8 Talents

Last night I was running an errand, I needed to pickup popcorn for a few children who would soon be watching Cars as their parents attended a meeting. I hadn’t decided where I was going to go to get the popcorn from, but I turned right out of our housing area. One half mile down the road I saw a guy walking and pushing his bicycle, with a flat tire, along at a slow pace. It was a little after 6:30, 37 degrees outside, and very dark. It is a fairly safe guess, due to where we live and the time of day, that he had been pushing his bike from town since he got off work at 5:00. A mile down the road, I decided to go see if he needed a ride. You could hear the frustration in his voice as he stated he only had a half mile left to go. I responded with, “So your fine?” To which he replied gruffly, “Yeah.” I left.

After that a lot of questions popped into my mind. Why did it take me so long to turn around? What kind of question is “So your fine?” in a situation like that? Why didn’t I followup and sincerely offer help to save him the last 10 minutes of his walk? Why had no one else offered to give him a ride? Oh for more compassion.

So I have been tracking a project of a couple of guys trying to make it in the Music industry.  They recently made a request for ideas on ways they could promote themselves.  I wrote in with an idea.

I didn’t know they were planning on using my idea, so when my idea showed up in their podcast feed I was ecstatic.  They even mentioned my name.

I found myself listening to the commentary they posted a couple of times.  Every-time I heard my name I had felt some pride about having my idea used.  In fact, a little to much pride. What is that? In this situation, sin.

In spite of my pride, I highly recommend New Music Monday.

I have been greatly challenged by the teaching of Francis Chan, Pastor of Cornerstone in Simi Valley, CA, as of late. His Easter message was one unlike any Easter message I have heard before. He writes about that message in his online journal:

This past Easter, as I was preparing another “please come back and worship with us all year” message, it occurred to me: Jesus never begged. On the contrary, He made others beg. God sees Himself as so valuable that He expects us to beg to follow Him! When people did beg for Him, he made sure they knew how difficult it would be to follow Him. His point: God is only interested in those who desperately want Him, treasure Him, and would give anything up to follow Him…

…Why haven’t I answered people like Christ? I hate rejection. I’m scared of loved ones rejecting God, so I don’t share too much of the commitment Christ requires. That would increase the likelihood of rejection. I share the benefits of Christianity. Then beg them to agree. I don’t ask too many questions because I’m scared of how they might answer. I don’t really want to know if they’re not true followers. I just want to keep believing that they are. In doing this, I’ve preached a message that cheapens the value of God.

God calls us to accurately describe the glory of God and invite people to treasure Him and pursue Him whole heartedly. Our goal should be to act like Christ and teach like Christ. Jesus humbled Himself to take the form of a servant, not a beggar. Let’s keep serving people, sacrificing for people, loving people…. but let’s stop begging. It cheapens the value of the God we’re called to magnify. Let’s tell how great out God is, and let them beg.

The biggest thing that jumps out at me is the idea of cheapening the value of God, with my words. When I make any person the center of my teaching there is something lost, something essential. When you think about the glory of God, when you try to wrap your mind around who He is, there is nothing that we need to do or add to make Him more attractive or appealing to anyone. There is nothing we can do to accomplish those things.

My heart is that God would use me to cast seed into good soil rather than have a lot of seeds germinate in the rocks and thorns. I encourage you to follow the embedded links to see the full journal entry. You can also find his sermon pod-casts, I have listened to five and there is some stellar teaching in them.