Today's 'Verse of the Day' really got my brain whizzing today:
Leviticus 20:7-8
"So set yourselves apart to be holy, for I am the LORD your God. Keep all my decrees by putting them into practice, for I am the LORD who makes you holy." NLT
"Set yourselves apart for a holy life. LIVE a holy life, because I am God, your God. Do what I tell you; LIVE the way I tell you. I am the God who makes you holy." MSG
"Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the LORD your God. Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the LORD, who makes you holy." NIV
"Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I AM the Lord your God. And you shall keep My statutes, and perform them; I AM the Lord who sanctifies you." NKJV
Holy: dedicated or consecrated to God or a religious purpose; sacred: the Holy Bible | the holy month of Ramadan.• (of a person) devoted to the service of God: saints and holy men.
Here is where my heart is today: If our walk with Christ is a journey, if we begin at zero and 'arrive' at 100, say, what do we do with people who are still at levels 1-10? What do we, as a church, do with those who have just begun to be open to the Gospel, who have begun to let down their guard, who want to hear more, who have become Pursuers of God, but have not made that terrifying leap of faith?
Then, what do we do with those who have made that leap of faith, who are terrified beyond description about what they have just done, but at the same time so full of joy and peace that they cannot explain it, but are still learning what this new life is all about?
I grew up in the church. I know how it works. I know what is expected of me, what I need to hide from others to be accepted, and what I can share without fear of rejection.
But a person off the street, who could have any number of reasons for not believing, not knowing, or even actively working against the church does not have that experience. They only know what the world knows. They only know how the world works. They have not seen or experienced how differently the life of the church is and can be.
So what do we do with these people? They are crass. They dress provocatively (because that is what dressing up in the world looks like). They cuss. They drink alcohol. They smoke. They holler and scream at their kids. They spend weekends away with boyfriends and girlfriends and are not married. They are sinners.
Most of us who have grown past all of that, or who were raised not to go there in the first place and got to start our lives with Christ past that level, have worked past those outward, public, everyone can see them types of markers - the markers that keep us separated from the church populations.
Not that we have 'arrived' at some holy level of achievement. We all are still being molded and shaped like a lump of clay. God isn't done with you, yet. He will continue to point out to you things that you do that He is not pleased with.
John 16:12-15 says, "I still have many things to tell you, but you can't handle them now. But when the Friend comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is. He won't draw attention to himself, but will make sense out of what is about to happen and, indeed, out of all that I have done and said. He will honor me; he will take from me and deliver it to you. Everything the Father has is also mine. That is why I've said, 'He takes from me and delivers to you.'"
That is the job of the Holy Spirit. He lets us hear from God at any time. He lets us know what step to take next, what to say to whom and when. He will speak through our voices and he will close our mouths. But we have to let Him. We have to learn to hear His voice, to test what we hear against known scripture and learn to weed out our own thought from among His whispers. We have to learn to step out upon those whispers in faith and ignore our brain that will try to be 'logical' and 'sensible' and will try to fight against what others might think. We have to acknowledge that salvation, baptism, sanctification, none of them - none of them zoom us from level 0-100. We all start on some level and we all walk and climb and crawl and claw our way toward 100, but we don't reach it - not until our life on earth ends and we arrive in heaven or Jesus comes again. Until then, there is always something that God wants us to learn and do in His name.
So once we remember that NONE of us have 'arrived' yet, we have to look around at all the others around us who are all over the place with 'levels' if you can grasp my concept there. You might think of them as levels of holiness - how much of our lives have we dedicated to service for God.
As a body of Christ, we often expect all of the people in our church to automatically be at a certain 'level' to feel comfortable associating with them. Let's call that level 25 just so we can all be on the same page. So we all are at LEAST on level 25. If we have gotten to 50, those are probably our leadership circle people. And some of those older people may have acquired 75 - man! THOSE are the SAINTS!
But we haven't dealt with the people who are below 25. Maybe they aren't even CLOSE. What do we do with them? If they are actually attending church, they are probably already at at least 15, or 10 if it is just occasionally. We can't have them teaching - that's not healthy or scriptural. There is a whole list of things we CAN'T let them do - but what CAN they do? What do we do with them?
Well, to be completely honest with ourselves, we don't let them do anything. We don't have them over to our homes because they might corrupt our children - or someone might think WE are doing something wrong while they are over. We don't invite them to Bible Study because our group is too far advanced. And truly, most of our Bible Studies ARE too advanced. We often have a 'new believers class' or a 'membership class' for a while, but until someone has grown to level 25 or near to it, we really don't want them around. They are too dirty with sin. God needs to clean them up more before we can be with them. We wouldn't want our holy clothes to be soiled by their unholy life.
That sounds awful, I know, but stop and really hear that. Think about it. It's true! I'm a part of it myself! I am a church leader and I have done my share to help cultivate this way of life! But God has been working on me..... and I'm changing....
My heart hurts and I tear up at these thoughts! I get angry at what the church looks like today! God handed me a picture about a week ago and I've been agonizing over it ever since - we have BECOME exactly what Jesus fought against! We ARE the Sanhedrin! We ARE the Sadducees and Pharisees of Jesus's day. We are the teachers of the law. We are the leaders in the church. AND WE ARE MISSING THE POINT!!! Jesus didn't die on the cross so that we could hide out in our church buildings and lock the door against the evil in the world - that's not what Holy is all about! He calls us to be Holy - to be different from the world, to live a life that shines so strongly with His love and His grace that people are drawn to us to learn how to shine also - He wants us out there, among the people He loves so deeply. He wants each of us to allow ourselves to become part of the lives of those around us who do NOT know Him so that we can walk with them as they grow from levels 0-25, then to release them to do the same thing in their circle of influence. Yes, we are to grow in His knowledge. Yes, we are to teach our children how to follow Him, but we are to do that AND be out and among the lost. How can the lost be found if nobody is looking for them?!?!
How many people are in your life who do NOT know the Lord?
If you have to think about that for very long, then I hope you have listened. Lost people should be in your life and in your prayers. It may only be one you are working with. It may be a family. It may be... well, it could be anything. God wants to use you where you are. He has placed you and built up people around you to reach. Please listen to what He wants you to do.
Friday, November 2, 2012
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Expectations of a Church Leader
Tonight I am at a Pastor's Wives Retreat. I was blessed with a room to myself. It's a great room - soft pillows, ample covers, fluffy duvet instead of those thin bedspreads, all in white. I have control of the remote. I can watch old reruns of my shows uninterrupted. Yep, I'm enjoying my late night.
Earlier, we ladies sat around a table and played a game designed to get us talking - like we needed help! LOL But, really, it was a great way to just be together and bond without things getting TOO deep, which often happens in our line of work.... But towards the end of the evening it DID get a bit deep. Some real concerns were shared. No answers were found. Really got me thinking.
The beginning was when one mom shared how worldly our church-based colleges have become. Professors swear on campus. Students are swearing, drinking, becoming addicted to pornography, and becoming sexually active. We expect this on state school campuses, but it brings concern on church-based college campuses.
The conversation began to swing at this point - what about church? What do we do when we learn that a leader in our church is sinning?
Wow - that's a hot button!
What is an acceptable sin and what sins need to be dealt with? What are our expectations of a church leader?
What about people who walk in the front door? What are our expectation of them? How do we draw them into our church family? How do we include them and do life with them? How do we grow them into future leaders? At what point do they 'arrive' at leadership quality?
Something I have noticed through my years of ministry is that we tend to assume that God deals with us each the same - that He expects the same things from each of us - that there is one spiritual plane.... typically the one we are on ourselves. We look around at the people around us and judge them from our point of view- from our spiritual plane - and we justify ourselves in lots of ways. Then, as we grow spiritually, we expect that everyone else is, too and we continue to expect those around us to look like us.
But all this time that we are learning and growing there are others just entering through the front door - others who are just beginning to walk down the path we have already been on.
At what point do we 'arrive' at a level of spiritualness that we can be called a leader? Who decides when that level is achieved?
In our church culture we have a list of behaviors that are taboo. Some are clearly sins based on biblical teachings. Adultery. Premarital sex. The mishandling of money. Some are grey areas. Alcohol - drunkenness is a sin, but is all alcohol? Then there are the 'acceptable sins' - the ones that we allow to continue in our churches unchallenged. Gluttony - practically encouraged through carry-in dinners that are so prevalent and rich, decadent food served at most gatherings. Pornography - men are often singled out for this one due to their visual desires, but ladies, those 'Harlequin-style' books out there that made Fabio so famous are just as much pornography for our emotional needs as Playboy magazine is for the men, yet women can be seen trading books right in the church!
I think we need to be very careful how we look at the people in our church. How do we choose leadership? What makes someone leadership material and at what point do they need to be removed? How do we approach a leader who is struggling? How do we hold our leaders accountable? And how do we take a new believer from where they are to a point when they can be a leader?
I believe we need to look at this carefully and lay out guidelines that our church will follow - we should have a set of outward behaviors that our church wants to see in a leader and actions that would be cause for removal. (We can only use outward behaviors - these can be observed. Inward spiritual/emotional development cannot.) These need to be in writing and made available to everyone. We often have a list in our heads that we apply to people unfairly, holding them to a higher standard that we hold ourselves.
The apostles were leaders. Would they qualify as leaders in our churches today? Jesus picked them himself.
Yet I fear we tend to look for our church leaders among those who would have been part of the Sanhedrin. That scares me.
Lots of prayer.
Lots of introspection.
Thanks for listening...
Earlier, we ladies sat around a table and played a game designed to get us talking - like we needed help! LOL But, really, it was a great way to just be together and bond without things getting TOO deep, which often happens in our line of work.... But towards the end of the evening it DID get a bit deep. Some real concerns were shared. No answers were found. Really got me thinking.
The beginning was when one mom shared how worldly our church-based colleges have become. Professors swear on campus. Students are swearing, drinking, becoming addicted to pornography, and becoming sexually active. We expect this on state school campuses, but it brings concern on church-based college campuses.
The conversation began to swing at this point - what about church? What do we do when we learn that a leader in our church is sinning?
Wow - that's a hot button!
What is an acceptable sin and what sins need to be dealt with? What are our expectations of a church leader?
What about people who walk in the front door? What are our expectation of them? How do we draw them into our church family? How do we include them and do life with them? How do we grow them into future leaders? At what point do they 'arrive' at leadership quality?
Something I have noticed through my years of ministry is that we tend to assume that God deals with us each the same - that He expects the same things from each of us - that there is one spiritual plane.... typically the one we are on ourselves. We look around at the people around us and judge them from our point of view- from our spiritual plane - and we justify ourselves in lots of ways. Then, as we grow spiritually, we expect that everyone else is, too and we continue to expect those around us to look like us.
But all this time that we are learning and growing there are others just entering through the front door - others who are just beginning to walk down the path we have already been on.
At what point do we 'arrive' at a level of spiritualness that we can be called a leader? Who decides when that level is achieved?
In our church culture we have a list of behaviors that are taboo. Some are clearly sins based on biblical teachings. Adultery. Premarital sex. The mishandling of money. Some are grey areas. Alcohol - drunkenness is a sin, but is all alcohol? Then there are the 'acceptable sins' - the ones that we allow to continue in our churches unchallenged. Gluttony - practically encouraged through carry-in dinners that are so prevalent and rich, decadent food served at most gatherings. Pornography - men are often singled out for this one due to their visual desires, but ladies, those 'Harlequin-style' books out there that made Fabio so famous are just as much pornography for our emotional needs as Playboy magazine is for the men, yet women can be seen trading books right in the church!
I think we need to be very careful how we look at the people in our church. How do we choose leadership? What makes someone leadership material and at what point do they need to be removed? How do we approach a leader who is struggling? How do we hold our leaders accountable? And how do we take a new believer from where they are to a point when they can be a leader?
I believe we need to look at this carefully and lay out guidelines that our church will follow - we should have a set of outward behaviors that our church wants to see in a leader and actions that would be cause for removal. (We can only use outward behaviors - these can be observed. Inward spiritual/emotional development cannot.) These need to be in writing and made available to everyone. We often have a list in our heads that we apply to people unfairly, holding them to a higher standard that we hold ourselves.
The apostles were leaders. Would they qualify as leaders in our churches today? Jesus picked them himself.
Yet I fear we tend to look for our church leaders among those who would have been part of the Sanhedrin. That scares me.
Lots of prayer.
Lots of introspection.
Thanks for listening...
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
The Right Track
I just ran across the quote, "Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there!" It isn't a new quote to me, but I saw it in a new light today.
In the past, I have always seen and applied that quote in a church setting - it makes for a great catalyst for a spiritual discussion. I've even used it to judge others, unfortunately, who don't share my own thoughts, style, or vision.
But today I saw a different side - this quote applies to ALL areas of our lives - it applies to our homes, our relationships, work, and especially the laundry!!! If we get to a certain place in our relationships and just stop making an effort, the relationship will die. If we get our house/home all spruced-up and just let it sit without further maintenance, it will fall apart around our ears. Even at work - if we get to a point at work where we are not looking to take initiative or looking out for new and better approaches to our jobs, we will lose them.
And spiritually, we NEVER 'arrive'. We are NEVER 'done'. We have NEVER 'made it'. Spiritual growth and how the church reaches out to the culture are never-ending processes of change and require us to always be listening to God.
We get tired. We get old and creaky. But we cannot get complacent in our spiritual growth. And we cannot get complacent in our attempts to reach out to the community around us.
Keep growing
Keep Listening
Never quit! :)
In the past, I have always seen and applied that quote in a church setting - it makes for a great catalyst for a spiritual discussion. I've even used it to judge others, unfortunately, who don't share my own thoughts, style, or vision.
But today I saw a different side - this quote applies to ALL areas of our lives - it applies to our homes, our relationships, work, and especially the laundry!!! If we get to a certain place in our relationships and just stop making an effort, the relationship will die. If we get our house/home all spruced-up and just let it sit without further maintenance, it will fall apart around our ears. Even at work - if we get to a point at work where we are not looking to take initiative or looking out for new and better approaches to our jobs, we will lose them.
And spiritually, we NEVER 'arrive'. We are NEVER 'done'. We have NEVER 'made it'. Spiritual growth and how the church reaches out to the culture are never-ending processes of change and require us to always be listening to God.
We get tired. We get old and creaky. But we cannot get complacent in our spiritual growth. And we cannot get complacent in our attempts to reach out to the community around us.
Keep growing
Keep Listening
Never quit! :)
Thursday, March 22, 2012
My Pain and My God
OK - so my hope to post at least once a week failed - and failed hard.
But I think I have an excuse - not a reason, but an excuse.... I haven't felt well! In fact, I haven't felt well in 10 years and it's been getting worse - and the past few months have been the worst. I had gotten to the point where I could hardly function. I definitely couldn't keep up with my daily 'stuff' anymore. I was sleeping 10-12 hours a night and being sleepy all day. I couldn't think. I was definitely having memory recall issues. I hurt all over all the time. I was gaining weight. I knew that weight was because I ran out of one of my meds, but I felt horrible. I was swollen and just dragging myself through each day.
I am always searching online for some help. I've done the doctor thing all these years and have gotten some answers and some help, but still felt horrible. I couldn't exercise or I would get a migraine after even just 10 minutes. I walked some, but even that would wipe me out for hours. I was always hot and could sweat up a storm just setting up a little bit at church. I was getting scared.
I found a few things and tried a few things.
One of my biggest issues is inflammation. I'm always inflamed. My hands are always swollen. My knuckles are always white. When they aren't, I try really hard to think of what I've done differently to try to figure out what I can continue to do!
Then, in an innocent conversation with my mom, she says that there is a talk-show doctor saying that all heart disease can be cured by treating the inflammation - that it's all about inflammation, not plaque. That cholesterol and such are just issue if the arteries are inflamed. That is you can get rid of the inflammation, the BP would reduce.
Back a few years I had been tracking my diet - along with an inflammation score. Yes, inflammation factors for food are out there. So, I tried something new - to eat not only a net score of positive inflammation factor (which is a good thing - the idea is to shoot for +50), but to go even higher and see how well it works.
WOW!
I am a new person!
I wasn't perfect about it at first, but I did try really hard to stay in the positives and I felt good. Then on Monday I did great, and Tuesday, too. Both days really great. So that made 4 days of good to great and then I went to Zumba on Tuesday night.
Now remember - I haven't been able to exercise much at all. I have even been through a Zumba session at the church and couldn't do it all.
Not Tuesday!!! I did ALL of it - with the exception of a few higher leveled moves that required more strength than my muscles had to give, I did all of it! No headache!
Wednesday morning I exercised with no headache! And I hadn't taken my BP meds yet either! So when I got home I cooled all the way down and took it - it was LOWER!!! Significantly lower! And this morning before we went to work out I took it and it was still low! (Yes, I'm still taking my meds!)
I was a bit cautious about the workout on Wednesday but today I went all out and sweated up a storm! What fun that was! No fear of pain! OK, yeah, I am sore, but it feels so GOOD! I don't like feeling bad and in pain. I don't like being tired all the time. I've missed my energetic self!
I had felt much better when I started taking a progesterone hormone that I don't make, but it only went so far. Still couldn't exercise. It helped with the weight a little, but not much. That's the weight that went back on when I stopped it.
But this - this is awesome! Still feeling a little tightness in my hands that might be some inflammation, but maybe that is residual. Maybe it's the weight and will go away in time. Maybe it's more muscles because I'm using them more....
So - after some more searching, I'm now on a very strict diet for 2 weeks to get rid of all inflammation foods and all carbs. No dairy. No eggs. No bread or sugar or anything with either of them in it. No grains. No fruit. Only veggies, fish, and some poultry at times. Two weeks. That's all.
Then I will start introducing some food back into my diet. I will start with the yogurt and work my way through the dairy stuff. They have no carbs but they have fairly high inflammation factors. That should tell me if it's the inflammation factors I need to watch or the carbs.
If it's the carbs, then I will continue and add grains back in slowly. I will start with the non-glutens and then into the glutens. I will need to be careful, though, not to eat grains with sugar, so no bread at this point. (Then there's the yeast issue, but I will get into that if I have no reactions to the other stuff)
Fruit will be the last thing I try to add back in. Or, if I react to the grains (I would think I might react to the gluten grains like wheat if I react at all) I will take those back out and try fruit instead.
I think it's the sugar.
God's been telling me for years to cut out all sugars.
He can't heal me if I don't do what He says.
So when I finally do what He says, I get a healing....
All those prayers. All that pain. All those years... Just because I didn't follow directions.
I didn't want to! I like sugar! I love my Coke! I love my Reese's PB Cups!
How often I get into a situation like this with God and I feel like a little kid all over again getting caught with my hand in the cookie jar.
Shame
I supposed to be leading and teaching others how to listen and follow God's directions and I just ignore them for years because I don't WANT to follow them.
I need to be grounded. LOL
Actually, the punishment is much worse than that for disobedience to God - but I serve a merciful and gracious God who will forgive me and give me wonderful things now that I chose to follow His directions.
Thank you, God, for knowing what I needed even when I wouldn't listen. And thank you for not giving up on me.
But I think I have an excuse - not a reason, but an excuse.... I haven't felt well! In fact, I haven't felt well in 10 years and it's been getting worse - and the past few months have been the worst. I had gotten to the point where I could hardly function. I definitely couldn't keep up with my daily 'stuff' anymore. I was sleeping 10-12 hours a night and being sleepy all day. I couldn't think. I was definitely having memory recall issues. I hurt all over all the time. I was gaining weight. I knew that weight was because I ran out of one of my meds, but I felt horrible. I was swollen and just dragging myself through each day.
I am always searching online for some help. I've done the doctor thing all these years and have gotten some answers and some help, but still felt horrible. I couldn't exercise or I would get a migraine after even just 10 minutes. I walked some, but even that would wipe me out for hours. I was always hot and could sweat up a storm just setting up a little bit at church. I was getting scared.
I found a few things and tried a few things.
One of my biggest issues is inflammation. I'm always inflamed. My hands are always swollen. My knuckles are always white. When they aren't, I try really hard to think of what I've done differently to try to figure out what I can continue to do!
Then, in an innocent conversation with my mom, she says that there is a talk-show doctor saying that all heart disease can be cured by treating the inflammation - that it's all about inflammation, not plaque. That cholesterol and such are just issue if the arteries are inflamed. That is you can get rid of the inflammation, the BP would reduce.
Back a few years I had been tracking my diet - along with an inflammation score. Yes, inflammation factors for food are out there. So, I tried something new - to eat not only a net score of positive inflammation factor (which is a good thing - the idea is to shoot for +50), but to go even higher and see how well it works.
WOW!
I am a new person!
I wasn't perfect about it at first, but I did try really hard to stay in the positives and I felt good. Then on Monday I did great, and Tuesday, too. Both days really great. So that made 4 days of good to great and then I went to Zumba on Tuesday night.
Now remember - I haven't been able to exercise much at all. I have even been through a Zumba session at the church and couldn't do it all.
Not Tuesday!!! I did ALL of it - with the exception of a few higher leveled moves that required more strength than my muscles had to give, I did all of it! No headache!
Wednesday morning I exercised with no headache! And I hadn't taken my BP meds yet either! So when I got home I cooled all the way down and took it - it was LOWER!!! Significantly lower! And this morning before we went to work out I took it and it was still low! (Yes, I'm still taking my meds!)
I was a bit cautious about the workout on Wednesday but today I went all out and sweated up a storm! What fun that was! No fear of pain! OK, yeah, I am sore, but it feels so GOOD! I don't like feeling bad and in pain. I don't like being tired all the time. I've missed my energetic self!
I had felt much better when I started taking a progesterone hormone that I don't make, but it only went so far. Still couldn't exercise. It helped with the weight a little, but not much. That's the weight that went back on when I stopped it.
But this - this is awesome! Still feeling a little tightness in my hands that might be some inflammation, but maybe that is residual. Maybe it's the weight and will go away in time. Maybe it's more muscles because I'm using them more....
So - after some more searching, I'm now on a very strict diet for 2 weeks to get rid of all inflammation foods and all carbs. No dairy. No eggs. No bread or sugar or anything with either of them in it. No grains. No fruit. Only veggies, fish, and some poultry at times. Two weeks. That's all.
Then I will start introducing some food back into my diet. I will start with the yogurt and work my way through the dairy stuff. They have no carbs but they have fairly high inflammation factors. That should tell me if it's the inflammation factors I need to watch or the carbs.
If it's the carbs, then I will continue and add grains back in slowly. I will start with the non-glutens and then into the glutens. I will need to be careful, though, not to eat grains with sugar, so no bread at this point. (Then there's the yeast issue, but I will get into that if I have no reactions to the other stuff)
Fruit will be the last thing I try to add back in. Or, if I react to the grains (I would think I might react to the gluten grains like wheat if I react at all) I will take those back out and try fruit instead.
I think it's the sugar.
God's been telling me for years to cut out all sugars.
He can't heal me if I don't do what He says.
So when I finally do what He says, I get a healing....
All those prayers. All that pain. All those years... Just because I didn't follow directions.
I didn't want to! I like sugar! I love my Coke! I love my Reese's PB Cups!
I learned my lesson!
How often I get into a situation like this with God and I feel like a little kid all over again getting caught with my hand in the cookie jar.
Shame
I supposed to be leading and teaching others how to listen and follow God's directions and I just ignore them for years because I don't WANT to follow them.
I need to be grounded. LOL
Actually, the punishment is much worse than that for disobedience to God - but I serve a merciful and gracious God who will forgive me and give me wonderful things now that I chose to follow His directions.
Thank you, God, for knowing what I needed even when I wouldn't listen. And thank you for not giving up on me.
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