09.28.19 - week 22
on continual focus on the gospel
one of the things that drives me nuts while watching football is when the coach overthinks things. when he gets so buried in deeper levels of thinking that he ceases to do what makes most sense.
aka … if it’s 3rd and 7, don’t throw a 6-yard pass. sometimes increasing in knowledge volume doesn’t make us smarter. it makes us more confused.
i’m not one for meme’s (that’s my brother landon’s territory), but this one hit me between the eyes. there is such a temptation to be distracted on a certain component of our faith and lose sight of the beautiful mysterious forest. that is particularly true for those of us who have followed jesus for a long time. don’t overthink things or imagine that you can mature past this truth hitting you deep in the gut. he died. and you didn’t deserve it. and everything good comes from that reality.
“for i delivered to you as of first importance what i also received: that christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures.”
1 corinthians 15:3
KG Korner
(a few wise words from lady kristen macdonald)
In the middle of January I was reading through the Psalms one morning and somehow it was miraculously quiet in my house. I wish I could dig the journal out but it is in some bin somewhere that I can’t seem to locate. It was one of those moments that God reminded me that In ALL things I needed to be thankful. Later that afternoon a friend from my small group texted me this commentary from her Bible without knowing what I had read earlier:
“We are to thank God continually for His goodness, His eternal love, and His faithfulness. The thanksgiving aspect of worship is repeated again and again throughout the Psalms. Paul underscored how important this is for Christians when he wrote, ‘Rejoice always! Pray constantly. Give thanks in everything, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.’ Paul was not teaching that we are to give thanks for tragedies in our lives, but to be thankful that in these tragedies, God’s goodness toward us, His love for us, and His faithfulness to his promises concerning us will never fail. The author of Hebrews affirmed that God will ‘never leave (us) or forsake (us).’ To affirm this promise, the author of Hebrews cited David’s testimony; “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’ - my friend’s Bible
I took that duo which brought conviction and motivation to straight up choose thankfulness. For us that looked simply like leaving a journal at my bedside and dictating a few things at days end we were thankful for.
This proved to be so powerful. This particular season was ridden with hardship at every turn and yet there was always something to be thankful for. It could have been small things with my kids, a kind text from a friend or a big huge answer to prayer - it didn’t matter, it was a daily decision to see much good when it felt like I could have easily just focused on the hard.
The other day I had felt convicted to make a list of all the answers to prayer I have seen God do in 2019 because there are A LOT. I am not done with that list because I don’t want to forget each of the details of his goodness in his provisions. More than anything as I skim the list I see that his listening ear is real and that he’s heard the prayers of my heart as I have poured it out over and over to him. (Psalm 6:9, 66:19, 116:1) That doesn’t mean that He’s answered them in my timing or my way but He has heard me and answered me.
Back to my extensive list for 2019: Tears streamed down my face similarly to right now. There were specific things he did, doors he opened that I wrote down. Provisions he made some of which we called : breadcrumbs - when he hasn’t given you the answer or the provision yet but he gives you something today to show you He’s working. There were people’s names I wrote down because they spoke life or they prayed belief over us.
Maybe for you it’s a list. Or it could be a word study on gratitude and thankfulness in God’s Word. Like me, it could be a long list to recall all he has done for you this year. I believe it will prove to be a helpful task to do one of these things in order to stir gratitude in your own heart because that’s where God wants us to be. ‘For what do you have that you did not receive?’ (1 Cor. 4:7)
Cup of Leadership
non-judgmental listening is often the best gift you have to give the people around you.
by letting someone say what they are thinking or feeling or considering without needing to fix or coax or assess them in real time, you give shelter. because many of us who love the bible struggle not to be ‘sin-hunters,’ this isn’t intuitive behavior. we prefer to give answers or prescriptions. there is a time and place for that of course, but i think we default there because it’s easier.
judgement is easier than presence. verdict is easier than value. to allow someone the gift of showing the unflattering parts of their heart without weaponizing them sometimes requires getting in the muck. many of us would tell david he ‘shouldn’t say that’ or ‘doesn’t trust god enough’ while he worked his feelings through writing some the more emotive psalms. i have a few people in my life that excel at this, and interestingly, they are the ones i go to for advice or counsel when i’m ready for it.
oh, the comfort —
the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person —
having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words,
but pouring them all right out,
just as they are,
chaff and grain together;
certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them,
keep what is worth keeping,
and then with the breath of kindness blow the rest away.
- dinah craik (often wrongly attributed to george eliot)
Book Review
i have never been asked to do a ‘blurb’ for a book before. well that’s not completely true. i have never (to my memory) done one that was actually used. i think a few times i was used as a ‘safety school’ and some of the better people came through and so the guy didn’t need me. also, one time i thought the book was heretical and bad, so that didn’t really work out. anyway, my friend kevin miller wrote this book to celebrate 10 years as a senior pastor of a church he and his wife started outside nashville.
he’s a good friend and i was blessed to read his manuscript and provide this for the inside cover.
Sermon of the Week
all 6 messages from my series on the life of joseph are now on youtube, would love for you to check them out.
3 Things I Really Liked This Week
1. our family LOVES american ninja warrior. its been such a fan show to watch with our wild mac boys the last few hours. my personal favorite guy was the champ this year, watch this and be amazed by his skill and dedication.
2. i have been very blessed by this song .. really lovely melody + poerty
3. i wrote an article about the joseph series, would love for you to read it here.