Category: Seeing Extraordinary in the Ordinary

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Pastors: A Force Multiplier

I recently had the privilege of seeing a young pastor’s ordination.

For those that aren’t familiar with the term, it has to do with the roles that Christians play within the Body of Christ. While every Christ-follower possesses spiritual gifts and talents, there are some that are charged with a special kind of ministry.

Things like mowing an elderly widow’s lawn, feeding the poor, and other acts of service are obviously good things to do, but they’re things that don’t generally require a whole lot of involvement from the church leadership to accomplish. If you look a level or two higher, you’re looking at the people that are trying to enable others to perform the service God called them to perform. Everyone filled with the Holy Spirit can contribute to the Kingdom of God, but each congregation needs guidance from its church leadership. A calling to be a pastor or teacher in church comes with more accountability than most other callings.

Here are a few verses from the book of Ephesians. Take note of the roles it mentions and the purpose behind those roles:

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. – Ephesians 4:11-13

The people filling those roles are there for the purpose of equipping other Believers to go and do what they’ve been called to do. Because of the importance of those roles, they demand a higher standard of the people that want to fulfill them. James 3:1, for example, says Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly. They’re dealing with a heavy responsibility, and it’s not one to be taken lightly.

An ordination, then, is a special time in a preacher’s career when others in the church leadership are essentially endorsing the person being ordained…saying “after getting to know this person’s character and views on Christian doctrine, we are willing to support their desire to enter into this role that bears an awesome responsibility.” I’ve got to imagine that it’s an incredibly humbling but also exciting time.

I fully recognize that these roles require an added level (or two) of scrutiny, and I think it’s important to ensure that candidates are fully aware of the gravity of what they’re undertaking. It reminded me, however, that those people who are ordained are not the ones charged with rolling up their sleeves and getting dirty; that’s our job. Believe me, church leaders have all kinds of stress and challenges with which they must contend, so they’re not getting off the hook easy by any means. It’s the rest of us that are to be Christ’s hands and feet. Our collective reach and social circles go much further than what the pastor’s does, so when church leaders help equip us, they are multiplying our collective reach further.

It struck me, though, that there may be some out there that feel they would benefit from some form of commissioning. Please understand that I carry no authority other than the fact that I’m a fellow Christian who believes in your ability to follow God’s calling (and would spur you on in doing so), but I am DEFINITELY willing to pray for you as you follow faithfully on the path with which God’s charged you. Let’s pray:

Dear Lord, You are holy and worthy to be praised! I thank you for the person reading these words right now. This reader is capable of being used greatly by You, to do things through You that they never thought possible or ever dared to hope for. Even those that are reading this and haven’t really thought about it lately, I pray that You’d awaken a fire and passion within them for something specific that You’d have them do for the glory of Your kingdom. You’ve charged us all with specific things You want us to do in this life with our gifts and resources; I ask that You’d grant patience to those that don’t yet know what those things are and encourage them until the time comes for You to reveal it to them. For those that are blessed enough to know Your purpose for their life, please help them to be relentless, even in the face of obstacles, discouragement, or no apparent progress. You will place the right people and things in our lives that will be there at just the right time; help us all to have the faith and boldness to jump when You need us to, even when we can’t see what’s on the other side. If this reader is a Christian, please give them the confidence to realize whose they are, to help them walk by faith and not by sight, and to know that the gates of Hell will not prevail against the Church. You haven’t given us a spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of a sound mind. Help this reader to live their lives assured of this principle, to realize that our time on Earth is short, and to live in light of eternity. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Also, a special “thank you” to all our veterans out there. Happy Veteran’s Day!

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What Level of Talent are We Talking (Part 2)

In 2018 I felt called to do something very uncharacteristic. I felt like God was leading me to start blogging.

After wrestling with the idea for a little bit, I got a blog set up. At first I didn’t know what it was supposed to look like (I’m still figuring it out). It started out recounting adventures from my younger days with an added biblical tie-in, but has since evolved to include other things as well. This blog has been up and running for almost exactly three years now. This is post number 188.

DareGreatlyNow doesn’t have a huge following. It doesn’t even have a large following. Some entries have been read or shared hundreds of times, others less than 10. Sometimes I’m excited about a post I’m writing, other times writing is a chore.

It’s not easy. I usually spend a couple of hours a week writing new entries. After some days at work, I’d sure like to be doing something else. It’s a tricky thing…I initially felt God calling me to start this blog. I’ve had some personal experience writing regular updates on extraordinary or exciting events in the past whose list of recipients quickly ballooned to hundreds. Well I figured “it’ll be just like that!” Well, truth be told, it’s been nothing like that. The subscriber list has slowly grown over time, but even though I’ve received some feedback here and there, I’ll likely never know the degree to which God’s used these posts to work in someone’s life.

Despite all the negatives that go along with it, I can’t stop just yet. I definitely felt called to start it, but I haven’t yet felt called to quit doing it. Giving up might be easy, but quitting a calling wouldn’t reflect well upon me as someone that considers himself a dedicated Christ-follower, nor would it bring honor to my Savior, the one that put this task on my heart.

This past week I read some footnotes about one of Jesus’ famous parables that helped remind me of what I should do. In Matthew 25:14-30 Jesus tells the parable of the master entrusting three of his servants with large sums of his money before he departs on a trip. I’ve written before about this Bible story, but sometimes reading the same thing at different times in your life can help things hit home in different ways.

Most of us know the parable. The master charged the three servants with different amounts of money, according to their ability. The first two guys, entrusted with about 375 pounds of gold and 150 pounds of gold respectively, worked hard and doubled the amount of gold they oversaw. The third guy, in charge of roughly 75 pounds of gold, went out and hid it in the dirt, rather than put in the effort to turn it into something that benefited his master. When the master returns and links up with the three to get an update, He’s pleased with the first two guys, but he’s miffed at the third guy, who didn’t even put the gold in the bank where it could collect interest.

What I’d like to focus on here is the first two guys. Can you imagine being so diligent that you double the value of something just by being persistent? Earlier this week the price of gold was $1,750 per ounce. That price, times 16 ounces in a pound, times 375 or 150 pounds means that the first guy was entrusted with $10.5 million and the master put the second guy in charge of $4.2 million, and both of those guys earned a 100% return!

Here’s the part I want to focus on, though. The master was obviously pleased with their performance. For the guy that turned $10.5 million into $21 million, the master said “That’s great! I’ll put you in charge of more, but for now, come celebrate with me!” (“Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.”) Know what he said to the second guy? The guy that “only” turned $4.2 million into $8.4 million? He said the exact same thing.

Do you know what that means? It means that God’s looking for faithfulness in His servants as they perform the tasks with which He’s charged them. He’s looking for them to demonstrate consistent effort even when it’s not convenient, not just something that starts out with good intentions and then fizzles out after awhile. Faithfulness is one of the fruits of the Spirit that we’re all to demonstrate as our walk with Christ deepens.

Know what else it means? It means those same servants should perform those tasks with the full expectation that God will use their efforts to do something great for His kingdom. Not only that, but those servants should serve in the effort fully expecting they’ll one day be put in charge of something bigger. Being faithful in our callings prepares us for future callings.

So…do I believe the Church will collapse or the sky will fall if I stop writing entries for this blog? No, but if I stop prematurely, I believe that someone down the road (maybe me) will somehow get short-changed. The third servant in the parable was put in charge of about 2.1 million dollars. Think he got a second look the next time the master was going out of town?

Assuming I’m currently entrusted with this lowest-value task (the one-talent version, rather than the two- or five-talent version), instead of hiding it under a rock or burying it in the dirt, I’m going to put some effort into remaining faithful to the task, fully expecting to one day be entrusted with something bigger.

God charged me with a task. I don’t know what He wants to do with it, but here’s what I know: outcome is God’s responsibility, and obedience is my responsibility. That takes a lot of the pressure off me! I can’t possibly know what God’s got planned for this blog or why in the world He prompted me to start it, but that’s okay, because that information isn’t necessary in order for me to follow through on the assignment He’s given me.

Is there something you’ve felt called to do, but have given up on it? Please consider having another look. It could be your first step in God moving you along to something bigger.

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You Matter

No matter what you’ve been through, or who you think others think you are, we need you.

Some people don’t know what it’s like to feel included.

It’s difficult for them to have a sense of belonging, seemingly anywhere they go.

I think just about everyone has experienced that at least once or twice in their lives, but for some people it goes far beyond that, to the point where they can’t recall ever really fitting in with the people around them. For those people, encountering a new social setting holds little promise of genuine relationships; it will probably result in another mask or more surface-level conversations that are meant to prevent letting anyone get past the walls they’ve constructed.

If you’re one of those people, you need to hear something that you probably don’t hear often enough: you matter. On top of that, although people may let you down, you are loved, you are valued, and you are cherished by the creator of everything that exists, Jesus Christ.

It’s my hope that you’re able to find real connection and belonging through Christ. I believe that He has a plan for everyone’s life, and that He uses the things that have happened in each person’s life to prepare them for the future roles they’ll play in the bigger picture of Christ’s kingdom. Contributing toward that kingdom may come in the form of reaching others and bringing them into the kingdom, or it could be as a way of helping current believers strengthen their faith so they’re willing to do things they previously couldn’t. In this way, we play a part, but it all serves to glorify Christ.

Even if you don’t see value in yourself, let me assure you that it’s there. Ephesians 2:10 says For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

“God’s masterpiece.” That means that of all the things He created, you are the pinnacle. There is inherent worth in you, even if you or someone else has tried to convince you otherwise. With Christ, you can feel at home, and you can finally feel as though you belong.

You might not struggle with feeling worthless, but you may very well know someone who does. I want to help embolden you to be an encouragement to them. For any number of reasons, these folks have been cast off, underestimated, undervalued, and generally ignored by others. It doesn’t take long to put up walls if you’re living or working in an environment like that. You may not have an earth-shattering conversation with them in a single sit-down, but you can breathe life into them one conversation at a time.

Now consider that any single one of these “underloved” people can have a life-changing impact on someone else. They know things you don’t, they know different people than you, and they’ve lived through things you haven’t. Each one of those variables equals something the Holy Spirit can use to create a new connection in someone else’s life.

You don’t need to be a therapist to talk to someone and make them feel welcome. Just be authentic. Odds are that if you’re a regular reader of this blog, you have faith in Jesus Christ. You can mention that belief as a part of your authenticity, but don’t force it on them. The golden rule we all learned as kids says to treat others the way you want to be treated. The platinum rule says to treat others the way they want to be treated. If you end up being someone who treats them in a way that makes them feel safe and welcome, believe me, they’ll take notice of your faith.

There’s a place for everyone that wants to follow Christ, but there are as many different stories about how that happens as there are Christ-followers. Maybe you can be part of someone’s story about how they became a Christian, and it can all start by paying attention to someone who feels they don’t deserve a second glance.

Lord, I overlook people every day. Sometimes it’s because I’m in a hurry, but sometimes it’s more intentional. Please help me remember that each and every person on (or above) this planet right now is someone You consider valuable, and to treat them that way. I go through life focused on what I’m doing, but help me to see where you want me to look around and focus on someone else. In Your name, Amen.

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Hope is a Powerful Agent

Since I’ve been spending a lot more time in my house over the past six months, it’s been interesting to go digging through closets or boxes and see what’s in there. A few days ago I listened to some old CDs.

One of the albums I popped into the CD player is Steven Curtis Chapman’s Heaven in the Real World. We’re talking 1994…hard to believe I’ve had it for 25 years or so!

As the music started, the beat and lyrics all came rushing back. I can’t even tell you how long it’s been since I listened to those songs. The crazy part, though, was when I started listening to the words.

Before the first song started, a voice track came on, talking about all the craziness happening in the world at the time. Violence erupting somewhere, drug seizures, natural disasters. It led into the first song, talking about a child looking through eyes of fear and uncertainty. I thought “Huh, not much has changed.”

The next song came on, and it was a similar story:

People say this world’s a jungle and sometimes I must admit
I’d be scared to death if I did not know who was king of it
But the truth is God created this whole world with His own hand
So everything is under His command

I enjoyed humming along with an old familiar song, and looked forward to the next track on the album. It got even crazier:

Once upon a time not so long ago in a land not so far away
Right and wrong were not quite so hard to know
And black and white were not so gray
Times have changed and now it seems
Conscience has gone the way of the dinosaur
But I believe it’s still alive and well today
In the hearts of those who will stand up and say (chorus)

Then the second verse went on to describe the conditions of the day:

There’s a banner waving saying tolerance will set you free, it’s the latest thing
While the consequences it leaves behind are like a ball and chain
But there’s a voice in everyone called conscience
That’s been around since God created man
And as we learn to listen to its whispering
We’ll find the greater freedom when we stand up and sing

Right is right and wrong is wrong just like it has been along
We cannot sit by and see conscience become history
So come on, get up and dance
Dance this dance with me

I’ll tell you what…this world is, and always has been, in a state of decline. This is nothing new. It’s sad to see, but to the Christians reading this, it’s important to understand that standing around wringing your hands is not going to make things any better. The hope that you have in Christ is one of the best ways of getting people to notice that there’s something different about you. Think of hope as the confident expectation of what God has promised. When you hope in Christ, you are trusting in God’s faithfulness.

It’s important for you to broadcast your hope. To do that though, you need to make sure your soul is getting fed. Reading the Bible on a frequent basis is one of the best ways to sustain your hope. The Bible reminds us of God’s faithfulness and the promises He’s made to His people. I’ll tell you a startling statistic I heard recently: during the time of Covid, one-third fewer Christians are reading their Bibles.

Talk about throwing a cinderblock to a drowning man.

The Church (not the building, but the people) is still God’s plan for spreading the Gospel and restoring the lost relationship between God and people. There are probably more people out there that are not going to Heaven than the number that are. In a time when things are, once again, crazy, those people need to see your hope. Please, let them see it.

DareGreatlyNow is a weekly blog that encourages you to live up to your full Christian potential and be amazed at what God can do through you if you choose to allow Him the opportunity. Subscribe and/or share it with someone you think would benefit!

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Planned Obsolescence

Ever notice how you can say “they just don’t make it like they used to” about a lot of things?

For example, my parents have a clothes dryer that’s older than me. It’s complained a bit every now and then, but the thing is built like a tank and is still going after a few fixes. Modern ones seem to break if you look at them the wrong way.

Newer cars seem to fall apart much easier than the ones from, say, 30 years ago. What used to be fixed by a good hit with a ball peen hammer now requires more genteel computer diagnostics to figure anything out before you can start to make repairs.

I don’t know if this is true or not, but I heard that back in the 1940s and 50s, women’s pantyhose was of such high quality that the manufacturers worried they weren’t selling enough to sustain their businesses. Their product was so good that after a woman bought some, she didn’t need any more for a long time.

Enter the idea of planned obsolescence, or the intentional use of lower quality materials and construction to shorten the lifespan of a product in an effort to induce consumers to buy more of them. If it falls apart sooner, you’ll end up buying more units than you otherwise would have.

Here’s an odd thought: what if we are the lower-quality product? In 2017 the average life expectancy for Americans was 78.54 years. By comparison, at that point in Moses’ life, he hadn’t even stood before Pharaoh yet. Abraham didn’t have his first child until he was 86, and then he lived about 90 years beyond that. Noah was over 500 years old when he started building the ark, was 600 when the flood started, and he lived another 350 years beyond that until he was 950 years old! This was before antibiotics, nutritional supplements, and the medical knowledge we enjoy today. My friends, you and I are some of the best examples of planned obsolescence I can think of.

Even great figures of Biblical history are shuffled off the stage of God’s theater. Consider King David. Though flawed, he was one of the most genuine and passionate characters in the whole Bible. He’s the stuff legends are made of; as a youngster he vanquished a giant professional soldier with a sling and a rock, then went on to lead raids of enemy camps with ragtag mercenaries as his companions. Although defined as a man of war, his zeal for the Lord led him to set the stage for Solomon’s construction of the Temple by collecting an unbelievable amount of precious metals and other materials. Jesus came from the line of David, for goodness’ sake! At the end of his life, he was unquestionably recognized as a giant of the Faith. Yet even he was just a man, and was intended to play a small role in God’s overall plan. In spite of all his accomplishments, listen to how David is described in Acts 13:36:

“Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed.”

“Falling asleep” in the Bible is usually a euphemism for dying. That’s not the interesting thing though. There are a few different things we can take from this verse, but the two I want to focus on are 1. that he served God’s purpose “in his own generation,” and 2. when he had fulfilled God’s reason for putting him here on Earth, he moved on into eternity.

To the first point, can you imagine if you lived during a different time period? You could have lived 4,000 years ago, or you could have been placed on hold and not made your debut here on Earth for another 200 years. God put you in the here and now intentionally. You are a part of “your generation” because you are to fulfill God’s purpose within it. I don’t know what that purpose is and you might not either, but the fact that you’re reading this right now, today, means you probably weren’t born before 1940 or so. The “today” you see is not an accident or a random assignment, you belong here.

To the second point, you’re here on Earth to do whatever God put you here to do, and you might not be going anywhere until you do it. At some point after that He’ll escort you from this life, but it could be seconds or decades between when you “complete your mission” and you make your departure. To throw a curveball at the situation: almost none of us know with full certainty what our specific purpose is or when we’ll accomplish it.

Zooming back out to the big picture and our limited time on Earth, it seems we might be a little bit more like an aging toaster than we care to admit. We can tell when things are getting toward the end, but most of us can’t predict when we’re toasting our last bagel.

What are we to do then? I’ll summarize it as best I can:

Love God ferociously and use the talents, resources, and circumstances He’s matched you up with to make a positive difference in people’s lives, all the while giving the glory to Him. You will fall, you will have self doubts, and in many cases you will fail. There may be more bad days than good days, but you have been placed here, at this exact point in history, to make an eternal difference in some way.

There’s a song we’ve all heard a million times; it’s one we usually hear in December, but its message fits with the core of this post. If you were meeting the newborn King of Kings, and you simply couldn’t compete with the expensive gifts that others brought, one of the best things you could do is use the talents He’s given you to make Him smile. Isn’t that what we’re all after? (There’s a fun version of this song below.)  

Do your best to serve God’s purpose in your generation.

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Church Canceled Today?

Good morning everyone!

Due to the whole “pandemic thing,” there are a lot of disruptions in life, including the cancellation of a lot of church services.

Don’t let that stop you from learning about the power of Christ working in and through you. If you need a substitute lesson today, try this one. There’s no worship music, but it’s almost 40 minutes of learning about how Christ’s power can be increased in you.

Hang tight, keep the faith, and look for new opportunities during this once-in-a-lifetime event we’re living through!

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Meaning of Life

Imagine you’re at the top of your game and you are successful in everything you put your mind to. You have a great reputation, you have a great job, you have a great family, and your volunteer work makes a difference. Money isn’t a problem, and you lack nothing.

Does this give meaning to your life?

Long ago the world’s richest and wisest man took it upon himself to seek out the meaning of life. In the book of Ecclesiastes, King Solomon decided to investigate how to achieve fulfillment in life. First he tried living a life of pleasure, but learned that this wasn’t the answer. He studied the generalities of life and upon reflection was disappointed that death comes both to the wise man and the fool. He implemented public projects on an enormous scale, only to conclude that his lifetime of achievements could easily be wasted after his death if his successor squanders what he inherits.

Very aware of his own mortality, Solomon realizes that this life is short; it’s fleeting. We busy ourselves with many projects and endeavors, but in the end we all pass through and then move on from this life. Many times in the book of Ecclesiastes does Solomon exclaim “meaningless! It’s all a chasing after the wind!”

The book is almost depressing; he spends 12 chapters exploring different aspects of life in hopes of finding fulfillment, only to realize that even our most notable achievements will be forgotten after a few generations. Then at the very end of the book, almost as an afterthought, Solomon abruptly gives us his conclusion. These two verses, only two verses out of the whole book, provide us insight into what he’s learned. If you give up reading the book before the very end, you miss out on Solomon’s “secret of life:”

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. –Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

After years of experiencing everything life has to offer, Solomon concluded that your purpose is to please God and to live in such a way that you will not fear judgment.

I don’t have the time or space to go into all of God’s commandments here, but I’ll summarize them this way: love God and love people. Each of these topics can have books written about them. It’s a lifelong endeavor, though; there are always opportunities to keep getting better at it.

If you’ve got the “love God” portion down pat, it’s time to “love people.” There are people everywhere you go. You know what I’ve discovered? A lot of them are hard to get along with. It can be draining to interact with them! That’s probably why so much of the Bible talks about how to live and deal with others. Here’s the neat thing: you’re equipped to do it. You have everything you need to do what you’ve been called to do.

For many of us, that calling has to do with making someone’s life better somehow. That’s one exciting (yes, exciting) thing about the Coronavirus-dominated time we’re living through…there are new opportunities to love on people in ways that are not normally available. All you have to do is look for them; you’re in the best position to see them and act on them.

Fear God and keep His commandments, and remember that He’ll judge all of your works. This comes from a lifetime of reflection from the wisest man who ever lived. Just a little something to keep in mind if life gets a little too meaningless for you.

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What’s That Sound?

We live near Washington, DC, where traffic is a part of life. When we want to go visit family that lives far away, sometimes we get up very early and hit the road in the wee hours of the morning. After the initial excitement of stealing away during the night, the kids usually settle down, lulled to sleep by road noise.

The last time we took a trip like this in our minivan, everyone settled in soon after we got on the highway and the inside of the vehicle was quiet. That’s when we noticed an annoying squeak that happened each time we hit a bump in the road or the vehicle’s chassis twisted slightly. It came from somewhere near the second row of seats, a squeak that was quiet, but loud enough to be annoying if you’re trying to fall asleep. We tried to track it down and stop it, with no success. After awhile the kids were able to tune it out and fall asleep.

We eventually arrived at our destination and had fun with family over Christmas. On several occasions while we were there, I drove the van around town, just doing errands or driving us to friends/family’s houses. I’d actively listen for the squeak, and it was often audible, but it was hidden in the sound of the kids laughing, the current conversation, or whatever was playing on the radio.

Just like the still small voice of the Holy Spirit, the squeak is always there, but you have to actively listen for it if there’s a lot of other noise going on. It doesn’t stop squeaking, but it’s a lot easier to hear when there are no distractions. If there’s a lot of other noise in the mix you have to deliberately focus in on it to notice it. It’s much harder to get a fix on it if you have to pluck it out of the background.

Are you having a regular quiet time where you get alone with your prayer and devotions, away from all the noise and distractions? If not, don’t be surprised that you don’t hear from the Holy Spirit.

You’re an expert on you; you know you better than anyone else. Take the steps you need to create the right environment. If your phone is a distraction, shut it off during this time. If you need to wake up earlier, before others are up and moving around, maybe that’s the way to go. If you’re a night owl, finding the right time before bed might be your sweet spot.

I’d urge you to do what it takes to make your quiet time work. How agonizing would it be to one day find out that God was whispering to you all along but you couldn’t hear Him because of all the noise going on around you?

“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” Psalm 46:10

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Redeeming the Time

Want to hear some really exciting news? It doesn’t take much for God’s spiritual power to be available to you.

Not long ago I was reading in the book of Ephesians. It’s hard for me to read Paul’s letters. He sometimes gets so excited that he starts a sentence focused on one topic, gets distracted and sort of rambles on about something for awhile, then ends up in a totally different area. To me, a single sentence of Paul’s can seem like the Israelites wandering around the desert. Despite all the detours though, he eventually arrives at his destination.

I’m blessed to have a study bible that explains a lot of the text, context, and/or traditions of the day that help me understand the text as it was originally written. In Ephesians 3:14-19, Paul expressed to his audience his desire that God would make His love and fullness known to them. The part I want to zoom in on is verse 16: “…that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man…”

Having a study Bible helps me quite a bit when it comes to catching the main theme of what Paul’s saying. For this verse, notes from the McArthur Study Bible say “Spiritual power is a mark of every Christian who submits to God’s Word and Spirit. It is not reserved for some special class of Christian, but for all those who discipline their minds and spirits to study the Word, understand it, and live by it. Although the outer, physical person becomes weaker with age, the inner, spiritual person should grow stronger through the Holy Spirit, who will energize, revitalize, and empower the obedient, committed Christian.”

Isn’t that amazing? If you discipline yourself to regular study of the Bible and heed what it says, God grants you access to something you didn’t have before. It’s extraordinary just how ordinary it is. That brings me back to my point at the top of this post. It doesn’t take much for God’s spiritual power to be available to you. Discipline yourself to study the Word, understand it, and live by it.

Skipping ahead in Ephesians to chapter 5, verses 15 and 16, Paul tells us how to spend our days: “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” Zeroing in on that phrase “redeeming the time” in the notes helps lay out how we are to be purposeful in our lives. Again, from the McArthur Study Bible: “The Greek word for “time” denotes a fixed, measured, allocated season; with the definite article “the,” it likely refers to one’s lifetime as a believer. We are to make the most of our time on this evil earth in fulfilling God’s purposes, lining up every opportunity for useful worship and service. Be aware of the brevity of life.”

Be intentional in how you spend your time, energy, and resources. To borrow a spinoff saying I saw on tee shirts back when Reebok’s slogan was popular, “Life is short. Pray hard.”

The year 2020 is still shiny and new, and it’s not too late to start working on some good habits. In your life, if you combine the concept of “study the Word, understand it, and live by it” with the concept of “redeeming the time,” you’re going to see some exciting developments. God prompted me to write this, then He prompted you to read this, and where it goes from here I don’t have a clue. That’s the beauty of it though; even though you and I may only see a piece or two of the puzzle, it’s all building toward a bigger picture. The key to it is that you and I have to put forth some regular effort.

Will you “redeem the time” this year?

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Too Small To Make a Difference

We’ve got a fireplace at home, and we like having fires once it gets cold. Buying or collecting wood for the fireplace can be a hassle though, and this year we happened upon a different solution. Earlier this summer a nearby neighborhood cut down a lot of trees and sliced the trunks into slabs, leaving them to rot throughout the neighborhood. I actually enjoy splitting wood by hand (especially after aggravating days at work), so I went and picked up a bunch of them and brought them home for splitting and burning.

The problem is that I don’t have an efficient method of splitting the wood. Most people know what an ax is, but not everyone knows what a maul is. A maul is kind of like a sledgehammer with a wedge on one side. When I first started splitting wood earlier this summer though, I didn’t have a full-sized maul. The one I have is meant for splitting pieces of wood that have already been split, but are still a bit too big for the fireplace. It’s kind of a hand-held “mini-maul.”

This tool is great for splitting branches or small trunks that are, say, the diameter of a coffee-can. Once you get into dealing with slabs of trunk though, it becomes much more difficult.

I had a slab I was determined to split up, but it was so big I couldn’t even put my arms around it. Nonetheless, I put it on top of another piece and started looking at the natural grain of the wood, then started taking shots at it. At first the mini-maul just bounced off the wood. A few more shots, and each time the mini maul bounced. Each time the tool struck the wood, though, it left a pock mark. I started striking the slab in a way that the pock marks lined up to create a fault line across it. I didn’t really feel like I was making much progress, so I turned the slab and started doing the same thing in a different direction. Then I did it in yet another direction.

I struck the wood over and over and over again. Sometimes the tool bounced and other times it started penetrating into the wood. I was out there for a long time. My hands got sore and hot, like blisters were starting to form. I was tired, and eventually my shirt was so soaked with sweat that it had almost no dry spots, and I thought about packing it in. I must’ve left nearly a hundred pock marks before anything began happening.

Finally, the sound of the impact changed, and a crack emerged. When it did, it breathed new life into my effort.

Once the crack was established, it was easy to exploit into a split, and things moved quickly from there. After splitting it in two, it only took a few shots to make additional splits in one of the two sides. Those smaller chunks became infinitely easier to break into the size I wanted, often in a single blow.

In the end, this little tool was able to deliver enough targeted force to smash a strong, sturdy slab of oak into about 35 splinters that were shadows of what they once were. All of them were done in by the persistent strikes of a tool that was “too small” to do the job.

It’s an alarming spiritual analogy for those things we do that we know we shouldn’t be doing. It might not be anything major, but it happens again and again. Call it the straw that broke the camel’s back, or call it death by a thousand paper cuts. It’s something that doesn’t seem too bad, in and of itself. It’s not a crushing blow, but it’s something that delivers targeted strike after targeted strike against your Christian walk and, if it’s not stopped, has the ability to cause major damage to your spiritual health and relationships.

Maybe it’s gossip. It could be reading a certain kind of novel. Maybe it’s a glance that lingers longer than it should. Perhaps it’s tension in your marriage that goes unresolved and festers. Doing these things a single time is not something that’s devastating to your spiritual walk, but each of them is something that leaves a pock mark. You may have even told yourself “it’s not a big deal, it doesn’t hurt anybody.” Well, maybe doing it once isn’t a big deal, but have you only done it once? Consider whether your pock marks are aligning in a way that will lead to cracks and problems in the future, maybe soon.

Is there something you’re doing that you know you shouldn’t be doing? If you’re wrapped up in something that hinders your ministry or God-given purpose, even just a little bit, it can affect your ability to make your maximum impact for Christ’s kingdom. Like athletes that train hard to compete at a high level, cut yourself off from things you know aren’t helping you. Don’t run for third place, or for second place; run to win.

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. –Hebrews 12:1-2

I demolished each of these pieces of wood using that mini maul. If you feel you’ve stripped the unneeded junk out of your life, how can you help the “other pieces of wood” around you to do the same, so that they can better resist the onslaught of strikes that hit them every day?