Just for Today

I love Today Matters by John Maxwell. I hope to have two of my children read it in 2013. Good stuff for all of us to think about…especially as we approach that time of year when we think about changes we’d like to make in our lives. Here’s a good list from Maxwell at the beginning of his book…

from Today Matters by John Maxwell

Just for Today…

Just for today… I will choose and display the right attitudes.

Just for today… I will determine and act on important priorities.

Just for today… I will know and follow healthy guidelines.

Just for today… I will communicate with and care for my family.

Just for today… I will practice and develop good thinking.

Just for today… I will  make and keep proper commitments.

Just for today… I will earn and properly manage finances.

Just for today… I will deepen and live out my faith.

Just for today… I will initiate and invest in solid relationships.

Just for today… I will plan for and model generosity.

Just for today… I will embrace and practice good values.

Just for today… I will seek and experience improvements.

Just for today… I will act on these decisions and practice these disciplines, and

Then one day… I will see the compounding results of a day lived well.

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What Is Mediocrity?

Per yesterday’s post, here’s another round of questions from Newberry’s book…

Question: What is mediocrity? What examples of it have you witnessed recently? How do you prevent mediocrity from attacking you, your family, or your business?

Answer: I would say that my definition of “mediocrity” is not fulfilling your God-given calling because you didn’t even try. Examples of mediocrity in my life would include: Not growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remaining immature in my faith. Not learning about myself. Not seeking to develop myself so that I can be all that God made and called me to be. Not taking responsibility for my life. Making excuses for why I’m content being stagnate in the various spheres of my life. Not seeking to bear much, good, and lasting fruit.

Some folks may be given five talents, some two, and some one. What counts is not how much you’re given, but what you do with what you’re given. Are you faithful with what you’ve been given, or do you tend to bury your talent in the ground? No effort – no risk – no trust in God. That describes too many of us. That has described me as well.

I think you prevent mediocrity from attacking you by obeying God, trusting him, staying close with him, keeping in step with his Spirit, continually seeking and asking to be filled with his Spirit, staying in God’s Word, praying, praying, and praying some more, pursuing lifelong personal development and lifelong learning, etc., etc.

The sanctifying process is more than learning how not to sin. While it obviously includes that, it also incorporates the positive act of conforming more and more to the likeness of Christ and renovating every sphere of your life under his Lordship so that you can reach all of your God-given potential…for his glory. Putting off and putting on. Dying to self and rising with Christ. You must continuously move forward, becoming progressively sanctified (i.e., becoming more like Christ, who perfectly fulfilled his calling).

I have experienced mediocrity in my own life. Every time I have daydreamed too long, surfed the net too long, watched too much TV, slept in too late, etc. You name it. But I think I’ve come to understand that I’ll move toward defeating mediocrity in my life only as I redeem the time… every minute that God has given me. Very practically speaking, that means having God-glorifying goals, (in every sphere of my life), and then faithfully, strategically, and consistently working toward meeting the big goals by accomplishing the smaller, daily goals. I can do all things through Christ who fills me with his Spirit and gives me strength.

Blessings,
Dale

See Also: Revenge of the Slackers

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What Does Success Mean to You?

I recently started reading through Tommy Newberry’s book, Success Is Not An Accident. In the first chapter he asks why some Christians seem to be so allergic to the idea of success. He, along with others I’ve read, (such as John Maxwell), suggest that the reason probably has something to do with what people are thinking when they hear the word “success.” If you think of it only in terms of worldly definitions, then I join you in concern. However, success doesn’t have to (and absolutely shouldn’t) be lumped into the same categories as money-grubbing, materialistic, ego-tripping, power-hungry, etc. I’m sure there are those who see their success only in those terms. Yet I think we have to be careful about throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

At the end of Chapter One, Newberry asks some basic questions to get the reader thinking about what their definition of success is. I thought the questions were good and that I would share a couple of my answers. (I encourage you to buy his book and work through it as well. At the very least, ask yourself these same questions and think about how you would answer them.) Here goes…

Question: “What does success mean to you? Are you successful now? Do you feel successful? How do you define true success?’

Answer: Success for me means faithfully and obediently living each day as the man God created, redeemed, called, and gifted me to be. This is a lifelong pursuit; and trust in God and dependence upon his Spirit is vital and definitely required.

I have found that I am more or less consistent based on my walk with the Lord. The closer I am with him, (that is, the more often I am with him, walking with him, talking to him, listening to him, reading his Word, communing with him, etc.), the more successful I am.

I can be “successful” or “unsuccessful” in measurable ways with regards to short-term goals and duties. But “ultimate success,” as I said, will be the pursuit of a lifetime. And yet, I suppose I might be considered successful if I continuously and consistently move in the direction of faithfulness to God’s calling in my life. I will never infallibly fulfill it, but moving forward into my calling (and according to my giftedness) is a positive thing. Seeking to obediently fulfill God’s will for my life is a good thing. Eugene Peterson called this sort of thing, “a long obedience in the same direction,” and so it is.

There is also the issue of being successful in the various spheres of my life: Personally (that is, spiritual, physical, intellectual, emotional, financial, etc.), relationally (i.e., as a husband, a father, friend, neighbor, citizen, etc.), and professionally (as a pastor, in it’s great variety of manifestations). Again, my level of “success” (according to the definition I’ve given) varies from sphere to sphere, better in some areas and needing improvement in others.

Tomorrow I’ll take a look at “mediocrity.”

Blessings,
Dale

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God Honors Those Who Honor Him

Here are some great insights I got from God’s Word this morning. A common theme emerged of God honoring (and even delighting in) those who honor him (1 Samuel 2:30). Of course, this isn’t because he has to, but out of his grace, he chooses to. Thanks be to God. SDG, Dale

Numbers 14:24 - But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.

1 Chronicles 4:9-10 - Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, “I gave birth to him in pain.” [10] Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request.
 

Psalm 147:11 -  the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.
 

Proverbs 22:4 - Humility and the fear of the Lord bring wealth and honor and life.
 

Luke 10:41-42 - ”Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, [42] but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

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Questions for Reflection

1 Thessalonians 4:3a – “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified…”

God wants me to be sanctified. It is his will for me. He wants me to be holy as he is holy. He desires for me to be conformed to the likeness of his Son. This process takes a long time – a lifetime. I am impatient. Like everything else in my life, I want spiritual wisdom and maturity right now.

Grace is key. There will be no growth without it. But perseverance is also crucial. When I don’t see immediate results – in whatever facet of my life – I must press on. Sanctification is progressive, after all. It is true that Christ made me holy, but still I must go and “be holy.” After all, Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4:7, that God did not call me to be impure, but to live a holy life. It’s not an option. It’s not something only for those who are particularly spiritually high-minded. It’s for everyone who calls on the name of Christ.

• So… how are you doing?

 

• Are you growing in your sanctification? (that is, growing in Christlikeness and holiness)?

 

• Are you stuck? Moving backwards? If so, what do you need to change in your life, STARTING TODAY, to help you begin moving forward again?

 

• What do you need to cut out of your life?

 

• What do you need to add to your life?

 

• Are you truly praying that the Lord will help you change in this way?

 

• What or who in your life influences you most regarding…

  Þ How to think?
  Þ What to think about?
  Þ The words that you speak… or don’t speak?
  Þ The way you live your life?

  Is your public life consistent with your private life? If not, in what ways are they different? How can you become more consistent?

 

• List some specific ways (five) that you would like to be more like Christ.

 

• Now list three steps you can and will take immediately to begin that process. Tell someone about your plan and ask them for wisdom and encouragement.

Blessings,
Dale

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Success that Honors God

Deuteronomy 28:1-2, 13, 15, 29, 44

I’ve been reading a good deal lately about “success.” I think I have had an allergic reaction to discussions about success in the past because of their associations with “get-rich-quick” schemes or the antics of health-and-wealth gospel proponents…both of which seem to define success with words related to money, stature, pleasure, power, comfort, etc., – basically whatever appeals to our basest desires to exalt ourselves.

But as I’ve been reading about success, I’ve appreciated the attempts to define success as reaching one’s potential, serving others by being the best you can be, etc. This seems to be positive…as far as it goes. But something is missing – namely “God.”

I certainly want to be the best I can possibly be – for God. I want to be the best husband I can be, the best father I can be, the best pastor I can be, and so on. Fortunately, God has revealed some parameters for us. In Deuteronomy, we read,

Deut. 28:1-2 – If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. [2] All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God:

Verse 13 continues,

The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.

In contrast to these blessings, Moses then says in verse 15,

However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

Finally, he adds in verses 29 and 44:

At midday you will grope about like a blind man in the dark. You will be unsuccessful in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no one to rescue you.

He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him. He will be the head, but you will be the tail.

Now, there are many issues and questions that we don’t have time to address – like why then do the wicked prosper? Or why are faithful believers martyred? Those are questions that do have answers.

What I want to highlight, however, is the main principle expressed in these verses. Covenantally speaking, true God-glorifying success comes through being rightly related to God (as Israel was) and then obeying God, and thus receiving God’s blessings for so doing. Success may take as many forms as there are people, but success that honors God is found only in this way. Conversely, not being rightly related to God and not obeying him brings on God’s curses. It’s the difference between heads and tails.

If we would honor God, love God, serve God, worship God, bear witness for God, and so on, then we must do so according to God’s standards and rules…not our own. God alone sets the standard. It is only when we are faithful in obeying God that we should have any expectation of real success.

The New Testament version of this has to do with fruitfulness. Fruit cannot fully blossom apart from its relationship to its root. We cannot bear much good and lasting fruit if we are not abiding in Christ and Christ in us – our root. In fact, our Lord says that apart from him we can do nothing (John 15).

And so, in the world we find many thoughts about success. Some are helpful – some…not so much. But if we as followers of Christ would be truly successful, bearing much good and lasting fruit, then obedience to our King is a non-negotiable, foundational principle. There’s no real success without it…just life as a tail instead of a head.

Stand Firm,
Dale

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