Ever meet somebody
that’s just sort of all over the place? They’ve got all kinds of vim and vigor,
but they seem to be missing a purpose or outlet for that energy. A good way to
describe them might be to think of them as a balloon you inflate, but before tying
a knot in it, you let it go and watch as it flies all over the place without
apparent direction.
In the Air Force we had
a saying for people like that. We’d say they’re “all thrust and no vector.” The
apostle Paul has a different take on it; he describes it as a resounding gong
or a clanging cymbal.
In 1 Corinthians
chapter 13, Paul explains that even if you’re spiritually gifted and have
perfect doctrine, it’s all for nothing if you’re using those assets for the
wrong reasons or you have the wrong motivation. Christians in the early
Corinthian church were unsatisfied with the spiritual gifts they possessed, or
jealous of the showy or flashy gifts that others had, so they started arguing
and bickering. It got to the point where they would do “spiritual” things or
things that Christians are “supposed” to do, but they did it for the sake of
appearance rather than out of love.
Paul’s point here is
the importance of having the right attitude in performing ministry. It is to be
done out of love for God and love for others. All other reasons for doing it
are like that resounding gong: just noise.
You have a specific mix
of spiritual gifts so that you can fulfill the purpose God’s given to you. The
same holds true for Christians with other combinations of spiritual gifts. There
are people out there that need you to do your thing, but before you do, make
sure you’re doing it for the right reason. Check your vector before engaging
the thrust.
A college buddy and I took the opportunity in
February of 2002 to drive from New York to Utah in order to attend the Winter
Olympics in Salt Lake City.
Bobsledding is one of
the hallmarks of the Winter Olympics, and it’s fun to see. Since the track is
so expensive to install and maintain, however, organizers sought other ways to
make use of the venue. That’s partly how the sport of luge came to be an Olympic
event. Luge athletes lay belly-up on a one-person sled and go sliding feet
first down the track. (Then somebody thought it would be a good idea to put two
people on one of these tiny sleds.)
Bobsled
Luge
Luge doubles
The 2002 Olympics saw the introduction of a new sport that used the same track: Skeleton. This is an event where an athlete runs down the track as fast as they can, then dives onto a tiny sled. Once on the sled, the competitor is laying on their belly, flying head first down the track with their chin just a few inches off the ice. Of the three different sports that use this venue, Skeleton competitors seem least concerned with clinging to sanity.
Photo courtesy of NBC
We didn’t attend any of
the Skeleton runs while in Salt Lake City, but during out time there we were
well aware of what happened in the Skeleton competition. Everywhere we went,
there were magazines and newspapers (when those were still popular) with
American Jim Shea on the cover. He showed up in the highlights of just about every
Olympic video we saw for the rest of those games. If I’m not mistaken, Jim was
America’s first third-generation Olympian; both his grandfather and father
competed in Winter Olympic events in their day. Jim actually won gold in
Skeleton that year.
If you saw Jim without
knowing anything about him, you’d probably have no idea that he was an
Olympian. He looked like he could be your next-door neighbor or some guy that
you see in church. He didn’t look terribly athletic. There were a few qualities
he had, though, that helped him win this event. When it came to competing in
Skeleton, Jim Shea possessed intensity, passion, and drive.
In no way do I want to
sound like I’m diminishing the athleticism of Skeleton competitors. The biggest
athletic output that occurs during a Skeleton run takes place at the beginning,
when the competitor sprints down the track and jumps onto the sled. For the
rest of the run beyond that, it’s focus and body control; leaning this way or
that way, sometimes grazing the ice with a toe to make a small correction, all
while trying to control breathing on a sled that’s flying down a track at up to
80 mph.
Jim Shea approached his Olympic run with ferocity. He wasn’t a “hope for the best” kind of guy. I later saw a picture of him that demonstrated how he approached the run that earned him a gold medal, and that image stuck with me:
This is a man that knew
where he wanted to go, knew what he needed to do in order to get there, and
focused all of his mental and physical resources so that he had the best chance
of succeeding during his single opportunity to make it happen. While people
have all different kinds of personalities and some will never be as driven as
others to succeed in their goals, it’s the quality and type of preparation and
planning they put into it that will help drive their success.
In the future you may only get one shot to make it
happen. Are you preparing for success in achieving your goals, or are you just
hoping for the best?
Tomorrow is Valentine’s
Day. It’s often viewed as a time to pause and reflect on the “special-ness” of
the important people in your life.
While the celebration
of love is nice, our culture seems to have adopted the idea that “anything
goes” in the name of love, and that finding true love means everything after
that point will be perfect. Love stories end with the main characters living
“happily ever after.” The unfortunate fact is that taking two imperfect people
and placing them in a relationship will always yield less-than-perfect results.
Sadly, many committed relationships crumble despite the noble intentions of
those involved.
People who have known
great heartache can therefore best appreciate the idea of a love that will not
fail.
In Bible times,
weddings worked a little differently from the way they do today. Back then when
a couple became engaged, the groom-to-be departed to make preparations for the
wedding, their living arrangements, and their future together. The bride-to-be remained
with her family while this took place, and she waited for the groom while he made
preparations. Without texts, emails, or any other expedient form of
communication, she would have to wait and be perpetually ready for her groom to
show up and whisk her away to their wedding and new life together. Imagine not
only having no input on the details of your own wedding, but also being left completely
in the dark about when it would even take place!
This is the situation where
we currently find ourselves. We’re waiting, and we don’t know for how long. In
my last post I wrote a bit about the importance of the Church. The Church is
sometimes referred to as the “Bride of Christ.” Jesus has gone on ahead to make
preparations, but He fully intends to return for us, the Church:
…I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and
prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that
where I am, there you may be also.
John 14:2c-3.
Now that’s a kind of
love we can celebrate.
Like in Bible times, we
receive very little information about the details of when the Bridegroom is
planning to come back. Even though we live in an era of instant gratification, lack
of a specific date on the calendar actually changes very little about what’s
important in this case. It’s important to remember that while waiting, we are
to remain faithful and we are to remain ready, no matter how long it takes. It
is imperative that we watch with expectation and with anticipation, ever on the
lookout for when our Lord will make His return and escort us to a deeper phase of
our relationship with Him.
The question is…have
you stopped making yourself ready? You know in your mind that He’ll come
someday, but it probably won’t be anytime soon, right? I mean, it’s been about
2,000 years since Christ walked the earth; what are the odds that He’ll come
during this lifetime?
What you decide to do
is up to you, but I’ll pose one last question to you today. Are you living
faithfully for the one to whom you are betrothed?
If you’re a Christian,
the world sometimes seems like it’s getting darker. The culture is becoming
more and more godless. Today’s young adults are less and less interested in
attending church. Many local churches are dead or dying, and many of those still
around are consumed with arguments over what kind of music to play or what
should or should not be present on the stage during the worship service, rather
than reaching the lost.
This is exciting stuff.
You read that right.
This is exciting. Why?
Because the Church
(capital “c”) is God’s plan for reaching the world. Regardless of the current
state of affairs, the Church is going to emerge triumphant. That’s a fact. If
the times we’re living in are making today’s local church bodies less and less
relevant in reaching the lost, that simply means that the Church we see today
is not the version that’s going to be most effective in performing the mission.
It means we’re in a time of transition to something new.
So what does that
future version of the Church look like? I can’t tell you.
It’s not that I know
and I’m withholding the information from you; I can’t tell you because I don’t yet
know the manner in which you’re going to be a part of helping the church
evolve. In other words, it’s exciting because the Church is going to be
effective in new ways because you, as a Christ-follower and part of the Church,
are going to change how the Church approaches the problem of delivering the
Gospel to people who haven’t heard it before.
Don’t look at the
current state of affairs and see despair; look at it and see that opportunities
abound! At its core, Christianity is about two things: loving God and loving
people (after all, only a handful of the 10 Commandments pertain to our
relationship with God; the vast majority of them deal with our relationship
with each other). In what way(s) are you able to develop a relationship with
someone for the purpose of glorifying God?
Can’t think of
anything? Start out with this: make friends with at least one person in every
decade of life. Regardless of what decade of life you’re currently in, imagine
the perspective you can gain by interacting with someone who has the black-and-white
outlook of a child, the idealism of a teenager, the enthusiasm of a
twenty-something, the ambition of someone in their thirties, the experience of
a mid-lifer, the expertise of someone in their fifties, the hindsight of a
sixty-something, the clarity of what’s important in life of someone in their
seventies, and the wisdom and life experience of everyone else. Whether or not
all those people are Christians, you’re going to learn something, and they
might too.
The Church is changing,
and that’s not a bad thing. If you see a spot where the Church should be doing
something but isn’t, you may have just found your calling. The entire purpose
of this blog is to come alongside you, put a hand on your shoulder, tell you that
God is capable of doing amazing things through broken and imperfect people, and
encourage and exhort you to use the resources and spiritual gifts God’s
provided…all for the purpose of reaching the lost and glorifying God. You’re not only capable of
helping the Church meet the world’s current needs, you were designed to.
The exciting part is that even though (and perhaps because) the Church will evolve, it’s going to reach people in ways it hasn’t before. So by all means, if you’ve been prompted to or are toying with the idea of doing something unconventional, yet purposeful…please…start pursuing that course and see where it goes.
I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall
not prevail against it. –Matthew 16:18b.
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all
that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,to
Him be the glory in the church
and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. –Ephesians 3:20-21
