Saturday, April 26, 2003

Pain is Inevitable, Misery is Optional - Choose Joy! Google Search It I already commented some on the March 3rd New Community talk from Willow Creek entitled "Flow, A Beautiful Mind," by John Ortberg (see Avoiding Possible Delusion Through Small Group Discernment).  I would like to add some further thoughts, however. "All thoughts have a spiritual charge to them and thoughts with a mind set on the spirit always lead to hope and never despair, virtue and never sin, growth and never stagnation, truth and never illusion, authentic love and never arrogance. Essentially thought governed by the spirit lead to life and those governed by the sinful life lead to death.  Therefore, "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things."  (Colossians 3:2) John Ortberg goes on to describe some research published in a book called Flow.  The research concludes that when people are alone and not distracted by activity their minds tend to wonder to thoughts of awareness of disconnectedness, anger, anxiety about the future, and chronic self-preoccupation.  It is no wonder, therefore, why people generally flee from solitude. As I reflect on this I wonder how much of my thought life leads to life and how much leads to death?  Are all negative thoughts a result of not being spiritually focused?  When I get discouraged and wonder whether my marriage will ever be as good as Elisabeth and I dream it could be, whether my son will ever start obeying me the first time or whether I will ever gain control over my workload am I perhaps the victim of thoughts not lead by the Holy Spirit.  Yes!  And, in response, I need to label these as such, identify them as illusions that do not reflect reality or thoughts inspired by Jesus Christ.  At the very least I should not be sharing them with other unless it is to request that they help me to identify the illusion and over come it.  Actually, many times these thoughts may be true (for example I don't really expect my son will start obeying me the first time...at least no always) but they are corrupted and moved inappropriately to center stage such that they get the focus rather than "things above."  Note that this doesn't mean that bad things won't happen but rather that even when they do, it is how I respond that really makes the difference.  God never desires for me to be joyless!  Never!  Even when life is seemingly destitute or a loved one dies.  Sadness is totally appropriate and God desires so much to comfort me.  However, God does not wish that I be miserable and he wants to help me as much as I am willing, to overcome the sadness.  In the day-to-day events of life there will be pain.  What I do with that, however, is up to me.  Ultimately, I need to choose joy!  This reflects a mind set on Christ. God, help me to be Christ centered in all I think and do. 10:55:32 PM   []    comment []

What is Your IQ (Interruptibility Quotient)? Google Search It These reflections are based on a Dec. 4th Willow Creek New Community talk entitled, "Recognizing Divine Interruptions" by John Ortberg. In the talk John exposited on Luke 1:26-56.  This is the passage where Mary is visited by an angel and foretold the birth of Jesus.  Perhaps the key point that John makes is that Mary has a high interruptibility quotient and that furthermore, when she is interrupted, she respond with, "I am the Lord's servant" (Luke 1:38). So Lord, what is my interruptibility quotient?  It is certainly not as high as it should be.  Just as importantly, when you do interrupt me do I have the attitude of being your servant?  Am I truly willing to do whatever you ask?  I am reminded as I consider this question that it is not just the big interruptions either.  In fact, it is possible that there won't be any big interruptions until I am able to handle the little interruptions appropriately.  God, please help me to better monitor your channel and until I get good at it would you please yell just a little louder, especially when I have selective hearing or choose to ignore you altogether. 10:26:16 PM   []    comment []

The Purpose Driven Life: What Drives Your Life? Google Search It Chapter 3 discusses five of the most common forces that drive people:  guilt, resentment and anger, fear, materialism and lastly, the need for approval.  As I carefully considered each of these none of them seemed to be true for me.  Sure, I am perhaps motivated by a little of each but I don't think any of them is particularly compelling to me.  And yet many people close to me would describe me as a driven person (not something I take as a complement).  What drives me?  I discussed this some with Elisabeth and her response was that I am driven to be the best I can be and to push myself to the limit in every area not just certain areas of my life.  I am driven by self achievement, to be self actualized.  I am striving to be all that I can be and live life to the fullest. Personally I think Elisabeth's perception is quite accurate.  I too would say that I am driven to be all that I can be.  (She knows me well.)  The hard question in response to this, however, is what is wrong with that?  Elisabeth points out that it is (or at least it can be) very selfish, self focused... living for self.  Yikes... again, there is a lot of truth to this.  However, this does not mean that being driven to be all that I can be is something to try to abandon.  Rather I think an adjustment is required.  I need to focus my energies to be all that God wants me to be.  Perhaps a subtle distinction in wording but a ginormous difference in practice.  I confess I am certainly guilty of being too self focused and too little God focused.  To be all that God wants me to be is to take my drivenness to be all that I can be and make sure that the scope of all that I can be is limited to the things God wants me to be.  In so doing, I may have to give up some seemingly good things. On this idea Elisabeth is in complete agreement.  She points out that I can't do it all.  I want to but I can't.  I have a desire to do everything but the challenge for me is to give up some areas and focus on particular areas that are most important.  This means often giving up good things for even better things.  Or, as Rick Warren points out (italics mine), "If you want your life to have impact, focus it!  Stop dabbling.  Stop trying to do it all.  Do less.  Prune away even good activities and do only that which matters most."  and "You become effective by being selective." (page 32) This all sounds great in principal but I struggle to understand how to apply it.  It often seems a stretch to come up with how my work is eternally focused.  And yet, at least for the moment, I think my work is the place that God wants me to be.  What about exercising?  Sure, God wants us to treat our bodies as holy temples but there is a huge spectrum of opinions on what that means in terms of the amount of exercise required.  The struggle for me is determining what are the (perhaps even good) activities that I need to prune from my life.  Especially when some of the most major portions of my life appear to lack eternal focus.  Frankly, Rick Warren does a poor job of addressing how the principles he outlines play out in real life. None-the-less, for me the change is clear.  I need to be driven by all that God wants me to be.  To be the best that I can be at doing the things and being the person that Jesus wants me to be.  Simply making this question a part of my regular routine I expect will begin to help direct me in the right direction. Some final notes on the chapter: "Many people spend their lives trying to create a lasting legacy on earth.  They want to be remembered when they're gone.  Yet, what ultimately matters most will not be what others say about your life but what God says.  What people fail to realize is that all achievements are eventually surpassed, records are broken, reputations fade, and tributes are fogotten.... Living to create an earthly legacy is a short-sighted goal.  A wiser use of time is to build an eternal legacy. (page 33) I agree with this point wholeheartedly.  It is interesting that this provides a different goal than many parents actually strive for with their children.  For many parents the goal as a parent is to have a lasting impact on your children such that they people that are going to remember you most will have fond memories of how wonderful you were.  To have a, "the greatest Dad" written on your tombstone is one of the ultimate tributes.  However, legacy is not the goal.  Legacy may, in some circumstances, be a side effect of the goal but the goal it self is to be all that God wants you to be regardless of what legacy that may leave. Lastly, at the end of the chapter Rick Warren says that God will ask us two crucial questions when we die.  Firstly, "What did you do with my Son, Jesus Christ?".  To this question I agree entirely.  This is the deciding question between those that are saved and those that are not.  The second question, according to Rick Warren, is, "What did you do with what I gave you?"  And he goes on to say that this will determine what we do for eternity.  On this point I am not convinced.  Unfortunately, Rick doesn't reference any scripture in regards to this question and I struggle to see that such a question would really take such prominence.  Hmmmm..... 9:34:18 PM   []    comment []

© Copyright 2004 Mark Michaelis.