Doing Good

I had a great conversation with a friend today. It was over an hour long, so I obviously can’t hit it all on this post, but let me share one of the things that real struck me. It’s not something I haven’t thought about before, but I’m not sure I’ve thought about it this way (at least not for awhile).

It revolves around this idea of “doing good”. I often hear Christians (and others) talk about just doing the right thing – or if their talking in spiritual terms – doing what God wants them to do.

Certainly the Bible does say we should do good things. The Book of James says faith without action is dead (James 2:17). Hebrews tells us to “encourage each other towards outbursts of love and good deeds” (Hebrews 10:24). First John teaches, “…let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions” (1 John 3:18).

Yet, so many people I talk with seem to be lost when it comes to knowing what they should be doing. Here’s where I think we miss it – it’s NOT about a checklist; it’s about a relationship. Said another way, I don’t think God just wants us to come up with our own list of good things to do and then one-by-one do them and check them off and feel better about ourselves. Granted, that would probably be much easier, but it misses the whole point the Bible makes about being in relationship with God and each other.

The kicker is that relationships are more difficult (and they don’t operate on checklists). They’re very dynamic! The same is true in our relationship with God, it’s not just a list of things to do and not do, it’s about spending time with Him and getting to know Him (and the primary ways we do this is through reading the Bible and prayer).

I believe the “good things” we do are actually meant to be the by-product of our relationship with God. The closer I get to God, the more godly I become (in my thoughts, words and actions). Said another way, the more like God I become, the more “good things” I will do – naturally, not based on some checklist.

Our focus should not be on coming up with a list of good things to do. Our focus should be on spending more time with God. This allows Him to transform our hearts to be more like His heart. The result – we will do the things God would do – the good things - if He were still here in human form (which, by the way, I think He is still here on earth working through those who choose to follow Him).

So, away with the checklist, dive into the relationship. The “good things” to do will follow – naturally and relationally!

/D

How do we learn to love?

One of the things my cirlce of friends have been talking a lot about lately is how do we get back to the foundational teaching of Jesus - love God, love people? This post encompasses both of these principles.

Whether you would consider yourself a Christ follower, Christian, religious or none of the above - most people believe the principles found in the Bible are good.

Let’s take some time, to look at the process Peter writes about that leads to loving all people:

2 Peter 1:5-7 ~
In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.

Peter writes, “make every effort”. This is not some ho hum attempt at getting along, this is full blown commitment to grow in this way. And what’s the growth process (which, by the way, often overlap each other)?

Supplement your…

->Faith (Do I truly trust Jesus?)

-> Moral Excellence (Am I becoming more pure in my thoughts, words and actions?)

-> Knowledge (Am I gaining God’s wisdom to make better decisions?)

-> Self-control (Do I exhibit control over how I interact with others and issues?)

-> Patient Endurance (Am I more patient with people and circumstances?)

-> Godliness (Is my character becoming more like God’s character?)

-> Brotherly Affection (Am I laying my life down for my friends?)

-> Love for everyone (Do I truly love my neighbor?)

Here’s how I view this teaching: As I practice Moral Excellence by trusting Jesus (in Faith), it leads to gaining Knowledge. This Knowledge allows me to gain Moral Wisdom leading to Self-control. By not always just reacting to things around me, I learn to be more Patient; it enables me to Endure difficult times and people. As I Endure, my character becomes more Godly and my reverence/respect for God’s work in my life grows. Since God is Love – my Love begins to grow - first, for other Believers; then for all people. This is the essence of the Great Commandment – to love God and love people. In fact, my love for all people reveals my love for God.

The key to all of this is actually found in verse 3 of 2 Peter 1 - By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.

We get to know God through reading the Bible, prayer, and interaction with His church – the people of God.

/D

Speaking My Opinion in Semi-Love

I often quote the verse in Ephesians four that says we are to “speak the truth in love.” I quote it because I have a tendency to avoid doing this in one of two ways.

One way is I avoid a potential conflict altogether. This usually is not healthy because I don’t grow through avoidance and the issues rarely resolve themselves (they just become more difficult to deal with).

My second (and equally bad) way of dealing with issues is to attempt to sneak in through the side door – better known as passive-aggressive.

The reality is conflict is a necessary part of life. If we always agreed about everything there wouldn’t be challenges, learning and growth. We just need to handle conflict in healthy ways – which is why the Bible tells us to speak the truth in love.

But, here’s what I realized last week – I often speak my opinion in semi-love, under the guise of speaking the truth in love. What’s the difference? Well, there are many, but here are two:

1. My opinion really doesn’t matter unless it lines up with the truth;

2. I used the term “semi-love” because there’s usually something in it for me (selfishness).

If I am to speak the truth, I first must know the truth. As a Christ-follower, I believe the Bible is the basis for truth. So, unless what I am saying is in line with what the Bible teaches, it’s not truth.

The “in love” means my primary reason for speaking is to build the other person up. If I’m attempting to get my way or build myself up, then I’m not truly speaking in love.

So, how about you? Do you speak the truth in love? How do you think we can all get better at truly building others up?

/D

What does the Bible mean?

I’m starting a new seminary class in a couple of weeks, and because I’m a slow reader, I often get my books early and begin reading them before the class starts. My book for this class made a point that really struck me and I want to share it with you. Here’s what the author wrote:

Is there a difference between what the Bible says and what the Bible means? Or do you believe that “the Bible says what it means, and means what it says!”? There is a difference between “words” and “concepts.” Knowing words and understanding concepts are two different things. Let’s take “Love your enemies” as an example. Anyone who has been in Sunday school or church for even a short time knows that Jesus said “Love your enemies.” But how many understand what He meant when He said this?

What do I do when I love enemies? And who are my enemies? Must I like my enemies? How will “loving enemies” change the way I live day by day? Jesus define His own words in the passage as He said, “Love your enemies, bless then that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44, KJV). Agape [the word translated “love”] means blessing and doing good and praying for. Nothing here about how I feel about them. “My enemy” means those who curse me, and hate me, and use and hurt me. My enemy can be my best friend, my colleague, my wife, or a fellow church member. When people close to me hurt me, I do not feel like loving them. But I am commanded to love. Not to feel, but to act.

It is far easier to know the words “Love your enemies” than it is to understand their meaning. But until learners clearly understand what Jesus meant, they will not be able to “love their enemies” in the way He intended. Unless Bible teaching can move learners from isolated words to biblical concepts, we will see little spiritual growth in our learners. Without clear biblical understanding, learners tend to read their own meanings into Bible words.

Source: Created to Learn by William R. Yount

/D

Poll Results - How often do you read the Bible?

My last poll asked: How often do you read the Bible?

Here's what you said:

Daily - 50%
Once a week - 16%
A couple of times a month - 34%
Once a month - 0%
Rarely - 0%
Never - 0%

Interesting. So, it would appear that we have "spiritual" people (in some form or fashion) who read this blog (or at least the ones who answer the poll).

In a previous poll I asked who you would turn to for help - 0% said you would turn to a church leader. I'm curious how many of you attend church. I know the definition of church may differ. So, the new poll question is up (How often do you attend church?), but I'd also like to hear how you define church, so you can respond to this post with your thoughts on that.

/D

Church Structure

I'm currently doing a lot of study on "the church". Specifically, on church structure (or organization). I'm sorting and praying through a great deal of information on this topic and don't have any specific points to make just yet. The reason for this post is to get your input.

How do you feel about church structure (I'd also be interested to know your church background)?

What do you believe the Bible teaches about church structure (specific verses would be great)?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

[Note: You can leave a comment without having a Blogger account. Simply use the "Anonymous" option in the comments section. Of course, you can still put your name directly into your comments if you like.]

/D

Too many stories?

I’m filtering through the seemingly endless e-mails I get from all of the spiritual leadership gurus. These are the people who have “succeeded” in church-world and are willing to share their “how I did it” stories so we can all attempt to copy them.

Of course, most of the podcasts, articles, blogs, etc. start with the typical “Don’t copy us” statement. So, why do we copy them? And why print or post their stories? I think we all like to hear the “good news” stories regarding churches and ministries and that’s great. But, really, why do we chase these “formulas”?

Here’s my take (and why I’ve done it so long myself) – our personal connection with God is weak (I was going to say “sucks” but my wife hates that word). Yet, it’s true. We’re living based on someone else’s connection with God (at least we assume they’re connected).

Here’s an idea – read the stories for a “pump me up” and then get into the Bible and find a quiet place to ask God, “Father, what do You want to do that You can only do through me?” If we believe God has uniquely created each of us, then we must believe He has a unique plan tailored specifically for us.

I gotta go – I’ve gotta ask God something! :-)

/D

Free Will (as apposed to Free Willy)

Savin Me - 1

Christian Faith - Part 2

So, here’s how I see it – a lot of people I talk with say that life has them feeling…

…tired
…weary
…hurt
…confused

Yet, Jesus said He came to give us life – real life – abundant life. He said His burden was light and that He came to give us rest. He’s called the Prince of Peace.

So, what’s the deal?

Could it be we’ve really lost sight of what matters most? Here’s what I see when I take the time to be honest with myself. I won’t say this is you – I may have never even met you – but I know me pretty well. As for me, I like what I like (profound, you’re thinking, but stick with me). Therefore, I typically do what I like to do. I go where I like to go. I eat what I like to eat. I act the way I like to act.

As you read that did any of you begin to count the “I”s? I focus most of my attention on ME. But that’s kinda ridiculous because I cannot promise myself life, or rest, or peace. If I could I’d have all that – but I can’t – hence I don’t have it – when I’m all about me.

How about you? If you had to account for everything you do, how much of what you do, say, think, etc. is about YOU and what you like?

Here’s the deal – if Jesus is the One who promised life and rest and peace (and many other great things) it only makes sense that if we want that in our lives we need to have Jesus in our lives. To have Jesus in our lives requires that we take the focus off of ourselves and put our focus on Him.

The 64 million dollar question – how do we do that – focus on Jesus?

This is the really unbelievable part – Jesus was happy to teach us how to focus on Him and how to receive these things in our lives – in fact, He wrote it all down for us. That book (actually group of books) we know as the Bible. The Bible isn’t here for us to try and make it all work on our own. The Bible is here for us to discover all that God has already done for us and how we can get credit for all of His work. Seems too good to be true – but why not check it out? What have you really got to lose…your weariness? Your hurt? Your confusion?

One final thought - Jesus’ teachings are the only “religious” teachings that show us that we do NOT have to earn what He has to offer. Every other world religion teaches you have to do something to earn God’s favor – talk about tiring, not to mention impossible. That’s why no other world religion will say you can know for sure that you have received God’s favor – tragic!

Here’s the difficult truth – we must swallow our pride (the thing inside us that says I have to earn it) and surrender to Jesus and then allow Him to transform us – and give us life, and rest, and peace.