You are never too old to fail.
He should know better than that!”
Ever heard those words? Have you ever said them?
Somehow in my mind, and I assume everyone’s mind, we are tempted to believe that one day we arrive. We will get to a place where we have enough money, wisdom, knowledge, 60″ flat screens, and Audis and we’ll build a $20 million dollar home on the inter-coastal in Sarasota and we’ll have to choose whether to lay by the pool or venture to the private beach to read and have a cup of coffee. We live like we will eventually get to a place in life where decisions come easy, and the decisions we make will always be right.
Today, I realized that this is all wrong. I know, it’s a shocker!
Reading 2 Chronicles 15-16 where Asa rules for 35 years making all of the right decisions, and then
Asa messed up, and his mistake cost him a peaceful end to his life.
This life with Jesus is a journey, and while we are always intended to stay on the narrow path we can choose to detour at any moment. The enemy is lying in wait for any opportunity to lead us away. Our destination is Christlikeness, and the completion of that journey will only happen on the other side of death or Jesus’ return depending upon which comes first. There is no retirement from the work that Jesus needs to do in us.
Are you living your life as if your arrival is eminent, or are you continually being changed knowing that a fight is required to remain on the narrow way?
How to know you are.
In my years as a Discipleship Pastor I went through a bit of a transformation as I struggled with how to best measure success. At first it was setting the audacious goal of having every member in a small group. When I couldn’t even get every elder in a small group it became abundantly clear that my goal was either unrealistic or just plain wrong. As I evaluated it also became abundantly clear that we really were not doing a good job as a church at tracking how we were doing. The two default metrics for every church to measure is attendance and money, and that is basically what we were doing.
After transitioning into my new role as Serve Pastor, aka Missions Pastor, I ran across Brennan Manning’s book shipped from Neue, aka Relevant, and it all became quite simple…
“How do your people love?”
How well…
How often…
Who…
Dave Gibbons, at the Story Conference, raised questions that really point back to,
“How does your leadership love?”
2 Peter 1:1-13 is a passage worth hanging on the wall of every Church Leader, Discipleship Pastor, and Church Guru. The end result in making Disciples is Christlikeness, and Christlikeness’s primary character trait is Love.
Verse 3 implies that our knowledge of Jesus should grow. Verse 5 implies that the promises of Jesus need to be applied for growth to take place. Verses 5-8 indicate that the end product of growing will be love for EVERYONE. In fact, growing in knowledge is synonymous with growing in love.
The Church is in trouble when partaking in Bible Study is more important than serving widows, orphans, and the poor. Studying the Bible is beneficial, but it should never be done in lieu of or instead of APPLYING it through acts of service to the unloved.
Here’s the rub…this is not easy, nor comfortable. This kind of love is a violent kind of love that reaches inside the hearts of people exposes their wicked and diseased hearts and offers the balm of the blood of Jesus Christ that will heal them. More on this later…
The Gospel and Playground Economics
I just read a blog post that Malia Obama, daughter of President Obama, is typically the first one picked when making kickball teams at recess even though she has suspect fielding skills. Funny stuff. I also just read where they cast lots to choose teams in 1 Chronicles 25. They weren’t really choosing teams, but they were choosing the order of the terms of service for the musicians in David’s royal court. The passage notes that the lots fell and no bias was made according to age or experience. It hit me at the end of the chapter that Romamtiezer and his family were the last ones picked. It could have been really disappointing.
It brought back memories of times when I wasn’t picked. I wasn’t picked to be in the gifted class. I wasn’t picked to be on the “A” All-Star basketball teams. I can remember fighting over unfair teams on the playground. There were a lot of tears shed, a lot of angry words said, and a lot of self-victimization. The enemy had a field day.
After Jesus comes on the scene and pronounces the arrival of a new Kingdom, a new economy, he describes that it works like this, “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
When you really think about it there are tremendous advantages to being the last one picked. Expectations are low. Little successes are celebrated as milestones. Mistakes are expected. It doesn’t mean we lower our expectations or strive for mediocrity. Instead we have the opportunity to learn from those picked before us. It just means that the yoke is easy, and when the yoke is easy, then work is fun, and when work is fun I believe we are our most productive. I wonder if Romamtiezer and the boys enjoyed their work more than the others?
What about you? Recall any “last one picked” stories? How might Jesus redeem them?