The Measure of a Man

This week Mike and I have the privilege of meeting with ROTC cadets from the Upper Midwest region at the regional Christmas Conference in Minneapolis, MN. It's been refreshing to meet with cadets from a different region, learn what is challenging and encouraging them, and find ways to encourage them to step out in faith and begin a movement to reach their ROTC peers. It has also been a week of great teaching from distinguished guests and diving deep into scripture.

One of the main speakers is a former Campus Crusade for Christ staff member who is currently an author and pastor in the Atlanta area, Crawford Loritts. He started the conference speaking on Ecclesiastes and how empty it is to find identity or joy in the things of the world. Solomon once had everything, but he bought into it and started to believe the gift was more important than the giver. As a result, all he had built up was emptied of meaning and value. During the second and third days Dr. Loritts tied together the need for prayer without ceasing (1 Thess 5:17) and sent the students off to the day of outreach after an examination of class and racism from the parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37).

It was during his last talk that he made a comment that hit me like a lightening bolt. He connected all three of his talks through one statement: the measure of the greatness of a person is seen in how they use privileges rather than how they handle responsibility.

How do you handle privileges? How do you handle responsibility? Is it a duty? An obligation? For a long time I've believed that how I handled the gravity of the responsibilities before me would be a public demonstration of the depth of my character, integrity, and conviction, but it doesn't say anything about how I've treated people along the journey or how I've built up or encouraged anyone. It only reflects how I've valued myself.

As a military officer it is easy to develop a thin (or great) sense of entitlement to the privileges and honors accorded rank and superiority. After all, we're all taught "RHIP" to keep us marching to the left of any superior officers - Rank Has It's Privileges, and to remind us that privileges are automatic with promotion. As a college graduate it can be easy to believe that some work is beneath your abilities or qualifications. It can be all to easy to slide into a leisurely and comfortable lifestyle determined by entertainment and distraction. Yet, when we navigate our lives solely by enjoying privileges this sense of entitlement can do nothing but grow. And, if we are directed only by a sense of responsibility we would be driven with pride and arrogance, an awfully sandy foundation for such carefully crafted architectural efforts.

As 2010 looms large less than 36 hours away, I'm thinking about Dr. Loritts' comment about the measure of man. I have a desire to use my privileges well. And, yet I think the only satisfaction I'll really have is for the Lord to give me opportunities that will allow me to use that which he has given without anyone else recognizing it. This doesn't mean avoid everything that brings enjoyment or pleasure, but it is necessary to ensure aren't putting the gift ahead of the giver. The gift should be used to represent the giver well.

Reverse Mentoring

Every Tuesday morning, a group of men have been meeting at a local restaurant for breakfast and fellowship. They're members of various local churches from within the denomination I grew up in. Also, they've all (except for two) long since retired. I join them when in town, partly because I desire to glean from their insights from walking with Jesus for decades, partly because I enjoy their fellowship, and partly because they need someone who's only 26 to help them make sense of the young generations in a rapidly changing world. This last role perhaps give me the greatest joy.

Last week, I led the devotions before we were served our meal. In my desire to help them understand postmodernism and its effects on the church, I wanted to give it to them in full force. So I decided to read this article for them: http://www.the-next-wave-ezine.info/issue127/index.cfm?id=50&ref=ARTICLES_CULTURE_672. The essence of the article is that right/wrong and sinner/saint are not longer cultural dichotomies that matter to young folks. The author highlighted the lyrics of a British pop song to illustrate his point. Our new world cares more about real/unreal. As postmoderns reject the possibility of truth all together, the church needs to readdress how it presents the unchanging truth of the Gospel. Instead of telling someone that their behavior is wrong and that they need a savior, which is at the same time clearly true and also quite irrelevant to many young folks, the church needs to get to the Gospel by showing how Jesus is the solution to their felts needs, the fear of being unreal. The Gospel never changes, but your presentation to it better change as you address societies with drastically varying values.

This message, was quite a shock to them, as many had never heard this before. The more than edgy lyrics perhaps was a wake up call that people don't believe the same things today as they did 50 years ago. The discussion afterward was great, as many of the men started to engage an issue they had previously given up on assuming it was too complicated. As I reminded them that this culture likely isn't more sinful, just more open in what sins the world sees, I asked that they seek to understand more than judge. I also challenged them to spend time getting to know someone very different from themselves, and listen to what matters to them, find out what they value. It is my heart that these men, many leaders in their churches, would see the need to break from those religious traditions that push young folks away. My confidence that this can happen isn't rooted in the men's wisdom or my ability to show what's going on, but rather the Holy Spirit's power to illuminate and convict us. He desires an impact on a dying world for Christ far more than any of us, and He is able.

If you're reading this and are under 30 years old, would you go do the same? Would you engage with those who because of their upbringing are very disconnected from today's culture? Would you share with them the drastic need to be missional, to Go and Be Jesus instead of just inviting disinterested people to Come and See?

If you're reading this and are over 30 years old(especially if you're over 45 or so), would you take the time to ask young people what really matters to them, and why? Seek to understand what our culture is telling us is important, then take the Gospel to us in a way that address what is important to us, not you. You can do it. We need Jesus, but telling us it's because we misbehave isn't going to make us want to listen. Again, I'm certain that the Holy Spirit can help you can figure this out if you're willing to get out of your comfort zone and follow Him.

A Jesus Manifesto?

This is a short post. Really, just a link and a few thoughts. I found this online tonight and wanted to pass it along, with prayers that you will read it and be challenged to meditate on the words and stew on their meaning.

Take time to consider the basic tenets of your own belief system and what you are proclaiming. Are you proclaiming the name and divinity of Jesus Christ, son of the Most High God; or are you devoted to being a follower of Christianity? Christianity itself cannot save you, Jesus Christ can.

When people see your actions, hear your speech, observe your countenance and attitude, do they see Christ or a churchgoer? I fear that all too often I come across as a churchgoer rather than a window to Christ Himself. I want for people around me to know Christ rather than Christianity - I want them to see and understand that liturgy, tenets and pillars are not Christ our Savior, but often all too often I fall short and allow myself to get in the way.

I'm also taken aback by the increasing amount of white noise surrounding the questions of what we shall call ourselves - emerging, traditional, organic, orthodox, house, sticky - what happened to follower of Christ? It seems to me that such an honorable title shouldn't be swept aside lightly, it should be accepted with humility for the cost of it is grave and with joy for the cost is already paid.

Be as a Berean (Acts 17:11) and discovery for yourself...http://www.the-next-wave-ezine.info/issue127/index.cfm?id=50&ref=COVERSTORY

The cross cultural mission field next door

Ever wonder why you never really clicked with your neighbor across the street? Or have you ever felt like avoiding eye contact with the person in line next to you in the store…the one with the vibrantly colored tattoos and the bars in their eyebrows? What about the lady wearing a hijab in the grocery store? So often we feel as though a cross-cultural experience can only happen with folks of different ethnic backgrounds or in an entirely new country, but really as we drift further and further from a community-centric norm, cross-cultural mission fields are closer and closer to our front door. Our tendency to surround ourselves with people very similar to ourselves provides an insular comfort zone and deadens our sensitivity to others and their needs.

Consider the path Jesus took when traveling from Judea to Galilee in John 4. He had to pass through Samaria, but rather than moving directly through as was the standard, he stopped at a well and interacted with a Samaritan woman. He could have moved passed, but he didn’t. How often do you pass quickly through areas of town that make you uncomfortable? Have you ever found yourself downtown and rolling up windows and locking your doors? Jesus didn’t. He stayed for two days.

Consider Luke 5: 27-32. Jesus calls Levi and Levi makes him a great feast. The Pharisees found the company lacking – tax collectors and others – and grumble. The Pharisees had isolated themselves to such an extreme that they were unable to recognize God among them, or the value of the creation of the God they worshipped. To isolate yourself from others to this extreme is one form of valuing yourself above them. “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Matthew 10:39.

I’ve found myself struggling with this from time to time as I get used to life in a small town after living in cities for ten years. I have a lot of room for growth, but I see the fruit of doing hard things – I’m learning about what my neighbors find important, how they think a church should run, politics, land ownership and care, and the value of waving to and acknowledging a passing car on the road. It’s awkward at times. One gentleman talked about his military service and referred to “Them Japs and Orients” over and over, another person asked about my English, and still another asked if it was hard to cook American food. This cross-cultural experience has much more to do with families who have lived in these hills for generations and generations than stamps in my passport, but I know this will prepare me for a time when my passport needs a stamp.