Sometime we forget who we are and who God is. I have come to realize that the foundation of change is always built on knowing who we are and who God is. The journey of knowing this is not complete this side of heaven, but I would encourage you to begin that journey and enjoy each step.
Be completely humble and gentle; Be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. – Ephesians 4:2-3
“We live in a culture that has, for centuries now, cultivated the idea that the skeptical person is always smarter than one who believes. You can almost be as stupid as a cabbage as long as you doubt.”
― Dallas Willard, Hearing God
“Our Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of it sorrows, but empties today of its strengths’ – Charles H. Spurgeon
If I truly believed that God loved me and was with me, how would it change the way I loved my wife or daughter and son-in-law? When my heart and mind is focused on the truth that God loves me unconditionally and He is with me, I am more patient, kind, loving and I desire to serve them. My behavior is not a force of effort but a natural response to the understanding that I am loved and secure.
Is it possible to believe something without it producing some action or behavior?
faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. – James 2:17
Knowing the ‘right answers’ does not mean we believe them. To believe them means to act as though they’re true. – Dallas Willard
You will never know how much you believe something until it is a matter of life and death – C S Lewis
Most of what we think we see as the struggle OF faith is really the struggle to act as IF we had faith when in fact we don’t. – Dallas Willard
“Grace means there is nothing I can do to make God love me more, and nothing I can do to make God love me less.” – Philip Yancey
You have to learn to keep yourself company before you can truly keep someone else company.
We all talk to ourselves. We start it about age two, talking out loud. We have all seen the little toddler walking around jabbering. Around age four to six we start talking in our heads. We begin to understand it isn’t socially acceptable to talk out loud so we begin to do it in our heads.
I have found as social media has grown, so has our ability to create a false self or image. Marriage is the one place I can’t do that. My wife sees my struggles and successes. She experiences how I handle disappointment….How I handle temptation….How I handle life and the relationships in it. She really knows me, and the amazing thing is she still loves me. God uses her acceptance and love to create change in my heart. Her love is a mirror of how Christ’s love and kindness leads us to repentance Romans 2:4. I think this is the mystery that Paul talks about in Ephesians. Unconditional love takes our breath away and creates the soil of transformation. The love a couple has should be a model of the true love and grace found in Christ. Ephesians 5:22-33
“It’s an act of our will to choose to see people simply as wildly loved by God, to assume their beauty before guessing their depravity.” Mary DeMuth
“We are a Divine work of art, something that God is making and therefore something with which He will not be satisfied until it has a certain character.” C.S. Lewis – The Problem of Pain
In the pain and joy of my life…especially the pain of my life. I find that the question “What’s God doing with my life?” always floats into my head. I have a Father in heaven that is involved and concerned with me. What is He doing? Has he forgot about me? I don’t think we have concrete answer to these questions. Job and Isaiah can attest to that. But God is doing something. I am convinced that He is constantly working in our lives. He is orchestrating and directing the world so two things will always happen:
…most people at work, even in high performing organisations, divert considerable energy every day to a second job that no one has hired them to do: preserving their reputations, putting their best selves forward, and hiding their inadequacies from others and themselves. We believe this is the single biggest cause of wasted resources in nearly every company today. What would happen if people felt no need to do this second job?” – Robert Kegan, Making Business Personal, Harvard Business Review. April, 2014
Interesting quote. This part of the quote stands out to me “hiding their inadequacies from others and themselves”. If the goal is hiding, you never learn how to manage or improve the “Inadequacies”. You put energy into managing your struggles. There is less energy or focus to manage goals, priorities, people or programs.
Each of us has 100% available to us everyday. That is a metaphor for the time, energy, focus, or skills that you have available to use each day. This seems obvious but examine how do you spend that 100% – your time, energy focus or skills. How much is spent managing anxiety, depression, worry, fear, stress or addiction, the list could go on and on.
I learned a long time ago that the more I tried to deny or hide my problems the more they grew. My goal is to live in the sweet spot of my strengths, but that is not accomplished by hiding my weaknesses. I have learned that I need community, a desire to learn and grow and an intimate relationship with God. I struggle with keeping this in balance, but I want to live in the light not hiding in the dark.
Have you seen the truth of the quote above in your life or in the people or organizations you manage?
This is the first verse that I memorized – Proverbs 3:5-6. This passage is still constantly in my thoughts. It brings comfort and direction. We all need to trust with the depths of our heart in something larger than ourselves. When we are lost in fear or doubt, believing that God is with us and directing us is vital.