Surrender to the lordship and authority of Christ isn’t the goal of the Christian life.
It’s the means to the goal.
And that’s the problem, because in many Evangelical circles we’ve made surrender the target. In our audience-spectator-based worship services, we sing songs, give money, enjoy some fellowship, and hear a passionate call, all around the same theme – Jesus is Lord, and wants to be Lord of your life. Then we appeal to non-believers to surrender in faith to His Lordship for salvation, and to believers to surrender to His Lordship for sanctification.
Okay. Now what? [click to continue…]
Raise your hand if you’ve ever stood in church and sung, “I surrender all.”
Raise your other hand if you were invited to “come to the altar and surrender all to Jesus.”
Both my hands are up. I’m typing with my toes.
Just two problems with that idea. First, surrender isn’t something you do in church. Second, surrender isn’t something you do at the end or the close of anything.
A few years ago I learned a new language – the language of surrender and freedom. Inspired by someone’s idea of absolute commitment to Jesus expressed as, “I don’t have to survive,” I began a mental and spiritual journey of surrender. What else can I let go of? How else can I be free? And I began to make the list…
I don’t have to be successful…
I don’t have to get angry…
I don’t have to feel rejected…
I don’t have to be right…
You get the point.
Lately I’ve been revisiting that idea, for an important reason. [click to continue…]
It was painful and ugly, Lisa told us. She had left town to attend a school, presumably to train people to be worship leaders. What she discovered instead was an unhealthy, “I’m always right” form of egotistical authority-wielding. If anybody in the so-called “school” suggested an idea that didn’t line up perfectly with the ego-polishing done “on the stage,” there was hell to pay. And the favorite punch(ing) line: “You need to buy into the vision.”
“We’ve been spending some time rethinking our organization’s vision,” John said.
“Why is that?”
“Because we need a better way of communicating to the public and to our people the essence of why we’re here.”
May I offer a polite suggestion? (If not, I’ll be happy to offer a rude one.)
Before you start planning or pontificating on what you, somebody else, or the organization “needs,” don’t you think it would be a good idea to have a clear definition of “need?”
And before you merge onto the leadership freeway, teeming with thousands of commuters headed, they say, in the direction of their “vision,” don’t you think you need to have a grasp on what a vision actually is? [click to continue…]
The Dream
Somewhere in the deepest places of your heart, however old and tired or fresh and alive it may seem, there lurks The Dream. Rooted in who or what you believe to be true, grounded in what you are most passionate about, The Dream is your ideal sense of beauty, happiness, and ultimate contentment.
For many people, The Dream is so patently obvious or so magically impossible, they hardly think about it, much less discuss it. For others, The Dream is tantamount to heaven, so they assume that the only joy here is preparing for life there, after death.
Let me be clear. “God has prepared things for those who love him that no eye has seen, or ear has heard, or that haven’t crossed the mind of any human being” (1 Corinthians 2:9, CEB). But in setting your heart toward home, He has given you a sense of life as it ought to be… as it can be. It may seem impossible this side of heaven…
Nevertheless, The Dream is there.
And you are here.
And in between are the Distance and the Spaces.
The Spaces are those markers and milestones that speak of the progress you have made in the direction of The Dream.
The Distance is the ruthless, unyielding set of facts, measurements and rules that, apart from God’s grace, show us just how far we have to go. [click to continue…]
(Cool Things I’ve Heard Somebody Pray, #4)
Back in the day I was meeting with our church elders and we were talking about some pretty heavy circumstances somebody was going through. I don’t remember the details, but I remember what Michael prayed. It totally changed my perspective about the circumstances, and served as a reminder of where to go to recharge my faith.
I thought maybe you could use a similar reminder.
As he prayed over the situation, Michael said, “There’s no vacancy on Your throne.”
What a tender reminder that if the only thing missing is unlimited power and authority, that job’s been taken, and the chair’s still occupied.
The Throne
Thrones are seats of authority, and when it comes to this one, this is no game. When the monarch is on his or her throne, both symbolically and practically, they’re saying, “Let’s get down to business… and it’s my business.” [click to continue…]
I have a pretty high tolerance for clutter.
Until I don’t.
Can you relate?
If you can, you’re probably what the Myers-Briggs people call Perceiving. If you can’t, and the very idea of leaving stuff out in case you need it a month from now is deeply disturbing, you’re Judging (not judgmental – that’s a different animal).
The problem with being a clutterbug “P” like me is that the items on my schedule or the stuff on my desk start to accumulate until productivity-wise, it feels as though I’m in quicksand. And then I just want it all gone.
Not organized. Not streamlined. Not prioritized. O.U.T.
What’s true in life is true also in leadership. If you could imagine the whole sphere of your leadership activity – relationships, meetings, communication, conflict resolution, vision, more meetings, planning, etc. – as items on a desktop, what would your “desk” look like? And if you could compare your “desk” with the “desks” of others in your team or organization, how full is theirs? And not to stretch the metaphor too much, let me add that wishing for a bigger “desk” is probably not going to solve the problem.
In leadership as in life, things have a way of accumulating. But you don’t have to surrender to clutter creep. Here are seven ways to redirect your leadership T.R.A.F.F.I.C. and in the process free up more time to focus on those areas where you are indispensable: [click to continue…]
I have found someone who’s interested in you. In fact, He’s downright fascinated by you, and apparently wants you to know it.
He also happens to be the One who created you.
And He’s so crazy about you, He just can’t take His eyes off of you.
Here’s what David said when he discovered this powerful truth:
O Lord, You have searched me and known me (Psalm 139:1).
As I read this verse a couple of days ago, I was prompted to read between the lines a bit of what the Greeks called perfect tense.
O Lord, You have searched me, and I remain thoroughly searched. You have known me, and I remain completely known.
This is not the idle curiosity of a God who is fascinated by what He doesn’t know or hasn’t figured out. It’s the love interest of the One for whom the highest expression of love is to accomplish a thorough search and display a complete understanding.
Have you ever loved the beauty of a rose so much that you studied every inch of it? Have you ever been so captured by the rhythm, melody, harmony and lyrics of a song that you played it over and over again, just to hear something new? Have you ever studied a riveting photograph or painting, poring over every detail out of deep appreciation for the artistry involved?
That… [click to continue…]
Next time you make an appointment with me, I’ll just expect you to show up early! Boy, was that a quick surprise! But I’ll take that kind of surprise any day.
We welcomed you into the world on Wednesday, September 18, just two days after your Great Grandpaw turned 76 years old. “We” is a relative term, however, and this relative didn’t get to make it until Friday. But that surprise one-of-a-kind voice you heard while you were still in the hospital? Yep. That was Grammy.
That’s about all I know to say about that.
You were born into a family that absolutely adores children. You were wanted. Anticipated. Prayed for. And delighted in… long before you were ever born.
You big brother Jackson is already crazy about you. He loves to watch you sleep, hold you (with a little help), and pat you while you’re sleeping. He’s both tenderhearted and brilliant – I can’t think of a better big brother for you.
Your parents are pretty amazing people themselves. [click to continue…]
Somebody just stumbled into a chicken-and-egg situation. And I’m not talking about foxes in the henhouse. This is more of the “What came first?” variety. And the answer to that proverbial question has profound implications for your life.
Here’s the back story…
The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently published a report outlining how the average American spends his or her money. Assuming you’re average, you spend a third of your income on housing, 17% on transportation, 13% on food, 11% on insurance, and 7% on healthcare. Entertainment lags back at 5% and the average American gives 4% to churches or charities. Interesting, there was no mention of debt service, at least in the report I read.
Of course, who’s average, right? So Derek Thompson of The Atlantic did some more figuring. He split up income categories into quintiles – the top 20%, the bottom 20%, and the three in the middle. He then compared how the top fifth spend their money proportionally, compared to the bottom fifth.
Would it come as a shock that there is a difference? [click to continue…]
Quick question: What do Tiger Woods, Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and Rafael Nadal all have in common?
Quick answer: Other than being in the top tier of their games, they all have a coach. Back in the day, it was often said, “Even Michael Jordan has a coach.”
How about you? Do you need a coach? Do you have one?
The short answers are yes, and yes. Everybody needs coaches and you have them, whether you realize it or not. You may not be utilizing your coaches to their maximum potential, but you’re most likely following somebody’s guidance. And in just a minute I’ll show you how to recognize who you turn to for coaching, at least on an informal level.
But first, a word from the Lone Ranger… [click to continue…]
Surrender to the lordship and authority of Christ isn’t the goal of the Christian life.
