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Tag: disciple (Page 8 of 29)

The Struggle Is Real

April 22, 2024 / / 1 Comment

Ok so I should start by saying I have been a tad out of routine lately and these haven’t been nearly as often as I’d like. Got a bit busy but think we’re on the right track again.

This Sunday we landed the plane on chapter 7 of the book of Romans. It’s a chapter all about how the life of the follower of Jesus is not as easy as we would like to paint it at times. We have a tendency to think of the Christian life as some kind of surreal experience. It’s like once we “commit to following Jesus” everything in life starts going “better.” Which if you’re a follower of Jesus you know that isn’t true. In the least. The struggle is real!

Romans 7 is a raw and honest assessment of the life of the believer in Jesus. We’re at war…constantly. But not at war with one another or the world around us like we tend to display in our social media posts. We’re at war with ourselves.

If we’re honest, truly honest, with ourselves we’ll have to admit that we don’t always do the things we know we should be doing. We make up our minds about something and then get distracted. We have the best of intentions but fail in our attempts to actually do the thing we know we should be doing.

Paul, one of the rockstars of the Christian movement in the New Testament, admits to this struggle as well. And if he struggles then we should pretty much be ready for the struggle as well.

Here’s my favorite verse from this section. The good I want to do, that I do not do. But the evil I do not want to do, that I end up doing. Can you relate? I sure can.

For the longest time, it seemed as if the church portrayed the image of come inside with us and your life will be better. I don’t think that’s the message of the Bible. It sure isn’t the message of Paul here in Romans. And it is not the reality that I’ve faced in my own life.

I guess if we were more accurately to describe the life of the follower of Jesus it would be something like…come inside just as you are and realize what real love feels like. I mean seriously! If you knew everything there was about me, you would not like me at all let alone love me! But God in all his infinite wisdom, knows every little thing about me (past, present, future) and still loves me. We’ll talk more about that in the weeks to come.

I have people that are friends, or were friends(?), that just can’t see past the flaws in my character. I guess that makes one wonder if they were ever really friends to begin with or just coming alongside me for something they could gain from me? It doesn’t really matter, because even though people in this world have messed up priorities with regard to relationships God still loves me unconditionally.

Paul goes back and forth in this whole section about just how bad things really are. The struggle and the pain of trying to live for Christ only to realize the more I know Jesus the worse I see my own intentions and actions. Then he ends with what hope is there?!?!

He’s seemingly exasperated and overwhelmed. Wretched man that I am! he says! What hope does he have? What hope do we have? It’s one and the same. Jesus. Yeah I know you were expecting that answer but do you know why?

Jesus knew your past. Knows your present. And sees your future. He knows every little thing about you. And that’s why he came. When he went to the cross and said Father, forgive them for they know not what they do, he was talking about me and you. He saw the bad decision I made. He saw the website you clicked and lingered on just a little too long. He knows the lie you told or the hate in your heart for that neighbor who’s a real pain. He knows all of it! And that’s why he did what he did.

He went to the cross. He took all of those bad choices and challenging moments and nailed each one individually to the cross. They didn’t kill him. But he willingly gave his life to free you from each of those moments. It’s like taking that cool cleaner stuff to a whiteboard and removing all evidence that it was ever written on before! That’s what the cross has done.

So the struggle we face isn’t about pleasing God or having a perfect life. The struggle is the sin vs salvation fight in my heart. We’re 100% sinful but at the same time 100% saint. We’re not going to be perfect and God knows that! But we’re called to live a changed life. Coming back to Jesus for forgiveness when life goes off the rails. Then get back on track and start moving again.

I know the struggle is real but the salvation God offers in Jesus is even more lasting!

Death Is Blind

April 15, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Tall or short. Fat or skinny. Rich or poor. Black or white. Old or young. Popular or unknown. It really doesn’t matter. Death doesn’t care about any of these things. When it shows up, it’s blind to all of these peripheral matters.

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been in the presence of death more than I really care to be. From responding to emergency calls as a chaplain with the Sheriff’s office to pastoral care at life’s end for members of the church I serve, I’ve stood toe to toe with death the past two weeks on more than one occasion.

Death doesn’t care what time of day it arrives or who it comes to claim. It just shows up when the time has come. Some are prepared for it whatever that means. While others are totally blindsided by its presence on the doorstep.

One of the calls I received was a total shock to the family while the other was somewhat predicted. One was devastating and heartbreaking, while the other was filled with hope and joy for what was to come. One was calm and peaceful while the other was anything but peaceful. One was young and the other was a life well lived.

The two scenarios couldn’t be much different actually! But they still had something in common. Death came knocking and death seemingly won, at least for the moment.

In life we try to do everything we possibly can to prepare for every possible scenario. We squirrel money away for retirement. We stockpile food for a catastrophe. We have security systems to keep us safe. We even buy life insurance in the event we can’t outrun death when it does show up.

We try so very hard to control the outcome of our actions. We diet and exercise. We get good sleep and have mindfulness times throughout our week. We take vitamins or use those voodoo oils (yeah I said that for some friends but I really mean those essential oil things).

We can be healthy in every aspect of life medically speaking but when death knocks sometimes there’s nothing you can do to stop it. And it really doesn’t care.

The most recent couple of times death has come knocking it hasn’t even been during daylight hours. It wasn’t in the middle of the day when I could break away. It was overnight and interrupted sleep. Death just doesn’t care who it impacts or when or where.

Death is blind, but we don’t have to be. The most recent death I experienced was for a woman who lived a very long life. She died at 104 years old. Just a few months shy of 105 actually! And while death at any age or time really stings, she was ready. She wasn’t blind to death even though it was blind to her.

She was ready, but what does that even mean? You don’t pack a bag to get ready to die. You don’t typically put it in your day planner. But she was ready. She prepared for this day for most of her life. She did it by knowing what death meant for her.

She was a church person, as am I. She knew that death was never meant to be part of her story. But she also knew that since death was one day going to come and find her, she needed to arm herself with the only thing proven to beat death. What beats death? What beats a blind and indiscriminate killer of all?

She knew the only thing she could arm herself with was the promise of the one who died willingly and rose powerfully to give us hope unceasingly. She would always say that her life was mostly good and that the only way life could be fully good was when she was with Jesus. She knew that Jesus was her death defeater. So now she’s not just mostly good. She’s more than mostly good. And I bet she even gave death a little sassy grin because she knew what death forgot. In Jesus, life always wins and that’s more than mostly good!

Decisions

April 11, 2024 / / 0 Comments

We all make them. Pretty much every moment of every day is filled with decisions. Some of us love to make decisions while others have a really hard time making them. But there are some rules when it comes to decision making that might be helpful.

To get things started I want to let you peek into the window of my life. I make decisions all the time. These decisions are mine but at times they are decisions made for others as well.

I decide what time to get up in the morning. I decide what foods I’m going to eat. I decide to get my clothes ready the night before so I don’t get tempted to skip going to the gym. I decide how late I’m going to stay at work and I decide whether or not I’m going to take work home.

Every single one of these decisions are very intentional which means there comes a time when I really don’t want to be making decisions. There are some times in life when I just need a break from making decisions.

We often have a conversation at home about dinner. What do you want for dinner? It’s a question I get asked frequently. My wife is a planner. She plans her day and our meals and many other things! But when I am asked what I want for dinner next Tuesday, tomorrow night or even tonight I generally am zero help. This is in no way a knock on my wife! I love the fact that there’s always something that’s planned for dinner! I just don’t like to make that decision. By the time I get home at night I really don’t want to make another decision. I make decisions all day that impact other people so letting someone else plan my dinner is a welcomed relief! If she plans it, I’ll gladly help make it. I just don’t really care what the meal theme is! And if I’m being totally honest, if I was in charge it would be burgers or steak pretty much on the nightly.

Everything we do is based off of a decision we make. But there’s a rule I follow when it comes to decision making. Ok there are a couple. The first one is pretty simple.

Make your decision then move on it. Don’t second guess it until you have the perspective necessary to evaluate it objectively. There’s a lot there, so here’s a quick unpacking.

So often I see people make decisions and immediately wonder if it was the right decision. They decide what to do and before they can even start moving there is a sense of guilt, confusion, fear and anxiety that overwhelm. It’s almost life stopping.

There’s a line that’s been attributed to a church guy named Martin Luther. The line goes like this If you’re going to sin, sin boldly. The idea is to just go for it. I mean when it comes to decision making, just decide then take action. Stop lallygagging around and dragging your feet. Be confident in the decision you made and take the necessary action to pull it off.

Never make a permanent decision based on a temporary emotion.

This is a big one that I see happen far too often. It’s easy to let the emotion of a moment, generally one of those heated moments filled with anger and hurt, to get in the way of a sensible approach to life.

Someone says something that we aren’t sure we like, so we blast them on social media, disown them as a friend, leave and never look back. We don’t like how things are going at work so we walk into the boss’s office and quit. Or in today’s climate we just don’t show up the next day. We hear someone say something that we feel is edgy or controversial and instead of having an honest conversation about it, we just break the friendship and walk away. We cancel them from our lives and act as if they never existed.

When we lead from our emotions we often open the door for some nasty storms to follow us. And if we’re honest, in the end those decisions have left us in a bit of a vulnerable situation.

So don’t make a decision that can alter your life when you’re in the heat of a moment. Never make a permanent decision in the heat of anger or the dread of fear. Don’t say yes to the guy just because you’re in a moment of desperation for someone and I guess he’ll do because he’s here. Permanent decisions made based on temporary emotions generally don’t work in the long run.

Decisions are critical to life. We have to make them but we have to be very careful that we’re not making rash decisions out of an emotionally turbulent moment.

Mental health is Health 

April 9, 2024 / / 1 Comment

One of the most challenging things in this world is asking for help. Especially if you’re a type A kind of personality. We like to do things our own way and blaze our trail. But sometimes there are situations in life when you just need to ask for help. You know one of those phone a friend kind of moments. 

Ok so let’s start here by assuring you I’m good! This post is a response to a situation I encountered recently where I was the helper not the one being helped. So please don’t get all weird on me. What follows is pretty important and serious stuff.

I’m not going to give any details here because it’s just not appropriate. What I can tell you is your mental health is your health. There was a time when “getting help” or “seeing a counselor” was seen as almost a sign of weakness. But in the past couple of years that has completely flipped. Now it seems like everyone sees a counselor or therapist almost making it seem like a popularity contest. 

But I want to assure you that it is not a contest, your mental health is your health. Getting help for a broken arm or blown appendix or mental stress isn’t weakness! We wouldn’t look down on someone who legit broke a limb if we saw them at the doctor. And on the other side of the coin, we don’t just go hang at the doctor’s office until something really wrong pops up. Health is health whether it’s in your arm, stomach or mind. 

One of my roles in life is that of chaplain for our local sheriff’s office. We see a ton of things in this role! And I never get a call unless it’s the worst day in someone’s life. We get to sit with a family at the tragic loss of a loved one. We go with, or in place of, a deputy to notify a family that their loved one has died. We’re also there for the officers who see some pretty tragic and awful things! 

We’re really there to listen and provide some form of support. It’s honestly what I do as a pastor but in this case it’s for the entire community. I wear a uniform that lets people know I’m with the Sheriff’s office. It’s a volunteer gig so it’s really an extension of the ministry I do at church.

Back to the mental health idea. It’s real! Depression is very real. Our jobs or relationships can cause our minds to take us places we’d never go on our own. The scenarios in which we find ourselves can play tricks on our brains forcing us to see what’s not there and carry a burden that isn’t even ours to carry. 

I’ve seen the aftermath of unchecked depression. I’ve seen the heartbreak left in its wake. I’ve watched as families have to try to recover after a husband or father takes his own life because things just seem too hard. I’ve seen children reeling in pain when their mom thought the only way out was to end her life. Mental Health is your health!

Friends take care of yourself and one another. The long and short of this post is to let you know there’s nothing wrong with getting help. Sometimes just talking through a challenging situation is enough to clear your head and let you move on. Other times you need a longer term relationship with a counselor. And there might even be a time when some form of medication is needed to help take the edge off of the stabbing pain depression causes in your brain.

Whatever the scenario, your pain is yours. Don’t compare it to someone else. Don’t just get over it. Find someone to talk to. Someone who will listen. Someone who can be an honest and balanced source of feedback.

When I enter a home to share the kind of news I share, I spend most of my time sitting silently. When the news is shared, the next thing I do is sit quietly and listen as the survivors go through layers of emotion. There’s nothing magic about it. It’s the simple process of unloading a burden and letting someone else listen.

Your mental health is your health. If you’re battling the demons of depression and anxiety, please stop trying to fight it alone. Look for someone who can sit and listen. Talk through it with someone who will care for you. There are tons of places that have qualified people to provide care for you. Your mental health is your health.

What’s It Gonna Take?

April 3, 2024 / / 0 Comments

As I get older I start to think about the world differently. Some of you are chuckling at that statement. A handful of you are likely rolling your eyes saying what do you mean start to get older you’re already old! While others of you are thinking, just wait til he is my age and then he’ll really start to think about life! Either way this isn’t really about my age but about life perspective.

You see your maturity and perspective is not determined by your age. In life you’ll likely meet the 50 year old who acts like they’re 18. Then turn the corner to find the 13 year old who seems to have their life together far more than most 60 year olds. Trust me I’ve seen both!

The reason here is about perspective. It’s about the things in life that kind of sink into the noggin a bit and make you pause, even if for only a few minutes.

I think much of our lives can be summarized by the motto taken for granted. Really think about the things you do and say and even believe. How much of it do you really give a second thought? And how much is kind of second nature?

You get up in the morning shower, get dressed, and make your coffee. You walk your dog and get your morning chores finished before leaving for work. How much of that did you just do on autopilot? But what if the power is out? Yeah you’ll quickly think about that morning coffee and shower a little differently.

Maybe you walk on a treadmill or jog around your neighborhood or even lift weights. How much of that do you actually think about? Probably not much. When we do something enough times, we just kind of go into autopilot and don’t give life much thought. But add in a small injury and every move gives you pause.

Life can be like that sometimes. We need to have the regular flow of our lives interrupted in order to really see things, even the things right in front of us.

So the question we ask today is What’s it going to take? What’s it going to take to make you take your health seriously? For me it was a ridiculously high cholesterol reading. What’s it going to take to make you adjust your workouts to something more in line with your fitness goals? For me it was a dislocated shoulder. What’s it going to take for you to take your finances seriously? What about your marriage and parenting? Or what about your faith?

The more years I have behind me in this life, the more I realize I’ve probably taken a few things for granted. There have been some moments I needed that proverbial wake up call to shake the cobwebs loose so I can see just how important things are in life. What’s it going to take for you? Don’t wait til you get smacked upside the head with one of those 2x4s of life. Slow down and take seriously the things in your life. You won’t regret it. I can guarantee this one.

An 8 In A World of 9s.

March 20, 2024 / / 1 Comment

Ok so the title here might seem a tad weird. If you don’t know things about personality profiles and especially the enneagram, then this title won’t make sense. Here’s a quick 30,000 foot view of what these numbers are about.

The enneagram system has broken a personality into nine different types. Each of these types means something different. There are types ranging from reformer, to achiever, to challenger and peacemaker.

The personality type associated with the number nine is the peacemaker. This person is fairly easy going, receptive, agreeable, reassuring, and many other things like these. I am not a nine.

This doesn’t mean that I can’t be agreeable. It just means that gaining consensus isn’t the most important thing to me. I’m an eight, which is the challenger. This means that I tend to challenge the status quo. I am willing to try to new things and tackle obstacles without a fully thought out plan.

Now to make matters a tad more interesting, I also have tendencies toward the number three which is the achiever. I get things done. I have a tendency to like to succeed and win while doing it. This combination of a 3 and an 8 has been so lovingly called the bull in the china shop.

Really and truly this person, aka me, is the kind of person who sees something that needs done and makes sure it gets done. Sometimes we get things done with the help of others. Sometimes we do it in spite of others. Sometimes we get things done by plowing over others.

I’m not defending this by any means! I’m just telling you how it often plays out for me.

You see the problem with being an eight/three kind of person is the world isn’t really full of this kind of personality. There are definitely some people out there like me, but if I’m being honest I’m very glad we’re not the majority!

I know this is who I am which is why I surround myself with the people I generally surround myself with people who are not 8/3 kind of people. I generally will find nines, lots and lots of nines, to help me out. I even tend to hire people who are nines. The other personality numbers are important for sure but something I feel the need for in my circle is to surround myself with nines – peacemakers.

Now personally profiling is something that I find super interesting! It helps me know how to talk to someone and how they respond to leadership. It helps get people involved and keep them moving.

Knowing your personality helps you see how you respond when stress hits or when life gets upside-down. For me, and 8/3 kind of person who acts like a bull in a china shop, when stress bombards me I tend to double down and push harder. I can get a little edgy and sometimes a bit hard to be around.

Again, this is not an excuse! I know this about myself which is why I try to curb this part of me. Some days I’m way better at this than others.

Why do I share this?

Being self aware is a tremendous character trait to possess. If you’re not self aware, you can steam roll people and not know it. You can blow up and have no idea why. I’m not perfect at this by any means. That’s not the point here. I am however working on this part of my character.

The more I know me, the more likely I am to be able to curb the outbursts. It’s like Bruce Banner from the Marvel world. Banner is the one that becomes the Hulk, the big green monster. When he becomes more self aware he can stay out of situations that cause him to get angry, thus becoming the green monster with unimaginable strength.

When we can harness our strengths and tame our weaknesses we can become a ton more effective in life and leadership. So what are you? An 8? Maybe a 4? You might even be one of those 9s I was referring to in this post. Whatever you are know yourself and how you react in stress situations, and you’ll be surprised what you can accomplish and how much better life can be for those around you!

Collaboration

March 13, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Every week I try to pick a word that sums up something I’m working on or thinking about in my professional or personal life. This week I’ve been thinking a lot about the idea of collaboration. A simple definition is the action of working together with someone to accomplish a task or product.

Unfortunately, collaboration isn’t always an easy task. We tend to like things our way. Especially those of us who are strong type A personalities and like to drive things forward, it’s hard to slow down to collaborate with others. Equally, there are some who feel they have something to prove. They want to make a name for themselves. They think their way is the best way and anyone who doesn’t do things their way isn’t worthy to be part of any collaborative efforts.

It’s so very unfortunate that collaborative efforts are lacking in so many industries. Whether we feel someone is always out to steal our stuff or like we have something to hide or to prove, thwarting collaboration is detrimental in so many areas.

As a pastor I see this far too often. Churches don’t collaborate on ministry related matters. Three churches in a given area each have a pastor and each have their own ministry and volunteer staff. While this is great, why can’t they work together? Can they share a single staff person among 3 congregations? Can one ministry be replicated in another location to maximize all the time and planning efforts it took?

So often we hide our gems and don’t let anyone see them or use them. We keep our staff close to the vest so no one takes them from us. We are afraid to do ministry in combined settings because we’re afraid the members of one church will like the other church better and we might end up losing them.

I’m sorry but this is kind of ridiculous and purely selfish. To think that I’m the only one who can do a certain thing or that the people at the church I serve can’t get served better by someone else is ludicrous. I don’t chase people. If someone doesn’t feel this is the right place to connect, then I’ll help you find a place that better suits you.

Collaboration in ministry should be the normal way of doing life, but it’s become the thing so many run away from at all costs. Let’s put our heads together and we might actually learn something!

Churches that are thriving can help churches that are declining. Declining churches can help thriving churches understand the dynamics of getting everyone moving in the same direction. We can all learn from one another if we just sideline our prideful motives and lean into the strengths of others.

Focus

March 12, 2024 / / 2 Comments

I recently went to the eye doctor and rediscovered something I’ve known for a while. Yes I have decent eye sight and no I don’t need glasses. He told me two things that weren’t really new but were reminders for me.

The first thing he told me was that my right eye is near-sighted which means I have a harder time seeing things farther away. And while that sounds like a problem, and it would be if I didn’t have my left eye. You see my left eye has just the opposite issue. It’s far sighted which means it sees better farther away. This means, according to my eye doctor, that I have the best possible scenario for someone who’s either near or far sighted. Because I’m both! I told him I’ve always been a bit of an over achiever.

That was met with a slight eye roll and sympathetic laughter.

The second issue he mentioned with regard to my eyes wasn’t about how they can see near or far. The issued I’ve had since I was at least in grade school is that my eyes naturally see wider than narrow. That means when you hold a book and your eyes focus on that book at a normal arm’s length, my eyes have to strain to turn inward to see that book. It doesn’t hurt at all. It’s just a fact that my eyes’ natural center is much farther out than a normal person.

These two conditions combined mean that I have to focus on focusing. Most people don’t have to think about their line of sight or how to focus on a book up close or poster farther away. Not so with me. I have to force my eyes to lock in on a book when I’m hold in it up close. Then I have to make sure I let my left eye focus on objects farther away while I let righty handle that stuff up close.

Ok long intro here I know but stick with me. Focus is a huge thing for many of us. Not as much eye focus as mental focus. Ever have one of those moments when you have to force yourself to tune everything out? Studying for a test and there’s noise from your little brother filling your room? Trying to read a book and the television is on in the background because your spouse isn’t the book worm that you are?

Focus is essential and in a digital world that focus often gets even more challenging. I’ve been on zoom calls when my dog decided that was the perfect time to get the zoomies. If you’re not a dog person, that’s what we call it when the dog takes off running around for no apparent reason and can’t be stopped until she’s totally worn out. Yeah that’s a fun one!

But it’s not just outside noises that cause us to lose focus. We get distracted by the noises filling our heads. Ha that sounds funny. I don’t mean hearing voices, although maybe??? But more the laundry list of things that need done filtering through your mind when you’re trying to do something else.

I find myself doing this probably more than I’d like to admit. Sitting down to read my bible in the morning and my calendar or to do list start yelling at me. Take time to pray for those people in my life who are struggling or celebrating and yep you guessed it. I get distracted by my stomach growling, wondering if I locked my car in the parking lot, realizing I’m getting hungry, wondering if my family will make it to work or school safely. You know all the things that pull my focus away from what I’m trying to do!

Here’s the deal. There are tools that can help you with focus. I had to have glasses that acted like prisms to kind of spread the words on a book outward so my eyes didn’t have to work as hard. Then my eyes learned to adjust so that now I don’t need that anymore.

With practice and an intentional focus on focus, you’ll be able to cut through the clutter of life and see the most important things going on in the moment. So if you struggle with focus like I do, then try this.

  • Give the distraction room for a second. The more you fight the distraction the more distracting it will be. Give it room in your mind for a second to see if it needs your attention or if it can wait.
  • Write it down. After giving it a little breathing room, if you decide your invading thought is valid and needs attention just jot it down on a piece of paper or in the notes app on your phone.
  • Then leave it alone! Refocusing after a foreign invader comes in and derails your meditation can be challenging. After you write it down set the paper or phone aside and try to pick back up.
  • Breathe. Yep you need to do it anyway so why not let your breathing help bring you back to the moment right before you went all ADHD. Take a breath. Calm yourself. Let the distraction just kind of fade into oblivion. I find it helpful to really hone in on breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth. Getting full, deep breaths can be super helpful.

Whatever works for you is the process you should really try. But you’re not allowed to say I can’t focus. You just need to focus on getting focused. The more practice you have focusing through distractions the easier it will be to stay focused when those distractions creep in.

Two Faced

March 11, 2024 / / 1 Comment

Some people have a tendency to be one person in one group and a different person in another. It’s kind of hypocritical to be honest. But that’s not quite what we’re talking about here.

There’s a story in the Bible about a man named Adam. You might have heard of him from the story about creation in the book of Genesis. If you’re not familiar, he was the first person created in the Bible. He was also the first person to have a recorded mistaken written for the world to read. Well he and his wife, but there’s something about men in ancient culture that highlighted their actions.

But the story of Adam is one that actually lasts far past his recorded life in the Bible. He has an impact that actually reaches you and me to this day. That’s the point of a set of bible verses in the book of Romans chapter 5.

Adam ate a piece of fruit that he was told specifically by God not to eat. When he did that he started to see the world differently. He realized he was naked. He felt scared for the first time. He ran and hid from God in the garden. And as a direct result of his action, some animal had to die so he would have clothing. It was a pretty big deal actually.

But like I said, his actions have implications that go beyond just him. His actions affect you and me. They impact our actions, the actions of our children. The way we talk to one another. The way we see life. The way we react to stress and how we talk when we don’t get our way.

If you’ve ever driven a car that was out of alignment then you kind of have an idea what this looks like. A car out of alignment will pull in one direction or another. It makes it hard to stay on the road at times. This is kind of what happened when Adam did what he wasn’t supposed to do. His action has affected us so that we have a hard time staying on the straight and narrow road of life.

I mean think about it for a second. No one has to tell a child to talk back to their parents. No one has to teach them to say NO. No one has to give a class on disobedience. It’s like it comes naturally. We just get it. It’s part of our DNA. the Bible calls this type of reaction – sin. Sin is the act of missing the mark, doing what we know is wrong or not doing what we know is right.

Well this is just one face of humanity. God created Adam and set a perfect place for him to live but he didn’t follow the rules. Fast forward a few thousand years and turn the page to the New Testament and you’ll find Jesus. The bible calls Jesus the New Adam. It’s like the two faces of mankind.

If Adam is the disobedient and fallen face of mankind, then Jesus is the obedient and eternal face of man. What Adam did by blatantly disobeying God, Jesus essentially undid by fully obeying God even to the point of dying in our place.

The message of Romans 5 is that what Jesus did far surpassed the brokenness Adam caused. When Jesus, acting in full obedience and selflessness, willingly went to the cross he was renewing all of humanity. He didn’t do it just for Adam. He didn’t do it just for the disciples. He didn’t even do it just for you and me. He did it for all of humanity.

Now don’t hear what I’m not saying. That does not mean that everyone will be totally transformed and live this new kind of life. Actually some people will never want anything to do with Jesus. Some people just won’t care at all. The gift is there. It’s all been paid for but that doesn’t mean that everyone will be wiling to accept it.

That’s the story of the two faces of humanity. Everything needed to reverse what Adam did has already been done. It’s an amazing free gift of God’s grace. Now when we humbly rest in his finished work, we too receive that amazing gift of grace. It’s pretty much that easy!

The Art of Getting Stuff Done Without Doing Stuff

March 8, 2024 / / 1 Comment

Delegation is a word that often evokes mixed feelings. On one hand, it’s the secret sauce to productivity, allowing you to conquer Mount Everest without breaking a sweat. On the other hand, it can feel like entrusting your precious project to a group of monkeys with MacBooks. But there can be a middle ground here. Delegation doesn’t have to be a daunting task. In fact, it can be one of your greatest tools if approached with the right mindset.

The Circus of Delegation

Imagine for a minute that you’re the ringmaster of a circus, juggling flaming swords, I mean tasks, while riding a unicycle on a tightrope. Meanwhile, your team is a group of acrobats waiting for their turn to dazzle the audience. Delegation is essentially directing each act to ensure a spectacular performance, without setting the whole circus tent ablaze.

Could you imagine a circus where the ring master did all of the stunts himself? Could you imagine what it would be like if she rode in on the white horse while juggling, then turned to tame the lion. Jumped up on the trapeze. Did a few flips and twirls. Then made the elephants dance. All the while being dressed as a clown and ends the show by climbing into a way too small car!

When we don’t delegate, it’s like we’re doing that very thing. It’s like we’re trying to run the whole circus. Life isn’t like a one man band kind of show however. For the circus of life to be best lived out, we need to bring others along for the ride.

Delegation isn’t about doing nothing. It’s about knowing what you can give to someone else to do. It’s about being able to wisely determine what only you can do and what someone else can do better.

A philosophy that I learned a long time ago is to only do what only you can do. And no I don’t do this perfectly at all. But delegation can only happen after you determine what role you have to play in something and what roles you can hand off to someone else who is just as, if not more, capable than you!

All too often delegation is about getting rid of the things we simply hate doing. While this is a very tempting practice, it’s not really the point of delegation. The point of delegation is to off load the things that aren’t necessary for you to do but still need to get done.

A good example of this is in my role as a pastor there are some administrative support functions that need to happen. We have bulletins that need printed and presentations that need built. I don’t mind doing those at all. Actually sometimes doing those is a mind numbing exercise that I would love to do! But it’s not the best use of my time or energy, so that’s where my ever faithful and truly competent secretary enters. Bailey takes all those logistical, detailed parts and pieces and turns them into reality so that I can be freed up to do things that just aren’t in her wheel house. Pretty sure she wouldn’t want to prep a message or get in front of people to speak.

Delegation is an art form, a delicate dance between trust and guidance. Embrace it for the benefits it brings, and suddenly, your workload becomes a circus act worth applauding. Remember, delegation isn’t about shirking responsibilities; it’s about orchestrating a symphony of skills to create something greater than the sum of its parts.

So, put on your ringmaster hat, release the clowns from their car, and watch as your team (either staff or volunteers) transforms into a well-oiled machine. Soon you just might have the greatest show on earth as well.

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