Living Your Dream
Are you living the dream God placed inside you? You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—and how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. (Psalm 139:13-16) This is an interesting time of year. Untold thousands of young people graduate from high schools, colleges, universities, and graduate programs this time of year. In fact, many have already left school for grander things. It’s an exciting time for them and their families. I know we’re thrilled and proud of our own daughter-in-law for completing her degree in Physical Therapy! (Way to go Mandy!) So now all of these graduates are off and on their way up. We want to tell them, “Go live your dream!” When I was not quite three years old, my dream in life was to be a garbage man. Now that may not sound like much of an ambition to you, but think about it a minute from the perspective of a three year old. You have a really big, noisy, moving truck with lots of knobs and levers. It goes by everybody’s house and they put stuff out for you to get. When you dump that stuff in the back of your truck, this big metal deal turns and the trash all disappears. Now how cool is that? Once while visiting my grandparents, I heard the garbage men. I went out to watch them. When they left my grandparent’s yard, I followed them to the next … and to the next … and across two streets … and … my mom realized I was gone and was terrified. They found me by listening to the sound of the garbage truck and realizing that is where I must be. I was following my dream! You have a dream. I’m pretty sure for most of you the dream isn’t to be a garbage man. If it is, well that’s cool. I’m with you on that dream! Let me tell you something about your dream no matter what it may be: it was placed in your heart by God himself. See the little guy in the picture? (Okay, if you get this via email you don’t see the picture, but it’s of a little baby twelve weeks after conception. His right leg looks like it’s kicking something or pressing the accelerator of a car.) He is so small no one knows he’s there — well no one knows except God. In Psalm 139:13-16, we are told that from our conception, God knows us, has a purpose for us, and has a plan for us to live that purpose. In other words, God has given us a dream! No matter whom your parents may be, no matter how you came to be, you are not an accident. God has known you all along and has a dream for your life that he has placed inside you! Your job in life is to go live that dream! Are you living your dream? I wanted to be a garbage man when I grew up. Guess what? I am … sorta. I help run Heartlight, which is a high tech kind of company. I love all the high tech devices because they are useful, they do cool things — cooler than all the noise, levers, knobs, and stuff the garbage truck did. In addition, I’m a minister. I get to help people take the garbage in their life and leave it at the curb and let God take it away. I’m getting to live the dream that God planted in me! Hope you are getting to do that, too! If you are, you already know what I’m about to say. If not, let me share a couple more things with you about that dream. I believe God wants you to understand some things about the dream God has placed in your heart. First, you will face obstacles, challenges, and distractions to keep you from living your dream. Satan opposes the work of God and he will oppose it in your life. It won’t be easy to stay focused on God’s dream he’s place in you. But you can and you must. Second, you must honor the Dream Giver with your dream. If you cannot live your dream and honor God, then it’s not really an honorable dream — it’s not your real dream. If you have to sacrifice your character, your integrity, or your faith for your dream, then it isn’t really a worthy dream. God, the great Dream Giver, gave you your dream. He will not give you a dream that does not bring honor to him. Third, don’t settle for less than the dream God placed in you. He made you for that dream. He made you for his purpose. Don’t settle for something less than God’s dream. It will be too little, too confining, and too costly in the long run. You may be like a lot of people who are not sure of the dream God has placed inside them. In addition to reading the New Testament, I recommend Bruce Wilkinson’s book, The Dream Giver. It will help you find, identify, and pursue your dream and the great Dream Giver who placed it in your heart. If you are a graduate, or a parent of a graduate, use this transition as the time when you re-commit to the dream God gave you. That way if people can’t find you, all they have to do is listen for the sound of your dream and know that this is where you will be! Image from Adobe Firely, generated with AI. Used
Kicked to the Curb? Good!
Holy ground — without brokenness, there would be no healing or hope or grace. So, thank you, Abba, for reserving a place for us, just for us, at the curb with you. MO is at Black Rifle Coffee. Beyond Black is in the cup, silence is on the playlist, and God has moved the room to the curb. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5:6-11 — bold added to help us recognize why we were on the curb of broken “whatevers” before his grace found us!) What do you do with broken things? My dad would find a place in the garage and keep the broken “whatevers” in hopes of one day fixing them, or using the parts to fix something else — he loved restoring them — turning misfits into good-fits… don’t think he ever tossed anything, he even gave a new home to the broken stuff in the backlot at work. Lyn and I, on the other hand, put our broken things on the curb by the driveway, and like magic…within three hours they disappear. Over the last four decades lots of broken things have vanished: 5 chairs 3 recliners a trash compactor a washing machine three lawn edgers two lawn mowers a dot matrix printer a b/w laser printe two color printers one fax machine a 21 inch computer monitor 2 ceiling fans a rusted out radial arm saw two patio furniture sets three outdoor swings three TVs three outdoor gas grills two floor lamps three VHS players a tireless wheel barrow a vacuum three rotted railroad ties one barely used treadmill and one grab-bag full of broken odds and ends. All labeled “free to first one who stops.” They all disappeared by nightfall. So, unless it’s broken, we don’t leave anything by the curb. God on the other hand is like my dad. He collects broken things. He knows the curb well — He lives there. Only his collection is much more intriguing and compelling than my dad’s. He takes broken people, those who know they’re broken and those who are clueless — they are all treasures to Him — He mends them, comforts them. heals them, finds their lost pieces, and makes them whole. His magic only happens at the curb, the place where confession happens, when we admit our helplessness, where we own up to what’s going on behind what’s going on. And to be comforted, we have to experience His healing we have to leave our brokenness as the curb. Abba collects all kinds of brokenness — broken dreams, broken hearts, broken promises, broken futures, broken reputations, broken trust, and broken bodies. Then, our Abba does holy surgery. He restores, heals, transforms, and repurposes. Somehow, He makes us stronger in the broken places. The Spirit of God knows us better than we know ourselves; He knows we will fight Him — refuse to turn loose — we will try to hide our brokenness — to second-guess the curb. We don’t like admitting we are broken. The first miracle is that… He’s patient… He waits… He camps-out at the curb… The second miracle is that… He urges us to tell Him about it, to own it, to confess it, and turn loose of it. That’s when the curb becomes holy ground. Ah yes! Holy ground — without brokenness, there would be no healing or hope or grace. So, thank you, Abba, for reserving a place for us, just for us, at the curb with you. I can smile because God owns the curb. Real church happens there! About the author: Ron Rose has been a unique minister and friend, but he is also a noted author and leader of several ministries. Ron now makes himself available as a listener and friend as he spends time with people on the go and in coffee shops and shares grace and a listening ear connecting them with God who is always in the room!
Sharing in the Joy!
O God, please, will you let me see a little harvest… Please! Jesus is not in Israel — not Judah or Judea or even Galilee. He is in Samaria that often forbidden area where nothing and no one properly lived — at least from the perspective of a Good Jewish person of Jesus’ day. Jesus has just concluded a public conversation with a woman — ooh, that’s questionable! She was a Samaritan outcast of dubious sexual practices! Ouch, that was forbidden. Yet, Jesus has answered her searching and seeking questions and then led her to faith. She has gone to tell her own people — those who had cast her to the outer margins of their village life. But Jesus’ knows her, knows her faith is real, and that her testimony is about to change village life around her forever. Now, as so often happened, the LORD had to deal with the often “slow-to-get-it” apostles.”Why are you talking to a woman, and why are you not hungry?” they asked Him. Then Jesus explained: “My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work. You know the saying, ‘Four months between planting and harvest.’ But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest. The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike! You know the saying, ‘One plants and another harvests.’ And it’s true. I sent you to harvest where you didn’t plant; others had already done the work, and now you will get to gather the harvest.” (John 4:34-38 NLT) I imagine this scene as Jesus talks to His apostles and points to the villagers coming their way. Their white headpieces bobble along as they walk toward them, and Jesus says: “I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe [— the heads of grain are white —] ready for harvest.” There are different kinds of seasons in the life of a follower of Jesus who takes seriously the LORD’s Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8-10). We often find ourselves in the harder seasons. Some are in the planting seeds season, where we keep sowing and can’t see any harvestable results. Some of you have been trying to find good soil. Others have been planting seeds for what seems like a long time with few noticeable results. Others are in the watering and tending phase to see if there is any harvest in sight. Some of you are weary and not sure you can keep on looking for soil, planting seeds, bringing water, tending to the weeds, and waiting on any hint of the harvest. It is hard work getting to know the soil and cultivating relationships so you can sow in a cultural climate hostile to the seed you sow. It is discouraging not to see quick results from all of your labor, sweat, and prayers. This can be a season that leads many of us to doubt ourselves, our calling, and our mission: Did I mishear God’s call? Was I wrong in coming here? Is this what I’m supposed to be doing at this time in my life, and especially in my family’s life? What am I doing wrong? Is there any fruit in sight? O God, please, will you let me see a little harvest… Please! I’ve asked those questions, had those doubts in my patch of ministry dirt that Jesus sent me to prepare for harvest, and felt inept when others around me were harvesting. So, what word is there for the “no-or-slow” harvest seasons of our lives and ministries? Jesus reminds us of an essential truth: “What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike! You know the saying, ‘One plants and another harvests.’” And I believe the LORD’s promise is true! Jesus promises us that we will share in the joy of the harvest. It may not be now, or soon, or even on the horizon. However, the Chief Sower of seeds promises us we will share in the joy of His bountiful harvest. And if we are blessed with a surprise from God’s gracious love, we may experience a foretaste of this harvest when we least expect it. I am an old dude. My hands-on sowing is less frequent and more restricted. While I do get to hear about our house church planters’ successes and challenges, I don’t get to be there to get wet hugging the newly baptized or lifting my hands with them when they sing their first praises to Jesus. Oh, how I’ve missed that and longed for those experiences! So, imagine my surprise when we visited Rwanda Children Christian School, and I was asked to preside at the baptism of 188 people delivered from animism and incestuous living who were brought into the Kingdom of the Son of God’s love. It was from a neighboring village that time had forgotten. The efforts of loving disciples took over a year of lessons on how to grow crops, training in hygiene, explanations of birth abnormalities because of incestuous inbreeding, health care that provided basic services, education for the children, and lots of love. God’s people did that consistently, beautifully, sacrificially, and hopefully. They planted the seed, watered it, removed the weeds, and then shared the Good News. These practices of gracious sowing, tending, and weeding had guided God’s people in their love for people in desperate need of grace. I was blessed to stand and welcome ninety-eight of those new family members into the fellowship of the saints as they rose from their new birth into God’s family. I got delightfully wet from high-fives, handshakes, and hugs. I rejoiced over them and cried with them. I saw old men and women with tears streaming down their cheeks for joy, many wearing their best clothes to be baptized. I saw pre-teens who were excited but unsure of the road
Prayer and Mission
So if they didn’t and couldn’t, how dare we? If you want to discover your congregation’s God-given purpose, there can be no starting point other than prayer. If that’s not immediately apparent, a cursory glance at the book of Acts should make it clear! Acts begins with a group of disciples who had received the Great Commission, but had no clue how to fulfill it. Had they attempted to draft a mission statement at that point, it would have borne little resemblance to God’s divine plan. Their strategic initiatives would have been based on woefully wrong-headed assumptions. Of course, any such plan would have failed anyway for lack of spiritual power. Acts chronicles a series of crucial junctures where God challenges and changes the disciples’ false notions, surprising them with new directions and fresh opportunities that they could have scarcely imagined on their own. There is a common theme at each of these critical crossroads: prayer! For the earliest disciples, the generality of the Great Commission became a specific and focused strategic plan in response to intense prayer. God revealed the gospel message and poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit onto a group of disciples who had been praying constantly for ten days (Acts 1:14; Acts 2:1-4). God’s shockingly unexpected plan to receive Gentiles into the kingdom was revealed to Peter, who was deep in prayer at the time (Acts 10:9). Peter then inaugurated the Gentile outreach by teaching Cornelius, who had been praying at the same time (Acts 10:2). When Saul of Tarsus first appears in Acts, he is intent on fulfilling his personal mission statement, which is to intimidate and incarcerate all who follow Jesus (Acts 9:1-14). But because Saul is fervently praying following his Damascus road encounter with Christ, God sends Ananias to give him a radical new mission: carrying the message of Jesus to the Gentiles (Acts 9:15). Another radical shift in mission occurs when the Holy Spirit directs Saul (now known as Paul) away from Asia and into Macedonia. Paul and Lydia — who becomes the first European Christian — meet each other because they both seek out a place of prayer (Acts 16:13). Only through prayer could the first disciples have grown to understand the surprising twists and turns of God’s purposes. In response to prayer, they received boldness in the face of opposition (Acts 4:24-31) and they united around common goals (Acts 2:42). No wonder that the leaders of the Jerusalem church placed a higher priority on prayer than on “church management” (Acts 6:4). Today, even skilled, educated, and well-meaning leaders will go badly astray if they attempt to sharpen the church’s focus and define its purpose apart from an emphasis on prayer. Leaders of churches that are searching for preachers need to give special prominence to prayer. Again, the book of Acts is instructive. Through prayer, the early believers met the daunting challenge of fitting the right people with the right gifts into the right places at the right time. The apostles knew that their limited wisdom was insufficient to choose an individual to join their ranks, so they prayed and left the decision to God (Acts 1:23-26). With fervent prayer, six men were appointed to minister to the widows in Jerusalem (Acts 6:6). Through prayer, Barnabas and Paul were set apart as missionaries (Acts 13:3). And by means of prayer, elders were appointed to lead each fledgling congregation they established (Acts 14:23). One thing that cannot be discerned from a résumé is the internal state of a person’s heart. That is why those who selected spiritual leaders in the first century prayed to the God who “knows everyone’s heart” (Acts 1:24). Wise leaders today will learn from their example and do likewise. If you are a leader in a church that needs to rediscover or redefine its mission; if your church needs to hear a fresh call from God; and especially if you are in the process of searching for a minister, prayer must be your top priority. Without it, we stand no chance of recapturing the purity, the wisdom and the spiritual power of the earliest Church. This is part of an ongoing series of messages from the partners at Interim Ministry Partners on a church discovering its mission. These messages are based on a proven set of moves a congregation needs to make as it is transitioning in its preaching leadership and wants to focus on its mission. The following chart illustrates the key moves and the direction each of these moves should help the congregation move. About the author: Mark Frost has been in ministry for 41 years, 34 of which were spent with a single congregation. He is now working with churches in transition with Interim Ministry Partners. Mark is a loving and insightful minister who is loved and trusted by the congregations with whom he has worked because of his kind and loving demeanor, positive outlook, good grasp of Scripture and faithful ministry experience.
Let’s Go Somewhere Else
Why would Jesus leave someone behind? When they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!” Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else …” (Mark 1:37-38 TNIV). Following Jesus and ministering in his name fills life with hard choices. I faced some of those tough choices this past Friday. These hard choices led me to ask some hard questions: When does compassion become the opportunity for others to take advantage of God’s community? Is there a time to ignore the professional “panhandler” who continues to live irresponsibly by taking advantage of well-intentioned people? Can you walk away from someone, even those who are trying to take advantage of your kindness, and move on to another pressing need you feel is more important? How do you know the difference between your own self-serving avoidance of a needy person and true mission-guided opportunity? Jesus faced these challenges often. Many folks are startled to learn that Jesus actually did walk away from folks who were seeking him for a miracle (Mark 1:35-45) and he did “run off” folks who were trying to take advantage of his miracle-working ability for their own selfish interests (John 6:26-66). Yet, as the story about healing a man with leprosy makes clear (Mark 1:40-45), Jesus ministered out of his deep compassion for broken and wounded folks who needed his touch, his grace, and his power. So how can we know how to do what Jesus did and do it appropriately? Clearly, Jesus didn’t walk away from folks in need out of selfishness or avoidance. When he left behind those who were looking for him, he did so to specifically live out his God-ordained mission (Mark 1:38). He was able to discern between the two because he had tuned his heart to that mission through his regular times with the Father early in the morning while it was still dark, in a time and place of intentional prayer (Mark 1:35). What’s more, when presented with a need directly in his path, Jesus did more than just physically heal: he touched and validated the value of people even when it wasn’t culturally acceptable to do so (Mark 1:41). When Jesus did “run off” folks with his strong teaching, he didn’t do it for selfish reasons. He did it to avoid the misperceptions and wrong desires of those seeking to highjack (John 6:14-27) — in other words, people were wanting Jesus to abandon his God-ordained ministry to give them what they wanted. So what are we to make of all this? For me, Jesus’ example provides us some good principles to help us in this struggle to balance compassion and mission. First, I’m called to be compassionate as a follower of Jesus and I will be judged based on how I respond to people’s needs (Matthew 25:31-46). Second, I must stick to the mission God has given me and not get side-tracked by doing what is good when God has called me to do what is best (Mark 1:38; Acts 20:24; 2 Timothy 4:6-8). Third, when a person who has needs is in my path, I must act with compassion and care, even if it interferes with some things I have planned to do (Mark 1:40-45; Luke 10:25-37). Fourth, and the focus my concern today, I’ve got to spend time with the Father tuning my heart to his will if I’m going to know how to stay on mission (Mark 1:35-38). While we can distill guidelines — like we’re doing here — there’s nothing that can replace living in the stories and events of Jesus’ life to help us get a feel for how to live for him in these situations. When added to personal prayer where we offer ourselves to God and ask for his wisdom, this time with the Father in Scripture and prayer becomes a conduit of God’s guidance and grace to help us (James 1:5-6; cf. James 4:17). Those of us who claim to follow Jesus are so often involved with books about Jesus and Christian stuff, we are so into the personalities and events of our religious world, and we are so busy in our regular lives that many of us have simply given up spending time with God on a daily basis. We’re often just living off the residue of a past relationship with God, but are no longer in direct daily communion with our Father. What we offer at www.heartlight.org — daily devotionals, Scripture graphics, and articles — are supplements to your daily walk with God. They can’t replace regular daily Bible reading and prayer time. I strongly encourage you to commit yourself to daily time in the word using a method like Wayne Cordeiro outlines in his new book “The Divine Mentor” or by using one of the daily Bible reading plans from Heartlight. Without opening our hearts to God, without his stories from Scripture in the hands of the Holy Spirit to shape us and form our values, we are left adrift on the sea of good intentions, caught in the winds of our own culture’s biases, and left to decide based on our own selfish whims. How do open your heart up to God so you can be tuned by the Holy Spirit to live out your mission in the world? How do you decide whether to “go somewhere else” or spend time with the folks clamoring for your attention and service? What are some Scriptures you would add to this discussion that can be used to form us into the people God wants us to be? I’d love to hear from you on my blog: http://blog.heartlight.org/phil/2007/09/tuned.html About the author: Phil Ware has authored 11 years of daily devotionals, including VerseoftheDay.com, read by 500,000 people a day. He works with churches in transition with Interim Ministry Partners and for the past 21+ years, he has been editor and president of HEARTLIGHT Magazine, author of VerseoftheDay.com, God’s Holy Fire (on the Holy Spirit), and aYearwithJesus.com. Phil has also authored four
Flying High with Freedom!
We have been set free, so let’s not give up our freedom? Freedom has always been purchased at a high cost. For years, I listened to a dear friend and Elder share his experiences of Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge during the July 4th holiday. He spoke of the terror. He reminded us of the blood-stained water. He talked about surviving the biting cold of a brutal winter. He spoke of the weariness, worry, and despair as ammunition and food ran low right at Christmas. He reminisced about the hard nights sleeping on the cold hard ground so far from home. For us as Christians, we must use every opportunity to reawaken our hearts to the high price paid for our spiritual freedom. Jesus’ coming, his life, and his death all testify to God’s incredible and sacrificial love to redeem us. At great cost, Jesus purchased us from law-keeping, sin, and death. So we shouldn’t be surprised by the apostle Paul’s biting words, sharp toned warnings, and urgent pleadings in his letter to the Galatians to hold on to their freedom. Paul spoke specifically of two great dangerous temptations back toward slavery for Jesus’ followers: For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. … For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another (Galatians 5:1; Galatians 5:13 NRS) The first of these temptations is to use law-keeping as the basis for our personal sense of righteousness. This process is sometimes called legalism. This practice is not to be confused with Christian obedience, which arises out of our sense of love and appreciation for the salvation given us by grace. Law-keeping becomes our way of identifying ourselves as better, more saved, more holy, and more righteous than others. We choose the laws that are most important to keep and define our righteousness by those laws. The problem with law-keeping, Paul told the Galatians, is that if you break any law, then you are a lawbreaker and guilty of all the law. While the Mosaic Law was good and holy because it pointed to the character God was seeking in our lives, the law could only help us see how we failed to measure up to God’s holiness. We needed a Savior to pay for our sin. We needed the Holy Spirit to empower us to a new way of life. This new way of life is the way of the Spirit — not the written code — and is built on the righteousness of Jesus Christ (Romans 8:1 and 2 Corinthians 3:1-18). To go back to trying to justify ourselves by keeping the Law, any law, is to fall from grace and abandon the justification that comes only through the sacrifice of Christ (Galatians 5:4). Paul went ballistic with those who were trying to make law keeping the basis of their Christian faith in the book of Galatians. The second form of slavery is to say that we are saved by grace and then get caught up again in immoral and unrighteous living because we know that grace will cover that sin. If the first form of slavery is called legalism, the second is called license. Jude warned about such teaching and such people (Jude 1:4). While doing what our desires lead us to do can feel like freedom at first, it is actually another form of slavery. Jesus warned that if we sin, then we become a slave to that sin (John 8:34). The Lord came to liberate from sin — not just our past sin, but from a life of sin in the here and now. We must not think we can go on recklessly sinning and nonchalantly depending on grace to cover our sin (Romans 6:1-2). In fact, when the Spirit is at work in us, the power of sin is broken (Romans 6:11-14) and the fruit of God’s character comes to life in us (Galatians 5:22-26). To go back to our old sin, Peter warns, is like a dog returning to its own vomit (2 Peter 2:22). For me, one way to understand the differences between grace, license, and legalism is to look at a kite. A kite may decide it wants to be free — not bound by a string, but free to go anywhere the wind takes it. After all, isn’t this true freedom? The problem is a kite can’t sail or soar without the string that ties it to the kite master. Instead, it is at the mercy of the wind. Blown in whatever direction any ill wind wants to take it. It will not rise to the skies. It will be bounced along the ground and torn by all sorts of obstacles until it is destroyed or shoved under a mound of wind-blown debris. At the same time, legalism can be understood as trying to fly a kite without the aid of the wind. We can try all we want to make the kite fly and soar. However, any flight is temporary. We are not strong enough and fast enough to keep our kite in flight by our own efforts. Sure, the kite is tethered and controlled. Yet without the wind, it cannot soar, dart, and dance as it was designed to do in the wind. When all is right in the world of kites, the true Kite Master lets the kite rise on the power of the wind. It soars, dips, sways, rises, dances, darts, and dives with great elegance and freedom. It is kept from danger and disaster by the true Kite Master’s careful influence, guidance, and care. The kite is then free to be all it’s supposed to be powered by the wind and guided by the true Kite Master’s loving control. If we understand the wind in this analogy to be the Spirit of God,
Your Life in God’s Mission
Can you visualize your workplace as your mission? For the sake of argument, let me assume that you have a career path. It may have been challenged of late, and you may be functioning outside your sweet spot. But there is something for which you see yourself best suited. You hope that career will make it possible for you to pay your bills, take care of your family responsibilities, and provide a certain standard of living. You probably also expect it to provide certain less-tangible rewards as titles and social standing. But do you also have a calling? Consistent with the way most people hear that term, a calling involves a clear sense of being commissioned by God for some holy task. It is an awareness of the sovereignty of God over who you are and what you are doing with your life. It is the sense that God’s hand is on you and that he has a sense of genuine pleasure in what you are doing. The real secret to fulfillment is for career and calling to merge into one. Don’t you sense Billy Graham has viewed his as one and the same? What about you? I believe God is offering you an opportunity to make a difference in the world. I am convinced he wants you to change the world. And I further believe that he wants you to see your job, business, or profession as an extension of his kingdom reign on Planet Earth. Here’s what I mean. The sense that one’s career is also a holy calling really shouldn’t startle us. If slaves-become-Christians were counseled to “render service with enthusiasm, as to the Lord and not to men and women, knowing that whatever good we do, we will receive the same again from the Lord” (Ephesians 6:7-8 NRSV), then surely you are supposed to be the best employee or employer the Acme Widget Company has ever seen. If not, why not? Above paycheck or promotion, do something that contributes to the good of your world. Let your routine reflect the character and excellence heaven is building into your life. Know that your work is inseparable from your spiritual life — and reflects its authenticity. When your faith cleanses and consecrates your workplace to God, you have found a calling larger than your career. Solomon put it this way: There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink, and find enjoyment in their work. This, I saw, is from the hand of God; for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? (Ecclesiastes 2:24-25). Ready to change the world today? God is ready to be your partner. About the author: Rubel Shelly preached for decades, been a professor of medical ethics, Bible, and philosophy at multiple universities and a med school. He is currently Professor of Philosophy & Religion at Lipscomb University. He is the author of more than 30 books and hundreds of inspirational articles.
What is CORE: Finishing
I remain convicted that these passages give us the CORE of what we must believe and practice as Jesus’ disciples. Sometimes, I make things more complicated than they need to be to make sure I haven’t missed something important. That might work when you visit your future mother-in-law for the first time, and you eat more than you should while bragging about how good a cook she is! That no longer works when you are in your sixth decade of life and visiting your mother-in-law. She sees through your compliments and worries that you are ruining your health with your overeating. Trying to say too much when writing about clear and simple truth can have a similar effect. As I have focused on “What is CORE” in the New Testament, I have emphasized three key passages. Each passage claims and stresses that it is central to our faith. Much of the rest of our Christian doctrine and teaching hangs on the structure of those CORE truths: The things of “first importance” we must believe about Jesus (what I call “The Great Faith”) (1 Corinthians 15:1-7). The two “The Great Commands” that Jesus said were the most important commandments in the Scriptures (Matthew 22:34-40). Jesus’ last commandment about making disciples of all nations, what we call “The Great Commission” (Matthew 28:18-20). I remain convicted that these passages give us the CORE of what we must believe and practice as Jesus’ disciples — what we need to become JESUShaped. I don’t believe these truths are CORE because I am a great theologian who discovered something novel or new. I believe they are CORE because they claim to be essential. I also believe they are CORE because much of what the Bible teaches elsewhere orbits around these key ideas. As we conclude this series, let’s finish using a principle important for us in a world with so much noise and so many distractions. We need to live faithfully and teach the truth of the Bible using the KISS principle — Keep It Short and Simple. So, here is a KISS statement to help us remember “What is CORE”: I will live for Jesus by loving God, loving people, and making a difference in the world. To put it another way in bullet format: Jesus is our Lord and Savior because of death, burial, and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-7 — The Great Faith). We will love God and love people like Jesus did and commanded us to do (Matthew 22:34-40 — The Great Commands). We will make a difference in the world by reaching out to all people and inviting them to become disciples of Jesus (Matthew 28:18-20 — The Great Commission). I hope these short summaries help you grab hold of the truths of this series for yourself. We do need to explore the deeper truths about “What is CORE.” Those deeper teachings matter. However, we must not cloud our understanding of the clear and simple CORE principles of our faith. If we live these principles, we are disciples of Jesus. Our goal as Jesus’ disciples is to honor him by becoming like him in what we do and say (Luke 6:40; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Colossians 1:28-29; Galatians 4:19). So, let’s get busy doing “What is CORE”! Which brings us to the questions we want to ask each week of our series: Do I believe this? Do I let this change who I am? Do I let this guide me to what is important in life, in fellowship, in worship, and in doctrine? How can we not? Articles in our series entitled: What is CORE? Jesus! Believing Disciple-making Going Baptizing Training Loving Communing Worshiping Finishing Special thanks for the use of images related to Jesus’ ministry from The Lumo Project and Free Bible Images. About the author: Phil Ware has authored 11 years of daily devotionals, including VerseoftheDay.com, read by 500,000 people a day. He works with churches in transition with Interim Ministry Partners and for the past 21+ years, he has been editor and president of HEARTLIGHT Magazine, author of VerseoftheDay.com, God’s Holy Fire (on the Holy Spirit), and aYearwithJesus.com. Phil has also authored four books, daily devotionals on each of the four gospels.
It’s All About People!
Through the years and all the changes, one thing remains true about the heart of God. First Words: The life of Jesus revolved around people. He always made time for people, even when he was so tired that he desperately needed to get away to a quiet place for rest. When the human inclination was to send them away, “he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6:30-44). He saw people at the center of every problem and opportunity. Sick people needed to be healed. Hungry people needed to be fed. Lost people needed to be found. People in distress needed to be comforted. Maybe the issues of our time are so overwhelming because we have forgotten that people are at the center of every problem. What’s more, people are at the center of every solution. We may never call a group of 56 people to meet and draft the founding documents of a new nation, or answer the deep life and death questions, even to our own satisfaction. But Good Samaritan opportunities are everywhere. No training required, no vetting necessary, no permission needed. People are in need, we help them, end of story. Created Equal: The hot and sultry Philadelphia summer was even more uncomfortable when windows were closed and drapes were drawn to keep the deliberations of the Second Continental Congress secret. King George might well consider a declaration of colonial independence a treasonous document; so it would be debated and drafted away from prying eyes. The Revolutionary War had been going for a year when the Congress convened on May 10, 1775, with representatives from twelve of the thirteen colonies, and Georgia to send representatives later. The most vigorous debate was about independence and how to achieve it. Thomas Jefferson’s original draft was altered at least 86 times before an acceptable version could be approved on July 2, 1776, and signed on July 4, 240 years ago. The second sentence of the Declaration is the one Americans know best: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Critics noted that there were almost 700,000 slaves living in the colonies, maybe created equal, but not treated as equals. And others were quick to point out that women, often considered chattel in those days, were hardly treated as equals. Proclaiming equality was easier than practicing it. Saving All: Go back 2,000 or so years to another declaration, this one in the form of a sermon. Urging repentance and baptism for the forgiveness of sins and the receiving of the Holy Spirit, the apostle Peter then declared, “The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off…” (Acts 2:38-39). Just eight chapters later, that same apostle resisted God’s command to preach the gospel to Gentiles. He preached that the gospel is for all, perhaps not realizing that all included Gentiles. Preaching equality was easier than practicing it. Pausing in the Present: With the benefit of hindsight, we wonder how congressional delegates and apostles could have been so unaware of the inconsistencies we see so clearly. Or, do we? We may not handle our issues any better than people in the past handled theirs. I often think that all the easy questions were resolved before I got here, for all the questions now are hard. Life is complex, from beginning to end. I believe that human life begins at conception, but that is my religious conviction rather than a scientific or medical conclusion. Living tissue is not always a human life. Unfertilized eggs and unattached sperm are living, but they are not a human life. Even if we agree that human life begins at conception, we may still have to make painful choices about what to do with that life. If for example, fertilization occurs in the woman’s Fallopian tubes rather than her uterus, that embryo — baby, in my view — cannot survive and the danger to the mother is life-threatening. Rather than labeling and categorizing people who have to make painful choices, maybe we should just love and accept them as PEOPLE. End of life decisions are no less vexing. As a chaplain volunteer in hospital and hospice environments, I have spent a lot of time helping people think through the ethical and moral questions they have about allowing their loved ones to die. Technology enables doctors to keep people “alive” artificially long after meaningful life has ended. Letting go is an awful, yet merciful choice. Seventeen years ago, I had to make that choice when there was nothing else to be done for my father. He had made a Living Will, had DNR orders, end-of-life directives, and a Power of Attorney document giving me a responsibility I would have gladly relinquished. I’m still haunted by my mother’s plaintive question, “Isn’t there just one more thing the doctors can try?” The pain of losing my father was no greater than the pain of having to answer my mother as gently as I possibly could, “No, Mother, there’s nothing more to be done.” Final Thoughts: It’s a long way from Pentecost, to Philadelphia, to beginning of life and end-of-life decisions, yet they are all alike in that they center on people — people who sought forgiveness, people who sought freedom from tyranny, people who would bring new people into our world, and people who help people leave this world peacefully. Don’t turn away from people of a different color; they’re people. People of a different nationality are people. People with different religious beliefs are people. No matter how they may be labeled, people are people. God loved the people of his creation so much that “he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). About the author: These Encouraging