Face the truth

Today John Ortberg discusses the first two ways recognizing and going through open doors reveals and requires us to face the truth about ourselves (Chapter 7, All the Places to Go).

1.  What are my strengths and weaknesses?  We have to have some sense of our strengths, weaknesses, and interests if we’re going to understand which doors God is likely to set before us.  Marcus Buckingham, however, points out that our strengths aren’t simply what we’re good at and that our weaknesses aren’t simply what we’re bad at.  Marcus defines a weakness as something that drains you of energy and “something you’ve been blessed with  lots of ability to do well but cursed with no appetite for it.”

John concludes that it’s  better to acknowledge walking through a wrong door than spend the rest of your life in the wrong room.

2.  What is driving me?  We must come face-to-face with the truth about our motivations and ambitions.  Yet, Pastor Ortberg notes, if we wait to walk through a door until our motives are pure, we’ll never go through any doors. Our drive to go through God’s open doors reveals to us a mixture of desire to serve the Lord and a desire to feed our own ego.  John writes about the necessity of confronting the truth:

“The truth about me is I don’t even want to know the truth about me.  The truth about me is only God knows the truth about me.  The truth about the truth is if I face the truth about me with Jesus, the truth will hurt me.  In fact, it will kill me.  But then, it will bring me life.”

Today’s question: How does Marcus Buckingham’s clarification of strengths and weaknesses help you revision your calling?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: the new Short Meditation, “Till the sky spills over”

Face the truth

The truth about you

“The truth about you is you don’t know the truth about you.”- John Ortberg

In Chapter 7 (“What Open Doors will Teach You”) of All the Places to Go, John Ortberg writes that all of us suffer from a kind of personal blind spot.  The difficulty is that when someone has a problem, the last person to know is . . . the person who has the problem.

Not only do we have no knowledge of the truth about ourselves, we don’t even know what that truth about us is, as Fyodor Dostoyevsky observes in Notes from Underground:

“”Every man has reminiscences which he would not tell to everyone, but only to his friends.  He has other matters in his mind which he would not reveal even to his friends, but only to himself, and that in secret.  But there are other things which a man is afraid to tell even to himself, and every decent man has a number of such things stored away in his mind.”

The key to the offer of an open door is self-awareness.  We need to be aware not only of what is going on outside but also what is going on inside us.  Self-awareness is the polar opposite of self-preoccupation.

We have to accept the truth about ourselves in order to go through an open door, relying on God’s strength- not ours.  In the rest of Chapter 7 John explores four ways going through open doors reveals as well as requires us to face the truth about ourselves.

Today’s question: What Bible verses have enabled you to face the truth about you?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Face the truth”

The truth about you

Innocent as doves

“Be . . . as innocent as doves.”- Matthew 10:16

“What the world needs is not simply isolated outward deeds but transformed character from within.”- John Ortberg

John Ortberg concludes Chapter 6 of All the Places to Go by discussing the final dimension of wholehearted threshold crossing: “Be . . . innocent as doves.”  Pastor Ortberg observes that doves are to the bird world what sheep are to the animal world.  Doves are considered quite innocent.

John emphasizes that we must allow God to work on our character.  The main thing we take into the world is who we are, not the things we do.  The author reports that when author and teacher Brennan Manning was ordained a priest, he was given this blessing, focusing on the innocence of a child:

“May your expectations all be frustrated,

May all your plans be thwarted,

May all of your desires be withered into nothingness,

That you may experience the powerlessness and poverty of a child and can sing and dance in the love of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”

Pastor Ortberg notes that on the third day Jesus went through the final open door that led to death’s defeat and the triumph of hope.  While none of the Gospel writer recorded how Jesus crossed that threshold, John believes Jesus didn’t limp or trudge wearily.  John thinks Jesus hopped, and may be hopping still!

Today’s question: Following your vocation loss, how is your character being transformed from within?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “The truth about you”

 

 

 

Innocent as doves

Wise as serpents

“So be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”- Matthew 10:16 (NIV)

As John Ortberg continues Chapter 6 of All the Places to Go, he emphasizes that Jesus wasn’t a “well-intentioned dreamer who floated serenely above human difficulties and reality.”  Jesus really was serious about getting His work done.

Pastor Ortberg notes that part of wholeheartedness is putting all of yourself in, mind and talents included.  Spiritual devotion to Jesus is essential, but we also must be willing to face up to reality- thinking about strategy, tactics, and being effective in extending the kingdom of God.  We need to be wise as serpents- a prevailing thought in Jesus’ day.

John adds that we must be wise as serpents in order to know what doors God might open up for us.  Open doors call for a high degree of learning and awareness.  To effectively discern our calling or vocation in life, vocational expert Andy Chan states we must master (a) knowing ourselves and (b) knowing the world we want to impact.  Four types of people result from combinations of these factors:

1. Hermit– high in self-awareness but low in world awareness; keeps thoughts and feelings to self


2. Chameleon– highly aware of surrounding world but low in self-awareness; just blends in


3. Clueless– low in both self-awareness and world awareness


4. Change agent– deeply aware of self and deeply aware of world around him/her; wise as serpents

Today’s question: Which of the four knowledge descriptions most accurately reflect your current mind-set?  Please share.

Coming Tuesday: new Short Meditation, “Till the sky spills over”

Tomorrow’s blog: “Innocent as doves”

Wise as serpents

Sheep among wolves

“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.  Therefore be shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.”- Matthew 10:16

In Chapter 6 of All the Places to Go, John Ortberg writes that the sheep is not an inspiring animal, so this is an unexpected metaphor.  While many sports teams have animal nicknames, no team is called the Sheep.

Pastor Ortberg notes that Jesus’ metaphor raises this question: How does a sheep go among wolves?  Answer: very carefully and very humbly.  That means we don’t present ourselves as intelligent, strong, or impressive.  When we are sent as sheep, doors are opened to us that never would be opened to wolves.

Going wholeheartedly through doors leaves us vulnerable to failure and disappointment.  We’re vulnerable because we’re not strong enough.  Paradoxically, with Jesus vulnerability is stronger than invulnerability.

John stresses that the church always is at its best when it goes into the world like sheep among wolves- with humility.  Several centuries after Jesus, John Chrysostom wrote about the importance of being sheep:

“Let us then be ashamed, who do to the contrary, who set like wolves upon our enemies.  For as long as we are sheep, we conquer. . . . But if we become wolves, we are worsted (defeated, overcome), for the help of our Shepherd departs from us; for he feeds not wolves, but sheep.”

Today’s question: Following your vocation loss, have you gone through open doors like a sheep or a wolf?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Wise as serpents”

 

Sheep among wolves

Jesus" instructions

“As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.”- John 17:18

John Ortberg continues Chapter 6 of All the Places to Go by presenting another statement that many people think Jesus actually said: “Be in the world but not of the world.”  Pastor Ortberg states that his misconception has led Christians into a halfhearted being in the world.

John notes that as Jesus sent His disciples into the world, He was more concerned with how they would go through the door than which door they would go through.  John writes:

“When somebody is deeply committed with their whole heart- not out of guilt, not out of obligation, not out of pressure but because they are convinced this is the cause that is supremely worthy of the devotion of their one and only life- they love to be challenged about that commitment.  They love to be called to it, to be renewed in it, to be rechallenged for it . . .”

On the other hand, when people are divided, conflicted, or have compromised their commitments, they are reticent to discuss those commitments.  Again, Jesus’ instructions emphasize how we will go over where we should go, providing three animal illustrations describing how we are to go through the open doors God places before us.  The first illustration, sheep among wolves, will be presented in the next blog.

Today’s question: To what new calling do you feel deep commitment?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Sheep among wolves”

 

Jesus" instructions

Discerning wholeheartedness

“Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. . . . He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not wholeheartedly.”- 2 Chronicles 25:1-2 (NRSV)

“I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.”- Acts 13:22 (NIV)

In Chapter 6 of All the Places to Go, John Ortberg quips that he can’t imagine a coach standing before his/her team and saying, “Now go out and give it . . . most of what you’ve got.”  However, Pastor Ortberg observes, at times people try to “walk through high-challenge doors with low-level commitment.”  Just the opposite is needed- greater wholeheartedness.

Yes, there could be an expectation that we’ll voluntarily suffer loss, sacrifice our comfort, give up our time, or humble our pride.  Sacrifice is involved when we must choose one thing over another.

One hundred percent commitment really boils down to where our hearts truly are.  Finessing commitment, as Amaziah did, won’t work.  John concludes with five questions to help us in discerning wholeheartedness:

1.  Do I talk about commitment to other people to create a kind of public accountability for my actions?

2.  Do I own the responsibility to grow?

3.  Do I complain about difficulties in a way that can subtly rationalize a halfhearted involvement?

4.  Do I deal with discouragements by talking with God and asking for strength to persevere?

5.  Do I recognize and celebrate even small steps in the right direction?

Today’s question: Which of Pastor Ortberg’s five questions holds the most significance for you?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Jesus’ instructions”

 

Discerning wholeheartedness