Category: Scripture

Well I am back in James again. This time I am getting ready to lead a small group of Bethel communter students in a study of James. As you may or may not know James is a book I often refer to as my spiritual comfort food. It is a place I go when I don’t know where else to turn. It is interesting that every time I do return there seems to be something new that catches my eye. My current study is proving to be no different. Maybe it is the translation I am reading (The Message) but the last part of chapter 1 struck me differently. I have focused on the last verse or two of the chapter before, but this time I was also drawn to the the verses right before. The context is that we shouldn’t just hear God’s Word we should do something with it. Let me share a couple of passages that jumped out:

So throw all spoiled virtue and cancerous evil in the garbage. In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! (James 1:21, 22 MSG)
Anyone who sets himself up as “religious” by talking a good game is self-deceived. This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air. Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world. (James 1:26, 27 MSG)

To often we listen just enough to find a jumping in point to speak or we listen enough to get angry and speak. More times than not we are simply to listen. Listen to others who need our help or listen to God who is offering solutions. When listen to others take off the “fix it’ hat and put on the “help them process it” hat. When listening to God take of the “I know whats best” hat and put on the “humble yourself” hat. I am only begining to process this now. I ponder what this will look like in my own life? How do you respond to these verses? I would love to hear.

Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord’s message, “I am with you, declares the Lord.” (Haggai 1:13 ESV)

In a couple of weeks I will be preaching in Becker and the text for my sermon is Haggai, talking about the remnant’s lost focus. This morning as I was reading the verse above jumped out at me. The promise that is contained in this verse is so wonderful – “I am with you, declares the Lord.” With this final word of encouragement from God the people said we are all in, we will complete the task we were called to do.

These people gave up on the initial task because they lost their focus on God and started to focus on the dangers that were around them. I don’t fault them we do the same thing today. We are affraid to stand up for what we believe as Christ-followers. We give in to the persecution we might face if we declare our commitment to Christ. We fail to follow through on the things God has called us to do. What we need to do is lean into our fears knowing that God is with us. Erwin McManus defines courage, not as the absences of fear but as the absence of self. This is what the remnant did, they let go of their own fears and turned to the promise that God gave them. Notice that He didn’t say things would be easy, He simply said that He would be with them in any struggles or trials that may come along.

Do you have a God given task that you are struggling with because of outside pressures? As we take the focus off of us and put the focus back on God, knowing that he is with us, we can continue to allow God’s purpose for our life to unfold before us.

I have spent a lot of time thinking about the “what” questions as I ponder about my encore career. I have already had four or five career changes so what’s one more? The answer I have come up with to the question of purpose is simply to come along side others and walk with them in their sojourning, offering advice when asked and helping them to draw closer to God. In my current job the only tweak is that I am helping people navigate the use of technology in their teaching, but then again maybe this helps them draw closer to God as well.

In ministry context, this is what I am doing with my work at Lino on Monday nights with my group of men. In the fall I begin training for a new ministry opportunity through my church where I will be trained to work one on one with a person who is in need of someone to listen to their story for a while. These two opportunities begin to answer the “how” and “where” questions I am thinking about now.

How do I carry out my purpose is the question of the hour now. Do I keep on doing what I am doing – part-time volunteer ministry, full-tme career? Do I seek a different career path all together in a church or para-church setting? Do I start some sort of ministry on my own?

I share this with all of you because these questions are ones that I think we all thing about at times. My thinking and pondering has probably risen to the level of obsession, but that is simply the adventure that God has brought me on. My question to you is what are the gifts and talents that God has given to you to use to build up the body of Christ? These could be spiritual gifts, natural talents or acquired skills. They are probably the same gifts and talents you use everyday. Have you ever thought about how you could use them for Kingdom work as well? In Romans 12 Paul writes about every believer not only knowing their part but doing it to the benefit of others and to glorify God.