Humblebrag

“Pride is best buddies with insecurity.”- Kyle Idleman

Kyle Idleman states in Chapter 3 of The End of Me that the key to understanding your inner Pharisee’s power is that your inner Pharisee is all about performance.  In contrast, one of the central themes of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is: God looks at the heart.  The heart is the true measure of what we are.  Performances are too easy to fake.

According to a new book on the subject, humblebrag is the practice of the art of false modesty- for example, a person posting about being exhausted (humble) after a wild and crazy vacation (brag).  The danger, especially in social media, is that others know only what you want them to know about you.

Just like the Pharisees, we can develop an “I” problem if anything other than Jesus becomes a foundation for our confidence.  It’s so easy to point to what we do, to stuff visible on the outside.  But Jesus is interested in who we are on the inside.  Only Jesus can see inside us, and there nothing can be faked.

Conversely, the tax collector shows us what “the end of me” looks like, as Kyle describes:

“He is broken, humbled by the majesty of God, and all he can do is plead for mercy and grace as he acknowledges the toll of sin in his life.”

Today’s question: What lessons in humility have you learned as a result of your vocation loss?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Taking ownership of our own humility”

Humblebrag

Pride is blinding

In Chapter 3 of The End of Me, Kyle Idleman concludes his description of six verbal symptoms of a prideful heart.

You may be a Pharisee if . . .

6.  you catch yourself saying, “It’s not me; it’s you.”  Although this seems like the mirror image of a famous breakup line, the reference here is to the ability of the Pharisee’s twenty-twenty vision to detect the flaws of others.  The Bible, however, points out that pride is blinding.  Kyle wryly observes:

“You can’t see the pride in your life because of . . . well, because of the pride in your life.”

Recently, while Kyle was driving his kids to school, his son asked: “Dad, why do you always talk to the other drivers?  You know they can’t hear you.”  Pastor Idleman quickly realized he was a Pharisee on wheels.  His car has big windows showing every car but his own- and a tiny little mirror that shows him.

Other Pharisee indicators include celebrating someone else’s failures, obsessing over the opinions of others, and being utterly convinced that your opinion is the only one that is correct.  Pride, the author stresses, is “the ultimate issue of the human condition”- the mother of all sin.  The Pharisee keeps getting in because we feed our internal Pharisee and we let him/her grow.

Next, Kyle takes a look at what makes our inner Pharisee so powerful.

Today’s question (From Kyle): In what ways have you caught yourself behaving like a Pharisee?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Humblebrag”

Pride is blinding

Define fair

Today Kyle Idleman continues his description of six verbal symptoms of a prideful heart (Chapter 3, The End of Me).

You may be a Pharisee if . . .

3.  you catch yourself saying, “It’s not fair.”  Pastor Idleman emphasizes there is a major question here: how do we objectively define fair?  A lot of things are going to seem unfair if we feel we are more deserving or entitled than those around us.

Kyle supplies the following clue: if you have a hard time celebrating with others in their successes or victories and if you lack gratitude for the good things in your life, you’re probably suffering from a case of pride.  And if you feel entitled and discontented, you have no reason to be thankful for anything.

4.  you catch yourself whispering, “Did you hear about . . .” Gossip tends to put others in their “proper” place and underscores how superior Pharisees are.  Gossip provides a convenient stepping stone on our quest to be king of the mountain.

5.  you catch yourself saying, “I don’t need anybody’s help.”  Pastor Idleman observes that the Pharisee in the parable never asks for God’s help.  He’s got everything under control and checked all the boxes off- fasting, tithing.  The Pharisee is convinced God couldn’t get along without him.  Pride blinds us from realizing our desperate need for God.  If your prayers are filled with complaint and self-justification, you may have a pride issue.

Today’s question (from Kyle): In what ways do you take ownership of your own humility?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Pride is blinding”

Define fair

You may be a Pharisee if . . .

In Chapter 3 of The End of Me, Kyle Idleman describes six verbal symptoms of a prideful heart.  The first two symptoms are discussed today.

You may be a Pharisee if . . .

1.  you catch yourself saying, “You aren’t going to talk like that to me!”  When pride takes over, we become defensive.  We’re unwilling to listen to criticism or correction.  It’s like undiplomatic immunity.  A prideful attitude also assumes a hierarchy in which we outrank the other person.

Pastor Idleman adds we might be thinking no one is offering us advice because they can’t find anything to criticize.  The truth may be closer to this: no one is offering us advice because they know it won’t go well if they try.

2.  you catch yourself saying, “I’m not going to be the one to apologize.”  Kyle cautions that the proud are magnetically attracted to conflict.  Solomon wrote in Proverbs 13:10: “Pride only leads to arguments.”  Squabbles can become epic because apologizing requires humility.

Forgiveness brings on the agony of defeat.  Proud people obsess about being undefeated in arguments and love to wait out the worst disagreements.  They may hold out for decades hoping everything blows over.  In the unlikely event a proud person apologizes, he/she will qualify that apology: “I’m sorry- but . . .”  And that type of apology never seems to work.

Today’s question: Have you ever dug in your heels and refused to apologize?  What was the result of your decision?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Define fair”

You may be a Pharisee if . . .

Your internal Pharisee

“God, I thank you that I am not like other people- robbers, evildoers, adulterers- or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I have.”- Luke 18:11-12

Kyle Idleman continues Chapter 3 of The End of Me with a discussion of The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14).  Pastor Idleman states people looked up to Pharisees because they were committed to Hebrew law and were likely to be upstanding, educated, and influential.  Although the Pharisees began with good intentions, eventually their faith became defined by an “unbearable, infinite collection of dos and don’ts, mostly don’ts.”

Luke clues us in that Jesus’ audience consisted of people  “who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else” (v.9).  Kyle observes that when we read such a description, we almost immediately assume Jesus is talking to someone else.  However, as soon as we assign negative descriptors to others, we become the very people Jesus is addressing.

The issue in this parable is pride versus humility.  Pastor Idleman explains:

“Fake humility expresses itself in a pride that is obvious to everyone but the speaker. . . . Ultimately our words betray us, no matter how much we guard them.”

In the next several blogs Kyle discusses six verbal symptoms of a prideful heart that indicate an internal Pharisee is about to flow out of our mouths.

Today’s question: How has your internal Pharisee been displayed following your vocation loss?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “You may be a Pharisee if . . .”

Your internal Pharisee

Spit first. Dig second.

“God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth.”- Matthew 5:5 (NLT)

Kyle Idleman opens Chapter 3 (“Humbled to Be Exalted”) of The End of Me with this important avalanche survival tip: Spit first.  Dig second.  Pastor Idleman points out that one of the biggest mistakes people make when buried by tons of snow in an avalanche is digging blindly to get out.

Once someone is covered with snow, it’s almost impossible to tell which direction is which.  Gravity, however, still applies.  The solution is to push the snow away from your face and spit.  The direction gravity takes your spit determines your position.  For example, if you spit and it lands on your face, you know you’re facing up. which is a good thing.

Pastor Idleman observes that when Jesus came on the scene as a rabbi, directional confusion was rampant.  In “the fullness of time” Jesus came to set the compass for all time.  Yet, to twenty-first century ears, Jesus’s third beatitude seems ironic.  To our culture, it looks more like CEOs, movie stars, and professional athletes have dibs on inheriting the earth.  Jesus countered this misperception in Luke 18:14 as well:

“For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

In order for this to happen, Kyle asserts that we need to deal with our inner Pharisee.

Today’s question: What Bible verses keep you headed in the right direction?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Your internal Pharisee”

Spit first. Dig second.

Blessing hidden in the shadows

“There’s nothing life can throw at us that God can’t use to draw us closer to him.”- Kyle Idleman

In Chapter 2 of The End of Me, Kyle Idleman observes that it’s human nature to do everything one can to stay away from suffering in the first place.  But we take things one step further when suffering inevitably hits.  We do everything possible to stay away from mourning.  And when we do catch ourselves mourning, we embrace avoidance behaviors to do all in our power to make mourning go away.

Pastor Idleman refers to this as a “grim quest to turn that frown upside down.”  However, Kyle explains, that frown won’t go away because gravity keeps tugging at the edges.  Rather than mourn, we shift our efforts to getting over it.  In fact, a man named Jeff Goldblatt founded Get Over It Day (March 9th).

Kyle counters that Jesus wants us to realize we can find incredible blessings hidden in the shadows- but that blessing only may be visible through the lens of our tears.  Through the unique focus of those tears, the intruder begins to look strangely like a guest.

When adversity hits, we can’t see anything bigger than our loss.  The truth is God more than fills that space, including spaces we didn’t know we had.  Kyle concludes:

“. . . those who follow Jesus find that their pain is not wasted.  There is a blessing that seems totally illogical.  It requires climbing to the bottom of the deepest pit, without a flashlight, venturing far into the darkness.  But the blessing is there, and it’s worth everything.”

Today’s question: What Scriptures have helped you find blessing hidden in the shadows?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Spit first.  Dig second.”

Blessing hidden in the shadows

Thanksliving

Luther High School South-Chicago, IL

“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”-Colossians 2:6-7

“Pride slays thanksgiving, but a humble mind is the soil out of which thanks naturally grow.  A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves.”- Henry Ward Beecher

It’s Wednesday, November 27, 1968.  Bushel baskets and bags of food are lined up in front of the grand piano, wheeled into the gym from the choir/band room for Luther High School South’s Thanksgiving service.  South’s original electronic pipe organ recently had played its last note. A new Allen organ was on order.  Recent technological advances would enable the Allen to produce a decidedly authentic church pipe organ sound.  Amazingly- and a preposterous notion in 1968, thirty-three years later that same Allen organ would play a most memorable service of thanksgiving and celebration- for fifty years of Christian education at Luther South.

November 27, 1968 was a day for students and staff to give thanks for God’s past, present, and future provision.  A ministry downsizing or vocation loss, however, places severe strain on our resolve to give thanks at all times and in all circumstances.  Pastor Jeff Manion (The Land Between) encourages us to remember that God loves to provide exactly what we need at exactly the right moment.  Providing is what God does.  British pastor and author Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892), once explained how, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are able to live a life of thanksliving in response to God’s blessings:

“I think that is a better thing than thanksgiving: thanksliving.  How is this to be done?  By a general cheerfulness of manner, by an obedience to the command of Him by whose mercy we live, by a perpetual, constant delighting of ourselves in the Lord, and by a submission of our desires to His will.”

God knows what we need and how He’ll provide it.  He has provided in the past, is sustaining us now, and will continue to do so.

“All praise and thanks to God the Father now be given,

The Son, and Him who reigns with them in highest heaven,

The one eternal God, whom earth and heaven adore,

For thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5KqahRwNPo

 

 

Thanksliving

The blessing of God"s presence

“You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you.  Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.”- Matthew 5:4 (The Message)

In surprising ways, suffering makes room in our spirit for us to know and experience the blessing of God’s peace and presence.”- Kyle Idleman

Kyle Idleman continues his discussion of Matthew 5:4 in Chapter 2 of The End of Me by asserting that we can’t know God’s comfort without experiencing suffering.  When we mourn, then, we experience the blessing of God’s presence.  Pastor Idleman explains what we find in our suffering:

“There is a deep void that used to be filled with whatever we lost.  That could be stuff or even relationships- none of which are bad things.  But when it’s gone it leaves an aching cavity, and God is there to fill it up with himself.”

Coming to the end of Me enables you to experience the blessing of God’s presence as you never have before.  While wonderful things have been embraced and lost in life, Kyle encourages us that there is no embrace like God’s embrace.  God will not waste your pain, and He most certainly will not leave you alone.

Today’s question: As you mourn your ministry downsizing or vocation loss,  how have you experienced God’s blessing as never before?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: the Thanksgiving Short Meditation, “Thanksliving”

The blessing of God"s presence

Blessing comes from the inside

Everybody has that sudden, painful longing for yesterday, when they didn’t know how good they had it, just before the world fell in.”- Kyle Idleman

Kyle Idleman continues Chapter 2 of The End of Me with an example the Bible offers to help us figure out what Jesus means when He uses the word mourning.

We mourn the true circumstances of life.  Pastor Idleman defines these true circumstances as “dream busters that awaken us at the worst time.”  We don’t choose or invite them.  They simply kick down the door and barge in.  These dream busters are beyond our control- and they change everything.  Yet, when this happens, Jesus says we are blessed.

Jesus isn’t excluding the worst stuff, nor is He referring to little “character builder” moments.  Commentator William Barclay explains the weight of the word mourn:

“The Greek word for to mourn, used here, is the strongest word for mourning in the Greek language. . . . It is defined as the kind of grief which takes such a hold that it cannot be hidden.  It is not only the sorrow which brings an ache to the heart; it is the sorrow which brings unrestrainable tears to the eyes.”

Jesus’ message is that blessing comes from the inside.  Blessing is not dependent on what happens on the outside.  As Kyle concludes, “There is a blessing to be found only through the shedding of a certain number of tears.”

Today’s question: Following your vocation loss, how have you experienced that blessing comes from the inside?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “The blessing of God’s presence”

Blessing comes from the inside

Heartache and shattered dreams

In Chapter 2 of The End of Me, Kyle Idleman takes a closer look at the context for the Sermon on the Mount, noting the word Matthew uses for crowd really means “a large group of unidentified people.”  Over Kyle’s years as a public speaker, he has learned something about large groups of unidentified people: they are crammed with stories of heartache and shattered dreams.  Pastor Idleman quips even a convention of department-store Santas would serve as a gathering of sad stories.

Jesus spoke the words “blessed are those who mourn” (Matthew 5:4) in a first-century age of infant mortality, short life spans, hunger, disease, and national humiliation.  A significant percentage of Jesus’ audience on that mountain were “those who mourn.”  As Pastor Idleman adds, no one in the audience stepped forward to testify, “Yes sir!  Mourning rules!”

Kyle previously has stated that Jesus was speaking in paradoxes, but it seems like “blessed are those who mourn” crosses the line from paradox territory to Ludicrous-ville or Contradiction-land.  How can the sad possibly be happy?

A nice start, Kyle offers, would be to come to an understanding of what Jesus is thinking when He uses the word mourn.  In the next blog Kyle discusses mourning the true circumstances of life, defined as “dream busters that awaken us at the worst time.”

Today’s question: What Bible verses bring you the greatest comfort following your vocation loss?  Please share.

Coming Monday:  the Thanksgiving Short Meditation, “Thanksliving”

Tomorrow’s blog: “Blessing comes from the inside”

Heartache and shattered dreams

Living the dream

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”- Matthew 5:4

“The end of me often comes when my dreams come to an end.”- Kyle Idleman

Kyle Idleman begins Chapter 2 (“Mourn to Be Happy”) of The End of Me by remarking that toward the top of his list of least favorite things is waking up in the middle of a fantastic dream.  “But,” Kyle observes, “it seems a law of life that if you’re in the middle of an awesome dream, something will wake you up.”

Pastor Idleman states we’ve all had times when life was on cruise control.  Then adversity blindsided us and the ride got rough.  Kyle explains:

“You were living the dream, and then life was shaking you awake.  So intrusive.  To come awake is to lose something- money, health, work, innocence, some special someone.  If you’re going to live, you’re going to lose.  You will come to the end of yourself.  You might as well wake up to the fact.”

You’ve gone from dreaming to mourning.  But what if, Pastor Idleman asks, you could reverse that equation so that you would wake up from a nightmare to a dream, and mourning could lead to blessing.  Kyle encourages us:

“In the midst of loss and deep disappointment, when it feels like we are coming to the end of ourselves, he [Jesus] turns the page and shows us a new story of hope and redemption.”

Today’s question: What is your response to Kyle’s statement that we must wake up to the fact that we will come to the end of ourselves?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Heartache and shattered dreams”

Living the dream

Flaws are openings

“And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.”- Jeremiah 18:4

Kyle Idleman concludes Chapter 1 of The End of Me with the encouragement that God loves to make the broken beautiful.  William MacDonald (Lord, Break Me) points out that broken things lose their value in the physical world.  However, the reverse is true in the spiritual world.  Broken things are precious, revealing God’s beauty and power.  Flaws are openings (italics author’s).

Pastor Idleman loves Jeremiah’s beautiful image of God sitting at the potter’s wheel and refusing to toss a flawed piece of pottery.  One piece of clay has endless possibilities.  Kintsugi is a ceramic restoration process developed in Japan in the 1500s.  In the process of sealing the broken ceramic pieces together, the cracks are highlighted and traced over in gold.  They are not hidden.

More often than not, the restored Kintsugi pottery turns out to be more valuable than the original, unbroken piece.  The question for us is whether or not we are willing to let our cracks show.  Kyle concludes:

“It’s only after we’ve been made whole that we are ready to fulfill our purpose and be used by God.  That’s the inside-out way of Jesus- in you, then through you.”

Today’s question: How has God’s beauty and power been revealed through your brokenness?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Living the dream”

Flaws are openings

Embrace the paradox

In Chapter 1 of The End of Me, Kyle Idleman asserts the plain truth is “as much as we fight it, we long for the freedom to admit we’re broken.”  We don’t, however, consciously realize our need to do it.  While that lack of realization is true for each of us, it’s most certainly true for those people who least realize it.

Sociologist Brene Brown writes that all of us are one step away from being one of “those people”:

“. . . ‘those people’- the ones we don’t trust, the ones we pity, the ones we don’t let our children play with, the ones bad things happen to, the ones we don’t want living next door.”

Pastor Idleman adds that most of us know deep down we’ve got a lot of pieces that never seem to get mended, yet we go to great lengths to avoid honestly embracing of our condition.  He states we’ve become the masters of illusion, experts at covering pain, and partakers of loneliness.

In our culture, brokenness is a  hard sell.  Few, if any, people would pay to attend a seminar helping them to experience brokenness.  Kyle concludes:

“Brokenness . . . is, however, the one hope Jesus holds out for us, the inside-out, upside-down way that is somehow the only path that ultimately is right side up.  Embrace the paradox: brokenness is the way to wholeness.”

Today’s question: How have you been able to embrace the paradox that brokenness is the way to wholeness?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Flaws are openings”

 

Embrace the paradox

A trick question

“It’s not a question of being broken; it’s a question of brokenness.”- Kyle Idleman

Kyle Idleman continues his discuss of “A Sinful Woman Forgiven” (Luke 7:36-50) with what he considers to be the real question we should struggle with after reading Luke’s account: Who do you want to be most like, Simon or the sinful woman?

It’s a trick question.  Pastor Idleman states that most of us, especially those who have been Christians for a long time, want to be both.  Phrased differently, we want to be made whole without having to be broken (author’s emphasis).  We want to learn our lesson sans significant sacrifice.  There’s only one problem with that strategy- all of us are broken.

In Luke 7, it’s painfully obvious the woman is broken.  But what about Simon?  Kyle states Simon had memorized the entire Old Testament by age fifteen and could recite nearly three hundred Messianic prophecies.  Yet he treats Jesus as an unwanted dinner guest.

Simon isn’t just broken, he is really broken.  Pastor Idleman defines “really broken” as “not knowing you’re broken.”  Romans 3:23 tells us in no uncertain terms, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  The real question, Kyle notes, is whether or not we can own up to it.

Today’s question: Following your ministry downsizing or vocation loss, how have you avoided the temptation to find the easy way out?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Embrace the paradox”

A trick question

Beautifully broken

“The funny thing about tears is that when they fill our eyes, that’s when we see most clearly.”- Kyle Idleman

In Chapter 1 of The End of Me, Kyle Idleman continues his discussion of “the poor in spirit” with a commentary on Luke’s account of Jesus eating dinner at the home of Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7:36-50).  Although Simon knew the protocol for this kind of evening, he deliberately made no effort to follow it- and all his guests knew it.  Simon’s arrogance was blatant.

When the sinful woman crashed the party, Pastor Idleman emphasizes, all she sees is Jesus seeing her.  The woman is fully aware of her brokenness.  But Jesus sees something else- the woman is beautifully broken.  Jesus treats her as treasure, not trash.  The woman is undone- she has come to the end of herself.

Because the love of Jesus is real, the woman’s tears become the cleansing water Simon should have supplied- and her hair becomes the towel.  At the end of Luke’s account, Jesus has a rebuke for Simon and a word of blessing and redemption for the woman.  Kyle summarizes:

“With these words, Jesus has enacted the beatitude ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit.’  He has blessed the poorest spirit imaginable and rebuked the gaudiest, richest, most arrogant.”

Today’s question: How does it feel to know that Jesus sees you as beautifully broken?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “A trick question”

Beautifully broken

An inside job

In Chapter 1 of The End of Me, Kyle Idleman initiates his discussion of the Sermon on the Mount.  Pastor Idleman states Jesus begins to introduce us to the great paradox of God’s kingdom: “at the end of me, I find real life in him.”

The new kingdom, Kyle adds, has new rules.  Many of those new rules are a reversal of the old ways.  In fact, some New Testament scholars call the Sermon on the Mount the “Great Reversal.”  Pastor Idleman explains that Jesus is looking beyond superficial surface change:

“Jesus doesn’t want to talk about tangible rules or laws. . . . Nothing about the Romans here.  All that is on the surface of life, and Jesus wants to go a little deeper to what’s inside us- what make the surface the way it is.  The kingdom of God begins as an inside job.”

When Jesus says the poor in spirit are blessed (Matthew 3:5), the primary emphasis is not money- although the word Jesus uses for “poor” translates to “destitute” or “bankrupt.”  And it’s human nature to think a blessed life is defined by plenty of money, not poverty.

Jesus reverses such thinking here.  God’s kingdom begins in you when you come to the end of Me and you have nothing to offer.  Kyle concludes:

“Jesus says the kingdom begins with taking inventory and coming up with zero.  We have nothing to offer, and that means we’re making progress.”

Today’s question: What deeper, inside changes have occurred following your vocation loss?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Beautifully broken”

An inside job

The poor in spirit

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”- Matthew 5:3

Kyle Idleman begins Chapter 1 (“Broken to Be Whole”) of The End of Me by describing a poor community in Paraguay literally located in a landfill.  More than 1500 tons of trash are dumped there every day.  Yet, this community is best known for having . . . an amazing orchestra!

A young professional musician, Favio Chavez, happened to visit the dump.  But Chavez heard not what was, but what could be.   Instruments were crafted out of recycled materials,  For example, a cello was created from an old oil drum and old cooking tools.  Tiny cans turned into a flute.

From the squalor, music emerged- the music of hope.  The orchestra now is known as the Landfill Harmonic.  Kyle notes that when he reads the Gospels, the Landfill Harmonic’s music seems to play on every page:

“Jesus left the throne room of heaven for the landfill slum of earth.  He gave up perfection for brokenness and pain.  And he said, ‘Strike up the band.’  He heard weeping and turned it into laughter.”

Although there was hopelessness all around Jesus, it’s hard for us to comprehend the totality of what Jesus does when He digs into the landfill of earth and finds the broken fragments of life.

Today’s question: What Scriptures fill your heart with the music of hope?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “An inside job”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJrSUHK9Luw

The poor in spirit

The end of me

“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.”- Luke 9:24

“Reaching the end of me is a daily journey I must make because it’s where Jesus shows up and my real life in him begins.”- Kyle Idleman

The End of Me: Where Real Life in the Upside-Down Way of Jesus Begins is the latest book by Kyle Idleman, teaching pastor at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky.  In the Introduction, Pastor Idleman observes that most Christians can point to a significant event where Jesus became real to them.  Yet, reaching the end of me is a daily, difficult journey- because “me” doesn’t want to go there.

The first section of the book is based on four beatitudes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.  Pastor Idleman offers this summary:

” . . . so much of Jesus’s teachings seem oppositional to what we have come to accept.  And the life he invites us to is not just counter-cultural; it’s counter-intuitive.  More often than not it flies in the face of what feels right. . . . Jesus will show us that blessings begin and fulfillment is found in the least likely place- the end of ourselves.”

It’s impossible to take the narrow, difficult path not too many choose if we bring Me along.  But choosing that narrow path leads to real and abundant life.

Today’s question: Was there a significant moment in your life when Jesus became real in your life?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “The poor in spirit”

The end of me

Simplify

Simplify (Tyndale House, 2014)

Simplify: Ten Practices to Unclutter Your Soul is the latest book by Bill Hybels, founding and senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois.  Simplified living requires uncluttering your soul, and there are no shortcuts.  Total honesty is necessary in crafting a custom replenishment plan to counter the price of toxic depletion.  The key question is: “How would you spend your time if God were in charge of it?”

Pastor Hybels emphasizes our schedule should be far less about what we want to get done and far more about who we want to become.  There is power in a single word written on one’s schedule and lived out with intentionality.  It is essential to put God first and keep our priorities on track.  In order to do this, a financial reconciliation with God may need to take place- where the power of God breaks the power of money in our life.  When we’re fully reconciled to God financially, we joyfully can accept God’s current level of provision.

Another key step in simplifying life is examining our work life.  Pastor Hybels finds it helpful to filter potential jobs through four foundational alignments: passion, culture, challenge, and compensation.  Ultimately each one of us must come to terms with our ministry downsizing or vocation loss, and we must forgive.  The author notes that forgiveness has two dimensions- internal release and extension of mercy.  Everyone’s forgiveness timetable is different.    Fear also is closely associated with job loss.  Life is simplified by eradicating pockets of fear running rampant beneath the surface.  The journey to overcoming fear is a joint venture in partnership with God.

To be a good steward of life, we need to surround ourselves with wise, mature, good people of high character and have a realistic understanding of others’ natural influence.  Furthermore, everyone needs a life verse.  A life verse must personally resonate, guide our path, give us a reference point, and reflect God’s guidance in our lives.  In addition, thinking of life in terms of temporary seasons helps us to recognize the active movement of God’s hand in our current season and that there’s purpose to His activity.  Moving on means saying yes to the unknown.  Pastor Hybels concludes:

“Be quick to say yes to the things that empower you – directly and indirectly- to lead a life of eternal significance.”

 

 

Simplify

Furnishing the sacred space

“When we eradicate clutter from our lives, we create a vacuum that aches to be filled.”- Bill Hybels

“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter.  Fear God and keep his commandments, for that is the duty of all mankind.”- Ecclesiastes 12:13

Bill Hybels concludes Chapter 10 of Simplify by discussing how you can live an ongoing life of simplicity.  To help ensure that your are furnishing the sacred space of your soul with the right things, Pastor Hybels states every opportunity, commitment, and relational investment should be run through the following three filters:

FILTER #1: Satisfaction.  Key question: Will it bring true satisfaction?  Understanding the greater desire of your soul enables you to better determine God’s plan for filling that desire with something that truly will satisfy you.

FILTER #2: Purpose.  Key question: Does it align with God’s purpose for my life?  Filling a space in your life with something good must align with God’s call on your life in your current season.

FILTER #3:  Significance.  Key question: Does it help me lead a life of significance?  Keeping your eyes on the eternal horizon allows you to filter out those things holding only temporal value.  This doesn’t mean only deep, spiritually significant commitments are worthwhile.  Something of godly but temporal value can fill your energy bucket and keep life well-balanced.

Today’s question: How will these filters assist you in furnishing the sacred space of your soul?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: the annotated bibliography of Simplify

Furnishing the sacred space

Staying on course

In Chapter 10 (“From Meaningless to Satisfied: The Legacy of a Simplified Life”), the concluding chapter of Simplify, Bill Hybels begins with the story of his first solo flight, a two hundred-mile round trip from Illinois to Indiana.  During the first leg of Bill’s trip, an upper-level wind disturbance blew his plane way off course.  Bill was hopelessly lost.

Soon, however, a small town appeared on the horizon.  In the center of town was a huge water tower- with the town’s name on it.  Bill found the town on his map, regained his bearings, and successfully completed his first solo flight.

While getting blown off course cause Pastor Hybels momentary consternation, he observes that “getting off course in the big picture of life exacts a far higher price.”  Bill states it’s pointless to simplify one’s life if you’re headed to a worthless endpoint.

Over his years of pastoral ministry, Pastor Hybels has had numerous end of life conversations with his parishioners.  One conversation he’s never had is a parishioner asking him to bring a suitcase of his/her hard-earned cash to the hospital so they can hold their money close to their heart as they die.  When people are nearing death, Bill notes they want to talk about one of two things: (a) whether or not they’re right with God or (b) whether they’re ready to meet the Lord.

As Bill concludes, staying on course is essential to the simplified life.  It’s not enough just to simplify one’s life by avoiding or removing the things that don’t satisfy.  Life must be filled with the things that do.

Today’s question: What Scriptures have guided you in staying on course?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Furnishing the sacred space”

 

Staying on course

A reason for every season

“There’s a reason for every season in your life- good or bad, easy or challenging, rewarding or draining.”-Bill Hybels

Bill Hybels concludes Chapter 9 of Simplify with a reminder that “you aren’t in your current season by accident.  God’s hand is in it, and there’s purpose to His activity.”  No other season in your life will be exactly like your current season, and God wants to teach you something during this unique time.

Loneliness is one of the most challenging seasons any of us will face.  Pastor Hybels observes one lesson God wants to teach us is about “the tangible presence, proximity, and friendship of Jesus Christ.”  Without learning this lesson, we might be tempted to let a season of loneliness consume, depress, or cripple us.

Face-to-face relationships also are essential.  We need wise, Christian friends to accurately help us see ourselves.  Loneliness won’t be relieved without relational risks.

Once we’ve identified and understand the season we are in, we need to be fully present in that current season and dive in.  Pastor Hybels adds:

“Rather than trying to dodge your challenging season, lean into it– and learn how God’s strength can infuse your frailty.”

Viewing life as structured around seasons means we’re less likely to spin our wheels in a season that should have ended long ago or avoid change because we fear the unknown.  By viewing life as structured around seasons, we can look forward to the lessons God has for us to learn in our next season.

Today’s question: What lesson do you think God wants you to learn following your ministry downsizing or vocation loss?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: Staying on course”

 

A reason for every season

Be silent or speak

Today Bill Hybels discusses a second season Solomon mentions in Ecclesiastes 3, specifically Ecclesiastes 3:7, where Solomon says there is ” a time to be silent and a time to speak.”

2.  Be silent or speak.  Due to the frenzied pace of our culture, the decibel level in our head makes it very difficult to “hear God’s quiet whispers of encouragement, guidance, or correction.”  Each of us needs a time of silence when we can give God our full attention.

At other times, we may sense God nudging us to speak us.  Pastor Hybels emphasizes that we can’t excuse ourselves from responsibility by thinking it’s not our place to say anything or want a friend to feel judged.  Our silence may create a new set of dilemmas more challenging than deciding whether or not to speak up.  Even if things don’t go well when we speak up, we still can know we did the right thing and were obedient to God’s whisper.

Bill concludes that it’s vital to simplifying your life to identify your current season:

“It equips you to be more fully present and engaged.  It brings a single-minded clarity to your days.  You are more likely to notice God’s active hand, to learn the lessons He has for you, and to maximize the character development, wisdom, and spiritual growth opportunities that each season holds.”

Today’s question:  How are you intentional in setting aside a time of silence with God?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “A reason for every season”

Be silent or speak

Mourning and dancing

Bill Hybels continues Chapter 9 of Simplify with a discussion of some of the seasons Solomon mentions in Ecclesiastes 3.  Today he covers mourning and dancing.

1.  Mourn or dance.  Pastor Hybels writes that any kind of loss begets a need for grief:

“If you have recently experienced the loss of a job, marriage, or home , or other significant disappointment- and if you are honest about it’s impact- you will give yourself permission to enter an appropriate season of mourning.”

Bill goes on to list three factors that determine the length and characteristics of mourning:

a.  the depth of loss

b.  our own natural wiring for handling loss

c.  the intensity and pace with which a person chooses to grieve

Pastor Hybels encourages us to be intentional in allowing ourselves to feel loss.  Non-grieving is not a style and leaves us stuck.  Furthermore, isolation only exacerbates our feeling of loss.  We need to put ourselves in places where people can walk alongside us in our grief.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Scripture is filled with descriptions of seasons of dancing.  Specifically, the Old Testament contains detailed instructions for festivals and celebrations God not only permitted, but also mandated.  We need to mark our seasons of dancing, not let them slip by unnoticed.  The author concludes:

“Above all else, give words of gratitude to God, whose fundamental demeanor toward you is goodness.  From Him come all seasons of dancing.”

Today’s question: How would you describe your characteristics of mourning?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Be silent or speak”

Mourning and dancing

The seasons of our lives

“When we view our lives as a string of random days connected only by the calendar, it’s easy to overlook the active movement of God.”- Bill Hybels

In Chapter 9 (“From Stuck to Moving On: Welcoming New Seasons in Your Life”) of Simplify, Bill Hybels notes the song “Turn, Turn, Turn” by The Byrds became the number one song in America on December 4, 1965.  Pete Seeger based the words of his song on the writings of King Solomon in Ecclesiastes 3.  Today these words draw Pastor Hybels’ attention for a much more substantive reason- the words call for change.

The author comments on the necessity of viewing our lives to see the active movement of God:

“Our ability to identify the seasons of our lives increases our ability to cooperate with God, recognizing His guiding hand, follow His lead, and accept the end of one season as the beginning of the next.”

The seasons we enter into have different lengths- weeks, months, or even years.  All these seasons have a beginning and an end.  We spend time in one season and then move on to the next one.

Adverse circumstances, such as a ministry downsizing or vocation loss, define some of our seasons.  When adverse seasons come in rapid succession, the challenge is extraordinary.  Pastor Hybels exhorts us that it is vital to remember that adverse seasons don’t define our whole life:

“Good or bad, easy or difficult, every season on this earth is temporary.”

Today’s question:  What Bible verses help you persevere through your temporary seasons of adversity?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Mourning and dancing”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiprqeaydik

The seasons of our lives

Hats or hardware?

Bill Hybels concludes Chapter 8 of Simplify with an illustration from one of his favorite replenishers, sailboat racing.

One kind of sailboat-racing event is a regatta.  A regatta usually consists of seven to ten races.  Points are awarded in order of finish in each race.  The crew with the lowest overall score is the winner and receives the champion’s trophy- aka “the hardware.”

Winning crew members of each individual race receive a smaller prize, usually a hat from a corporate sponsor.  Sailors care little about the hats- it’s the hardware that truly matters.

In one particular regatta the crew Bill was part of had a chance to win the hardware.  All their boat had to do was stay ahead of their closest competitor to win the race.  They didn’t have to finish first.  At one point, the crew lost focus and tried to pass other boats in front of them.  Their tactician, an experienced America’s Cup racer, got them back on track: “Boys, it’s hats or hardware.”

Bill states that having a life verse is our hardware:

“Having a life verse is one of the most powerful tools I know for simplifying your life.  Like a lighthouse in the darkness, it keeps you on course.  It helps you make wise decisions about where to invest your time, energy, and gifts.  It drives you to live each day with fervency and passion.”

Today’s question: What life verse have you selected or are you considering?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “The seasons of our lives”

Hats or hardware?

A crown that will last forever

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?  Run in such a way as to get the prize.  Everyone who competes in the game goes into strict training.  They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.”- I Corinthians 9:24-25

Today Bill Hybels discusses the second and third reasons for choosing a life verse (Chapter 8 of Simplify).

REASON #2: It calls out the best in me.  Bill Hybels stresses his life verse “minces no words; its marching orders for my life are blindingly clear.”  The late Dallas Willard put it this way: “A Christ follower’s motivation should come from within.”

REASON #3: It brings comfort.  Pastor Hybels states his life verse reminds him that every effort he expends to advance God’s kingdom in this world- whether big or small, visible or hidden- is not in vain.  This brings comfort.  God notices and appreciates what we do.  Ultimately, we do what we do is for and audience of One.

In Paul’s day, the author notes, the prize for winning an Olympic event was a crown of olive or laurel leaves.  By the time the athlete got home that night, the crown already was wilted.  Great energy had been expended for something that didn’t last a day.  What a comfort to know we have an eternal, imperishable crown waiting for us.  Pastor Hybels says it’s time for us to consider this assessment:

“Are you in the right race?  Or have you accidentally drifted into a race that is mostly in vain?”

Today’s question: Which of Pastor Hybels’ three reasons for choosing a life verse resonate most with you?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Hats or hardware?”

 

A crown that will last forever

Yo Cliff!

“I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.”- Psalm 57:2 (NIV)

“If God can bring blessing from the broken body of Jesus and glory from something that’s obscene as the cross, He can bring blessing from my problems and my pain and my unanswered prayer.”- Anne Graham Lotz

“To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.”- Martin Luther

I never included one particular activity in my lesson plans during my elementary teaching career- the dreaded pop quiz. Well, there’s a first time for everything!  But don’t panic, this one-question quiz is child’s play.

1. When Cliff (photo, left) and I (photo, right- with “stunt pilot” Ted in the middle) were elementary school age and I wanted to play with him, I would:

a.  waste valuable landline phone minutes calling someone living less than one hundred feet away

b.  string two empty soup cans together and toss one through Cliff’s open bedroom window

c.  get in some daily cardio, walk to his side door, and shout “Yo Cliff!”

There was no hesitancy in voicing my request for Cliff’s attention and companionship.  I was honest and to the point.  Jeff Manion writes in The Land Between that there is a fine line separating honesty and complaint.  God invites us to be honest, for honesty is fruitful and healing:

“The very act of voicing our trouble to God begins a conversation in which we have opened ourselves to his care, his mercy, and his provision.”

Rather than being a sign of spiritual deficiency, crying out may be seen as a sign of spiritual health.  We have great assurance God will answer our petitions, even though he previously has denied our desperate, heartfelt requests. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the habits of the heart we foster during our desert, transitional journey, will result in spiritual life transformation.  We can maintain the heart to pray.  Timothy Keller (Prayer) argues that in the end, there is no such thing as unanswered prayer:

“We know God will answer us when we call because one terrible day he did not answer Jesus when he called. . . . God treated Jesus as we deserve- he took our penalty- so that, when we believe in him, God can then treat us as Jesus deserved.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjrBWRSmwYA

 

 

 

Yo Cliff!

Choosing your life verse

Bill Hybels continues Chapter 8 of Simplify with a detailed definition of a life verse:

“A life verse is a short passage of Scripture that serves as a rallying cry to guide and focus the current season in your life, or your life as a whole.  Carefully chosen after prayerful consideration, a life verse resonates with you in a personal way and  . . . continually guides you back to God’s mission and vision for your life.”

Pastor Hybels notes his life verse has been remarkably helpful in keeping his life simplified.  He has adopted an overall life verse, and at various times added other verses to help him navigate specific seasons.  When adverse times have left Bill without words to express his dejection, writing his life verse over and over again or repeating it out loud has left him centered, anchored, and renewed.

The author then gives three reasons for choosing a life verse.  The first reason is discussed today.

REASON #1: It clarifies what matters most.  God uniquely has gifted you for the assignment He has given you in this world.  Thus, your life verse will be a reflection of God’s specific guidelines in your life.  Pastor Hybels writes that you must maintain focus on your core Christian beliefs:

“When we are steadfast and immovable in our commitment to core Christian beliefs, it clarifies how we live our lives.  It has a simplifying effect.”

Today’s question: What do you believe is God’s unique assignment for you in this world?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: the new Short Meditation, “Yo Cliff!”

 

Choosing your life verse