Ownership creates responsibility. I was cleaning out out a cluttered closet at my church a few weeks ago and somebody said, "How does all this stuff accumulate here? Why doesn't someone just throw it out?" He laughed when I replied, "Because when something belongs to everybody, it belongs to nobody!" That's why executives assign project managers who 'own' the task and who are responsible for seeing that it is complete. Handing a project to a committee will almost surely cause it to languish, unfinished for months, because no one responsible to 'get it done.' After Hurricane Katrina, Wal-Mart had trucks with ice and water on the scene days before the government! There are two reasons: a profit motive and accountability. Wal-Mart stood to gain from getting services to the area and then, quickly getting their stores operational again. And, unlike government work where it is possible to pass the buck and the blame around almost endlessly, in Wal-Mart's culture, if you don't perform; you're done!
Do you realize that God has given spiritual gifts to you and that He wants you to 'own' them?
That could be misunderstood so let me state what ought to be obvious. Gifts are given to us not so we can 'own' them selfishly - "this gift is mine and no one can enjoy it, benefit from it, or share in it"- but rather in the sense that "God has invested this gift in me to use in His service and for the benefit of the entire Church." When we own the gift that God invests in us, we will develop that gift, put it to good use, and there will be results.
Do you understand that He will look at YOU expecting a return for His investment in you? There is a passage in Romans that makes me joyful and frightened at the same time; joyful because it promises reward, frightened because it says that I'm accountable to God! "For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: ‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’ So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God." (Romans 14:10-12, NIV) No one will take credit for your ministry, that's the great part! There will be no one to blame if you have failed to do your best with what God has given you, either. That's the scary part!
Perhaps all this talk of performance and reward in connection with spiritual things seems strange to you. It is Biblical. Yes, we serve for love's sake. Yes, the Church is a community where we all share. It is quite true that we must never just 'do our own thing,' without regard for others and how we fit together in Christ's Body. We hear those things again and again, and they are true. At the same time, the Scriptures are very clear that God's work is not just 'committee work.' He is unimpressed by lengthy meetings that produce nothing, by 'puffed' reports that impress others but that hide scarce results measurable in changed lived. We need to know that God's work is my work! He's made an investment and wants results. Here's the great thing. Unlike our bosses who sometimes demand more from us than we can produce or who expect great results while providing inadequate resources to us, God expects only what He knows He made us capable of producing, and He has given us every resource we need to get it done.
Here's a vivid metaphor about building a quality life, a temple of God's Spirit. Take it with you today. Ask yourself, 'am I owning what God has invested in me, using it responsibly and in a way that so I will stand for eternity's performance review without shame or regret? What kind of temple am I building?'
"Using the gift God gave me as a good architect, I designed blueprints; Apollos is putting up the walls. Let each carpenter who comes on the job take care to build on the foundation! Remember, there is only one foundation, the one already laid: Jesus Christ.
Take particular care in picking out your building materials. Eventually there is going to be an inspection. If you use cheap or inferior materials, you’ll be found out. The inspection will be thorough and rigorous. You won’t get by with a thing. If your work passes inspection, fine; if it doesn’t, your part of the building will be torn out and started over. But you won’t be torn out; you’ll survive—but just barely.
You realize, don’t you, that you are the temple of God, and God himself is present in you? No one will get by with vandalizing God’s temple, you can be sure of that. God’s temple is sacred—and you, remember, are the temple." (1 Corinthians 3:10-17, The Message)
PS - This judgment is not about 'getting to Heaven.' That's a done deal because of Jesus Christ who granted us eternal life at His own expense! This is about how we live for God after our conversion.
_________________________________
Make me a servant, humble and meek.
Lord, let me lift up those who are weak;
And may the pray'r of my heart always be.
Make me a servant;make me a servant;
Make me a servant today.
Willard, Kelly- Copyright: 1982 Maranatha! Music
Friday, September 30, 2005
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Demand or invitation?
"Follow me!" Jesus said to Matthew who was sitting the tax collector's booth, and so he did! Peter and Andrew were working at their job as fishermen and He said, "Come, follow me!" They did! What an incredibly compelling Man He was. People left behind their livelihoods, familiar sites, and personal comfort and followed Him all the way to death. And they still do.
In the 1950's a young man from Portland, Oregon; very intelligent, with a bright future in this world, chose a very different path from the other men in his college class. He followed the call of Jesus Christ to Ecuador. Three years later he felt the call into the Amazonian jungles. The Spirit of the Lord was leading him to tell the Life Story to a group of native people in those jungles who were extremely hostile to 'outsiders.' Jim Elliott and four other young missionaries prepared to reach out to the Auca people for weeks, flying over their villages dropping gifts and looking for a response. When they felt it was safe, Nate Saint, their pilot, landed their little plane on a river beach where they created a camp, hoping to make contact with the Aucas. They died there a few days later, after having a few friendly contacts, killed by the spears of warriors they hoped to teach the Good News. Two years later, Elizabeth Elliott along with her daughter, and the wife of the pilot who was killed, Rachel Saint, moved to live with the Auca people and taught them about Jesus Christ. Today, Nate Saint's son works and lives with the Auca people as a missionary. "Follow me!" was the call that started it all.
Earlier in his short life, Jim Elliott kept a journal in which he wrote a line that I have written into my memory to help me respond to the Lord's call. Jim wrote: "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose." Jim was paraphrasing what Jesus said: "Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." (Matthew 10:39, NIV)
"Follow me!" is both a demand and an invitation. The Lord of Life compels us to follow Him and with that invites us to a life that is rich with meaning and that has no end. "But, Jerry, Jim Elliott ended up dead on a river beach because he followed the Lord's call." Yes, that is true, but he lives eternally! There is the struggle - which life will we choose? Will we choose to live for the 'now,' getting those things that promise us a measure of happiness? Or will we look towards an invisible promise of Eternity, which is only owned by faith, and follow Jesus? It is a choice we make again and again through our days. For most of us it won't be so stark as it was for Jim Elliott. We won't be called to a jungle to die, but we will be called and we will have to 'die' to self. It is impossible to be faithful to two masters, though often we attempt it. We cannot hang onto our autonomy and call Jesus our Lord at the same time.
Take this snap-shot from Jesus' life with you today. Think about it, wrestle with it, and let the Spirit use the Word to clarify your commitment.
"As they were walking along someone said to Jesus, “I will follow you no matter where you go.” But Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but I, the Son of Man, have no home of my own, not even a place to lay my head.”
He said to another person, “Come, be my disciple.” The man agreed, but he said, “Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.” Jesus replied, “Let those who are spiritually dead care for their own dead. Your duty is to go and preach the coming of the Kingdom of God.”
Another said, “Yes, Lord, I will follow you, but first let me say good-bye to my family.” But Jesus told him, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:57-62, NLT)
Ready for adventure? Prepared for sacrifice? Want to leave a legacy and find Heaven's reward? Jesus says, "Follow me!"
In the 1950's a young man from Portland, Oregon; very intelligent, with a bright future in this world, chose a very different path from the other men in his college class. He followed the call of Jesus Christ to Ecuador. Three years later he felt the call into the Amazonian jungles. The Spirit of the Lord was leading him to tell the Life Story to a group of native people in those jungles who were extremely hostile to 'outsiders.' Jim Elliott and four other young missionaries prepared to reach out to the Auca people for weeks, flying over their villages dropping gifts and looking for a response. When they felt it was safe, Nate Saint, their pilot, landed their little plane on a river beach where they created a camp, hoping to make contact with the Aucas. They died there a few days later, after having a few friendly contacts, killed by the spears of warriors they hoped to teach the Good News. Two years later, Elizabeth Elliott along with her daughter, and the wife of the pilot who was killed, Rachel Saint, moved to live with the Auca people and taught them about Jesus Christ. Today, Nate Saint's son works and lives with the Auca people as a missionary. "Follow me!" was the call that started it all.
Earlier in his short life, Jim Elliott kept a journal in which he wrote a line that I have written into my memory to help me respond to the Lord's call. Jim wrote: "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose." Jim was paraphrasing what Jesus said: "Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." (Matthew 10:39, NIV)
"Follow me!" is both a demand and an invitation. The Lord of Life compels us to follow Him and with that invites us to a life that is rich with meaning and that has no end. "But, Jerry, Jim Elliott ended up dead on a river beach because he followed the Lord's call." Yes, that is true, but he lives eternally! There is the struggle - which life will we choose? Will we choose to live for the 'now,' getting those things that promise us a measure of happiness? Or will we look towards an invisible promise of Eternity, which is only owned by faith, and follow Jesus? It is a choice we make again and again through our days. For most of us it won't be so stark as it was for Jim Elliott. We won't be called to a jungle to die, but we will be called and we will have to 'die' to self. It is impossible to be faithful to two masters, though often we attempt it. We cannot hang onto our autonomy and call Jesus our Lord at the same time.
Take this snap-shot from Jesus' life with you today. Think about it, wrestle with it, and let the Spirit use the Word to clarify your commitment.
"As they were walking along someone said to Jesus, “I will follow you no matter where you go.” But Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but I, the Son of Man, have no home of my own, not even a place to lay my head.”
He said to another person, “Come, be my disciple.” The man agreed, but he said, “Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.” Jesus replied, “Let those who are spiritually dead care for their own dead. Your duty is to go and preach the coming of the Kingdom of God.”
Another said, “Yes, Lord, I will follow you, but first let me say good-bye to my family.” But Jesus told him, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:57-62, NLT)
Ready for adventure? Prepared for sacrifice? Want to leave a legacy and find Heaven's reward? Jesus says, "Follow me!"
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
At the core of my being...
What are your core values? One author defines core values as: "...who we are. They describe our intended state of being. They are so integral to our being that we would not abandon them even if we were penalized for holding them." I was reflecting on this during an Open House at Good Shepherd Christian Academy, the Christian School ministry of our Assembly. As I looked over the classroom displays and listened to our dedicated teachers making presentations to parents, the question "Are the core values of this ministry coming through?" was my recurrent thought. Core values keep an organization on track with her mission, but they must be clarified and renewed constantly against erosion.
Now, to my point today. It isn't just churches or ministries that need to define and clarify core values. As individuals we need to know who we are, what things we will never compromise, and why! If asked, could you quickly state three truths that shape your life today that no amount of pressure can change? (music, please, while we think...) Stating core values that universally apply to our lives can be difficult because our lives are complex as a result of layers of overlapping interests that make very different demands of us. There is God's voice that says, "Serve me with complete devotion." There is self interest that says, "I must control my world and protect myself. I must care for my own needs." There are voices from spouses, kids, neighbors, government, bosses, media, and the list goes on, each demanding that we dance to their tune.
Now, to my point today. It isn't just churches or ministries that need to define and clarify core values. As individuals we need to know who we are, what things we will never compromise, and why! If asked, could you quickly state three truths that shape your life today that no amount of pressure can change? (music, please, while we think...) Stating core values that universally apply to our lives can be difficult because our lives are complex as a result of layers of overlapping interests that make very different demands of us. There is God's voice that says, "Serve me with complete devotion." There is self interest that says, "I must control my world and protect myself. I must care for my own needs." There are voices from spouses, kids, neighbors, government, bosses, media, and the list goes on, each demanding that we dance to their tune.
- When work and worship compete for the same time in our week, what core value will guide our choice?
- When God's call to be a holy person (that is, one who belongs to Him for His purpose) collides with my desire to find acceptance in my social circle, what is the core value that emerges?
- When the lure of success in life dangles a 'golden' opportunity in front of us and God holds out a choice for significance to us, what core value helps us to know the right decision?
This Scriptural directive is all the more important for us as it instructs us to "Let the words of Christ, in all their richness, live in your hearts and make you wise. Use his words to teach and counsel each other." (Colossians 3:16, NLT) The Psalm of the Word is a prayer and a promise saying, "Happy are those who obey his decrees and search for him with all their hearts. They do not compromise with evil, and they walk only in his paths. You have charged us to keep your commandments carefully. Oh, that my actions would consistently reflect your principles!" (Psalm 119:2-5, NLT)
The Lord wants us to be people with integrity. Integrity is the quality of being the same all the way to the core. Duplicity- that is living this way at church, that way at home, and yet another way at work- is a prescription for insanity! James warns that a "double-minded man is unstable in all his ways." But if we discover the truth of God, talk it through with other Believers so we understand it, and let it own our minds, we will develop a set of core values that are a solid foundation. Jesus tells us that 'These words I speak to you ... are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit—but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock." (Matthew 7:24-25, The Message)
If you're wavering, if you find yourself confused by life's competing demands, let me suggest that you work at defining the core values of your life. Be guided by the Spirit, informed by the Word. Write down what you discover. Review that list prayerfully asking the Holy Spirit to make His will plain. Then - build your life on the rock-solid foundation that will keep you true to your Lord.
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Win at all costs?
When conflict flares up in your life, and it will, how do you understand it?
Is conflict an opportunity for growth, to reach for understanding, for realization of that others have a differing point of view?
Or is conflict a call to war?
For those who see conflict as 'war,' the only good solution in a dispute is to win by destroying the other person; not necessarily by physically eliminating them, but by tearing down their credibility, reputation, or intellect. If a person views conflict as a signal of discontent or discomfort, it becomes a call to engagement and dialogue! That said, I admit that I hate conflict. I would rather live in peaceful harmony all the time. However, I know that the one of the requirements of deep relationships is conflict!
For example, if a married couple wants to be close, they will have to work through conflict that arises as they move beyond being friends into real mutuality where each lives for the other. Bev and I share a high level of mutuality in our marriage today, serving each other with joy. To reach this level of fulfillment in our relationship, we endured moments of sharp disagreement that helped us to understand each other's needs as we do today.
When a church is moving beyond being a Christian country club where like-minded people 'hang out' to being the Body of Christ where diverse people come together to serve Christ by serving each other; along the way she will be required to work through conflict that arise out of differing priorities, perspectives, and personalities. The church I pastor is growing and is, in my opinion, in a time when managing the conflicts that arise along the way to a greater shared vision is one of my most important responsibilities as her leader.
Individually, when we choose intimacy with the Spirit of God, we will experience times of conflict when we are torn between self-will and the Spirit's demands! When we are torn up by conflicted desires, we can pray with desperate faith, "Lord, help me to know the joy of surrender to Your will and give me courage to let you lead me." And He will!
Whether conflict is destructive or constructive depends on the goal with which we enter it - winning or understanding.
Love is the key! If I love someone, I will not seek to destroy them in pursuit of a win! Neither will I retreat from them, withdrawing my presence, in an act of self-protection. The Bible says, "Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." (1 Corinthians 13:4-7, NLT) Conflict creates the context for the expression of real love! That passage makes little sense if we see no purpose in conflict. And, that passage points the way through times of conflict - patient, not selfish, rejoicing as truth emerges. The love described in the Bible is no romantic emotion flourishing in the artificial environment of perpetual "niceness." Biblical love is a choice, a way of life we choose in a world filled with conflict, often fueled by selfishness and hatred. That kind of love is terribly costly.
And how do we come to love in that way? We are loved by God and thus, we learn to love. John writes- "My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love." (1 John 4:7-8, The Message) Let God love you! Thank Him for Christ Jesus and the Cross that bridges the gap that disobedience created. Thank Him for grace that invites you to be a son or daughter, not a servant. Feel His assurance of your acceptability, despite your imperfection. Invite the Holy Spirit to whisper, "I love you," into your spirit. Then, go love!
You will find that life is transformed from a constant battle to win into a struggle to overcome obstacles that block shared goals and mutual opportunities. Love will change your point of view!
In a time of conflict? How does love change the goal?
___________________________
Is conflict an opportunity for growth, to reach for understanding, for realization of that others have a differing point of view?
Or is conflict a call to war?
For those who see conflict as 'war,' the only good solution in a dispute is to win by destroying the other person; not necessarily by physically eliminating them, but by tearing down their credibility, reputation, or intellect. If a person views conflict as a signal of discontent or discomfort, it becomes a call to engagement and dialogue! That said, I admit that I hate conflict. I would rather live in peaceful harmony all the time. However, I know that the one of the requirements of deep relationships is conflict!
For example, if a married couple wants to be close, they will have to work through conflict that arises as they move beyond being friends into real mutuality where each lives for the other. Bev and I share a high level of mutuality in our marriage today, serving each other with joy. To reach this level of fulfillment in our relationship, we endured moments of sharp disagreement that helped us to understand each other's needs as we do today.
When a church is moving beyond being a Christian country club where like-minded people 'hang out' to being the Body of Christ where diverse people come together to serve Christ by serving each other; along the way she will be required to work through conflict that arise out of differing priorities, perspectives, and personalities. The church I pastor is growing and is, in my opinion, in a time when managing the conflicts that arise along the way to a greater shared vision is one of my most important responsibilities as her leader.
Individually, when we choose intimacy with the Spirit of God, we will experience times of conflict when we are torn between self-will and the Spirit's demands! When we are torn up by conflicted desires, we can pray with desperate faith, "Lord, help me to know the joy of surrender to Your will and give me courage to let you lead me." And He will!
Whether conflict is destructive or constructive depends on the goal with which we enter it - winning or understanding.
Love is the key! If I love someone, I will not seek to destroy them in pursuit of a win! Neither will I retreat from them, withdrawing my presence, in an act of self-protection. The Bible says, "Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." (1 Corinthians 13:4-7, NLT) Conflict creates the context for the expression of real love! That passage makes little sense if we see no purpose in conflict. And, that passage points the way through times of conflict - patient, not selfish, rejoicing as truth emerges. The love described in the Bible is no romantic emotion flourishing in the artificial environment of perpetual "niceness." Biblical love is a choice, a way of life we choose in a world filled with conflict, often fueled by selfishness and hatred. That kind of love is terribly costly.
And how do we come to love in that way? We are loved by God and thus, we learn to love. John writes- "My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love." (1 John 4:7-8, The Message) Let God love you! Thank Him for Christ Jesus and the Cross that bridges the gap that disobedience created. Thank Him for grace that invites you to be a son or daughter, not a servant. Feel His assurance of your acceptability, despite your imperfection. Invite the Holy Spirit to whisper, "I love you," into your spirit. Then, go love!
You will find that life is transformed from a constant battle to win into a struggle to overcome obstacles that block shared goals and mutual opportunities. Love will change your point of view!
In a time of conflict? How does love change the goal?
___________________________
Monday, September 26, 2005
"I'm exhausted..."
Modern conveniences make it possible for us to be 'on' 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I can flip open my notebook computer and go to 'work' at 5 AM or 10 PM, right from my living room chair. Cell phones keep me 'in touch' all the time. Airplanes allow us to jump from coast to coast between breakfast and dinner. And the cost of all this convenience? Exhaustion!
The number one complaint I hear from people around me concerns time pressure. Most people blame their job for demanding too much, but I think that assumption deserves another look. It is true that our jobs take a big chunk of our time, but for many of us the exhaustion we feel comes from an out of control schedule. The normal rhythms of night and day and the ebb and flow of seasons no longer force us into down times where we can recharge. We pile endless activities into our lives with no thought about how our frenetic pace of life is effecting us and our families.
Just as our rich supply of food is allowing us to become the world's fattest people, so too, our ability to choose to do so much from the buffet of activities available to us, is contributing to fat schedules and, ultimately, to exhaustion. We are becoming a nation of activity addicts - skipping from this diversion to that, watching a little TV while we surf the 'net, speed reading while we listen to music, cramming in yardwork, speeding through vacations as we keep in touch with the office, rushing our kids through after school activities so they can hurry through their homework while devouring a quick dinner alone, as we talk on the phone.
The one word that we find most difficult to say - to ourselves, to our kids, to others - is "No." We feel guilty if we're not packing each day chockfull of things to do, even growing anxious if we have an afternoon to sit and enjoy the day from a quiet spot on our deck! Maybe you're reading this and wondering, "what world does Jerry live in anyway? Doesn't he know I have to..." Yes, I know that there are seasons of high output when we have to pour it on! I know that deadlines come and unforeseen emergencies throw our best plans into chaotic confusion. However, we can, and we must, choose to order our lives including our use of time. We must take control of our schedule and decide which activities are really important to us, for our kids development, and to God!
When we were raising our family, Bev and I wrestled with scheduling. Our kids pushed to be in every activity, to play endless sports, to burn up whole weekends in non-stop going! We said, 'choose!' We set priorities for ourselves and for them - God and church first, then family, then other activities. It caused conflict. I didn't get to do all the things I wanted to do, but neither anyone else in our family because some important choices trumped our personal pleasures and desires! Today, I do not regret forcing those choices for the one thing we all (our adult kids included) treasure is our 'connectedness,' our sense that we have a life together and that God is the Primary Love of our lives.
Let me suggest that you start to get control by embracing God's Sabbath principle, not as religious law, but a life-giving gift. One day a week, turn off the cell phone, unplug the computer, leave the yard work and focus on things of the Spirit, worship and renewal. It won't happen unless you make it happen! A thousand things will press in to demand that you attend to them NOW. Resist them. God gave a gift to His people in setting aside one day in seven for a break from the everyday work routine. Sadly, today most of us don't accept that gift choosing to live everyday the same. Think about that this week, won't you? Pray that God will give you the courage to take control of the time He's given to you, to know how to make the most of your days, to spend the most valuable resource- time - in ways that yield maximum returns, not just for this life, but for eternity.
Here's a passage that is not primarily about use of time. It is about coming to a place where we enter into God's gift of 'rest' for our souls through Christ using the metaphor of Israel's entry into the Promised Land as instruction for the Christian's entry into a new 'land' of God's provisions. This passage does contain provocative thoughts about what is ultimately important in life. Meditate on it for a few moments before you rush on to other things today and allow the Spirit to challenge your heart with the rich truth. At first reading you might not 'get it.' Go back and read it again, and again, and the Spirit will unfold a rich truth to you.
"For this Good News—that God has prepared a place of rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t believe what God told them. For only we who believe can enter his place of rest. As for those who didn’t believe, God said, “In my anger I made a vow: ‘They will never enter my place of rest,’ ” even though his place of rest has been ready since he made the world. We know it is ready because the Scriptures mention the seventh day, saying, “On the seventh day God rested from all his work.” But in the other passage God said, “They will never enter my place of rest.”
So God’s rest is there for people to enter. But those who formerly heard the Good News failed to enter because they disobeyed God. So God set another time for entering his place of rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David a long time later in the words already quoted: “Today you must listen to his voice. Don’t harden your hearts against him.” This new place of rest was not the land of Canaan, where Joshua led them. If it had been, God would not have spoken later about another day of rest.
So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. For all who enter into God’s rest will find rest from their labors, just as God rested after creating the world. Let us do our best to enter that place of rest. For anyone who disobeys God, as the people of Israel did, will fall. For the word of God is full of living power. It is sharper than the sharpest knife, cutting deep into our innermost thoughts and desires.
It exposes us for what we really are. Nothing in all creation can hide from him. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes. This is the God to whom we must explain all that we have done." (Hebrews 4:1-13, NLT)
The number one complaint I hear from people around me concerns time pressure. Most people blame their job for demanding too much, but I think that assumption deserves another look. It is true that our jobs take a big chunk of our time, but for many of us the exhaustion we feel comes from an out of control schedule. The normal rhythms of night and day and the ebb and flow of seasons no longer force us into down times where we can recharge. We pile endless activities into our lives with no thought about how our frenetic pace of life is effecting us and our families.
Just as our rich supply of food is allowing us to become the world's fattest people, so too, our ability to choose to do so much from the buffet of activities available to us, is contributing to fat schedules and, ultimately, to exhaustion. We are becoming a nation of activity addicts - skipping from this diversion to that, watching a little TV while we surf the 'net, speed reading while we listen to music, cramming in yardwork, speeding through vacations as we keep in touch with the office, rushing our kids through after school activities so they can hurry through their homework while devouring a quick dinner alone, as we talk on the phone.
The one word that we find most difficult to say - to ourselves, to our kids, to others - is "No." We feel guilty if we're not packing each day chockfull of things to do, even growing anxious if we have an afternoon to sit and enjoy the day from a quiet spot on our deck! Maybe you're reading this and wondering, "what world does Jerry live in anyway? Doesn't he know I have to..." Yes, I know that there are seasons of high output when we have to pour it on! I know that deadlines come and unforeseen emergencies throw our best plans into chaotic confusion. However, we can, and we must, choose to order our lives including our use of time. We must take control of our schedule and decide which activities are really important to us, for our kids development, and to God!
When we were raising our family, Bev and I wrestled with scheduling. Our kids pushed to be in every activity, to play endless sports, to burn up whole weekends in non-stop going! We said, 'choose!' We set priorities for ourselves and for them - God and church first, then family, then other activities. It caused conflict. I didn't get to do all the things I wanted to do, but neither anyone else in our family because some important choices trumped our personal pleasures and desires! Today, I do not regret forcing those choices for the one thing we all (our adult kids included) treasure is our 'connectedness,' our sense that we have a life together and that God is the Primary Love of our lives.
Let me suggest that you start to get control by embracing God's Sabbath principle, not as religious law, but a life-giving gift. One day a week, turn off the cell phone, unplug the computer, leave the yard work and focus on things of the Spirit, worship and renewal. It won't happen unless you make it happen! A thousand things will press in to demand that you attend to them NOW. Resist them. God gave a gift to His people in setting aside one day in seven for a break from the everyday work routine. Sadly, today most of us don't accept that gift choosing to live everyday the same. Think about that this week, won't you? Pray that God will give you the courage to take control of the time He's given to you, to know how to make the most of your days, to spend the most valuable resource- time - in ways that yield maximum returns, not just for this life, but for eternity.
Here's a passage that is not primarily about use of time. It is about coming to a place where we enter into God's gift of 'rest' for our souls through Christ using the metaphor of Israel's entry into the Promised Land as instruction for the Christian's entry into a new 'land' of God's provisions. This passage does contain provocative thoughts about what is ultimately important in life. Meditate on it for a few moments before you rush on to other things today and allow the Spirit to challenge your heart with the rich truth. At first reading you might not 'get it.' Go back and read it again, and again, and the Spirit will unfold a rich truth to you.
"For this Good News—that God has prepared a place of rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t believe what God told them. For only we who believe can enter his place of rest. As for those who didn’t believe, God said, “In my anger I made a vow: ‘They will never enter my place of rest,’ ” even though his place of rest has been ready since he made the world. We know it is ready because the Scriptures mention the seventh day, saying, “On the seventh day God rested from all his work.” But in the other passage God said, “They will never enter my place of rest.”
So God’s rest is there for people to enter. But those who formerly heard the Good News failed to enter because they disobeyed God. So God set another time for entering his place of rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David a long time later in the words already quoted: “Today you must listen to his voice. Don’t harden your hearts against him.” This new place of rest was not the land of Canaan, where Joshua led them. If it had been, God would not have spoken later about another day of rest.
So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. For all who enter into God’s rest will find rest from their labors, just as God rested after creating the world. Let us do our best to enter that place of rest. For anyone who disobeys God, as the people of Israel did, will fall. For the word of God is full of living power. It is sharper than the sharpest knife, cutting deep into our innermost thoughts and desires.
It exposes us for what we really are. Nothing in all creation can hide from him. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes. This is the God to whom we must explain all that we have done." (Hebrews 4:1-13, NLT)
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