(Alternate title: ’How do we keep a Godly perspective in times of trouble.’)
I usually have a hard rule regarding not writing anything on the internet that involves my day job. Far too many people have gotten in trouble for mixing their work and personal lives, in one way or another.
I am going to break that rule because I think that the lesson I have learned (and the benefit to others from my realization) is important enough to risk the consequences of writing about it here.
I have had a bad attitude about work.
It’s bad, really bad. While I still did my job, and I did it to the best of my ability each and every day, my heart was no longer in it. I felt complacent, I felt entitled. I took it for granted.
I hid it well, at least that’s what I thought. While my attitude seemed largely hidden, every so often some of it would slip through. Often it was disguised as me upholding my boundaries, but underneath the carefully maintained facade was a seething storm of discontentment.
When talking about it with friends or asking for prayer about it, I would veil over it as the troubles being everybody else’s problems but mine. Blame a boss, or coworker, or corporate politics, or pick any of a million reasons to be unhappy with your job - I was doing well at deflecting the responsibility for my attitude.
And therein lies the crux of the problem: Responsibility.
You are responsible for your own thoughts, actions and emotions. Conversely, nobody else is responsible for your thoughts, actions and emotions, nor are you responsible for anyone else’s thoughts, actions and emotions.1
The words rang true in my mind as I sat there reeling under the onslaught of conviction for what I was doing. I had lost sight of what was important. I had to start taking responsibility for my emotions, actions and words.
It is written in James 1:
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
Perseverance through trials builds character. Maturity. Growth. While not an enjoyable experience, this is a good thing, with an even better end result. Which is why we should be joyful about the opportunity, even if being in the middle of it doesn’t feel very joyful.
Thus begins the heart change. But there’s more to trying to change how I was thinking about the situation, especially one where I was so deeply entrenched in the bad attitude I had toward it.
Philippians 4 helps us with our focus:
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Instead of constantly focusing on the bad parts, the disappointment, the frustrations, the politics or whatever else negative I’d been focusing on, I should focus on the blessings, the good things.
I am blessed to have a job. It’s a good job. It pays well. It puts food on the table, and a roof over my head. I could say all these things with an air of reluctance - forced gratitude, if I may call it that. But I actually am really glad for all of it.
Uncooperative coworkers, or managers that make decisions that just seem to pile on the work, can be a blessing - I have to practice exhibiting grace, I have to learn to deal with people and situations in a constructive way, instead of lashing out in anger or frustration.
That’s how we are called to behave, interact, deal with people. Not just when it’s easy, but especially when it’s difficult. That’s what makes for the biggest growth opportunity.
And growth is something we should look forward to and embrace, not fear.
I realise it has been entirely too long since I’ve written anything of interest on this blog… For a while, I was posting every 4 weeks or so, but it has been in excess of 2 months since my last post….
This is because I’m the king of starting blog entries on thoughts, and not finishing them. I kid you not, I have at least 10 blog entries in various stages of completion - all but the “finished” stage.
This is not a new years resolution, but more a challenge to myself to be a more active writer. It is an outlet for thoughts that I enjoy, but not one that I use enough.
Feel free to start hassling me if I go too long without writing….
As Jesus is on his way from Judea, he is approached by a young man: ”Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?”
The answer he gets is a bit puzzling — ”Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
The ruler thought this part easy, and he promises he has done this all his life. Not quite satisfied, the ruler asks: ”All these things I have kept; what am I still lacking?”
And here’s the really uncomfortable part — Jesus issues a challenge to the ruler, ”If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
This young ruler was rich, you see — and when the challenge sank in, his spirits fell and he walked away grieving.
Most people are familiar with the story of the rich young ruler — but I wonder if we don’t fully understand what the challenge means, in terms that seem applicable to us today….
Over the last few weeks, I’ve come across several passages that all seem to point back at the same core tenet: Seek first God, all else is secondary.
Then Jesus said to His disciples, ”If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24)
My fear is seeing people who read this passage and turn it into some weird twisted legalistic thing. They end up needlessly keeping themselves from doing things because they think blocking themselves from doing those said things is to deny themselves.
Take ice cream: I enjoy ice cream. A lot. I find it rather enjoyable to eat. Now, I don’t think that the passage is telling me to deny eating food. Or deny myself eating ice cream, or even deny myself enjoying eating said ice cream.
So what does it mean?
I think the passage refers to denying ourselves the things that we put ahead of our relationship with God. The challenge to “deny yourself” as issued by Jesus, is really a challenge to deny sin. That can be a difficult struggle to live out, but also a very fulfilling one.
For the rich young ruler, the challenge was to give up all his carefully collected riches. His most important things he was asked to give away.
Some are afraid of losing money. Others their big house, car or boat. Maybe it’s prestige and social standing…. Idolatry. We put other things before God, stupidly thinking it will do us good.
For me, it’s often trust: Silly as it may sound, my brain tries to twist reality into me thinking that I can take care of myself better than God, and so I don’t trust that he has what’s best for me in mind.
But just as with the rich young ruler, we are issued the same challenge:
Let it go. Give it up.
Of course this is all easier said than done. But we have a helper — He is more than willing to help us through the struggle. He’ll give us strength when it’s difficult, he’ll give us comfort when it’s tough, and through all it, there is love.
A friend of mine pointed me to the NEXT website a few months ago, and I’ve become a fan of reading their monthly webzine since then.
Over the last two months, Carolyn McCulley, the author of “Radical Womanhood: Feminine Faith in a Feminist” talks about some of the history of feminism and how it relates to Christian sexuality.
The second installment continues to discuss sexuality, particularly after marriage and how we should take a stand against the current culture’s drive to “cheapen” what should be precious.
I’ll warn you up front - this entry seems to be a conglomerate of various thoughts, with no specific guidance, other than a common topic.
Part 1:
The other day over a few beers, the discussion centered around “quiet time” - sort of an umbrella phrase that seems to cover any sort of solitary communion (intimate fellowship or rapport) with God, whether it be prayer, reading scripture, worship or just quiet meditation on His word.
It seemed that for most, living out this concept was hard work. A discipline.
The point was also made, though, that it seems a lot easier for girls to have “quiet time” - I often hear girls talk about their daily/morning devotions, prayer time, et cetera.
To the girls: Is it really easier for y’all? If it is, then what do you think is the reason why? If it’s just as hard for y’all as it is for us… I guess I don’t have anything more to ask. But I’ll feel better knowing I’m not the only one struggling with this. :)
Part 2:
I pray at various times throughout the day, not by any pre-determined schedule, just as I’m feeling led to do so. I also often worship (typically singing, bad as it may be) - again, not by any set schedule, although a lot of this seems to happen as I’m driving around, be it in my truck or on my motorcycle.
While this isn’t necessarily quiet, and I might also be focusing on things like driving - does this qualify as intimate fellowship with God? Does it qualify as “quiet time”? The Hebrew worship of God, prayer and bible reading was FAR from a quiet affair, sometimes involving loud shouting.
Did we fall victim to the “God in a box” syndrom in our definition of terms or acts or whatever you want to call it…. ?
In her blog entry, Krista writes about gift giving, and the anticipation surrounding receiving gifts.
Instead of posting my lengthy comment on her blog, I’ll instead post it here, it is somewhat long, and I need to start posting more here anyway.
So here goes:
I was thinking about this last night while trying not to fall asleep on my couch (I failed), and have come to the conclusion that I am not feeling much anticipation, neither for Christmas-the-holiday, nor the return of Christ.
It’s pretty sad, actually - I can understand my lack of anticipation for Christmas, as in my mind it’s become just another capitalistic holiday. I know it’s the celebration of the birth of Christ, and we should be as happy as to celebrate that - but I’m finding that the current culture and society has done a good job of eradicating any joy I might have.
As for anticipating the return of Christ as our king - your friend made a great comment that you quoted around the time of the elections, which keeps sitting in my mind: “One day we’ll get the king we don’t deserve.”
In a way, I intellectually know that one day he’ll return, and things will be awesome and all that (well, for some/most of us, anyway) - but on the other hand, I don’t FEEL it, and thus probably don’t 100% (or more) believe it.
I have no doubt that God will work on me in his baffling ways and suddenly one day it’ll all make gobs of sense, but until then, I’ll have to work to muster the amount of anticipation that I’ve mustered so far.
A recent disaster that swept through southern and central Texas got me to think more about something that’s been on my heart for a while.
Typically, when there is a disaster or some sort of situation, there is never a lack of people to volunteer with helping out. Whether this means caring for people, searching for people, delivering food or blankets, doesn’t matter.
Among non-christians, there is often the perception that we only do these things for the purpose of pushing our beliefs (or, in some cases, religion).
While there are christians out there who have this m.o, I’d like to think that for most of us, it’s about helping, caring and loving people, and not about “the numbers.”
So I think it’s important to evaluate our heart and our intentions as we get involved with helping and caring for people - the act of helping, caring and loving them should be in the forefront of your mind, not the feeling of obligation that you have to share the gospel or your faith with the people you are helping.
Remember, it’s about loving people, not converting them.
“What has happened to the children who once played freely on the streets?”
This question was asked by british artist Bruno Taylor, as part of a new project to explore public spaces, and their use.
“71% of adults used to play on the streets when they were young. 21% of children do so now. Are we designing children and play out of the public realm?
This project is a study into different ways of bringing play back into public space. It focuses on ways of incorporating incidental play in the public realm by not so much as having separate play equipment that dictates the users but by using existing furniture and architectural elements that indicate playful behaviour for all.
It asks us to question the current framework for public space and whether it is sufficient while also giving permission for young people to play in public.
You read the subject correct - gas strikes generally don’t work, and here’s a short rant on why:
Every year when gas prices spike for some yet-unknown reason (other than profit), I get emails, SMS messages, IM messages and whatnot talking about how the world/nation/state/city is attempting to hold a “Fuel Strike” on a specific day.
The instructions generally are simple:
“Don’t buy gas on <day>”
The problem with this kind of strike, is that they never work. The short timespan is simply to short to have any impact, since people will storm gas stations the day before (and, potentially, the day after) in order to get their fill of gasoline.
One way in which a fuel strike might work (emphasis on might), is by prolonging the duration of the strike. I imagine if we all refused to fill fuel for a month or so, it might have some sort of impact (negative or positive, who knows).
However, we Americans are too in love with our gas-guzzling vehicles to last a long enough amount of time to have any impact.
I have attempted to solve the fuel consumption (and thus expense) issue for me by riding both my bicycle and my motorcycle to the extent that I can. Bicycle is near-free (food costs increase with the metabolism increase), and my motorcycle gets about 4 times the gas mileage that my truck does. (It has other drawbacks, though.)
So please, don’t bother holding a one-day strike (of any kind, actually) - it won’t accomplish anything, and you’ll be out time and energy best spent some other way.
I don’t normally engage in spreading more effluvia about internet fads than neccesary, but I’ll make an exception.
LiveJournal, one of the oldest blog hosting sites, recently was bought out by some Russian company. This is really irrelevant, except for the fact that this new company has enacted a new subscriber policy in which they have done away with the gratis[0] ad-free signup option.
Previously there were several levels of subscribership:
Basic: Free w/no ads
Plus: Free w/ads
Paid: Paid w/no ads (recurring cost)
Permanent: Paid w/no ads (one time, $$)
Early Adopters (founders, people who’ve been around for a while, etc)
SUP (the Russian company)’s new policy
did away with the basic-level accounts, still leaving a “free” option, however it is (somewhat) hampered with advertisements).
Most of the people who are jumping on the boycott bandwagon (including, to a large degree the instigator) seem to confuse the difference between the “basic” account type being disabled and all free account types being disabled.
Unfortunately, they are in the wrong on this matter. You can still create a free account, you just have to deal with a few advertisements (or install an ad blocker - works well for me).
Having said all that, I don’t expect the basic accounts to return.
However, I envision a black market on basic (free, ad-free) LiveJournal accounts emerging, and my account will gladly be sold to the highest bidder.
