinitely happy, because infinitely perfect; and eternally self-sufficient, needing nothing that he has made: illimitable in his immensity, inconceivable in his mode of existence, and indescribable in his essence; known fully only to himself, because an infinite mind can be fully apprehended only by itself. In a word, a Being who, from his infinite wisdom, cannot err or be deceived; and who, from his infinite goodness, can do nothing but what is eternally just, right, and kind.

In J.D. Greear’s book Not God Enough, he talks about God as the author of a universe comprised of three septillions (that’s right, septillion, three and twenty-four zeros) stars. His creation was not about cobbling together a few things; although that would be amazing in and of itself, He spoke them into existence. No flour, no eggs, and no yeast; just a word, and it was so.

Hebrews 11:3, “By faith we understand that the worlds (don’t overlook the plural) were set in order at God’s command, so that the visible has its origin in the invisible.”

In Exodus, God told Moses, “I AM.” God knew there was no human equivalent to His existence. There was nothing to compare God with other than Himself.  This is the God, who let His son die a horrible death, not just for generic humanity, but for me, and you, specifically.

“A God small enough to be understood is not big enough to be worshiped” – Evelyn Underhill.

WHO AM I?

But can a God this immense care about a person so small? Can a God so powerful that He can speak the universe into existence have time for me? We are called His children, and as such, heirs with Christ. In looking at our insignificancy compared to God, we must also consider our significance because of Him.

John 1:12, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,”

Romans 8:17, “And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ…”

We are a chosen race, royal priesthood, and a holy nation. No matter what you have done with your life up to this point, you can start this very day to reap your heritage rewards.

1 Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

God, through His grace, had made us sufficient in ALL things at ALL times. All of the power He displayed through creation is available to you through His grace.

2 Corinthians 9:8, “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.”

He has provided you with the means of living in a fallen world if you chose to take advantage of what He offers.

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.”

Who are you that a mighty God would care? He will rejoice over you with gladness and exult over you with loud singing. You are the object of His creation that you might glorify Him and thus be blessed through Him.

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.”

AND YET

This Easter, remember why. God’s desire to fill your life with joy and peace is so strong that He would stop at nothing to assure it. The original sin separated us from the life God wants for us; don’t let your sin perpetuate that travesty. Our joy and peace can only be made complete through Christ. There is no joy or peace outside of God’s goodness.

Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Our God in His absolute dominion cannot fail us. He is infinitely benevolent, forgiving our sins if we follow Him. Our God is eternally self-sufficient in that He does not needs us, which makes His wanting us more magnificent. Do not worship your self-image; worship the one true God of infinite goodness, that can do nothing but what is eternally just, right, and kind.

1 Corinthians 2:9, “But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”

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Set the World on Fire

Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

I would like you to do something for me. I want you to visualize the great adventure that God has in store for you. Close your eyes and think big. It might be a conversation with an incredible individual that will change your life, but you never see them again. Or it might be packing your bags for an improbable journey to accomplish something unheard of. What I want you to conjure up is the impossible, that moment when God takes your breath away. A moment so big, so audacious that it could never happen. I want you to experience what it is like when you stop limiting God by your self-awareness. When you say to yourself, “it could never be,” you have arrived at the cusp of what it was meant to be.

“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” – Catherine of Siena.

Jeremiah 20:11, “But the Lord stands beside me like a great warrior. Before him my persecutors will stumble. They cannot defeat me. They will fail and be thoroughly humiliated. Their dishonor will never be forgotten.”

I was reading today about becoming the person God made us be. The conundrum was how we could be more of ourselves by surrendering ourselves entirely to God’s will. Surrendering ourselves was to deign ourselves, so I was taught. Greg Ogden in his book “The Essential Commandment,” argues that to be the person God wants us to be, we must first include Him. Including Him is the surrendering part.  God gave us all of these attributes that make us unique and special. We can not unlock our true potential without His key. He is the magic sauce that makes the flavor of who you are come alive. 

Colossians 1: 27, “God wanted to make known to them the glorious riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Christ in you, not with you, not beside you, and not just when you call on Him; but in you at all times.

Paul was not a different person after his encounter with Jesus. He was a better version of himself. All the attributes God gave Paul at birth were rechannelled and made stronger. God didn’t transform his personality; He magnified him. He became a force to be reckoned with.

2 Corinthians 12:9, “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

We put limits on ourselves based on a lot of biased, worldly input. Much of that input is well-meaning but limiting. At a very early age, we start to define ourselves based on that world perception. By the time we are in our adolescence, we have crafted a comfortable expectation. We don’t know where we are going or how to get there, but we know our limitations. We are not consciously aware of most of these. Those limitations were not directly articulated, but subtly implied, they direct our decisions.

If God is with us, who can be against us?

Romans 8:31, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?”

By submitting ourselves to God’s will, we negate a lot of this influence. We start to view our potential through a new set of lenses. If we are in the center of God’s plan for our lives, the improbable not only becomes possible, it becomes absolute. God will not transform you from someone who can’t carry a tune to a concert pianist; He could, but probably won’t. What He will do is magnify your talents. He will guide you in ways you had not imagined. He will stretch you, challenge you, and make you stronger. The fear of being outside the artificial fences the world has put around us will be gone.

He will take your breath away. He will show you potential you never thought you had. In all of this, He will smile. He will see you come alive.

Philippians 2:13, “for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil his good purpose.”

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Traveling Partners

When we think about the concept that God has known us before we came into existence and that he created us for a specific purpose, it should give us pause. There is nothing we will face that will catch Him off guard. There are surprises in our life for us, but not Him. We were created for His purpose, not ours. Living our lives within His purpose brings us greater joy then living for ourselves. It is why we were created.

Psalm 139:16, “You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.”

If we are to become the person God created us to be, we must understand who that is. It is not a difficult question at the macro level but surprisingly tricky at the micro-level. At the big picture, blue sky level, we understand that God created all things for His pleasure.

MACRO LEVEL

God made us wonderfully complex and beautiful people. He has gifted us with all kinds of aptitude, resources, skills, ambition, and opportunity. All of this is for a straightforward reason; He wants us to glorify Him in all that we do. We are to do this from generation to generation. That implies we need to pass the word along to others to help propagate His Kingdom.

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.”

We know that we were explicitly created for good works.

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.”

Those good works are to glorify God.

Matthew 5:16, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

Easy peasy, not hard to understand; execution is a little tricky.

MICRO LEVEL

Executing God’s plan is where I, and many others, get wrapped around the axle. There are two specific ideas that I need to keep in focus: influence and opportunity. God has given me a sphere of influence that changes over time. When I was younger, it was my playmates and schoolmates; as I grew, it became my place of employment, my children, and my community. But in each case, I was given a particular sphere of influence. I have come to think that my mission field is where God has me today. Opportunity is what I do within my sphere of influence.

Philippians 2:1-3, “Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves.”

Life is filled with opportunity. From an entrepreneurial perspective, the main difference between a successful person and a less successful person is not the idea but the execution. We lament that ideas are a dime-a-dozen, but a person with follow-through was as rare as hen’s teeth.  If your spirit is open, there is no shortage of opportunity within your sphere of influence. The key is both identifying these opportunities and then taking action.

Once I started praying that God would open my eyes to the opportunities around me, I was dumbfounded. It was like walking in a forest. It wasn’t like people were walking up to me asking to hear about Christ; it was people reaching out for compassion and understanding. As a high D, type A, personality, this was unsettling.  I didn’t want to engage people at a personal level. I didn’t want to get sucked down into their everyday issues. I wanted a fly-by. I wanted to drop goodwill packages from an airplane.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”

I found that I should take one moment to listen; no platitudes, no suggestions. I found that I did care, sometimes helplessly, but still caring. People don’t expect solutions; they want someone to travel their journey with them. They don’t want to seem alone. Sometimes that traveling partner has to be someone outside of their sphere; it provides a security level.

As a boss, one of my biggest burdens was not having someone to talk to when things got dicey. You can’t go to your employees and say, “I’m really worried about the company.” Sometimes inside our sphere of influence, we have the same issue; we can’t say, “I’m not sure this is going to turn out the way we want.” Our role, many times, is to be the cheerleader. When the cheerleader has lost their cheer, you can be the person to whom they can go to let off steam. You can be the pressure value that allows them to decompress.

As my career advanced, it no longer seemed strange that one of my employees would come into my office, sit down in a chair and unburden themselves. Sometimes they were people I never had anything more significant than a superficial relationship; it was just work. In some cases, my only contribution to the conversation was that Christ gave me hope in my life, and that was enough. I often told them to come back any time, let me know how it was progressing, keep me in the loop. They needed a traveling partner. My job was to take one more fear off of their plate, the fear of facing this alone.

We have a traveling partner; He is always with us. He will never abandon us. Not everyone has this. For those that do not, we become the surrogate. We are the bridge between now and eternity. In time we can help them become the bridge for someone else.

2 Peter 1:19, “And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”

Folks, becoming the person God made you to be is, on the one hand, extremely simple and, on the other hand, so complex and fearful. Remember, God has equipped you for this. There is nothing you will encounter that He has not already seen and prepared you for. We are aliens in the world. We were made for greater things to come. Don’t get stuck in neutral.

Pray for an opportunity, then enjoy a walk in the woods.

A wise man will walk across a bridge but does not build his home on it.

Ephesians 5:8, “For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.”

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Let Me Get Home Before Dark

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.”

Joy and fulfillment come from being who God made you to be. It does not come from things you own, titles you achieve, political causes you support, children you raise, friends you have, or any worldly desire.

Paul tells Timothy, “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom. I give you this charge” Think of this charge to Timothy and know it also applies to each one of us. The good works prepared for us in advance are a direct command from God before we came into existence. That is a critical thought. We are to chase His purpose in our lives, not get His buy-in to what we think it should be, based on our experiences, learning, desires, or self-actualization.

LOVE

I cannot emphasize enough that all that we do should be covered in love. The fundamental building block to being the person God made us to be is that we do it in love. We can have passion, but in that passion, it should not lead to sin. We should not put ourselves above others, even when we know we are right with God in doing so.

1 Corinthians 13:13, “The three most important things to have are faith, hope and love. But the greatest of them is love.”

If what you pursue is not cloaked in love, then put a big question mark after it. You might be going in the right direction with the wrong motive or the wrong direction; something is not correct. There needs to be peace about your daily walk. You should be more content with what you do than what you achieve by doing it. Being the person God made you to be is about obedience, not results. Western culture has driven us to believe that you can only gauge success by results; this is not true in God’s economy. God has His measure. Trust me, and I say this from experience, God will motivate you to stay on the right track. God will continue to reinforce your efforts if you are striving to be His person, not yours.

GRACE

Today, more than ever, we spend much too much time judging people by their worldly beliefs. Are they Liberals, Socialist, Conservatives, or Christian nationalists; are they pro or anti-maskers, or are they pro or anti-vaccine?  We all have quirks that distinguish us from those around us; some beliefs can separate us from others or minimize our Christian impact on the world. Grace is not just making allowance for others; it is also not letting our worldly beliefs stand in the way of our mission for God.

2 Timothy 2:23, “But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels.”

The world is watching us. We cannot be held responsible for others’ conclusions, but we are held accountable for our actions. If our efforts cast a shadow of God’s love for all of humanity, we need to back off. People of disparate backgrounds and worldly beliefs should all be attracted to the Gospel. We are to model to the world what the world needs to become. Please read all of Romans 14, where Paul cautions us about letting superficial worldly issues stand in the way of our mission and purpose.

Romans 14: 12-13, “So we will all have to explain to God the things we have done. Let us stop judging one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put anything in your brother’s way that would make him trip and fall.”

It is not enough to correct people with your mouth, but to compel them with your holiness.

HOPE

To be the person God made us to be, we need to change our focus. We need to stop believing that worldly events are the source of our hope. If you start thinking that your peace will come from the world aligning with your expectations, you will spend your life disappointed. I don’t care how noble or righteous your expectations are; the world will always disappoint. Your life will still be shrouded in fear, anxiety, and anger.

Our focus, yours and mine, need to be on advancing the Gospel while we have breath in our lungs to do it. Advancing the Gospel does not mean you need to take up a placard and stand on a street corner proclaiming the Gospel. It means being the person God made you be. For most of us, it means being the person who is not moved by current events. The Gospel has not changed. God has not changed His intent for humanity. Things will go well for the Christian community, and it will go poorly for the Christian community, but the end game has never changed.

The reason we can show love and grace is that the temporal environment has changed nothing. As an American, the capital riots shook my world. I had lived through the Cuban Missile Crisis when a nuclear war was minutes away. I lived through the assassination of President Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Presidential candidate Bobby Kennedy. I lived through the Mississippi Burning murders, which lit the race riots of the ’60s; nothing questioned my resolve for this country more than the storming of our Capitol Building over the basic tenants of democracy. But, my hope was not in the political system or law enforcement, but my knowledge that God is and always has been in control.

In being the person God made me to be, my hope can only be in Him. I cannot divide my hope between God and man.

Matthew 12:25, “And knowing their thoughts he said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.”

For too long, we have hitched our wagon to the principle, insights, and philosophies of man. To be the person God made us to be, we need to get back to God. Crawford Loritts uses the the poem below in the introduction to his book, “Make it Home Before the Dark.” Our time is limited here on earth; we need to use it wisely.  The link below will take you to the poem that inspired Crawford’s book, it is well worth your time to read it.

Dr. Robertson McQuilkin – Let Me Get Home Before Dark

2 Timothy 2:15, “Do your best to present yourself to God as an approved worker who has nothing to be ashamed of, handling the word of truth with precision.”

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Impossible to Unbelievable

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.”

God wants to take you from the mundane to the impossible to the unbelievable.

I grew up in a small town in the Midwest. I kidded about a GED being our diploma and an actual High School diploma being an advanced degree. There wasn’t and still isn’t much opportunity in small-town America. It seems like the only path to real success is either being born into the family business or starting one. I was a kid like everyone else in my class; my future wasn’t bleak; it was confining.

Somewhere along the line, I started to understand that impossible was just a word. It wasn’t because I looked at the impossible as something to be done, as it was that I looked at my past and saw that I had done things that I would have thought impossible; the impossible became unbelievable.

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.”

I was the kind of kid that people would say; he might get out of High School, but he will never get accepted into college. If he does somehow get accepted, he doesn’t have the tenacity or ability to graduate. Graduate School, not a chance he could get in. I was average, and dreams were bigger than me. I looked at these achievements as impossible, but other people had done it, why not me?

FULTON’s FOLLY

The great thing about chasing the impossible is there is no shame in failure; it is almost expected. In the early 1800s, there was a painter named Robert Fulton. Robert studied art in Paris and London but wasn’t successful in getting commissions to paint. He married the daughter of the American Ambassador to France, Robert Livingston. Mr. Livingston had seen one of Mr. Fulton’s drawings of a submarine and suggested that he go into the business of designing steamboats.  Robert Fulton then had a vision of building a steamboat that would carry passengers up and down the Hudson River. The problem was that no one had ever done that; it was impossible. Steamboats were dangerous and unstable; they were in the realm of hobbies and toys. They had novelty value and nothing more. Fulton had not invented the steamboat; he would be the first person to make it commercially viable.

On August 17, 1807, the Fulton steamboat the Clermont made history. The small, snub-nosed boat made the 150-mile run from New York City to Albany in 32 hours. Regular passenger service was inaugurated, and a new era in water transportation began.

Robert Fulton’s great quest is now known historically as Fulton’s Folly. How would you like to fail on a scale so large that your name becomes a historic by-word? But his name is not a historic by-word because of his many failures; it was his one great success; the impossible became unbelievable. Robert Fulton went from a failed artist to the father of water transportation.

DREAMS AND VISIONS

Dreams are things you see in your sleep and dissipate like the morning fog once you arise. Visions are those haunting thoughts that won’t let sleep come quick enough.  Visions are ideas do delicious; you can’t stop thinking about them. Visions are not always impossible, but many seem that way. To change a vision to reality, you need resources, time, and chance. Visions of greatness start as impossibilities. They are long shots beyond our reach. There is so much that has to go right and so little that needs to go wrong that the prize is scarcely worth the effort.

2 Timothy 1:7, “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.”

THE POSSIBLE

Well, I did graduate from college, then I did it again, then I graduated from graduate school. I didn’t get to go to Frat parties or throw a Frisbee across the quad; I worked nights as an Orthopedic Technician in Surgery at a trauma center.  I did it because I had this vision in my head that said this was the direction I was to go. God had a plan for me before I knew what life was about. As a result, I ran companies and built companies; I traveled all over the world. Impossible was a thing I hadn’t done yet. I have never done anything that has never been done before me; I have only done things that I thought I could never do. Now I look back at my life and shake my head; unbelievable. If my sixteen years old self could see me now, what would they think?

Matthew 19:26 “Jesus looked at them and replied, ‘This is impossible for mere humans, but for God all things are possible.”’

All things are possible to those that believe. God made each of us amazing creatures, capable of accomplishing almost anything to which we set our minds. The major constraint before us is not an opportunity, or resources, or chance; it is the will to live the life God created us to live. Something is impossible until you do it, then it becomes unbelievable. I am always amazed at things that I would never have expected I could do that seem mundane once I have done them; mountains do not look as tall from the top as they do from the bottom.

Stop fearing the impossible and start chasing the unbelievable. Become the person that people say, “If they say they are going to do it, it might be unbelievable, but not impossible.” Be the person God made you be.

Matthew 17:20, “And He said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; nothing will be impossible to you.”

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