Chronic Gift Wasting Disorder

Thursday evening my wife and I attended a very inspirational seminar sponsored by my daughter's High School. Courtney had heard the presentation at a school assembly and had been so moved by it that we just had to see it for ourselves. The presentation was called "Rachel's Challenge."  Rachel Scott was the first of thirteen people killed during the Columbine High School massacre on April 20, 1999. She was sitting on the grass eating lunch with a friend when one of the shooters approached and opened fire on her before making his way into the school building.

Just weeks prior to this tragic event Rachel had written an essay for a school assignment titled "My Ethics, My Codes of Life." Perhaps the most poignant section of her essay reads as follows: "Compassion is the greatest form of love humans have to offer...I have this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion, then it will start a chain reaction of the same. People will never know how far a little kindness can go."

Since her death, Rachel's "chain reaction" theory has been a source of inspiration and motivation to thousands who have heard her story. In a desire to curb the damage caused by bullying, schools have rightly championed her message as a means of encouraging their students to show kindness and compassion toward their fellow classmates. One small act of kindness can have a ripple affect that, when multiplied, can ultimately change the environment and the lives of many.

Ecclesiastes 11:1 says much the same thing in a different way. There we read: "Cast your bread upon the waters, For you will find it after many days."

Imagine sitting in a boat on a large lake and throwing a small piece of bread out onto the water. It seems insignificant doesn't it? Almost meaningless. Yet God says here that it is the seemingly insignificant things we do for others that often have the greatest impact.

The man who cast the bread didn't expect anything in return. He didn't cast the bread and then sit there and watch it like some investment, seeing what might happen. No, it's as if he walked away, never expecting to see it again.

Think about this. If you were to throw a literal piece of bread out on a lake and then come back after several days what do you think the chances would be of your finding it? Pretty much nada right? So what has happenned? Well my guess is that, much like the miracle of the loaves and fishes, that small piece of bread multiplied exponentially, so that, over time, there was no way the man couldn't find it. It's impact had spread, was reproduced by others and now was noticeable to all.

Maybe some of you are afflicted, as I have from time to time, with this disease I'll call Chronic Gift Wasting Disorder.

Symptoms of this affliction include:

• Viewing oneself as a failure because one feels that God has yet to use them for anything that they deem a significant contribution. 
• A sense that ones gifts and abilities are not valuable, or, that one doesn't have any gifts or abilities to offer.
• A compulsion to spend ones life waiting for that big event, that big something, to happen, that will signal that one's life has been meaningful. Waiting and hoping for some validation that they weren't just needlessly occupying real estate.

It's a disease that can be spiritually debilitating. It causes the sufferer to allow opportunities that might positively impact the lives of others to pass by unseen because their attention is riveted on some hoped for significant event to occur just over the horizon. By always waiting for that "big" thing to happen, they miss all the little opportunities to truly make a difference.

I have a friend who pastor's a Sabbath Keeping church in a small town in East Texas. I've always had a great deal of admiration and respect for this guy, not only because of his seemingly unending supply of energy, but because he has a heart for people as big as the state of Texas is wide. 

I always wondered what makes him tick; how he kept going week after week, year after year, serving the brethren as he does. I know he has a love for God and a desire to do His work, but, then, so do a lot of other people. Something about this guy is different. This summer I figured out what that something was. He let it slip in a message he gave while I was visiting one Sabbath. It wasn't even a major point of the message, only an offhand comment. If I hadn't been listening closely at that moment, I might have even missed it. He said, "The greatest contribution we each can make in life is to do good in our little corner of the world." A very simple, yet very profound statement.

Rachel Scott was right. Living a life focused on small, often unseen, acts of compassion and kindness can be a challenge.  It's so much more rewarding to the ego to make the big splash, the larger than life impact. It's difficult to work on the sidelines when our human nature all too often wants to march in the victory parade.  Even so, it's the work done unseen on the sidelines, through untold numbers of acts of kindness and compassion, cast unselfishly upon the waters, that gives God the greatest glory and, ultimately, gives our lives the greatest meaning.

What Not To Wear - Examining Our Spiritual Wardrobe

Originally published in September, 2011

I heard a comedian joke the other day that when it comes to clothing style, we men are hopeless. Basically, most of us pick out a point of time in our lives when we felt at the top of our game looks wise, and whatever style we were wearing at that time we just ride out for the rest of our lives. You can walk down the street and see a guy over 40 and pretty much pick the year: '79, '82, '68. It's funny but true.

There was a time when you probably would look at me and say..."ahh...'86." But that all changed about three years ago when I came home from work one day to find my closet empty and all of my clothes sitting in garbage bags on the floor in our side entrance. To my dismay, while I was at work, my wife and daughter had performed a "What Not to Wear" on me. Frankly, I was a little distraught. Gone were my pleated, cuffed dress pants. Gone were my favorite mock turtle necks. Gone were my sear sucker sport shirts. And gone was my collection of beloved sweaters and sweatshirts I'd accumulated over the years. All gone.

Admittedly, I wasn't all that much into fashion. In fact, for the most part I really could have cared less. But, even so, I was shocked at how my self-image took a hit that day. I really didn't think I had looked that bad. In fact, I kind of liked the way I dressed. The 80's were good years.

It took me awhile to recover from the shock. Any confidence I had in my ability to dress myself went immediately down the drain. For some time after that I was afraid to leave the house without first getting the thumbs up from one of my two self-appointed fashion consultants.

Now, in looking back, the whole thing makes me laugh. I've come to appreciate the women in my life who love me enough to make sure I don't look like a throwback from the 80's.

As Christians, living in this physical world, focused on physical things, it's easy for us to get a little too wrapped up in maintaining a certain image sometimes. We walk around wearing remnants of the old man, focused on self-image, self-preservation and self-promotion. Remnants of pride or human fearfulness at times cause even converted people to go to great lengths to cover up their blemishes, to dress up their faults, to maintain the image they want others to see. Publicly hiding behind facades of wholeness, they privately nurture areas of brokenness and pain.

James 5:16 instructs us to "Confess your faults to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed."

I Thessalonians 5:10 tells us to "...encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing."

This Church thing that we are a part of isn't some spiritual fashion show. It's not so we can parade around displaying how put together we are. God put us in the body to do just the opposite. It's a place we share our hurts, we share our weaknesses and our burdens, so that we might together find strength and encouragement to overcome and grow up into Him, Jesus Christ, in all things. We can't do that if we are protecting an image.

You know, it might not be a bad idea, if, as Christians, we all did a spiritual "What Not to Wear" on ourselves once in a while. In fact, occasionally going through our spiritual closets and cleaning out some of the outdated remnants of the old man is something scripture tells us we are supposed to do from time to time.

Romans 13:14 encourages us to put off the remnants of the old man and to "clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ..."

We are to put on the attitude, the heart and mind of our Savior who we are told in Philippians 2, "made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross!"

If only we as His disciples could lay aside aside our facades, lay aside our pride and be clothed with the kind of humility that would allow us to share our weaknesses, to carry one another's burdens, rather than hiding and shielding them from others. How much more powerfully could God's Spirit work among His people to grow us and mold us into His image? If only we had the courage to open up our spiritual closets and start tossing.

When I came home to find my clothes in garbage bags three years ago, I have to admit that I did rummage through to reclaim a couple of my favorite old sweatshirts. I only got away with it after promising my two fashion consultants that I wouldn't wear them in public. It was a small price to pay to hang on to some sense of my former identity. Now, they too, have found their way to the garbage. I've finally let go of the 80's and moved on.

My spiritual wardrobe is still a work in progress. There is still some cleaning out to do. I know the same is true for all of us. The more we strive together to put on Christ, in humility sharing, encouraging and building up one another in Him, the clearer we will see to discard the remnants of our old man. Clothed with His heart and mind, we'll never have to worry about going out of style.

In God's Eyes - A Pretty Good Egg

My wife would tell you I have egg issues. In a nutshell, or, ummm, should I say...an eggshell?, when it comes to the preparation of scrambled eggs, I demand perfection. They have to be prepared just so: consistently yellow through and through, not too under cooked, sliding around the plate, and not overdone, having the consistency of silly putty.  Any of these are simply unacceptable. But perhaps the infraction that catapults an egg from my plate into the garbage faster than anything else is the discovery of one or, gag...dare I say, more than one, egg shell pieces hidden among the folds of an otherwise perfectly prepared scrambled egg.

Okay, so it's true. I have egg issues. That's probably why my wife declared long ago, "If you want eggs for breakfast, you're on your own." I can't say I blame her.

I had a strange thought the other morning as I was pushing the spatula around the frying pan, striving for that perfect egg. "Wow, I'm glad that God isn't as hard on me as I am on my eggs. How thankful I am that when He discovers an eggshell in my character, and there are many, He doesn't scrape me off the pan into the garbage."

The fact is, if we are to believe scripture, He does just the opposite.

Did you know that scripture refers to you and I as Saints not twenty, not thirty, but two-hundred and forty times? In contrast, of the twenty-eight uses of the word “sinners” and thirteen uses of the word “sinner” in the New Testament Scripture, only a few of them refer to people who have come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ.

God doesn’t see us the way we too often see ourselves. We are often so focused on our faults, on the pieces of eggshell that taint our character, that we forget to appreciate the new identify that He has given us despite our imperfections.

We perhaps have the Catholic church to thank for our skewed understanding of what it takes to be called a saint.   They, unfortunately, turned sainthood into a right of passage, bequeathing that lofty title only to those they deemed worthy by having lived a magnificent life or having achieved a certain level of spiritual maturity. But that’s not how God sees it. No we’re not perfect. Of course we sin, and continue to sin. We continue to fall short throughout our Christian walk. But, in God's eyes, being a saint is not about our character, it's about embracing our identity. 

Our God wants you to see yourself as one of His saints.

In Ephesians 1 Paul writes "Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you ..."

What does He want to give you...how does He want you to see yourself?

"...may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe..." 

Our God wants our eyes to to enlightened that we would know the power of His love toward us and the inheritance He has given to us as His Saints. You are Saint.  That’s who you are. He wants you to believe that. 

That isn't to say that should adopt an "I have arrived" mentality. Scripture is very clear that we are to continue striving against sin. We are to grow into the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. This Christian walk is to be one of growing, of overcoming.  

In Romans 7 the Apostle Paul makes it very clear that you and I have pieces of eggshell floating around in our lives.

In Romans 7 Paul says of himself and all of us by extension,  "We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin." 

All of us are fit to be scraped off the plate into the trash. Against the measure of God's law each of us are judged weak, sinful and worthy to be condemned.

In verse 24 he laments, "O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?"

Paul could have stopped there. He could have become focused on the pieces of eggshell. He could have become bogged down mentally and spiritually on his unworthiness. But that's not where He stayed. He quickly moved from there to where God wanted His focus, where He wants all of our focus to be, on his new identity in Christ.

He continues in verse 25,

"I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin."

and in Romans 8:1 "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus." 

Satan would like nothing better than for us to feel that we are defined by our sin. He wants us to become discouraged by our imperfections, to become fixated on our unworthiness, to live as those who are in bondage to sin and worthy only of condemnation. 

But what Paul understood and what we too must understand is that, though we are sinners, it is not sin that defines us.  It is not what you do that determines who you are; it is who you are that determines what you do.

If you think you are a no good bum you will probably live like a no good bum. If you see yourself as a child of God who is spiritually alive in Christ, you will begin to live accordingly. 

When we sin, and we all will, rather than becoming discouraged and unlovable, we instead draw strength from our identity in Christ to keep on fighting. It's a mindset that exclaims, how amazing it is that I who am helpless, I that am so sinful, am saved by His grace! How wondrous it is that He has made me, who am such a sinner, to be named among His Saints.

At risk of beating metaphor to death, when God looks at you, he doesn't see all the broken pieces of eggshell floating around in your life. Through the lens of His grace, He sees a pretty good egg.

Driving the Straight and Narrow

This week my little girl passed her driving exam. Though I did my share of coaching along the way I can't take most of the credit for helping her earn her "wheels." My wife Elizabeth gets that honor. Of course, getting there hasn't been without a few challenges to overcome. One being, her proclivity for driving a little too close to the right side of the road. How she managed not to take out every mail box on the street at some point this last year I'll never know. Then there was what I'll call the "Little Old Lady" period where she adamantly refused to drive faster than 45 mph, even on a highway posted 65. And finally, there was the trauma of parallel parking. My front lawn still bears the scars of that very emotional, tearful session. "I can't do this daddy!" "Yes, you can." "No, I can't! I'll just fail this part!" "No, we've only been doing this for three hours. Just a few more tries sweetie. Now let's pull back on the driveway and try it one more time."

It struck me as I was working with her to learn the rules of the road that all of these traffic skills, these do's and don'ts we are trying to ingrain in her, are not only for her own protection, but for the protection of everyone else on the highway. As her father, I'm insistent that she learn these rules, not because I want to make her life difficult; but because, one, I love her and don't ever want to lose her, and two, I would never want her to be responsible for hurting someone else.

There's a hymn we sang with the kids when they were little that went like this:

"Sing them over again to me, Wonderful words of life,

Let me more of their beauty see, Wonderful words of life;

Words of life and beauty , Teach me faith and duty.

Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life,
Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life."

Our loving Father has given us His words, His commandments, His wonderful words of life, not that they might be a burden to us, not to make our life more difficult; but because, one, He loves us and He doesn't want to lose us to the Destroyer, and two, He doesn't want us to be a tool in the hand of the Destroyer to hurt others.

There is no shortage of those in this world who claim the name of Christ while flaunting the "rules of the road" He so lovingly gave us for our safety. They are like spiritual drunks careening recklessly down the highway, intoxicated by false confidence and "feel good" spirituality, oblivious to the danger in which they are putting themselves and others. These spiritual drunkards not only deceive themselves into thinking they are "safe" but risk the disillusionment of many who look to their example to learn what it means to be a follower of Christ.

In Matthew 7 Jesus instructs us to "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

If I'm reading this right, there are a lot of spiritual drunkards on the roads out there. Thankfully, there is another route for those of us who want to make it safely to our destination. It's not the easiest road to travel. There are a few rules of the highway we have to follow. But, I'd much rather take my chances travelling that road under the guiding hand of a loving Father, than risk crashing and burning on a superhighway to destruction, wouldn't you?

I couldn't be more proud of my daughter. Though my lawn will never be the same, she did finally conquer parallel parking and, all of the mailboxes on our road are still standing. She even manages to get the car up to 65 mph when she needs to. She's going to be a great driver. Though her formal road instruction is over, she hasn't heard the last of her dad providing pointers for staying safe on the roads. After all, that's just what a loving father does, right? We won't be revisiting the parallel parking thing though. Don't tell her this, but I never was much good at it myself.