Don't Get Upset

Playoffs are prime time for big upsets. Last year, the San Diego Chargers sat atop the NFL with the best record in football. They had a star running back, a daunting defense, and they had locked up homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. They lost their first playoff game to the #4 seed.

Last season, the Dallas Mavericks were positioned better than they've ever been, closing out the regular season with the best record in the NBA, and one of the best in league history. They had the NBA's MVP and were the heavy favorites to win the championship. They were embarrassed and sent home in the first round of the playoffs by the #8 seed Warriors.

You wonder how things like that happen. But they don't just happen in sports. Big upsets happen in life, too. I found the apostle Paul reminding me of that the other day:

Remember our history, friends, and be warned. All our ancestors were led by the providential Cloud and taken miraclously through the Sea. . . . But just experiencing God's wonder and grace didn't seem to mean much--most of them were defeated by temptation during the hard times in the desert. . . (1 Cor. 10:1-5 Message)

They had it all going for them. They had God's MVP deliverer in Moses. They had the power of God on their side. They saw incredible miracles and had to have felt the immediate hand of God on their lives in dramatic ways. But in the end, they died in the desert having never gotten to enjoy the promised land. They were beaten by temptation. I would call that a major upset.

We can encounter God and expect things from him, yet never learn to trust God and submit our lives to him. That is a formula for heartbreaking personal defeat. I love experiential worship, to feel the presence of God as I praise him. I'm intoxicated by the brush of God on my life when he moves powerfully in my circumstances or through my ministry to others. But those experiences of God are supposed to lead me to a posture of submitting to his will. That is what is what will maximize the joy and satisfaction of my life. There is no way I should lose.

God, because of you I have so much going for me. I submit gladly to you. I refuse to let my life be upset in defeat by giving in to sin.

Just Do It!

I love football. I'm really enjoying watching the Cowboys play this year. It's fun when you're winning! And it's getting time for the Pro Bowl selections to be announced--the best of the best (the AFC may as well just put the whole Patriots team out there).

Why aren't more people star athletes? For that matter, why aren't there more star musicians, star actors? Why aren't there more great companies? Outstanding entrepreneurs? Is it because there are few talented people out there? It is because it takes a lot of good luck to be in the right place at the right time. Is it because there's only so much room at the top? Okay, yes. All of that plays in to some degree.

All excuses aside, though, I think more of us could make it than do. Why? Because there are few people willing to put in the tough, rigorous training. It just takes too much self-discipline and all-out commitment.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. (1 Cor. 9:24-25)

That challenge jumped out at me today. How self-disciplined am I? Isn't that also what it takes to build a great church or a great company? How much do I really want to see God's business flourish? Contrary to what I often heard in church growing up, it's not just about "being faithful," as some people define that (meaning a license for mediocrity, stagnation and a lack of imagination). God wants me to work for success in the mission. Every business owner wants to turn a big profit. I think that drive is part of the image of God. Read Jesus' parables about the Kingdom. Read the prophets' business metaphors about Israel. God wants a profit. He wants results. He at least expects us to give it our very best shot.

And I can do it with his help if I will just be disciplined enough to stay in strict training. I've got to always be seeking to get better, to dream new dreams, to think new ideas, to experiment, to learn from others. This is God's business and it deserves the best I've got. I find my motivation has ups and downs. It's easy to be content to manage what already is instead of improving it. Or, as one author puts it, the temptation is to be so busy working in it that you don't take the time to work on it. It takes intentionally carving out time for the express purpose of working on it.

Like Nike says, I've got to just do it.

Through Your Eyes

What does it mean to serve others? Sound obvious? But it really isn't. It's more than just meeting a physical need. Mowing a lawn or taking a meal to someone are certainly servant acts, but there's another level of service. It's best displayed when we serve people by taking the time to understand them and then bend over backwards to relate to them.

...I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, non-religious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized--whoever. I didn't take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ--but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. (1 Cor. 9:19-22 Message)

Why aren't believers and churches influencing more people to Christ? My observation is that the process breaks down right at this very point. Sure, we want to see people come to Christ. We put programs in place to attempt to do that. We badger our neighbors to come to church. But here is where things are getting hung up--rarely do we take the time to see things and experience things through their eyes, much less care enough to adjust the way we do things so that they can really relate. We haven't begun to serve them at the highest level. Imagine the flood of new believers we might harvest if we did!

I hear believers blaming the unbelievers for their lack of interest or their preoccupation with entertainment, or blaming scandals for giving God a bad name. It's easy to blame. It's difficult but godly to serve. And that is where the power is--the power to step inside someone else's experience and get a different perspective. The power to grow and learn and develop the ability to build relational rapport.

The bottom line is, we can do a whole lot better. We haven't yet learned to really serve like Jesus did. He stepped into our world and put on our shoes and took the time to see what we see, to feel what we feel. No wonder his approach was so compelling to people.

Lord, make me a servant. Make me like you. Amen.

Love Is Trumps

This statement by the apostle Paul, known for his heady theology, resonates deeply with me:

Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. But the man who loves God is known by God. (1 Cor. 8:2-3)

It's pretty simple, really: Love trumps knowledge. In fact, in the game of life and spirituality, love is always trumps. Accumulating knowledge is like sucking in a big, deep breath, and it can make you look about as inflated! It inflates your ego, unless showing unconditional love remains your higher priority.

Some significant contrasts jump out at me from what Paul wrote:
1) The uncertainty of knowing ("the man who thinks he knows") versus the certainty of loving ("the man who loves"). No matter how knowledgeable, I still don't have it all right. But I can be confident that showing love is always right.

2) Valuing what "I know" versus valuing being known by God. And being known by God comes not by having all the right religious positions, but by truly loving God in action ("the man who loves God is known by God"). And that love is shown particularly by the patience and care with which I treat those who don't yet know what I do (as the rest of the chapter explains).

Lord, when I start to feel superior or throw my knowledge around, remind me that what I know isn't as important as the love I show to my fellow travelers on this journey. Teach me to be humble in my positions, to respect those who have other ideas, and to be known by you through my loving actions.

Free To Be Me

People do it. They mean well. They just can't help themselves. They're all the time trying to get somebody to do what they think they need to do.

Around the holiday times and big family gatherings, the questions are bound to surface: "So, when are you going to find yourself a man?" (Hopefully, no one will be asking me that particular question.) "When are you two going to get around to having some children?" "Are you going to finish your degree (hint, hint)?" "You've got to go to college. It's the only way to get ahead in life." "Why don't you just leave him? He's no good for you." "Why would you want to let go of a secure ministry career in an established church and go out on a limb to plant a brand new church from scratch? You ought to just stick with where you are."

In a letter to the believers at Corinth, Paul writes about pressures exerted by others to marry or not, to divorce, to push for a different station in life. He counsels:

You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men. (1 Cor. 7:23)

As a person who craves approval, I need to hear that. And I love it! God paid a huge price for my freedom--the blood of Jesus. But, well-meaning or not, people will try to pressure me to conform to their expectations. The danger in that is that I may live my life trying to please people instead of embracing the fact that God now defines who I am. He calls me to a new kind of reality that people living with an earthly perspective can't see or understand.

I am free to pursue God's unique plan for my life instead of caving into the pressure of what others think I should do or be.

Lord, thank you for freeing me to live wholly for you in my own uniqueness. Amen.

Just wondering: What pressure have you felt from others who are trying to direct your life? Why do you think they do that?