10-Mar
22

Growth Comes Through Conflict — Ephesians 6:12

Frederick Nietzsche said, “Every talent must unfold itself in fighting.”

What’s he saying? He’s saying that growth in any area comes with a price — and that price is struggle. We experience nothing worthwhile without first passing through some kind of adversity — the adversity of opposition, the adversity of lost sleep, the adversity of financial pressure, the adversity of loneliness, the adversity of delayed gratification. To be good at anything, a price must first be paid.

To be in good health, the price is paid through exercise and diet. To be a good a musician the price is paid through study and rehearsal. To be successful in business, the price is paid through long hours and sacrifice. To paraphrase Nietzsche’s words: growth comes only as a result of struggle.

Paul knew that he was in the midst of a fight. He knew that in order to become the man of God he wanted to be, he must daily enter the battlefield to contend with an enemy: For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12 NKJV)

It will do us good to remember that we are engaged in battle, day-in, day-out. It’s not a struggle that can be seen with the human eye, but it can certainly be felt with the human spirit. This struggle cannot be avoided; it must be confronted. On the other side, however, victory awaits us, because we do not fight unarmed. We carry with us the full armor of God: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the sword of the Spirit and the helmet of salvation.

Peter tells us not to be surprised at the fiery trials we face; they’re part of the process of growing in Christ. Every talent must unfold itself in fighting; growth comes through struggle.

Where are you struggling today? In a relationship? In your work? In your effort to be holy? The obstacle will not disappear on its own. It belongs there. You are called to confront it, through the power of Christ within you, until you can claim victory.

10-Mar
8

The Best Medicine — Proverbs 17:22

It’s been said that the average child laughs 300 times a day and the average adult laughs 15 times a day. I don’t know how authoritative this statistic is, since I see it quoted often but never with a source. However, it really doesn’t take a Harvard study to prove that children laugh more times a day than adults. Hanging out with both for a while confirms this.

Solomon was right on target when he said, “A merry heart does good, like medicine.” (Proverbs 17:22) Laughter has been shown to have many health benefits, from reducing food cravings to increasing one’s threshold for pain. It relieves stress and anxiety and improves your sleep. A good laugh really is good medicine.

There’s also a social component to laughter; it brings people together. C.S. Lewis once said, “There’s no sound I like better than adult male laughter.” That’s because there’s nothing better than friends and family coming together to celebrate life and enjoy one another’s company.

When you’re alone and when you’re with friends and family, I encourage you to invest some time in laughter each and every day. You’ll find that what Milton Berle said is true: “Laughter is an instant vacation.”

10-Mar
1

Perfect Peace — Isaiah 26:3

Henry Drummond tells the story of two artists who were commissioned to paint a picture depicting perfect peace. The first artist painted a landscape with a mountain lake: calm, quiet, serene. The second artist painted a violent waterfall crashing down on jagged rocks, but next to it was a slender birch tree, with a single fragile branch stretched out over the water. In the fork of the branch was a bird’s nest. Lying in the nest, untroubled, even glistening from the spray of waterfall, was a small bird fast asleep.

This is peace. It’s not the absence of crashing waves, it’s the security of the nest in the midst of the turbulence.

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. (Isaiah 26:3 NKJV)

10-Feb
22

Going Nowhere Fast — Mark 11:25

Remember when half the country was snowed in a couple of weeks ago? I was one of them. I finally decided to get out one day when the streets weren’t too bad. They had been salted and plowed and people were moving freely about them; I knew the road wouldn’t be a problem.

The problem was my driveway. It’s long enough that it wraps around the back of my house, and I wasn’t sure my little car could navigate this small stretch of ice and snow. It turns out that it couldn’t. I got stuck just a few feet from the street. I tried turning the wheels back and forth while switching from Drive to Reverse to Drive while I jammed the accelerator, but it didn’t work. I tried getting irritated and yelling about it a little bit, but that didn’t work, either.

Finally a guy in a four wheel drive came along with an offer I couldn’t refuse: for $20 he would pull me out of the snow. I took the deal, and within a few minutes I was on the blacktop.

I drove straight to Home Depot and bought a snow shovel. Then I spent a good portion of the afternoon clearing a path for my car to get in and get out. I didn’t want to spend the month of February unable to get out of my driveway.

Resentments are like the ice and snow that keep us stranded, even as the rest of the world passes us by. We stay stuck, spinning our wheels, the path of progress just beyond our reach.

Here are a couple of things to remember. One, when you get bogged down with resentment, you might need a little help getting out of it. Two, if you don’t want to get stuck again and again, you need to do the hard work of clearing away the stuff that keeps you from moving forward.

Jesus said …

And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. (Mark 11:25)

Resentment is steeped in unforgiveness. It’s a refusal to let go. And more than your resentment will ever hurt anyone else, it will hurt you. It will keep you stuck, spinning your wheels, angry and irritable, while the world passes you by.

Is there a resentment you need to let go of today?

10-Feb
15

Choosing Your Way — Psalm 43:5

frankl1Victor Frankl wrote, “We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

Think of all the things you can’t control: the economy, your health, your income, the choices that your kids make, the decisions that your boss makes…You may have some influence over these things, but not complete control.

But there is one thing you can control: How you respond to every situation. You can respond with anger, doubt, and self-pity … or with faith, hope, and love. It’s your choice.

Again and again in the Psalms we encounter David in difficult situations — surrounded by enemies, struggling with sin, sinking in despair — and again and again we see his absolute resolve to think right:

Why are you so downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. (Psalm 43:5)

You can’t control what happens today, but you can control your actions. Don’t let any situation get the best of you. No matter what you face, you can choose your own way.

10-Feb
8

What Do You NOT Want To Do Today? — Proverbs 10:4

landry1Legendary football coach Tom Landry said, “The job of a football coach is to make men do what they don’t want to do, in order to achieve what they’ve always wanted to be.”

It’s also said that successful people become successful by doing the little things that average people don’t want to do.

In your work there are probably a few little things that you don’t want to do: items that should be done, but don’t have to be done — at least not yet.

Though the items on my not-to-do list change from day-to-day, they all have one thing in common: none of them are impossible. They’re all do-able with just a little bit of effort.

They have another thing in common: by ignoring them, we short-change ourselves.

We don’t like to call this type of delay by its proper name, but Solomon doesn’t hesitate to: Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth. (Proverbs 10:4)

For many of us, that’s all that stands between us and the fulfillment of our goals. A little indolence. That’s not a mountain in front of you. It’s just a hill. A small, tedious, do-able hill.

Challenge yourself and your team today to make a not-to-do list — and tackle these items first, one-by-one. See what happens.

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10-Jan
25

Gratitude Is A Verb — Psalm 116:17

Fulton J. Sheen wrote:

“An interesting phenomenon in children is that gratitude or thankfulness comes relatively late in their young lives. They almost have to be taught it; if not, they grow up thinking that the world owes them a living.”

A friend once told me that she didn’t want to force her son to say “Thank you” unless he really felt like it saying it. She said, “If I teach him to say ‘thank you’ when he doesn’t feel thankful, I’m teaching him that it’s OK to be a hypocrite.”

That’s not even close to what gratitude is. Our feelings have nothing to do with why we express it. Gratitude is not an emotion, it’s an action. The act of saying “thank you” is for the benefit of the other person. It’s about their feelings, not yours.

The same is true when it comes to saying “Thank you” to God. Thankfulness is the proper response to the goodness of God. We say “thank you” because he is good, not just because we happen to feel good at the moment.

This is why the Psalms so often refer to the “sacrifice of thanksgiving” — it’s an act of obedience, not just an emotional outburst.

David said, “I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord.” (Psalm 116:17)

Like children, believers need to learn how to be thankful. Most of the time, when we consider all the good things God has done for us, we’ll feel thankful. Even when our feelings don’t cooperate, we need to properly express gratitude, offering God a sacrifice of thanksgiving for the kindness and mercy he has shown us.

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10-Jan
18

That’s Gratitude for You — Colossians 3:15-17

A grandmother was watching her grandchild playing on the beach when a huge wave comes and takes him out to sea. She pleads, “Please God, save my only grandson. I beg of you, bring him back.” And a big wave comes and washes the boy back onto the beach, good as new. She looks up to heaven and says: “He had a hat!”

That’s gratitude for you, isn’t it? Have you noticed that some people just can’t be satisfied? Some people — and I’m talking about you and me, not someone else — have a hard time expressing gratitude. Or even feeling it.

In 2001 Stephen Post, a medical school professor of bioethics, created a research group called the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love, dedicated to testing and measuring the effects of love, gratitude, and other positive caring emotions in human life.

Dr. Post’s research has discovered that spending 15 minutes a day focused on things you’re grateful for can have the following effects on our physical health:

1. It increases your body’s natural antibodies.
2. It increases mental capacity and reduces vulnerability to depression.
3. It creates a physiological state of “resonance”, improving your blood pressure and heart rate.

That’s gratitude for you, really. It not only lifts up the recipient, it also gives life to the one expressing it. This is why we’re told time and time again in scripture to give thanks: A thankful heart puts us in right alignment with God and one another.

Paul wrote, “And always be thankful. Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.” (Colossians 3:15-17)

Today, I encourage you to look for something … and someone … to be thankful for. Take a moment to feel it, and another moment to express it.

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10-Jan
11

The Other Thing Patrick Henry Said — Lamentations 3:22-23

Patrick Henry, who’s primary contribution to the history books is the phrase “Give me liberty or give me death,” made another statement that appears in a number of quotation collections.

He said, “I know of no way of judging the future but by the past.”

Repeat this before an audience and you’ll see many heads nod in agreement. It has the ring of good common sense.

Be careful, though. This axiom might be true when applied to politics or history or investing, but it provides a lousy foundation for developing relationships. And it certainly doesn’t reflect the way God relates to us.

God gives a chance to let go of the past and start over — each and every day. Jeremiah wrote, “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23)

God doesn’t judge our future by our past. He didn’t do it with David or Moses or Peter or Paul or countless other Bible characters. He does not treat us as our sins deserve. [Psalm 103:10] Every day is a new day.

A good way to start the day with God is to remember that you’ve just been given brand new mercies — the chance to start the day with a clean slate.

It’s also a good way to start the day with others. God doesn’t all our past to prevent us from a having a great future, so let’s give the same gift to others.

09-Dec
14

What a Legend Looks Like — Romans 14:10

woodenFormer UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, who turned 99 this year, was once asked his opinion of former Indiana coach Bobby Knight. Wooden would only respond, “I think Bob Knight is an outstanding teacher of the game of basketball. I don’t approve of his methods, but I’m not a judge, and I’m not judging Bob Knight. There is so much bad in the best of us and so much good in the worst of us, it hardly behooves me to talk about the rest of us.”

I think he understands what Henry Kaiser once said, “When your work speaks for itself, don’t interrupt.”

Wooden has shown us what a legend looks like. He not only was a gentlemen on the court, he holds records that may never be broken. His 10 national championships, his 88 game winning streak, his phenomenal winning percentage, the players he groomed for stardom in the NBA — this is his legacy; he has no reason to add the title of “outspoken critic” to the list.

In your life and mine, in your work and mine, there are a number of potential (even “worthy”) targets of our own outspoken criticism. If we’re not careful, they can take up all of our time. If we’re not careful, we can be sidetracked into thinking our opinions are more important than our actions.

It’s what you do that ultimately makes a difference. Talk isn’t enough. Opinions aren’t enough. Criticism, no matter how on-target or well-articulated it might be, isn’t enough. You prove who you are by the way that you live.

Paul asked, “So why do you condemn another Christian? Why do you look down on another Christian? Remember, each of us will stand personally before the judgment seat of God.” (Romans 14:10)

Let’s strive toward leaving a legacy built, not upon our estimation of others, but upon our own measurable accomplishments. Criticize less, do more. That’s what a legend looks like.

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