Friday; April 17

I have spent more time watching and listening to myself over the last few weeks than I have in the past several years combined.  In preparing for our online services and classes I have had to edit a lot of audio and video.  While I always knew I wasn’t perfect, I have gained a new appreciation for how fallible I am.  As I have edited, I have become more aware of my stutters, pauses, mispronunciations and those times when I just don’t make a lot of sense.  In all honesty, I will be glad when we get back to being live and in person.
As I thought about my own self-critiquing, I got to thinking about the Apostle Paul.  Here is a guy that was at the top of his profession, but assessed his imperfection by stating, “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24).  It appears that the closer he got to God, the further he found himself from being where he hoped to be.  Given my recent experiences with self-critique, I could understand if he chose to lose hope of ever being good, but then again, I believe this gave him an important understanding of grace.  You see, he may have seen his imperfections, but he felt the forgiveness of God.  Sure, he lamented his failures, but he also proclaimed, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Let’s be honest with ourselves, but let’s never lose hope.  God knows our limitations better than we know them ourselves – but, He loves us enough to overlook them.
Think About It!

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday; November 29

The biblical story of the Good Samaritan has changed our world. Notice I didn’t say that it had change religion or even Christianity, it has influenced the world. There are very few people who don’t know the moral of Jesus’ parable about the Good Samaritan. In fact, the phrase has become a common description of everyday people doing good to their neighbors. While Jesus’ parable from Luke 10 shares several spiritual lessons, one of the most practical is that good can be done by anyone. You don’t have to be a church official to do good, it is not only possible for each one of us to help, it is required of all of us. If a Samaritan can be good, so can we! After presenting the parable, Jesus asked the man who had originally asked the question about being a good neighbor which character in the story was a good neighbor, “… he said, ‘The one who showed mercy toward him.’” at which point, the discussion from theoretical to personal, “Then Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do the same.’” (Luke
Read more

Thursday; January 12

The other day I was watching a television show that used a rather common term applied to overcoming challenges. When organizations experience unexpected setbacks – especially when they lose key people – they rely upon the concept of “Next Man Up”. In essence, when our starters (or stars) go down, effective organizations rely upon their next levels to step into the vacancy. While this is an effective response, have we given much thought as to how we prepare to be the “next people up”? First, we must know our job. Even when we aren’t the primary players, we need to be preparing ourselves to be ready when we get the opportunity to shine. Second, we must do our best when we get the chance. Knowledge is important but what turns potential into talent is effort. Yet, maybe the most underappreciated aspect of this concept is a willingness avoid excuse-making and whining about the unfairness of our situation. When we complain about the circumstances that caused the need for replacements
Read more

Monday; September 25

When I was a youngster, I remember hearing about this thing called the Generation Gap. I was a little bit too young to be active in the social movements of the 1960s, but I do remember listening to the challenges the generations were experiencing way back then. Interestingly, now that I have been on both sides of the aging process, I have to admit that the Gap of the 1960s was nothing new. With the development of each generation comes conflict. The young people don’t feel like the older people understand them and the older folks tend to believe their input is being underappreciated. Too often trust is the casualty when two generations collide. The sad thing is that it doesn’t have to be this way. When we can capture the innovation and energy of the younger folks and harness the wisdom of those who have been around for a while we can develop a winning combination. No, we won’t always see things eye-to-eye nor will we necessarily speak the same emotional language, but when we app
Read more