Leader, Equip Thyself

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Carl Simmons

Last Monday we looked at the idea of developing a spiritual health plan and how it can help us to “stay lit” when our circumstances threaten to “blow us out.”  Let’s build on that today — by continuing to develop our plan, and by better understanding why we need to.

“You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:3-11, NIV).

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. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize (1 Corinthians 9:24-27, NIV).

• Why is staying connected, rather than being connected in stops and starts, so critical to bearing fruit?
• What regularly interferes with your connection—and your joy in Jesus?
• Think of someone who “disqualified” himself or herself in some way, or simply gave out, before his or her “race” was over.” Chances are, sadly, it won’t take you long. Looking back now, what were some warning signs that person—or you, on his or her behalf—could have caught earlier?
• Even though this is a negative example, what positive lessons can you take from it? What do you watch out for now, for yourself or others?

No Bible study can teach you everything—no, it’s true. Really. Still, I’d like to help give you enough equipment so you have what you need to continue walking out the next steps God’s placed before you—even the ones you don’t know about yet. Everyone has the opportunity to “finish well,” no matter how they’ve stumbled during the race.

Last week, we looked at the struggles we’re already facing, and how to face them even better with God’s help. Today, we’re going to look at how to become more proactive in our own spiritual preparation and growth—how to be ready before we’re overtaken by circumstances, or simply reacting to whatever comes our way.

Our lives aren’t made up of a series of separate compartments; every part affects every other part. When our weaknesses are shored up, we can focus more on our strengths. And even when our strengths give out—because we all have our limits—we’re able to draw from where God has strengthened us in other parts of our lives.

Whether you worked through it or not, I’d like you to check out last week’s “Spiritual Health Plan.” Focus especially on the answers to your last two questions.  I’ll repeat and rephrase them here:

• Where do you most need to “get healthy” right now—whether it’s spiritually, personally or leadership-wise? What would you say are your top three priorities?
• Who specifically can help keep you accountable, connected to Jesus, and growing?

Hopefully this time of reflection has lifted you up. Still, you might be reflecting on what God’s shown you and thinking, “How am I going to do all that?”

Here’s how: You’re not. If there’s one thing you take away from today, let it be this: When God provides the vision, God also provides the means. We simply need to prepare ourselves to receive it. We need to trust God.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you (Philippians 4:8-9, NIV).

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (Matthew 6:33, NIV).

• How does Paul’s guidance in Philippians help us live out Jesus’ command in Matthew?

Right now, take a couple minutes to ask God to show you at least one thing about himself that’s true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and worthy of praise. Thank God for it, and ask God to continue revealing more of himself to you. And may God give you the strength, wisdom and friendships to help you walk it out together.

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fragments of Lay Down Your Addiction

Posted on October 7, 2011 by Carl Simmons

For our purposes, let’s define addiction as anything you need to “get through the day” that isn’t God. Because all of our addictions—all of our sin, really—is a response to the gnawing sense we have, deep down, that God doesn’t really want what best for us. That God’s will comes at His whim, and at our expense. That we, the created ones, somehow don’t owe everything we have to the Creator in the first place. There’s a reason that the acknowledgment of a higher power is part of any good 12-step recovery program, after all.

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“God’s been duping you; God’s been duping you.” Satan has been using this trick from the very beginning, and it’s still probably his most effective.

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Jesus not only endured temptation, but He overcame temptations we were too weak to have Satan even bother to throw at us.

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Once we’ve regained our senses afterward there’s a sense of heaviness, sadness, not totally unlike the feeling of a Sunday-morning hangover after a particularly long Saturday night. And when you think of it that way, it helps put things in perspective. Our overindulgence—our giving way to our compulsions—always has consequences, both physical and spiritual.

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One of the most practical responses we can make is to engage in spiritual disciplines such as prayer, Bible study, solitude and worship. Instead of letting ourselves be carried away by every impulse that strikes us, such practices help us say to God, “I’m staying right here. I’m focusing on You. Help me to follow what You want.” The disciplines aren’t a catch-all solution. In fact, they can become an addiction in themselves if we make it only about how holy we’re acting or make ourselves anxious over “doing our duty.” But they are a declaration of intent, and actions to back it up.

And as our focus becomes more and more about God, our compulsions melt away. Not that we’re never tempted again—or for that matter, might not stumble again—but we have a practical way to get up and dust ourselves off. Don’t overlook the importance of that. “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16).

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Moving From Why? to What Next?

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Carl Simmons

Let’s make this easy: If you love the title, you’ll like the book. If not… well, there are still a few things you could learn from it.

Ramon Presson. When Will My Life Not Suck?: Authentic Hope for the Disillusioned. Softcover, 150p., $15.99. New Growth Press.

The central point of this book by author and family therapist Ramon Presson is found, appropriately, in the center of the book: “It’s not wrong to ask why, but don’t stake your happiness or your faithfulness on getting a satisfactory answer. Throughout the Gospels Jesus shifts the question from why to what next.” Throughout this book Presson does the same. He doesn’t give any easy answers here. Instead, he attempts to move his readers past pain and disappointment to acceptance and contentment (which, he hastens to point out, is the polar opposite of complacency).

And to do that, he pushes us away from ourselves and toward God. A great observation early on: “How strange is it that when we ask God to bless us, what we want is simply more of what the world can give?”

To illustrate his points, Presson weaves the book of Philippians and its message of joy amidst suffering throughout his pages. As just one example: Paul certainly wanted to visit Rome, but certainly not as a prisoner. From our perspective, Paul would have had every reason to be despondent, and yet he “rejoices in his chains” and encourages the Philippians to rejoice as well.

Likewise, Presson pushes us to let go of our own expectations, and allow God to show us what He wants to do in our situations. By doing so, he argues, God can transform us no matter what we’re facing—not by denying or belittling our pain, but by finding joy and contentment despite and possibly even in the midst of it. In his own words, “It’s vital that we not waste our pain but recycle and redeem it.”

When Will My Life Not Suck? isn’t meant to solve your problems. It is, however, meant to help you discover a life beyond them.

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Standing in the Truth

Posted on October 5, 2011 by Carl Simmons

When has God seemed far away? What helped you—or would have helped you—be faithful during that time? How did you get through that time, and looking back, how did you grow?

If you haven’t faced a time when it’s been tough to stand firm for Jesus, you will. But as the passages we’ve just read and the stories we’ve shared remind us, God uses those times of testing, trial, and temptation to make us stronger—to give us more character—to deepen our hope—to make us more like Jesus.

The letter of 2 Timothy was written by Paul to his disciple and friend Timothy near the end of his life. In it, Paul tried to pass on as much as he could to his son in the faith. Let’s see what he focused on. Open a new tab, read the last two chapters (3 & 4), then think about this:

• What examples of faithfulness—or unfaithfulness—do you see in this passage?
• How was Paul affected by others’ faithfulness, or their lack thereof? How was Paul faithful, regardless of what other people were doing?
• Likewise, in our walks with Jesus, when is it easier to take a stand for him? When isn’t it so easy?
• Ultimately, how much do you let your feelings dictate how willing you are to take a stand for Jesus—and how you actually do it? Do you “obediently suffer through it,” talk yourself out of what you think God is telling you to do, or ignore what you’re feeling and take a stand?

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.  We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you….

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal (2 Corinthians 4:7-12, 16-18, NIV).

• In what ways does the idea that we’re already dying bother you? Why?
• Where is it costing you—or where do you sense it will cost you—to follow Jesus? Who’s your Timothy—someone who can help you carry that load?

Go with what God’s already impressing on you. But go. And be blessed.

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Keeping the Fire Lit

Posted on October 3, 2011 by Carl Simmons

What do you do to keep your life in Jesus from getting “blown out”?

As leaders—or as Christians in general—we need to stay lit in Jesus, and by Jesus. As we’re doing His work, we often encounter more and more things that can cause us to burn out, or drive us into making choices that are less than God’s best. As Dallas Willard so pointedly remarked, “The greatest enemy of intimacy with God is service for God.”

So let’s start by thinking about what we need most right now, in order to stay fully alive in Jesus even as we lead/serve:

• On a scale from 1 to 10—10 being “fully lit” and 1 being “snuffed out”—how lit up are you right now… really?
• How might your current condition be affecting others? How’s their condition affecting you?

The thing is, when burnout approaches, we often try to fill the void ourselves rather than turning to God. With that in mind, let’s go scriptural and look at Luke 4 through a different lens. We tend to look at these temptations as belonging only to Jesus, at the beginning of His earthly ministry. But let’s read it over and break it down further:

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.

The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”

The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.”

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”

The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. For it is written:

   “‘He will command his angels concerning you
   to guard you carefully;
      they will lift you up in their hands,
   so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time (Luke 4:1-13, NIV).

• So: What human needs does Satan appeal to with each of these temptations? Put another way: What’s he suggesting he can deliver that God won’t?
• What are some ways we try to “get around God” and meet each these needs on our own?
• Take another look at Jesus, and where he’s at in the beginning of this passage. Forty days is a long time to be hungry and tempted non-stop, after all. How can our own ability to follow Jesus—and lead others—get compromised or taken off course when our resources are running low?

This is a tough subject—and if you’ve been in this kind of situation before, you know how tough. The good news is, God doesn’t leave us here.

The temptations and struggles we face as leaders may look different than those we faced when we weren’t leading, but they’re usually the same basic issues. Only the circumstances—and often, the number of others affected or involved—have changed. So let’s look back on how God has already carried each of us through our past struggles, and maybe get some idea of how God’s going to grow us further now. Think about each of these questions, and if possible write down your answers:

• What mountaintop experiences have you’ve encountered, when everything went right?
• Valleys, where nothing seemed to go right?
• Roller-coasters, where “it was the best of times and the worst of times”?
• Or wilderness times, where you just felt dry and empty and maybe couldn’t even understand why?

So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it (1 Corinthians 10:12-13, NIV).

• What have you learned from your previous times in each of these places you wrote down? How did God teach you to “be careful,” or show you a “way out,” in those times?
• Which of these places are you closest to being in right now? What may God be trying to remind you about, based on how he’s guided you through other times like this?

At the end of this entry is a section called “My Spiritual Health Plan.” You’ll notice that many of the questions aren’t what we normally consider “spiritual.” But God does. The Spirit needs to be involved in every aspect of our lives. The idea here is to work through a broader and longer-term plan to get more spiritually healthy, so when tough times hit you’ve got the reserves you need to stay lit.

Set aside time this week—you’ll probably need an hour, if you do this right—for you and God to work through these questions together. There isn’t a single area in our lives where we can’t grow, and keep growing, closer to God. Use this time to let God have all of them. May God amply reveal how He wants you to respond to His love and guidance.

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My Spiritual Health Plan

As you read each of these questions, think in terms of where you’re generally at right now—not simply where you’d like to be or how you are in your best or worst moments. Answer each question as specifically and concisely as possible.

Once you’ve written your answer, stop and pray. Invite God into every response you’ve put down. Ask God how to address each issue right now. Who or what could God provide to help you grow? If there’s a specific person, write his or her name. If there’s a class you could take, a new way of serving others, or books you could read, name them. If there’s a specific word you need to hear from God, spell it out—God knows already, but maybe you just need to come out and say it. If there’s something you need to let go of, put that down, too. Whatever you believe God’s telling you, put it down on paper. And then, pray some more.

If any (or even most) of your answers are “I don’t know,” write that down. And then talk to God about that, too. Good luck, and may God bless your time with him beyond what you hope for!

My checkup list: My diagnosis—and God’s prescription
Spiritual Health
When do I experience God’s love and presence the most? What’s God trying to tell me through that?
What am I doing right now because I know God wants me to?
What’s one thing about God I’d like to know more about?
What’s one thing I know about God, but wish I could truly experience?
What distracts me from God’s presence most?
What’s one new thing I’d like God to do in my life?
General Personal Health
What’s the most rewarding part of my day? How aware am I of God during that time?
What takes up more of my time, energy, and resources than it’s worth?
What parts of my personal life aren’t getting enough attention?
Who or what do I most neglect at home?
What gives me joy that I really should do more often? (This doesn’t have to be a “spiritual” answer.)
What areas of my life are overloaded? What can I hand off, or just let go of?
How can I communicate more openly or directly? Why don’t I, and how can I address it?
In what areas of my life do I need to become more disciplined?
In what areas do I need to most “lighten up” and give myself a break?
Leadership Health
What do I enjoy most about leadership? Does God “enjoy” it, too?
What’s the hardest thing about leadership for me?
What area(s) of leadership would I like to learn more about?
What area(s) of leadership do I find myself thinking, “I could care less”—but I know I need to care more?
What’s the one thing people ask me for that I have trouble giving?

Done? Good. Except you’re not quite done. Here are two more questions to consider. Look back over what you’ve written, and then answer the following:

• Out of all the things you’ve written, what would be your top three priorities?
• Who specifically can help keep you accountable, connected to Jesus, and growing? (If you think of different people in different areas, write each of their names down.)

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Lay Down Your Anxiety

Posted on September 30, 2011 by Carl Simmons

My dad has a phrase I’ve used a lot in the past couple decades: “He’s the God of 11:59.” In other words, God intervenes in our lives when He’s supposed to, at our time of deepest need—not when we think He ought to show up, or when it would be easiest for us. Those who constantly take faith-filled risks live in 11:59. The rest of us would do well to remember that 11:59 might, in fact, be the best place to live our lives.

Peter wrote the following about the Day of the Lord, but I believe it applies pretty well on this day, too: “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:8-9).

What I interpret as God’s slowness in making my life less stressful is, rather, His patience in waiting for me to repent and be willing to live in 11:59—to fully accept the easy yoke of Jesus, so that I move at His correct pace, knowing that His provision will always be there when I need it, and that His provision to me in fact brings Him glory. Thus, I’m also often been fond of adding a corollary phrase to my dad’s:

“I need to reset my watch.”

The truth is, we often have no clue about God’s timing. But a good rule of thumb is this: Remove yourself, and anything else other than God you trust in,  from the equation—which is also to say, remove the pain that “waiting” brings to you—then view the situation again. At that point in time when it’s clear there’s nothing you can do to meet that need, there God will be.

I’m writing today’s entry in such a season. Over the past year, things I thought I could depend on—schedules, promises, routines, people—have failed or fallen by the wayside. My wife and I are in a place where each week could be the one when we no longer can successfully pay the bills, when work may or may not come. And yet, weeks like this have now gone by, and a check or an assignment arrives in time, or the money went further than expected. Thus, if we look at the situation objectively rather than with an anxiety about our future, the fact is, we lack nothing.

We all have to rely on God. The blessing, when it comes right down to it, is when we realize that and live as if it were true. Because it is.

Matthew 6—the center of the Sermon on the Mount—is loaded with Jesus’ assertions about our future: The Lord’s Prayer, the promise that our private giving—and fasting—will be rewarded openly, the encouragement to store up treasures in heaven rather than on earth, but most apparently in the following passage used by every one of us who worry about the future—thus, I’ll step aside and let Jesus close today’s thoughts, because after all they’re about today:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matt. 6:25-24, NIV).

Lay It Down Today

Let’s try a little experiment. Find a watch or a clock with a second hand. Then, do not be anxious: Close your eyes and wait before Jesus right now. In fact, do it for exactly 1 minute and 59 seconds—or at least what you think is 1 minute and 59 seconds. Keep your eyes closed until you think that amount of time has passed, then look up. When you’re done, reflect:

• How hard was it to be still and wait, for not even two minutes? What kinds of things went through your head during that time? Why?
• Why do we seem to be able to do everything except wait? Why does it make us so uncomfortable?

Close your eyes once more and pray. Ask God to “reset your watch,” that you can live more within his perfect will and timing, and free from anxiety about your future—including your future today.

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The D-Word (Discipline)

Posted on September 28, 2011 by Carl Simmons

Got a bag of M&Ms or potato chips? Go get a candy or chip one right now—but only one. Then we’ll talk.

Ready? Good.

Last Wednesday, we looked at what it takes to commit ourselves to pursuing the better things God has for us. Today we’ll look at how discipline and self-control can help us get there. A lot of us hear those words and think “I just don’t have that.” If you’re one of those people, you’re wrong. And I’ll prove that right now:

Are you thinking, “I’d really like to have more than one piece of candy (or chip)?” What’s stopping you, then? Is it just because I told you not to, or is there something more to it than that? Think about it.

Let’s try another example, and it’s OK to be honest; I won’t be offended or judge you: When you found this page or got the subscription e-mail, did you think, even briefly, “I could skip this”? Why are you still reading, then?

See? It’s not that we don’t have some degree of self-discipline. It’s just that in many cases, we simply choose not to exercise it. We look at the goal, we look at what we think it’ll take to get there, and we decide it’s not worth the effort—even though it often is.

Of course, not everything is a matter of willpower. Many people—and probably many of us—struggle with habits, self-destructive patterns of thinking, even addictions, which can seem overwhelming and unconquerable. But the Bible tells us that “overwhelming victory is ours through Christ” (Romans 8:37) and that Jesus has “overcome the world” (John 16:33). So if we believe in Jesus, we also need to believe what he tells us, and walk it out.

But life change usually doesn’t happen overnight. It takes the Holy Spirit to guide and help us, and it takes… you’ve got it, discipline—the willingness to faithfully do what we know is best for us, even when we don’t want to do it.

The good news is, God is on our side, and wants us to get where he wants us to go. But God demands our cooperation. So let’s look closer at “our part of the deal.”

What comes to your minds when you hear the word “discipline”? Some will think of spiritual disciplines such as worship and prayer, or physical disciplines such as diet and exercise, or intellectual disciplines such as study and memorization. Work is a discipline, too, and so is anything you do to keep doing the best job you can. One of you wise guys might have even suggested “getting out of bed” as a discipline. You’re not entirely wrong, you know.

Now think about this: Which of the ideas you came up with would you call “natural” disciplines, and which would you consider “spiritual” ones? What would you say is the difference between our two categories? How are they similar?

 

Oswald Chambers gives us some perspective, “It is inbred in us that we have to do exceptional things for God; but we have not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things, to be holy in mean streets, among mean people, and this is not learned in five minutes.”

Let’s look at Scripture now: “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. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27, NIV). Sounds tough, doesn’t it? And it is. But look at it this way:

• When have you really had to “put your nose to the grindstone” to accomplish something? What did it feel like when you started? As you progressed? Afterward? What kept you going?
• What’s something you’ve been working toward recently? How close or far away does that goal feel right now, and how are those feelings affecting your efforts?
• How could the disciplines you’ve thought of keep you moving forward, no matter what you’re feeling? Who can help keep you accountable as you start using those disciplines?

One more thing: As we place our focus on God, and what God wants to do in our lives, He moves us closer to one another as well. And that’s really the thing about discipline we often miss—when God gets us out of our own way, we’re able to see each other’s needs and be there for each other in ways we can’t when we’re just doing our own thing. So with that, let me pray for you now:

Lord, sometimes we feel overwhelmed when we think about how far we are from being the people You want us to become. Forgive us, Lord, and don’t leave us there. Help to begin to be faithful in the small things. Help us to have the discipline we need to do what we need to do today, and to allow You to carry us the rest of the way. Your Word says You won’t give us more than we can handle (1 Corinthians 10:13); help us to take You at Your word. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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Learning to Let Go

Posted on September 26, 2011 by Carl Simmons

Previously, we looked at the challenges of handing over responsibility to others. Here’s the second half of that story.

Let’s assume for a moment that you’ve overcome the obvious challenges (and eventually, you will). You’re figured out what you can hand off, prepared others to accept those responsibilities, and handed things over to them. Now comes the part that’s not so easy for a lot of leaders: Once we’ve given responsibility to others and seen they can handle it,  we need to step back. Not step away, but step back. We need to allow what was our responsibility to become truly their responsibility. In short: We need to learn to let it go. The relationship has changed. And that’s OK. But we need change along with it.

Something we always need to keep in mind with God’s work, no matter what it involves, is that we’re not just handing off a task, and that we’re not just handing off responsibility to others. It’s God’s work. Ultimately, we’re entrusting others to follow God’s leading to get the work done. And that means trusting those people to God. We’re asking God to take those people where we can’t go, because it’s no longer our job. We should still be there to support them, but we now also have to trust them, and trust God, in this process. It’s easy on paper, and often tough in real life. Let’s look at a classic example of stepping aside from the Bible:

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:13-17, NIV).

As we determined in the first half of our discussion (and hopefully sometime before that), we’re not Jesus. But as a man, Jesus experienced life and even the same emotions as we do. And Scripture reminds us that we too are adopted sons and daughters of God (Romans 8:15). So let’s take a few minutes to look at this scene from a more human perspective.

• How do the Father and the Spirit empower Jesus here, as a man?
• How do you think you’d be changed if God said this about you, this clearly?

Hearing God’s blessing—and knowing we truly have it—changes everything. It changes the way we look at God, the way we look God’s work, the way we look at ourselves, the way we look at others.

And because we know God and know what it’s like to have his blessing, God wants us to extend his blessing to others, especially those God whom has led us to place our trust in. God can use us to bless others, even as we’re “increasing their workload.” Let’s look at an example of what that blessing might look like:

To Timothy, my dear son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

I thank God, whom I serve, as my ancestors did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God (2 Timothy 1:2-8, NIV).

• In what ways does Paul bless Timothy? How does he communicate his confidence in Timothy—and God’s work in Timothy?
• Who needs to hear some of these things right now? What would you say to that person if he or she were here?

We need to give others we’re leading the chance to succeed. But equipping them to take responsibility and grow further into the gifts and abilities God’s given them is never only about sharing information. What’s even more important is giving them the confidence to succeed. We need to let those we’re handing responsibility to know we have faith in them. We need to let them know how we’re already seeing God working in them. And we need to be very clear in telling them that we believe they can do this—especially if they don’t believe it for themselves yet.

And there’s one more part. We need to let them know that we can’t always be there for them—but Jesus will. And that’s the most important piece of information we can ever help them understand. And we need to understand it, too, if we really want to fully let go and let God and do his work.

Timothy, my son, I am giving you this command in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the battle well, 19 holding on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith (1 Timothy 3:14-16, NIV).

• How does trusting those we care about to Jesus strengthen them—and us?
• What or who are you still having trouble letting go of?
• How will letting it go help both you and everyone else involved grow more fully into whom God wants you to be?

God has given each of you strengths—and weaknesses. And God uses both for his glory as we give them back to him. And that’s true of everyone. So let’s conclude this lesson with a blessing for you:

May the Lord continue to strengthen each of you where your strength is needed, and to break you where you need to be broken, so that you may see God’s strength there as well. May God bless you as you bless others, through your words and your actions. May God put those in your path who you can trust with God’s work, and may you experience God’s joy as you let go and watch God work through those people, as you trust both God and them. In Jesus’ name.

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Lay Down Your Ambitions — a few fragments

Posted on September 23, 2011 by Carl Simmons

In his book The Spiritual Man, Watchman Nee points out, “The enemy well knows how we need our mind to attend the spirit so that we may walk by the spirit. Thus he frequently induces us to overuse it that it may be rendered unfit to function normally and hence be powerless to reinforce the spirit in time of weakness.”

The popular way of putting that today is, “If Satan can’t make you bad, he’ll make you busy.” But Nee points to an even more significant truth, which is: Satan will use our busyness to help us slowly become bad. As we drift from the leading of the Spirit, we leave ourselves increasingly open to things that aren’t of God.

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We make things so much about our work and our accomplishments, as if we’re somehow made superior by them. But Jesus calls us to a different work: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Matt 16:24). It is a challenge so difficult that only one man has ever done it entirely successfully. And He is the one who calls us to it.

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Spiritual leadership that isn’t leading others closer to God isn’t spiritual leadership at all.

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Loving What’s REALLY Good

Posted on September 21, 2011 by Carl Simmons

There’s a very revealing scene in the movie Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, as Harry encounters the Mirror of Erised. Watch it here and the first couple minutes of here, then consider:

• What do you think of Dumbledore’s statement “It does not do to dwell on dreams, Harry, and forget to live”? How were Harry and Ron in danger of doing that?
• When has a dream caused you to “forget to live,” even briefly? What snapped you out of it?

“Your life is shaped by the end you live for,” said Thomas Merton. “You are made in the image of what you desire.” Over the last several Wednesdays, we’ve looked at some of the things we value—family, work, and relationships. And we’ve explored how God can use us wherever he’s put us. Today, we move past even that.

God has often blessed us by giving us the desires of our heart. The thing about following Jesus, though, is that he keeps us moving. In fact, we’re never going to reach our destination here on earth. If we’re following Jesus, we’re always going to be moving forward, even if it doesn’t always feel that way. And moving forward almost always means leaving things behind—even good things. At the very least, as Jesus changes us, our relationships with whatever or whoever comes along with us will also be changed.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer says this in The Cost of Discipleship, “The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world…We must face up to the truth that the call of Christ does set up a barrier between man and his natural life.”

As Jesus changes us, we begin to let go of whatever keeps us from following him. Sometimes that’s sin. Sometimes it’s our personal agendas or ambitions. Sometimes we let go of lifelong dreams because they’ve become our idol. Sometimes we even let go of something good so God can give us something even better.

On your own, read either one or all three of the following passages: Mark 8:27-38, Luke 10:38-42, and Hebrews 11:8-19. In each of these passages, God challenges someone to give up something good for something better. After reading, reflect:

• What good things did the person in this passage give up? What better things did God offer, and why were they better?
• How did those good things stand in the way of what God really wanted for the person?
• Think about a time God prepared you for something, but it meant letting go of something else. Why do you think God wanted you to let go of it? What were the results?
• Now, think about a time you gave something up to God and he gave it back to you. What had changed, and why?
• Why do you think God often doesn’t show us “the better thing” until we’ve given him the thing he’s asked us to give him?
• How can something we enjoy, or something we find rewarding—even something we know God gave to us—become wrong for us, even sinful?

As C.J. Mahaney says in his book The Cross Centered Life, “Whatever’s of first importance to you might be a good thing. It might be a perfectly honorable, perfectly legitimate thing. And your life might be so wrapped up in it that you have trouble imagining it being of secondary importance.” And the Apostle Paul said this:

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.  What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.  I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:7-14, NIV).

In closing, reflect on these questions:

• What is the one thing—no matter how good or bad it is in itself—that you sense God is calling to you to surrender right now?
• What better thing do you sense, even now, that God may want to give you?
• Even if the answer to the last question was “I don’t know,” are you willing to trust God anyway?

If something came to mind, decide now in your heart that you’ll commit to giving that thing to God. Decide that no matter how many times you might fail—how many times you take it back—that as you come to trust God more and more with that thing, he will help you to let it go. Ask God quietly right now to help you so that he can give you the things he really wants for you.

If you’re comfortable doing so, turn your palms downward as if you’re releasing that thing. Now turn your palms upward to receive what God wants to give you—even if you have no idea what it is.And may God put more into your hands than you’ve ever imagined.

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