I have written often about seeking God’s wisdom before taking action. I am a strong believer in going first to God in getting our marching orders, regardless of the circumstances. However, I think there are some situations in which it makes no sense at all to ask God for guidance. In these cases, I believe we are on our own.
I recently wrote an article that was structured as if my future self was writing a letter back in time to my present self. Just going through the exercise of writing that article was extremely helpful (and convicting!) to me and caused me to make some significant changes in my priorities and routines. In an effort to help others in a similar way, I thought I would write another letter of advice. This one is from the present me and I am writing to my younger self!
In most of my posts, I take my time in leading you to a question, an idea, or a problem we all deal with. Today, I will start with a tough question right off the bat. Do you truly want life change from Jesus or do you simply want to be part of the crowd around Him? Don’t answer too quickly – think about it for a minute.
In Stephen Covey’s classic, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Covey asks us, the readers, to close our eyes and imagine our own funeral in the future. He then asks, “What would we want others to say about us and the lives we lived?” This is a truly effective exercise, but I think I have a slightly different twist on it. You’re going to love this!
As we look ahead at the new year, many of us take the time to determine what we are going to change about our lives. Some set financial performance goals while others make plans to learn more. There are even those who are determined to spend more time with family or enjoying their hobby. Whatever the case, we all realize there is one thing we are usually missing – margin.
Well, another year has closed out and a new year has taken its place. While there are many ways we as humans often approach a new year, I want to take a few minutes with you and discuss one I don’t believe is very common. I want to talk about your comfort zone and how it needs to viewed in the new year.
Every once in a while, I a quote hits me between the eyes. I cannot stop thinking about it. It gets into my head and stays there until I can process its meaning and application to my life. I recently came across one of these quotes and I think it is one we can all use as a litmus test to determine whether we are the leaders with passion that we seek to be.
Here is the quote:
How does this quote about passion hit you? Does it strike a chord with you?
When we really dig into the Scripture, we are often faced with examples of how we should live. This is especially true of the gospels where we find Jesus teaching directly to us through his life and his parables. Today, I want to focus on two different men that encountered Jesus and how they changed from that encounter. As I talk about each, see which one is more like you!
Why is it that we are so quick to think we know what is going on in a particular situation when we really don’t have the whole story? Why do we so often jump to conclusions about someone’s actions or behavior when our perspective is clearly limited? How is this related to our relationship with (and faith in) God?
So many things happen in our world today and we are often very quick to assume we know the whole story, including others’ motivations, circumstances, and intent. The truth is that we know very little about these things just by looking at a picture or video on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
Mike Tyson was once quoted as saying, “Everyone has a plan ’til they get punched in the mouth.” While I am not a Tyson fan, I do think his quote should get our attention. Our “plan” to define success as hearing Jesus say, “Well done” is one thing. Living it out when there are difficult circumstances…that’s a different story.