My search for approval is over. In Christ I already have all the approval I need. Because Christ’s righteousness has been transferred to me, all the time and energy I once squandered trying to be liked or praised or to achieve something to validate my existence can now be re-directed toward doing things for God’s glory. I no longer live for approval; I live from approval.

Dave Harvey, Rescuing Ambition (Crossway, 2010), 56

Watch How You Pray

A Look At Matthew 6:5-15

Matthew 6 contains some of the best known teaching of Jesus on the topic of prayer, and in it, Jesus gives us an example of how to pray in The Lord’s Prayer.

Prayer: Matthew 6:5-15

All through the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches with the use of contrasting statements: This is what we should do, versus this is what we shouldn’t do. This is exactly what he does with the topic of prayer in Matthew 6:5-15.

To start off, Jesus gives an example of the wrong way to pray, and tells his followers not to be like the hypocrites. These are people who make a public show of their piety for the reason of drawing attention to themselves. Their motives are wrong. Their desire was to be seen by others, and not to have a conversation and communion with God. That’s what the hypocrites do. The word “hypocrite” is an old word for actor, or one who impersonates another. It was used to describe someone who pretended to be someone else, or who wore a mask. It was used originally to describe actors on a stage, but came to mean anyone who was pretending to be something he is not…And it’s not usually used in a good sense.

Instead, Jesus suggests that we go to an inner room, someplace where we can withdraw from the world, shut out the distractions, and commune with God. Find a private place to pray, and don’t draw attention to yourself from others. The only attention you should be after is that of God. And when you withdraw, speak to him genuinely, and from the heart. Why? Because God already knows what’s on your heart. So just talk to him about it.

The Self-Aware Leader (Downer's Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2017)

Almost thirty years ago, I graduated from Ozark Christian College with an undergraduate degree in Theology, focusing on the New Testament. After three decades, I have decided to return to school and pursue a graduate degree. I had been thinking of this for a while, but when Ozark announced a new Graduate Studies program, I decided it was time. So I enrolled, and am currently in my second term pursuing a Master’s Degree in Strategic Leadership.

The Self-Aware Leader, by Terry Linhart

Going back to school has been a challenge, for sure. But it has also been a blessing in many different ways. One such blessing is the books I have been exposed to, some that are required for a course, and others that have come through the recommendation of a class or a professor.

Terry Linhart’s book, The Self-Aware Leader, is a required book for a class I am in this semester, called Self-Awareness and the Christian Leader. While it is a relatively quick and easy book to read, and flows smoothly, it’s best to slow down and take it in very deliberately. This book has the potential to be a foundational resource for making sure I stay grounded as a leader.

Often, we go through life somewhat oblivious to certain aspects of our personal or spiritual life; some are more unaware than others. But we all have blind spots, and if we want to grow as a leader — or even as a Christian — we need to identify these trouble areas, and take steps to eliminate them or improve in spite of them.

Linhart covers a wide spectrum of potential trouble areas. From conflict to pressures, from sin and temptation to emotional and relational problems, he addresses many of the areas that people — especially leaders, and especially church leaders — can struggle with. And when you are moving in the right direction… you find joy. Linhart says, “I am convinced that at the intersection of maturity, Christ-centeredness, and contentedness, we find joy. Its presence or absence is telling. When we are joyful, we have no anxiety, fear, need for control, and anger. When there is joy, there is freedom and confidence. … When joy is present, maturity and spiritual depth are right behind” (p. 105).

Life Update

The Current Circumstances Of Life

Sometimes, life gives you some unexpected circumstances and situations. That’s where I find myself right now; and I kind of expect to be here for a while. That’s not what I had planned for 2022, but it is what I’ve experienced, and have to deal with for the moment.

Broken Foot

On Christmas Day, I fell down our stairs and broke a bone in my foot, giving it a pretty bad sprain to go along with it.

But let me back up.

Last summer, I experienced a flare up of some lower back pain that sent me to the Emergency Room. They diagnosed it as a pinched nerve, and told me that it would gradually subside. And it did… to a degree. But it never really completely returned to normal. For a while, I walked with the help of a cane, but eventually managed to leave that behind me.

However, my leg was still mostly numb and unfeeling, and my foot had no sensation of whether it was off the floor or not, causing me to stumble frequently.

That’s what happened on Christmas Day. My foot drug, this time on the stairs, and down I went. We ended up in the Emergency Room that day, with a follow up at an orthopedic doctor the next week. A bone in my foot was broken, so I received a cast for a few weeks before moving to a walking boot. However, while in the cast, I developed a pretty significant blood clot in my leg. So now, we’re treating that as well.

Enjoying Life

Jesus Came To Give Us Life To The Fullest

Sunday marked the beginning of our Christmas series at my church. We will be looking at three different perspectives of the birth and incarnation of Christ from John, Matthew, and Luke. I’m excited about what God has in store through it.

Enjoying Life

As I studied the nativity accounts in both Matthew and Luke, and as I have been preparing for some future preaching series, I spent a lot of time looking at the reasons why Jesus came to earth. John’s gospel offers a lot of insight into that question as he covers the teaching ministry of Jesus.

One particular verse stood out to me. It’s a short statement Jesus made, and I’ve read it over and over, quoted it numerous times, and generally understood it. But something about it really jumped out this time through it. It’s found in John 10, right in the middle of Jesus’ discussion about being the Good Shepherd. In verse ten, Jesus tells us what the purpose of the enemy is for us, to steal, to kill and to destroy. But then he says this:

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Jesus came so that we could have life. How many times have you read that? How many times have I? Probably too many to count. But have you ever stopped to consider just what “life” Jesus is talking about?

The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one’s “own,” or “real” life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one’s real life–the life God is sending one day by day: what one calls one’s “real life” is a phantom of one’s own imagination.