Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by Andy Stanley, (2009-01-21) from his book, Louder Than Words: The Power of Uncompromised Living (Kindle Locations 511-512). The Doubleday Religious Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) I know from a Christ follower perspective anything with self in it is a problem.   But Andy says, “The way we view ourselves determines how we will interact with God, family, friends, loved ones, and even those we consider to be our enemies.”   So this is an important relationship in our life. I was just walking back from my time of read and I walked past a group of middle schoolers who were in summer school.   And as I was walking by a young guy was practicing hitting a ball into a floor hockey goal and he missed it by a mile.   Now I didn’t look up so he would notice he had missed it because I know how embarrassed he would have been.   I’m sure he was telling himself that he couldn’t do it maybe because he was a loser and I fe

A thought by Andy Stanley, (2009-01-21) from his book, Louder Than Words: The Power of Uncompromised Living (Kindle Location 497). The Doubleday Religious Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. You have experienced that haven’t you?   Andy says, “In that moment we become keenly aware of a disparity between God’s standard and the one we are living out. We are filled with a gnawing sense of unworthiness, and we feel distanced from Him. We call this feeling guilt.”   And that guilt affects my relationship with God. I know that God hates pride.   I just was at Whole Foods Market and I put the checker on the spot on something that I thought she had done wrong.   As I was walking out I had this feeling inside that I had mishandled that.   I saw that my pride had reared its ugly head and that it had the potential to hurt my relationship with God.   Now I could have just ignored the feeling and rationalized that she was trying to jip me out of some of my money and that I had the rig

A thought by Andy Stanley, (2009-01-21) from his book, Louder Than Words: The Power of Uncompromised Living (Kindle Locations 446-447). The Doubleday Religious Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. Now to Andy, “Character is the will to do what is right, as defined by God, regardless of personal cost.”    In reality having character is other’s-oriented.   “As we subscribe to God’s absolute standard of right and wrong, we are directed to focus on the needs of others instead of ourselves.” Here are some examples that Andy gives.   “It’s that one-in-a-million friend who never says anything negative about you in your absence. It’s the guy who quickly owns up to his mistakes instead of blaming others. It’s the woman who is quick to give credit to the person who originated an idea rather than taking credit herself. It’s the husband who has only positive things to say about his wife in public. It’s the wife who allows her husband to lead when everyone knows she is more gifted in that a

A thought by Leonard Sweet, (2012-01-03) from his book, I Am a Follower: The Way, Truth, and Life of Following Jesus (p. 20). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.   (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) I have been challenged by Leonard Sweet back to his first books on the church.   He brings things into focus and this thought does it for me again.   He shares, “Leadership is a functional position of power and authority. Followership is a relational posture of love and trust.”   And somehow it is imperative in our walk with Him to see that He is the leader and we are the follower.   The disciples show us how that worked.   They were chosen by Him just as we are and they accepted His call as we should and they walked and watched and followed Him wherever He went.   And that could be where our problem starts.   I mean they saw Him in person.   They could talk to Him, ask Him questions, watch Him but now we say that we don’t have that ability so we look to be

A thought by Andy Stanley, (2009-04-23) from his book, The Best Question Ever (p. 183). The Doubleday Religious Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. He already gave the ultimate gift for us even before we were born, ever before we knew we needed it.   He showed He loved us by giving His Son for us on the Cross.   So why would He do that for us? Andy says, “God desires that your life be a masterpiece that reflects His greatness and your uniqueness. But to create a masterpiece with our lives, we must submit ourselves to the hand of the Master. We must allow Him to influence each stroke on the canvas of our lives.” Now the problem in all of this is, we believe that we can make the masterpiece and we don’t need any help.   And many of us are doing a pretty good job and that is also the problem. One of the principles of Church Planting and I was a Church Planter, was that the people who were the most open to going to a new church were those who were going through some transit

A thought by Andy Stanley, (2009-04-23) from his book, The Best Question Ever (p. 165). The Doubleday Religious Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. And then he follows that with, “The fool is the person who convinces himself that he knows more than he really knows and doesn’t need to ask anybody anything. At the end of the day, the wise man breaths a sigh of relief; the fool, a sigh of regret.” And that is so easy to do in making decisions because it is built into us that we need to believe in ourselves.   Have confidence but it is also very important to have humility.   And humility means we have a true assessment of our abilities and we understand our limitations and our need to ask for help when we know we need it.   But pride gets in the way of humility doesn’t it?   So we tread in places where we convince ourselves that we know more than we really know and we don’t need anybody’s help.   That is where the sleepless, restless nights come in. But we are afraid to ask bec

A thought by Andy Stanley, (2009-04-23) from his book, The Best Question Ever (p. 159). The Doubleday Religious Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) My dad was a very wise man and he used to say a lot of short phrases that have stayed with me over the years.   One phrase was “Advice not asked for stinks.”   And I have followed that thought throughout my life.   I knew that if I gave it without something asking for it they wouldn’t follow it so why give it. I have people ask me to call someone and tell them what they need to hear and I always say, “No”.   I f they call then I would talk to them but the person had to ask. And James in the New Testatment understood God’s thought on this where in James 1:5 (CEB) he says, “But anyone who needs wisdom should ask God, whose very nature is to give to everyone without a second thought…”   The key here is, you have to ask.   He gives it without a second thought but you need to