Posts Tagged ‘Life’

Jan
04
2012

Why Your Work Matters

This is a terrific conversation between Collin Hansen of The Gospel Coalition and Matt Perman, proprietor of the blog What’s Best Next and director of strategy for Desiring God Ministries. Collin interviews Matt about his forthcoming book, but more importantly about the often-neglected doctrine of work. I love this new emphasis, helping so-called “lay people” discover the worth and value of the work they do Mon-Friday:

 

Monday Morning Motivation from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.

Dec
01
2011

A CEO’s Courage

Read this story in the New York Times and I thought it was a good one (HT: Janice Crouse)

IT seems that every week we hear of a C.E.O. who earned millions from a golden parachute after demonstrating poor business judgment or cutting thousands of jobs with no financial downside for executives. These stories feed the fires of the Occupy movement growing all over the world.

But on Tuesday, we heard something different. American Airlines, once the largest airline in the United States, declared bankruptcy. This is not surprising news for the beleaguered airline industry; what is different is what is emerging from the wreckage. Gerard J. Arpey, American’s chief executive officer and chairman, resigned and stepped away with no severance package and nearly worthless stock holdings. He split with his employer of 30 years out of a belief that bankruptcy was morally wrong, and that he could not, in good conscience, lead an organization that followed this familiar path.

via At American Airlines, a Departing C.E.O.’s Moral Stand – NYTimes.com.

Sep
12
2011

Why Christians Shouldn’t Be Jerks

We’ve been studying the book of James on Sunday Mornings at Gages Lake. We just finished the third chapter on Sunday. The last section of this chapter gives a very specific definition of spiritual maturity. James tells us what it isn’t and what it is. I found it interesting that James was very specific in saying that someone who is always controversial, whose life is followed continually with strife–this is not a spiritual man. Now, of course, the gospel is inherently controversial. And even the most winsome Christians will encounter opposition at sometime in their lives. But a man or woman of God should not be someone who intentionally stirs the pot in order to bring attention to themselves. This, Jams says, is not wisdom from above, but a produce of the world, the flesh, and the devil.

Now isn’t that interesting? Because often Christians spin their behavior as being spiritual. Leaders who browbeat people into submission and routinely step on others, this is papered over as “good, firm leadership.” Really? James says, “No, this isn’t wisdom. This is sin.” Some Christians literally feel they have the spiritual gift of controversy.

What is wisdom? Among the attributes James describes in chapter three is reasonableness. Sometimes translations render it “moderation” or “restraint.” It’s the simple attitude of being nice and easy to get along with. Now you’d think this would be natural for Christians, but James, a first-century pastor, knew it wasn’t. Actually sometimes it is Christians who are the crankiest people. They are not fun to be with. Sometimes Christian leaders are the people you’d least want to be around.

James says that this shouldn’t be. Another trait he mentions is easy to be intreated. This means something like, “willing to change” or “open to the ideas of others.” Yes, you read that right. Christians, while being firm and stedfast on the fundamentals, should be generally deferential to other’s ideas and opinions. Again, this doesn’t always characterize us, does it?

Sometimes we pride ourselves on “I haven’t changed in all my years of ministry.” Really? Not sure that’s a feature of godly wisdom? We should change. We should adapt. We should grow. The only One who shouldn’t change is God. We’re human. We don’t know everything and don’t always have a corner on the truth.

There is much more in this section of James. But I was deeply convicted that as a man of God, my life should be characterized by peace, by love, by selflessness, by authenticity, by genuine kindness. These aren’t mere “options’, but fruits of the Spirit’s work within me.

It also has shown me that some of the traits we spin as being good are really sin. That we cover over selfishness and excuse our jerkiness as being something good when it is not. We’d be better to humbly admit our sin, let God’s grace flow in, and realize that true wisdom is reflected in something countercultural, the Gospel lived out in daily life.

At the end of the day, most of us probably have more fake wisdom in us than real wisdom. But we can being the road to maturity by stopping the spin. Saying, “That’s just my personality” or “That’s how I lead” is a copout, an unwillingness to let the Lord change us.

Because real wisdom is gentle, peaceable, kind and selfless. Not jerky.

 

Aug
18
2011

Why Hobbies are Better When They are Not Idols

John Calvin famous said our hearts are great “idol-making factories.” A good, wholesome, beneficial pursuit can quickly become an idol. For me, I find that my pleasurable hobbies can often lead to idolatry. Sports is perhaps the biggest threat. I’m a big time fan of team sports. I love the NFL, the NBA, and Major League Baseball (when our Chicago teams are competitive.). Sports is a terrific way to enjoy leisure time, great way to occupy creative and emotional parts of our minds and to find common ground with others. But it can also become an obsessive pursuit. Let me explain.

There are seasons when I’m so completely locked in on sports. For instance, last NBA offseason and the season were terrific, perhaps one of the best in many years in the League. During that season I was checking Twitter constantly to see where LeBron might be signing. I watched many regular season games and most playoff games. And I was constantly listening to sports radio in the car. None of those are wrong, but they began to consume my time. In increasing amounts.

And do you know what was interesting about this newfound idol? It didn’t satisfy. When I began to look to my sports addiction as something that can fill me when I’m discouraged or distract when I’m convicted by the Spirit, it became a lousy friend. The reason for this is simple. Sports was never created to satisfy me. It can only bring temporary pleasure or enjoyment and provide a prism thru which I may appreciate and glorify God more.

I’ve found something else interesting. When I unplug from sports (or whatever my idol is that season) and dive deeper into the Word through prayer, preaching, and good reading, I find I still have an affinity for sports like the NBA, but I tend to enjoy my limited exposure to it. Do you understand what I’m saying? Too much of a pursuit/hobby I love not only becomes a bad thing, it becomes a terribly object of worship. But when sports is in its rightful place in my life, I find my limited moments indulging become true enjoyment. The expectations for satisfaction are way lower. Sports becomes what it was supposed to be for me: a time to rest, relax, reflect, unwind. But not my Master and my source of delight.

Only God gives this. And our hearts are wired only to find pleasure in Him. So the answer, I guess, is not to completely abandon all good things that can be turned into great, but it is to keep them in their place. When our pursuits begin to look like worship, we should scale back, dive back into the Word, and then realize we only find life in Jesus.

Aug
15
2011

Why Campaigning is Easy, but Governing is Hard

I’ve been watching, with interest, the emerging campaign for Presidency of the United States. I gave up involvement in politics a few years ago to devote full-time attention to ministry, but I am still keenly interested. I watched clips of the GOP Presidential debate last Thursday night. I’ve always enjoyed the debates and give the candidates credit. We give our candidates grief, joking about politicians, etc. But consider what an act of courage it is to stand up on a stage and subject yourself to the public grilling.

In a sense, campaigning for President is difficult–giving up two years of your life, sacrificing your family, schlepping across the country, from county fair to parade to union hall–and yet in another sense its easy. Allow me to explain. We put our leaders through this rigorous test of a campaign to see what they are made of. We test their mettle. You can’t just coast into the White House. If you want the top job in the land, you must allow us to poke and prode, to lift up the rocks and see what’s underneath them. The media will scrutinize you and we will not only allow it, we will like it (because the media only produces what we consume). We will knock you down and see how you respond to adversity.

And yet, all of this is the easy part. Because when you’re campaigning, you can be anything you think you need to be to get elected. For instance, if you’re running for President as a conservative Republican, you can please the base by telling us you will never raise taxes, you’ll burn down the EPA, and will eliminate the Department of Education. Of course you will never do that as President, because the limitations of power will keep you from doing this. Plus, a hurricane will sweep through Florida and won’t give you time to eliminate the Department of Education. It’s the same if you’re running as a Democrat. You can promise to end poverty in four years, cancel all of America’s wars, and guarantee every person a job. It won’t happen of course but you can put it out there to those who want to hear that.

This is the difference in campaigning and governing. As soon as you place your hand on the Bible, now you’re the guy in charge. You get the intelligence briefings. You see the political dynamic in Congress. You are aware of things that the rest of the country has no idea about. You can’t say a thing. And, you must deal with another side of the political spectrum that doesn’t like you. So you have to figure out ways to get them on board so you can pass legislation and begin to fulfill some of your promises. You also have to prioritize. What can you get done? And what’s the best timing?

Governing is hard. You have to make decisions that will be unpopular. You have to lead, which means convincing people who don’t agree with you. You have built-in enemies. Suddenly, there are less hills upon which you will sacrifice your political capital.

This reality is not just confined to political leadership. It’s a reality of leadership on all levels. When you’re interviewing for that promotion, you can promise to be all that your prospective employer wants you to be and more. And you might say anything just to get the job. But once you’re in that position, you realize the limits of your power. You discover that leadership is hard, interviewing is easy.

It even applies to parenting. I remember my wife and I laying out lofty goals for our children. We had 2, 5, and 10 year plans. We were going to be different than our parents. And it was going to be so easy. Then something funny happened. We got married, had children and realize that parenting is hard and those precious little souls have their own wills that you cannot always control. You realize how dependent you are on God.

I want to bring this back to the race for President, or any leadership position. Leadership is often an empty, difficult task. As I read Presidential biographies I’m amazed at the despair and sense of desperation on the part of most U.S. Presidents. They had worked their entire lives for this position and yet they realized the White House can often be a prison.

This is why we should pray for our leaders at all levels. And maybe we should select them, less for the rhetoric they promise, but for their history of leadership. Have they governed a big enterprise before? And how did they do?

The easy part is the campaigning, the criticizing, the punditry. The hard part is the leadership.

Jul
28
2011

The Importance of a Good Editor (In writing and in life)

I’m currently working on my fourth book, a look at the unique struggles of those who grow up in the church. It’s the most difficult book I’ve written and probably the most ambitious. I have learned over the course of writing three books and numerous articles the importance of having a good editor. I’m not talking about the editor at the publisher, who is also very, very good. I’m talking about someone willing to look at your chapters when they are 80% done but you don’t know how to put them over the top. I’m talking about someone willing to go through your pride and joy and highlight areas that need to change and areas that are good. This is what makes your work good, if not great.

Read More

Jun
13
2011

The Gospel and Relationships

Yesterday I preached a message entitled, “The Gospel and Relationships.” It’s a single message in a series of single messages until I begin preaching through the book of James in July in a series entitled, Authentic Faith. Ironically, I took my main text for this single message from the book of James, chapter 4:1-3.

Essentially the gist of my message was this: the gospel moves us from an external focus on the problems of others to an internal focus on our own sins. If we continually come back to the gospel, it can revolutionize our relationships. Here were my six points:

1) I Am the Biggest Problem In Every Relationship

2) The Relationships God Gave Me Are Designed for My Good

3) The Way I Treat People is the Way I Treat God

4) I Will Only Have Peace in My Relationships When I Have Peace with God

5) I Must Show Mercy When People Sin

6) Every person is valued by God

I ended by quoting this song, a favorite of mine, written by Mike Otto:

Let me see this world, dear Lord,

As though I were looking through Your eyes.

A world of men who don’t want You Lord,

But a world for which You died.

Let me kneel with You in the garden,

Blur my eyes with tears of agony;

For if once I could see this world the way You see,

I just know I’d serve You more faithfully.

 






 

Jun
08
2011

Forgetting the Past – Of Others

I had a conversation the other day with someone about a guy we both grew up with. This guy was considered a “bad kid”, always getting in trouble, kicked out of school, and proudly wearing the reputation as “no-good.” So when he came up in this conversation, the person I was talking to sort of picked up where he had left off with this bad dude.

But his information on him was dated. I happened to know that God had done a work of grace in this former bad kid’s life, not only helping him overcome a serious addiction, but also moving him into a beautiful marriage and a terrific ministry. But in certain circles, he’s only known as bad news. As much as I tried to convince, this other person couldn’t believe in the new “bad guy.”

Part of me was upset, but then I was reminded by the Lord of my own attitude toward people of my past. We have a habit of remembering the pasts of others, even if God has forgiven them. We like to hold on to the 1996 version of this person instead of the 2011 version, which could be two completely different people.

It’s funny because we don’t want to be remembered by who we were in 1996. I certainly don’t. I’d hope folks would understand that God has really worked in my life. But I don’t have the grace to do that with others.

We hear a lot of preaching in church about forgetting the past–our own pasts. This is vitally important, because the enemy wants us to dredge up our sins as if to make us think Christ’s forgiveness on the cross was incomplete. But perhaps it’s time for us to start talking about forgetting the past of others. It’s time to realize that God just might have done a work in them since the last time you saw them. I imagine how this might restore and renew relationships. The parents who only know their troubled kid as being a troubled kid might actually take a second look and see how God is moving in her heart. The kid who carries wounds from childhood might realize that God has changed the hearts of his parents. The pastor who saw little potential in the scoundrel who messed up Sunday School might be surprised to find that guy graduating from seminary. The teacher who had to repeatedly discipline the unruly 8th grader might be overjoyed to know that her pupil is now the mother of three and leading a family.

Christians ought to lead the way in forgiveness and grace. How do we do this? I’m thinking we go back to where we started in our faith: the radical gospel which liberates us from the power of sin and promises us a new life in Christ. At the cross we were all hopeless and helpless. I was and so was the bad dude from high-school. And just as I like to claim God’s work in the deep and sinful recesses of my own heart, I must be faithful to see that in the hearts of others.