A Way Out

I remember hearing someone say once that, "The Bible says that God won't let anything happen to me that I can't handle... and since I couldn't handle having a baby with a disability, I don't think God will ever let that happen to me." ... that's pretty messed up thinking. I mean, seriously, things happen to people all the time that they probably thought that they couldn't handle. That's just the reality of life!

I thought of this conversation because last night, at group, we talked a bit about the Bible verse that this person was referring to, 1 Corinthians 10:13, "And God is faithful.  He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand.  When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure."

First, it's interesting how we often take Bible verses like these and twist them into meaning something that it really doesn't mean. i.e. "God won't let anything happen to me that I can't handle." Umm...not even close!  This verse is actually addressing our struggle with sin - 'temptations' - not difficult life circumstances.  And, whatever the struggle is that we are facing - God is allowing us to face it because he knows that we can handle it.  "You can stand" as the verse says.

Second, and this is some of what we talked about last night - God always provides us a way out in our struggles. Not that our struggles will just disappear if we pray harder & harder, but that God will show us a way out so that we don't have to give into our struggles any longer.  And often, the way out that God provides for us is found in.......wait for it......EACH OTHER!  Real community. Open and honest friendships. People who care about us and want to see God's best for us.  Unfortunately, too many of us struggle alone - in isolation - hoping that God will just some how heal us and take away our struggles. Too many Christians think that faith is only an individual/personal thing.  Meanwhile God is waiting for us to take the initiative and to reach out to the community of people that he has placed around us and to say that four lettered word that we all hate to say.... "H-E-L-P!"

The Me I Want to Be

I just saw this video this morning and thought I'd share it with you.  It's from John Ortberg's new curriculum/'church wide experience', "The Me I Want to Be: Becoming God's Best Version of You".  Solid stuff!  Check it out, it's worth the 14 minutes and 38 seconds of your day...

LifeKeys

This past weekend at Southridge I facilitated a workshop called "LifeKeys" - a program that helps people discover the unique ways that God has wired them and wants to use them.  It was a ton of fun!

A couple quick thoughts as I reflect back on the weekend: 

1. People love learning about themselves...

And we should!  Not in a weird 'being-obsessed-with-yourself-and-never-actually-getting-off-your-butt-and-doing-anything' kind of way, but in a God-honouring/church unifying kind if way. Understanding who God has created us to be honours God's individual design for each of us and helps us play our role as part of 'the body' more effectively.  So... never feel bad for wanting to learn more about yourself!

2. I'd love to have everyone in the church do this workshop!

Not because "LifeKeys" is necessarily the most amazing self-discovery tool in the world (although it's pretty freakin good - I think anyway), but because of the clarity and the motivation that God breathes into us as we examine who He has created us to be.  I can't help but wonder how many people, at Southridge & beyond, aren't plugged into service because they don't know where they fit?  Or, how many people are plugged into service roles that they probably shouldn't be plugged into because it's potentially a bad fit (or at least not 'the best fit')?  And I'm just talking about volunteer roles at the church (although that may be part of it).  I'm talking about our lifestyle. I'm talking about the kind of life God wants for us.  I think we'd all have much more to contribute to our families, to our friends, to our neigbourhoods and to our workplaces if we clearly understood who God has created us to be...

So, if Southridge is your home and you'd like to do LifeKeys with us (how can you say no after all that??! ;) we will be offering it again over the first weekend of June.  Friday June 4 (7PM-9:30PM) to Saturday June 5 (9AM-4:30PM).  I'd love to have you join us!

Indispensable

We are all indispensable.  That's right, I just said that - INDISPENSABLE.  There's this belief out there that "God doesn't need me" and that "I'm replaceable" and that "no one is 'indispensable'".  Every heard anyone (yourself?!) say something like this before?

While the humble heart attitude behind this is great, the idea that "no one is 'indispensable'" is simply not true.  The truth, as I see it, is that the church isn't being the church unless everyone is playing their part.  That means that no one is replaceable.  No one is dispensable.  YOU have a unique contribution to make.  YOU were designed by God to play a significant, unique part in God's redemptive plan for our world.  YOU were chosen, before God even created the planet, to do good works for Him... And if you don't do it, no one else will do it for you.  There is only one you!

So...what are you waiting for??!

(For a different/way-better-than-mine perspective on this, check out Seth Godin's great book "Linchpins")

Uniqueness

"Train up a child in the way he should go [and in keeping with his individual gift or bent], and when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6 (AMP)

The "Amplified Bible" puts a bit of a different spin on this oft-quoted Bible verse, doesn't it?!  It speaks pretty clearly to one of the most important jobs that we have as parents - helping our children to understand the unique ways that God has wired & gifted them, and then fostering that uniqueness within them.

In a world where it's often all about taking and consuming, even in church-world (I know, it's shocking to think...) - I want my boys to grow up knowing that they have something very special and unique to give. That God, in his amazing love, has brought them into the world to be world-changers.

So how can we foster this God-designed uniqueness in our kids?

Off-Site!

Developing leaders into the kind of people who are absolutely crazy about Jesus and have a Matthew 9 stomach-wrenching love and compassion for people... this is some of the hardest & most exciting work in church ministry (I think, anyway!).  On Wednesday, we (the Groups Team at Southridge) are taking the day off-site to wrestle through this stuff (along with a few other things, of course!) and to take a good hard look at how we do this at the church within our within small group ministry.  If you think of us on Wed, could you pray for us?  For wisdom and creativity? And could you pray with us for God to send more 'workers'?

"When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.  Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field" Matthew 9:36-38

The Idolatry of Ideas...

"Until the love of God that knows no boundary, limit, or breaking point is internalized through personal decision; until the furious longing of God seizes the imagination; until the heart is conjoined with the mind through sheer grace - nothing happens.  The idolatry of ideas has left me puffed up, narrow minded, and intolerant of any ideas that do not coincide with mine."

"Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn't really know very much.  But the person who loves has full knowledge" 1 Cor 8:2-3

A Question

I dare you to ask yourself this question. And then ask yourself again tomorrow and then again the next day...

"Am I responding to the love of Jesus living within me concretely and consistently in my love for others?"

(Thanks to Brennan Manning, "The Furious Longing of God")