Less is more

“Give us this day our daily bread.”- Matthew 6:11

“When God gives a vision, He makes provision.”- Mark Batterson

Commenting on the above petition from the Lord’s Prayer at the beginning of Chapter 14 (“Lord Algebra”) of The Grave Robber, Mark Batterson wryly observes that we really wish the word daily was replaced with weekly, monthly, or yearly.  However, depending on God on a daily basis has us right where He wants us.  Mark then comments on what does not define spiritual maturity:

“Spiritual maturity is not self-sufficiency.  In fact, our desire for self-sufficiency is a subtle expression of our sinful nature.  It’s a desire to get to a place where we don’t need God.  We want God to provide more so we need Him less.”

As Mark reminds us, while everyone wants a miracle, no one wants to be in a situation that necessitates one.  Yet, God is gracious to put us in situations where enough isn’t enough.  In other words, less is more.

The book of Numbers tells us that when God miraculously provided manna for the Israelites, He provided just enough.  Daily manna was a reminder of their daily dependence on God.  Mark concludes:

“So while we may want a one-year supply of God’s mercy, His mercies are new every morning. If God provided too much too soon, we’d lose our raw dependence upon God, our raw hunger for God.  So God usually provides enough, just in time.”

Today’s question: What Bible verses, Christian books, or Christian songs remind you of your raw hunger and dependence on God?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “The Giving Game”

 

Less is more

Z marks the spot

“No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket.  Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so everyone will praise your heavenly Father.”- Matthew 5:15-16

“In the gospels the very first step a man must take is an act which radically affects his whole existence.”- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

I settle in front of our vintage black and white television set, fortified with a Forever Yours (aka Milky Way Midnight) candy bar and a small glass of Coke.  The theme song strikes up:

“Out of the night,

When the full moon is bright,

Comes the horseman known as Zorro. . . .”

Mounted on his black steed Tornado, Zorro readies himself for another epic battle with the cruel, power-hungry Capitan Monastario- commander of the pueblo of Los Angeles.  The capitan and his men have no idea Zorro (Spanish for “fox”) is actually Don Diego de la Vega, who carries out his deception under the cover of his intellect and milquetoast personality.

The theme song continues: “This bold renegade carves a Z with his blade, a Z that stands for Zorro.”  The letter Z marks the spot, symbolizing that Zorro’s fully present, even though that may not be readily apparent.  For the invalid at the Jerusalem pool called Bethesda (John 5:1-9), Jesus was fully present.  Jesus asked him, “Do you want to be healed?”  To receive Jesus’ blessing and shine the light of Jesus on the world’s darkness, he had to give up his security mat.

Applying Jesus’ question to your ministry downsizing or vocation loss, how would you contemplatively craft your response?  An affirmative answer becomes the catalyst for a blessing from God that gives glory to the Father.  There’s only one true assumption: God is able!

A century ago, A. W. Milne was one of a band of brave souls known as one-way missionaries, because they purchased single tickets to the mission field and packed their belongings in a coffin.  The headhunters Milne ministered to had martyred all previous missionaries.  At Milne’s death thirty-five years later, they inscribed the following words on his tombstone.  May those words describe God’s presence in us:

“When he came there was no light.

When he left there was no darkness.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ty3ywPVYP-U

 

 

 

 

 

Z marks the spot

Cloudy with a chance of quail

But Moses said (to the Lord), “Here I am among six hundred thousand men on foot and you say, ‘I will give you meat to eat for a whole month.’ “- Numbers 11:21

“Your job is not to crunch numbers and audit the will of God.”- Mark Batterson

As Mark Batterson continues Chapter 13 of The Grave Robber, he references the time the Israelites were in the wilderness and complained about eating manna every day (Numbers 11).  When the Lord promised the Israelites meat for a month, Moses did the mental math.  The numbers didn’t add up.

Pastor Batterson then asks what we do when the will of God doesn’t add up.  In Mark’s experience the will of God rarely adds up.  God’s output always exceeds our input.  Mark states that, by definition, a God-ordained dream always will be “beyond your resources and beyond your ability.”

The author truly believes that as long as we keep our eyes on thing near and dear to our heavenly Father’s heart, He will take care of the bottom line.  Although Moses couldn’t fathom how God would deliver on His promise of meat, Moses cashed in on that promise.  The quail were piled three feet deep over an area of approximately 700 square miles.  That providence, Mark notes, was a miracle of biblical proportions.

As Mark summarizes, recorded in the book of Numbers is a miracle that doesn’t add up: “But with God, it’s always cloudy with a chance of quail.”

Today’s question: What Scriptures have strengthened you trust in God’s provision?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: the new Short Meditation. “Z marks the spot”

Cloudy with a chance of quail

The drop in the bucket effect

“Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”- John 6:9

In Chapter 13 (“Two Fish”) of The Grave Robber, Mark Batterson begins his discussion of Jesus’ fourth miracle, feeding the five thousand (John 6:1-13).  Pastor Batterson believes that the catalyst for this miracle was the boy’s willingness to give up his meal of five small barley loaves and two fish.

Mark notes that in the natural world it’s easy to assume that if you give more, you’ll have less.  The lesson embedded in this miracle is quite simple, as Mark explains: “if you put what you have in your hands into God’s hands, He can make a lot out of a little.”

Our natural inclination is to let what we aren’t able to do keep us from doing what we can.  Psychologists call this the “drop in the bucket effect.”  Mark describes the drop in the bucket effect this way:

“If we feel overwhelmed by the scale of a problem, we often don’t do anything about it because we don’t think we can make a difference.”

The amount of food the boy gave Jesus to feed the approximately twenty thousand men, women, and children present was a drop in the bucket .  Mark comments on the significance of the boy’s action:

“. . . he didn’t let what he didn’t have keep him from giving what he did have to Jesus.  And that is the precursor to many a miracle.”

Today’s question: How has the drop in the bucket effect played out in the aftermath of you vocation loss?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Cloudy with a chance of quail”

 

The drop in the bucket effect

Critical realism

“Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know.”- 1 Corinthians 8:2

Mark Batterson concludes Chapter 12 of The Grave Robber with a discussion of a philosophical science concept known as critical realism.  Critical realism is defined as “the recognition that no matter how much we know, we don’t know everything there is to know.”  Researcher Rolf Smith reports that, while children ask 125 probing questions a day, adults ask only six.  At some point, most adults stop asking questions and start making assumptions.  That’s when our imagination dies.

Pastor Batterson adds that we’re too quick to explain what we don’t understand.  And at the top of that list is God.  But, as Mark observes:

“To know God is to enter the cloud of unknowing- the more you know, the more you know how much you don’t know.”

Mark states that while the words “I can’t” should never come out of our mouths, the words “I don’t know” should be spoken often and with humility:

“Half of faith is learning what we don’t know.  The other half is unlearning what we do know.  And the second half is far more difficult than the first half.”

We never know exactly how, when, or where God will show up.  However, we must be prepared to do something unprecedented, unorthodox, and unconventional.  That’s when miracles happen.

Today’s question: What assumptions have you made about life or God following your vocation loss?  Please share.

Coming Monday: the new Short Meditation, “Z marks the spot”

Tomorrow’s blog: “The drop in the bucket effect”

Critical realism

Second-order change

“The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were on when we created them.”- Albert Einstein

“Vision starts with visualization.”- Mark Batterson

In Chapter 12 (“The Rule Breaker”) of The Grave Robber, Mark Batterson observes that Jesus chose to heal the invalid by the Bethesda pool on the Sabbath knowing it would rile up the Pharisees.  By trying to keep what they thought was the letter of the law, the Pharisees broke the spirit of the law.  There’s a world of difference between following Jesus and following man-made rules.  Sometimes we have to break the rules to experience the miraculous.

Mark states that, according to cybernetic theory, there are two types of change:

1.  First-order change is behavioral- it’s doing things differently (matter over mind).

2.  Second-order change is conceptual- it’s seeing things differently (mind over matter).

Mark posits that most of our problems are perceptual: “The solution isn’t doing something different.  It’s thinking about the problem differently.”

Jesus changed the invalid’s life by changing the rules.  Whereas convergent thinking looks for one right answer, divergent thinking comes up with multiple solutions to a problem.  Mark explains:

“Divergent IQ is the ability to look at the natural and see the supernatural.  It also goes by another name when anointed by the Spirit of God: faith.”

Today’s question: Following your vocation loss, has first-order change or second-order change characterized your thinking?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Critical realism”

Second-order change

Self-fulfilling prophecies

Mark Batterson ends Chapter 11 of The Grave Robber with a section on self-fulfilling prophecies.  He notes that it is no insignificant detail that the man by the Bethesda pool is called invalid.  The man is synonymous with his sickness.  Pastor Batterson states there is a lesson to be learned: don’t let what’s wrong with you define you.

Mark states that our culture has the tendency to reduce people to labels.  That tendency is unhealthy, unholy, and dehumanizing.  We cannot allow anyone to label us except the One who made us.  For example, the impetuous Peter was given a new label by Jesus- “The Rock.”  Jesus redefined Peter’s identity, and ultimately he lived up to it.

Our word are powerful, for better or for worse.  They double as self-fulfilling prophecies.  Fear validates negative prophecies, while positive prophecies are validated by faith.  Mark doubles back to the question of this miracle: Do you want to get well?  He concludes:

“If you don’t, keep doing what you’re doing.  If you do, take a step of faith.  Then another.  And another.  And if you keep putting one foot in front of the other, you’ll eventually get to where God wants you to go.  Most miracles are the by-product of ‘a long obedience in the same direction (Eugene Peterson).’ ”

Today’s question: What self-fulfilling prophecies have defined you following your vocation loss?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Second-order change”

Self-fulfilling prophecies