Some good quotes for me to embrace today

Push aside the expectations of others and instead focus on the appreciation of what you've accomplished. If you believe in it, then that's all the truly matters. - unknown

Don't judge me on the basis of what you heard from others. Judge me on the basis of what YOU know about me, or else try knowing me. - Ashish Basumatary

There's people that are just in awe of what you do, and then there are people who just think it's garbage. And I think there are people who are just uncomfortable seeing someone have fun with their job. - Todd Barry

With fame, you can't trust everybody. You can't depend on them being there for you as a person. They will only be there because of what you've got and what you can bring to their life. It's not a relationship - it's a leech. - Chris Brown

The ultimate victory in competition is derived from the inner satisfaction of knowing that you have done your best and that you have gotten the most out of what you had to give. - Howard Cosell

Believe half of what you see and only some of what you hear, unless you hear it from me. - Chris Daughtry

Incredible change happens in your life when you decide to take control of what you do have power over instead of craving control over what you don't. - Steve Maraboli

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart . . ."

What kind of impact do you want to make?

A critical question . . . "What kind of impact do you want your life to make in the world?" What is the legacy you want to leave your children, the next generations, the Church, the disadvantaged, the Least, the Last and the Lost?

Ever since our first year of marriage when we read several books about missionaries Jim Elliot, Nate Saint and three other men who gave their lives for the feared and undiscovered "Auca" people, my wife, Leslie and I have sought to make a difference. 

Coming up on our 35th anniversary, we can look back and see our service in churches, camping, as technical support missionaries, teaching in schools, homeless shelters, and even the business and corporate sector. For us there is no dichotomy of sacred and secular. What our hands find as a task is ministry - and makes an impact. Raising our four children into responsible adults will leave its mark as well. 

Investing our lives and resources is part of the impact we make and the legacy we leave. As we steward the time, treasure and talent we are given by God, into what "accounts" are you investing those resources? Following the example of the missionaries who have given their all to the Kingdom, may I make a suggestion? Consider the impact of this ministry and what it can do with your investment of life, finances, and prayer . . . 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Elliot and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nate_Saint

Radical Christianity?

I find the argument about whether Christian has to be “radical” in order to be genuine is an interesting conversation. If we look at the etymology of the term Christian, its very roots define such a person “as following and belonging to the anointed one;” a pretty radical calling, if you ask me.   

The Greek word Χριστιανός (Christianos) [meaning "follower of Christ"] comes from Χριστός (Christos) [meaning "anointed one"] with an adjectival ending borrowed from Latin to denote adhering to, or even belonging to, as in slave ownership.^[1}

That being the case, having been bought with the price of Christ’s blood, we are no longer our own, but His. We can do nothing of our own accord, only act as His bond slave – or steward. I suppose the conversation may then shift to the issue of if one is actually following the desires of the Owner or one’s own desires . . . removing themselves from bondage to Christ.

 

As this “bondage” is a voluntary submission—not mandatory—the follower is free to act in the Owner’s interest or their own. It seems to me that such a powerful realization of salvation through Christ’s sacrifice would render a person as fully and forever awestruck of his own need and the fullness of joy in their submission to Him – such as is rendered by C.S.Lewis in his autobiography Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life (1955).

 

My own realization recalls the scene in the film “The Miracle Worker” when young, defiant Helen Keller receives her “sight” and is overcome by joy; her life is changed forever, and spends the rest of her life bringing sight to others. ^[2]

My sight was realized in July of 1976 during vespers at Sequoia National Park, where I worked for the summer. In response to a phase of sincerely seeking His grace and forgiveness, I came to a fuller knowledge of my salvation and committed myself to follow Christ . . . unknowing then what form or manner that path of service would take. I would hope that others observing my life since would say its been somewhat radical.

Having been so surprised by joy, I can’t fathom it anything else . . . He is mine and I am His. And I want others to realize that radical joy as well. 

Notes: 

1.     Bickerman, 1949 p. 147, All these Greek terms, formed with the Latin suffix -ianus, exactly as the Latin words of the same derivation, express the idea that the men or things referred to, belong to the person to whose name the suffix is added. p. 145, In Latin this suffix produced proper names of the type Marcianus and, on the other hand, derivatives from the name of a person, which referred to his belongings, like fundus Narcissianus, or, by extension, to his adherents, Ciceroniani. (underline mine)

2.     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Miracle_Worker_(1962_film)  

A Brief Review of Dallas Willard's "Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ"

[Note: this report was my submittal in the course, ML582: Character, Community and Leadership at Fuller Theological Seminary in 2009 and is edited to reflect his passing]

Willard, Dallas, 2002. Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.

            Dallas Willard (1935-2013) was a professor and former Director of the School of Philosophy at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles where he taught since 1965. Willard lived out his personal philosophy within his teaching, writing and in his strategy for his life: “I know what good work is. I’m going to do it, and I expect God to help me. I will give my life to it. Of course, I will be a prisoner of Christ; that’s what I am.”[i] This philosophy is very much evidenced in his writing and in his commitment to allowing the Spirit to reign and provide direction in his life. Although not setting out to teach in a secular university, he was led to do so subsequent to his graduate work. Willard stated that he never self-promoted himself – not seeking a position or a raise – but considers himself a “literalist in terms of the Bible,”[ii] as it relates to advancement coming from God.

            The thesis of this book is that in the process of realizing the character of Christ, one may “remove or master” each impediment to gaining that character (:10-11); and that process should be orderly – not haphazard or mysterious – to those wanting to overcome human (sinful) nature.

            Willard presents five chapters of introductory, foundation-building elements which examines mankind’s frailty in the human existence, and provides support for the development of spiritual formation; including why people often fall short of the ideal of Christ-like character.

An “Interlude” chapter reflects on the reality of seeking this transformation.  It is Willard’s perspective that our own effort falls short; we are in need of God’s grace.  He states that those who are “the greatest saints are not those who need less grace, but those who consume the most grace;” God’s grace sustains them (:93-94).

Willard then lays out through six chapters a process of transformation of: (1) Mind/ Thought; (2) Mind/Feeling; (3) Will; (4) Body; (5) Social Dimension; and (6) Soul.  These areas of one’s self are outlined earlier in chapter two as distinct areas in which we must allow the Spirit to work through for our transformation (:38). 

In the two concluding chapters Willard examines how this process of transformation interfaces with the world and within the local church.  In the world, a contrast of light and darkness presents a picture of the outcome of personal sanctification, and its effect upon us and the world we are in (:224).  Willard then presents God’s plan for spiritual formation within the congregation of the people of God with a focus on being rather than doing. 

This book makes me recall Richard J. Foster’s Celebration of Discipline.  While I read Foster’s book in 1978 during a period of discipleship, I find Willard’s book is timely to this era of my life.  Through this book I am able to more fully recognize my shortcomings and how I may have diverted from disciplines in my life, which were a critical and primary element of my new life in Christ.  I am not surprised that Foster provides an endorsement for this book.[iii]

Willard puts flesh on the teaching of sanctification in a way I need to reconsider within my life and leadership ministry, and grasp that the transforming work of the Spirit “. . . brings every element in (my) being, working from inside out, into harmony with the will of God . . .”[iv]  C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce also comes to mind, as the landscape on the way to the Kingdom feels unbearably unreachable until one repents through an act of the will.

---

[i] Dallas Willard, “My Journey To and Beyond Tenure in a Secular University” (Remarks given at the Faculty Forum Luncheon of the C.S. Lewis Foundation Summer Conference, University of San Diego, 21 June 2003), available at http://www.dwillard.org/biography/tenure.asp, Internet.

[ii] Ibid.

[iii] Richard Foster states, “No one has thought more carefully than Dallas Willard about the human personality and how it can be transformed into Christlikeness.” This endorsement is found on the back cover of the hardcover version of Renovation of the Heart.

[iv] A summary which quotes the author is found on the back cover of the hardcover version of Renovation of the Heart.

Stewardship as Mission

“As steward leaders we have a mandate to rule over and subdue this creation according to God’s vision for a redeemed world...” Dr. R. Scott Rodin, author of The Steward Leader: Transforming People, Organizations and Communities

What would happen if this type of stewardship actually took place – if the people of God recognized and appropriately acted on this mandate?  Do we truly believe that it is our responsibility to affect all of life – not just the hereafter?  Just how would having stewardship as our mission impact our message and action?  

I think the people of God need to recognize their purpose of being an extension of God’s mission (mission Dei), which the scriptures indicate restores all of creation.  Perhaps a renewed theology of stewardship in the Church can be developed through a practice of reflecting on the needs of the world and our duty to live out Christ to the world as stewards of all that He owns – for which we are responsible.  It is our role to serve the community in which we find ourselves – engaged and unselfishly serving the needs of others as though serving Christ – as Matthew 25:40 states, “to the extent that you did it to one of the least of my brothers, you did it to me.”

I would like to take this discussion one step further, into a broader stewardship role for the Church with a view of our effectively serving this world through our charity:

Dallas Willard makes an excellent point in The Spirit of the Disciplines that “charity and social welfare programs, while good and clearly our duty, cannot even begin to fulfill our responsibility as children of the light to a needy world.”  Rather than reject wealth, he then boldly calls upon the people of God to “assume the responsibility, under God and by his power, of owning and directing the world’s wealth and goods” (1988:202).  He points out that by doing so, with Christ, the Church would be able to reduce the causes of poverty.  

That is a level of stewardship the Church has not attempted on such a large scale – and likely will not without realizing that the sacred calling of God is not just within the Church, but in all vocations and careers.  The Church should commission men and women into “farming, industry, law, education, banking, and journalism with the same zeal previously given to evangelism and missionary work” (1988:214).

Once the people of God are involved as stewards in influencing the marketplace for the community’s good, they will have a hand in advising public agencies in appropriately serving the truly needy.  This culminates in the people of God showing how the Church “enters into full participation in the rule of God where they are” (1988:218).  That is true stewardship of all that God has made and put under our authority.

The Church needs to recognize its responsibility to offer the Kingdom life: reconciliation to God, to self, to society, and creation.  In order to provide the “full” gospel the people of God must become stewards, and models, of the grace of God in their own lives—our time, treasure, and talent—in order to fully practice stewardship toward others.  This requires a new perspective on possessions, ownership and personal stewardship.

Willard, Dallas. The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives. New York: HarperCollins, 1988. 

KLP: Newtown’s Child, Bethlehem’s Child (Guest Post)

Good friend, and sometimes mentor, Dr. R. Scott Rodin of Kingdom Life Publishing addresses so eloquently the question of the tragic loss of innocent life in Newtown, CT. I share it here with the hope and promise that Christ brings:  http://wp.kingdomlifepublishing.com/newtowns-child-bethlehems-child/