Cause or Christ

I don't think you can "Re-Blog" like you can "Re-Tweet" on Twitter, but if I could I would ReTweet this great post by Heather Zempel on whether we are motivated by cause or by Christ.  You need to read it.  

And just in case you missed the buried link I'll give it to you once again...

Read it here.

Be a Student of Your Specialty

They say that the best players in a game make the worst coaches.  They can't teach it because it comes so naturally to them that they have a hard time putting it into words, let alone grasping the fact that someone else can't do what they do.  

But one of the greatest dangers for a great player is that its easy to be lazy.  Because things come easily, they don't have to try as hard.  They can rely on raw talent and still succeed while others have to work and study the game without any guarantee of success.  Consequently, the greatest challenge for a great player is learning to become a great student as well.

And the same is true for you.  Chances are there's something you do amazingly well.  So well, in fact, you hardly think about it.  You just do it.  And there lies the danger.  You don't think about it enough.  In fact, the only time you think about it is when you aren't given the chance to do it - but you don't spend enough time learning to do what you do best, better. 

Don't settle for being a great player.  Be a great student too.  Learn what you do best and then learn how to do it better. 

Be a student of your specialty.

Just for a Season

"We are left for a season among men, let us faithfully represent Him here."

-- A. W. Tozer

Spending

We talked about power this weekend at Chase Oaks, the power that we have simply because we have while many in the world have not.  As a part of the conversation Nathan George, founder of Trade As One, was with us and he said something that hit deep:

"Everyone in the church talks about giving the 10%, but no one ever talks about what we do with the other 90%.  Isn't the way we spend a discipleship issue?"

It should be.  But never before had I considered it.  The truth of the matter is that God holds those of us who have (plenty) responsible for those who have not - and He calls us to be generous not just with the 10% of what we give but also the 90% that we often keep.

The truth of the matter is how you and I spend "our" money is a discipleship issue.  It isn't enough just to be frugal and drive a used car and think that somehow that is what "stewardship" is all about.  True stewardship fights for equity (2 Cor. 8:13-15).  True stewardship is fair and considers what others make because God calls His people to care when laborers and wages are abused (Isaiah 58:3, 5; Malachi 3:5).

For too long the church has operated as though the test of our stewardship is in our giving when in fact the real test of our stewardship may just lie in our spending.

Christ Didn't Come to Give Us Something

Too many Christians are walking around with the notion that Christ came to give them something.  It's a very me-centric theology.  

And it's dead wrong.

Christ didn't come to give us something, He came to give God something.  Christ came to return to God what was rightfully His... creation.  Christ's goal wasn't to please us, it was to please the Father.  His goal wasn't to bring us glory, His goal was to bring the Father glory.  Consequently, He wasn't really interested in securing something for us as much as He was for the Father.

Sure, we get a great bit out of this deal.  Forgiveness.  Restoration.  Eternity.  But that's a byproduct... we're beneficiaries of something done primarily for God.  

The Christian religion has to do with God and man, but its focal point is God, not man.  -- A.W. Tozer