From the Blog

How God Reminded Me Busyness is not Effectiveness

Looking back over the past few months I’ve seen the Lord help me make many personal decisions that prepared myself for sharing the Gospel in St. Vincent and other Countries. But none were more important than deciding to work out of home.

And it’s one I hated with a passion

Allow me explain…

I’m a person who loves being busy…to the point where my effectiveness on a day would be decided by how many things I was able to accomplish. Now there’s nothing wrong with this, however I took the added step of defining effectiveness as “doing work outside of home.”

As this definition of effectiveness grew I began looking for ministry (any ministry) that kept me from being at the house [1].

  1. English as a Second Language teaching
  2. Mentoring
  3. Reading Help
  4. After School Programs
  5. Computer Tutoring
  6. You name it, I would do it

The thing is no matter how many ministries I was involved with there was always a desire for more…

Just a few more hours in the afternoon
Just one more hour in the morning
Just two more ministry opportunities that week and I would be happy

As the school year came to a close God did something really scary…He called me to walk away from all of those ministries. And instead invest my time at home on things that prepared me for a future teaching ministry

  1. Bible Study that became the foundation of a sermon series from the book of James
  2. Turning a recent class I taught on Christology [2] into handouts for a small group Bible study
  3. Development of discipleship material on Evangelism, and Leadership
  4. Reading of Christian books
  5. Furthering my education through study of Greek and Theology
  6. And taking my writing very seriously [3]

In other words doing things that focus on teaching the truths of Scripture.

It is true that spending my day on research, Bible study, and writing means there isn’t a whole lot of interaction with other people. And yes there are moments I get bored and just have to “leave the house” [4]. But being able to place all of my energy on the one thing God has called me to do (teach the Bible) makes it all worth it.

And guess what I learned…there’s a big difference between busyness and effectiveness.

As an illustration allow me to use a normal Wednesday morning when my time revolved around volunteering with one now:

Before:

  1. 8:00–8:30 Travel to School
  2. 8:45–9:30 Reading tutoring with student
  3. 9:30–10:00 Drive Home

Now:

  1. 8:00–8:30 Communication with prayer supporters, news article reading
  2. 8:30–9:30 Bible Study for James Sermon
  3. 9:30–10:00 Bible Study for Foundations [5]
  4. This is after my 4–5 mile run at 7:00 (devotions at 6:00)

Do you see the difference?

I’m not saying that everyone in the world should work from home because they can’t. But instead want to remind you busyness (doing many things) doesn’t necessarily mean happiness. It’s much better to invest all your time and energy into the thing that God has called you to do

[1]: this is by no means a disrespect to my parents who I live with, or individuals who work out of home. God has since shown me this was a selfish attitude that only wanted to feed my own pride

[2]: doctrine of Christ

[3]: as many as three posts a day

[4]: I’m well aware there are many parents who dream of being bored someday

[5]: small group material from Christology notes

Tested Faith: A Study of James

Submission to Suffering Develops Character (James 1:4)

James 1:4  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. 

James has already made readers question his sanity by encouraging them to rejoice when painful situations come (James 1:2–3) but he follows that up in 1:4 with another strange command.

He encourages these Believers to submit to their suffering. In other words, don’t try to escape the pain that your experiencing right now. Because it’s doing a work in your life for the Glory of God.

Instead of suffering James does use the word “steadfastness” but has already explained this is created by the testing of our faith, or trial that God has placed in our lives (James 1:2-3).

Specifically James is encouraging the Believers to allow their steadfastness (endurance) to grow into maturity. We know this because…

  1. The words full effect when translated means “complete work” [1]
  2. The word “perfect” when translated comes from the same Greek word “teleios” but takes the meaning of maturity
  3. Complete comes from the Greek word “holokleros” which translated means “perfectly sound or whole” in referring to a body [2]

If you will allow me to paraphrase this verse, James is encouraging them to become healthy adults spiritually.

This verse is important because God knows that many people have very strong physical bodies or minds. But few of them have very strong character.

There is good reason for that…
You can’t build character at the local YMCA on a weight machine

There’s just something about pain and suffering that reveals our weaknesses, our selfishness, the demand to have things our way. When faced with the ugly picture of ourselves most of us try to cover it up making ourselves look healthy when we really aren’t.

One of the gyms I used to train at in Australia was broken down into two parts. The downstairs portion had all of their weight machines, while cardio equipment was up a flight of steps. I spent hours were spent on an exercise bike or rowing machine watching men and women below me who were incredibly strong, but in terrible shape.

Oh don’t get me wrong, they would probably be able to rip me in half with their bare hands. However ask them to run up a flight of steps and they’ll be ready to collapse 🙂 Underneath all of that muscle are incredibly weak lungs.

In the same way many of us (myself included) walk around acting as if we are incredibly strong while at the same time covering up our serious character flaws. And James is telling each one of us to stop.

Stop trying to cover up the weakness suffering reveals

  1. Instead allow the pain to highlight your struggles
  2. Confess it as sin against God
  3. And ask Him to transform your life through the reading of Scripture along with prayer

I’m not saying that it will be easy…but as submission to suffering’s work becomes a habit God will develop a true character of Godliness that puts any bodybuilder to shame.

 

 

[1]: from the Greek word “teleios” which means- complete (in various applications of labor, growth, mental and moral character, etc.); neuter (as noun, with 3588) completeness: — of full age, man, perfect.

[2]: Complete:   648. oJlo/klhroß holokleros, hol´-ok´-lay-ros; from 3650 and 2819; complete in every part, i.e. perfectly sound (in body): — entire, whole.

God's Big Story

Genesis 3:23-24 When God Isn’t Loving, But He Is Fair

Genesis 3:23-24   23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

Genesis 3:23–24 is one of those passages that those who don’t know Christ love to point at and excitedly say, “See! I told you that God isn’t the loving Father you made him out to be! If God’s so loving, then why would he kick Adam and Eve out of Eden?”

The truth is they actually have a point

I mean the Lord is being very unloving with Adam and Eve in this passage. The word “drove” in verse twenty-four gives the idea of forcing someone to leave with force, and for good measure an angel with a sword of fire was left to guard the Garden of Eden.

Reading these verses by themselves we would have no choice but agree with their statement that God isn’t loving…and in a deeper sense that He isn’t fair. This is actually a bigger deal than it may seem since God doing wrong would mean He isn’t Holy (perfect) which is a foundational belief for Christians.

So how do we answer this question? By looking at the larger passage of Scripture [1] or “context” as its commonly referred to

Just like taking one statement a person made in a long conversation could lead to misundestanding, taking one part of a Bible passage almost always results in confusion. So lets take a step back and look at all of Genesis chapter three shall we?

  1. Eve is tempted by Satan to rebel against God by eating forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:1)
  2. Even tells Satan that she couldn’t eat the fruit because it would lead to death (Genesis 3:2–3)
  3. Satan tells Eve God is being unfair, and she along with Adam decide to rebel by eating the fruit (Genesis 3:4–6)
  4. The moment after rebelling they were overwhelmed with guilt and shame because of their sin (Genesis 3:7–8) and hide from God
  5. When God gives Adam and Eve opportunities to repent of their sin they refuse to, and just blame each other instead (Genesis 3:8–13)
  6. God responds by cursing Adam and Eve (3:16–20) and casting them out of Eden (3:22–24)

In the midst of this chapter a clear truth comes out…Adam and Eve knew they had done something wrong

This is why they covered themselves

And hid from God behind a tree

And refused to confess their sin

Blaming someone else instead

My point is God isn’t just randomly throwing Adam and Eve out of the garden for no reason. He was bringing to them the consequences of their actions; consequences that they clearly understood were coming [2]

In other words what we see here is part of the normal parent/authority figure-child relationship that’s experienced every day, and in no way seen as cruel or mean.

 

 

As someone who works with children a lot I’ve developed a set of rules commonly referred to as “Mr. John’s Rules” [3] and review them all the time. The thing I love about these rules is it allows the children to pretty much discipline themselves.

After bringing a child to a chair apart from a group I will get down on one knee (looking them directly in the eyes) and have a conversation that goes something like this

Me: So what’s going on today?
Child: I’m mad
Me: Okay what are you mad about?
Child: (child’s name) kept talking to me
Me: Oh I see…now help me remember…what do we do when someone keeps talking to us?
Child: We raise our hand and ask the teaching to move them or us
Me: Did you do that?
Child: (looking down) no
Me: Okay so that’s why your going to stay here for five minutes

 

 

Do you see how the child before even sitting down KNEW what he had done wrong? There was a part of him that knew even before I asked him to go to the back he wasn’t supposed to talk to the other student. Notice that in the same way Adam and Eve aren’t dragged kicking and screaming out of the garden. This is because they KNEW that eating the fruit was act of rebellion against God!

The fact is God brings to use true justice…not the kind that we desire [4] but justice that flows out of His true Holiness and perfection. So there are many excuses we can make when the judgment of God comes upon us (I wasn’t ready, you aren’t being loving, etc), but we can never say that it isn’t fair.

 

[1]: paragraph before and after that passage, the chapter it’s included in

[2]: Gen. 2:15   The LORD God took the man kand put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil lyou shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

[3]: I use ones learned from the Good News Club Ministry…Sit Up, Hand Up, Look Up, and Zip Up

[4]: I get rewarded even though I didn’t obey

From the Blog

What a Difference a Week Makes!

What a difference a week makes….

Last Wednesday was hard because even though I knew the Lord wanted me to travel teaching Bible in other Countries, the door just wasn’t opening.

The truth is there were opened doors, but not many that fit the kind of ministry I felt God was calling me to [1]. Adding to the frustration, a ministry that would have fit perfectly recently brought someone in who met it’s needs (a few months earlier it would have worked out).

On Tuesday (July 28) I asked the Lord for guidance because it was getting kind of frustrating. His response was “keep pushing.” 

Now I have no problem with continuing to communicate and push towards a goal…but that Tuesday night I needed a reason to keep pushing.

See in most cases we push towards a goal when there is hope of accomplishing it.  In my case this wasn’t true, so there was a strong temptation to just “cut my losses” and pursue a new ministry opportunity. Yet knowing God’s way is always better than mine, I committed myself to pursuing that opportunity.

The next morning (July 29) I spent time praying that the Lord would give me wisdom about the ways that I was supposed to keep pushing, and sent an email to a missionary on that field. A response got me excited…but it was to let me know they were still praying about an opportunity [2]

Around 1:00 that afternoon I was getting ready to leave the house but noticed that the email program on my laptop had been shut down. After checking for emails I found one from the missionary saying that something had just come up, and he wanted to call me at 1:30!

Roughly twenty minutes later he explained over the phone that another missionary on the field was having to return to the US because of physical problems. He literally walked into this missionaries office less two hours after getting my email asking if there was anyone who could take over his ministry!

The next day I spent over an hour on Skype talking with the returning missionary about the ministry, and how the Lord could use me there. I couldn’t help but wonder during that conversation what would have happened if I stopped pushing.

If that email had not be sent Wednesday morning

The missionary wouldn’t have remembered me when his co-worker was going back the States

And the returning missionary wouldn’t have known I was extremely interested in helping on that mission field

The truth is I came very close to giving up on that mission field but am really thankful I didn’t…because it reminded me how God works when we are faithful to Him.

 

 

[1]: lasting six months, focused on discipleship, meeting a real ministry need

[2]: I have great respect for this missionary because he was honest with me about there not being immediate needs, but still prayed about whether there were some ways the Lord could use me there

Tested Faith: A Study of James

When Hills Become Opportunities (James 1:2-3)

IMG_0429James 1:2   Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 1:3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

Even though I spent most of my life in Winston-Salem North Carolina [1] till a few years ago it didn’t occur how many hills there are in WS.

Thats before I started them every Saturday morning 🙂

In 2013 I joined a training program that involved running with friends at least twice a week using routes decided ahead of time . At first it was just done for fun, but that was before graduating from a 5k program to one that prepares for a half-marathon.

I vividly remember one Saturday morning when the head coach excitedly told us we were going “downtown” the groans from other runners told me this wasn’t going to be as fun as she made it sound.

Later that week I jokingly wrote a Facebook post about “running every hill in Winston” which prompted the head coach to comment with the words “every hill?”. I never wrote anything about the hills again in fear she would make me pay for it 🙂

The truth is our routes were purposely made tougher than the toughest course any race can throw at us. In particular our coach went out of her way to include as many hills as possible.

Of course there is a method to the madness since our training on ridiculous hills makes what other races call a “hill” seems more like a bump in the road. This is why we often refer to hills as opportunties

This different name sort of gives a new perspective on the painful hill because it’s viewed as an opportunity to become stronger. It also focuses the mind on a future event (being strong on race day) instead of the pain in that moment.

In the same way James in verses two and three encourages Believers to view trials as opportunities to become stronger.

The word “trial” in James 1:2 and “test” in 1:3 have almost the same meaning. “Trial” in the Greek is literally interpreted “putting to proof” and “Testing” is interpreted as “trial, trying.” So this would be an experience that tests an individual, or proves what kind of person they really are. In most cases this would involve a temptation to rebel against God, or frustrating experiences.

James asks the believers to be joyful (have sheer joy) when these painful things come because it develops steadfastness-literally interpreted “endurance.” So he is saying just like the hills in training build physical endurance (strength) the painful experiences of life build a spiritual endurance (faith in God instead of just getting angry).

Okay so what does this mean for Christians?

You can’t focus on the painful moment

I guarantee you I didn’t share my coaches excitement about running “downtown” that Saturday morning, and I really don’t think the hills where what made her excited either. Instead she looked PAST that day and was thinking about what we WOULD BECOME because we ran downtown.

Even so James encourages us to take our eyes off the pain of that moment in trials, and focus it on the moment our faith will bring great Glory to the name of God.

 

[1]: moved here around the age of eleven