Things I Can Live With (And one I can’t)

 

If they come, decide it's not for them, and leave, let them say: 
I wasn't a good enough speaker,
that I wasn't dynamic enough or conversational enough,
that I wasn't cool enough,
that I wasn't as engaging as the guy down the street,
that my shirt didn't match my socks,
that I wasn't wearing socks.

Let them say our band wasn't big enough,
or rockin' enough,
or hip enough,
or loud enough.
Heck, let them say it was too loud.

Let them say our group isn't big enough,
that our people aren't enough like them,
that our people are too much like them,
that there's not enough girls or not enough guys,
that we don't play games or have cool videos or enough special music.

Let them say we're too far away,
that we meet at an inconvenient time,
that we don't fit in their schedule,
that we don't have enough social activities.

I can live with all that and more.

But if they leave, if they decide it's not for them, never let them be able to say we didn't talk about Jesus.

Damn me if anyone is able to say that with any integrity.
And the other edge of that sword is:

If they leave because we talk about Jesus too much, I can live with that.

via Jared Wilson author of “Your Jesus is Too Safe”

What we can learn from Jon & Kate plus Eight

My wife and I started watching Jon and Kate about a year ago and got hooked.  The kids are simply too adorable.  We watched together the other night as the news broke about the divorce.  As much as reality TV often presents a distorted view of the world, we sadly found that the family’s troubles are all too real and just as common among many marriages.  While few of us have TV contracts or two vans full of kids, we can often face the same challenges of marriage.  Some of my thoughts.

1.  Marriage is hard. 

Apparently Jon and Kate got married when they were 22 and 24.  While that is not excessively young for marriage, I have found many younger couples look at only the bright side of marriage with unrealistic expectations.  The expected romance, constant companionship and unending love.  But once the honeymoon ends and real life hits, the real work of marriage begins.  Throw one or two (or eight) kids in the mix and it can lead to an explosive situation or more commonly a steady erosion of that love that once seemed so unending. 

2.  People are messed up. 

It doesn't take much of watching the show to witness how two people can be self-centered, uncaring, mean, angry, and greedy.  But really, most of us aren’t much better. Marriage can bring out the worst parts of us that we didn’t even know existed.  One of the most important things marriage has taught me is how big a jerk I can be.  And more often than not, rather than changing myself, I blame my spouse.

3.  God can change things. 

Without God's help, we are all helpless to our selfish and destructive nature.  But if we chose to put God at the center of our lives, and seek His will rather than our own, God can change us from the inside out.  He can replace our selfishness with love, our anger with patience, and our fear with trust.  I have seen marriages brought back together from the worst of situations in a way that was just short of miraculous.  God works in ways that we can’t do on our own. 

I don’t know what is in store for the Gosselins, or where they stand with God, but I hope that they will be able to look outside of themselves and let God repair in their marriage.  Even when things look their worst, Jesus says, “I make all things new.” 

Reflections on Easter

"Simplify, simplify."
- Henry David Thoreau

This past Easter season has been a refreshing time for me. God has been stripping away distractions that I thought I needed and replacing them with greater opportunities to know Him and serve him. Too often I have allowed unimportant things to pull me away from the simplicity of loving God and following Christ.

Thoreau penned these famous words as he determined to escape from the draining forces of the world into true living. He retreated into the solitude of the woods, saying "I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." Though he missed God in the process, I admire Thoreau's determination to seek out true life and to live deliberately. Not being driven by every wanton worry and urgent need, but to live with greater focus and purpose. Jesus calls all of us, like Paul, to throw off the non-essentials and to live solely for Him. I think Paul said it best -

"I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings..." (Philippians 3:10)

The Power of Encouragment

Reading this well written post by Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, reminded me of how often as a leader I am more critical than encouraging. How much better would it be if we were continual encouragers as God repeatedly reminds us. There would be a powerful impact on the lives of our fellow co-workers as well as those we minister to. Here Adams reflects on the impact of receiving written encouragements from a class of near strangers.

I remember opening my little package of compliments. Like everything else in the Dale Carnegie course, it seemed silly at first. How much impact would a bunch of mandated compliments from strangers have on me? Surely they would seem insincere to the point of humorous. I started to read them, one by one, and they blew me away. It was a powerful experience, and that was the point of the exercise. When we compared notes later, we all had the same experience. Compliments are powerful things, even from strangers who barely know you.

greenhouses

In the same way a Christian is not a man who never goes wrong, but a man who is enabled to repent and pick himself up and begin over again after each stumble--because the Christ-life is inside him, repairing him all the time, enabling him to repeat (in some degree) the kind of voluntary death which Christ Himself carried out.

That is why the Christian is in a different position from other people who are trying to be good. They hope, by being good, to please God if there is one; or--if they think there is not--at least they hope to deserve approval from good men. But the Christian thinks any good he does comes from the Christ-life inside him. He does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us; just as the roof of a greenhouse does not attract the sun because it is bright, but becomes bright because the sun shines on it.

- c.s. lewis in "mere christianity"

Be One

A nice translation of Philippians 2:1-4 from the Message.

"If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand."

I've recently been feeling the hurt of disunity in the Body in working with other Christians. "I'll never serve with Him." "She is so fake." "I can't stand them." Piercing words that speak volumes. Why is it so hard to love each other?