TO KNOW CHRIST AND TO MAKE HIM KNOWN

TO KNOW CHRIST AND TO MAKE HIM KNOWN

Thursday, April 19, 2018

Leadership 101


Leaders need to lead people, not herd them if they want to see real and lasting results. When you herd people, you push, prod, and cut them off, while shoving them in the desired direction. When you lead people, you put yourself out front, show them how to face dangers, and demonstrate the ways successful people live. 

Leaders who herd are more dictators than leaders, for they operate from a basis of fear. Leaders who lead are like Christ Himself, who gave up all the rights and privileges He rightfully had, to serve those He had created. 

For some reason, many think that leading is having others serve you when in reality, it is the leader having the opportunity to serve those being led. 

Church leaders who work 40 hour weeks and expect those in their church who work 40 plus hours a week should volunteer to do more should be leading the pack in volunteer hours. 

Ministry leaders who ask for people to give to their ministries should be the first one giving to their ministries.  I have heard those in ministry say that they provide to their ministry by working for less than they deserve, and that may be true. However, one must realize that getting paid what one deserves is a relative term and that many who give to their cause could very well be making less than them.  Real leaders always lead, do not make excuses, and reject the idea that the masses are there to serve their needs. 

The Bible states that we need to care for those who minister to us, and indeed we should, and in many cases, we are not. Those who give their lives to caring for the flock should be cared for by the flock, and it is often difficult for the shepherd to teach the sheep this principle. 

With that understood, it is still the responsibility of the shepherd to lead by showing the sheep how to care for others. 

There is a mindset on both sides that needs to be adjusted. Those in ministry need to focus on leading in the area in which they are asking their followers to participate. Those who are seeking help from those in ministry need to make sure their needs are met. This is reasonable and responsible.

Leaders understand that this life is not about using people to make our lives better. Instead, it is about making all those around us successful. We need to keep thinking about what our role is in the body of Christ, and function in that role without hesitation, trusting God to ultimately provide our needs. 

Perhaps we struggle to produce disciples today because our leaders are herding rather than leading. It should not and does not need to be this way. 

Sunday, April 8, 2018

Complicated Part 2


What is it that fuels the complicated in life? Those who live complicated lives often talk of having no alternatives to the complication, and often endure, rather than live life. Those who live in a world that is too complicated eventually need to find help to ease their troubled minds, and entire ministries and industries have arisen to help make sense of these complicated lives. 

Perhaps those who have developed a knack for raising funds and validating themselves and their ministries have caused this epidemic of complication. There are marriage and family ministries because marriages are so complicated. There are counseling centers, rehab centers, and crisis hotlines in abundance. Stress is a favorite target of mental and physical caregivers, and medications and alcohol have become norm in an overly-complicated culture. 

Listen to those who run ministries talk sometime about all the complicated and trouble family, marriages, friendships, and relationships they deal with, and how vital they are in the process of helping people sort out these complications. 

Personally, I like my marriage, and I think marriage is natural and simple. In fact, all relationships are simple, yet I tend to want to make them complicated to give me an excuse as to why there is a struggle at times. I know why there is a struggle at times. I am sinful and self- centered, and that causes troubles. (It is much easier to deal with the complications in life than my sin.)

We do not need a long seminar to point out the fact that my sin causes separation from all good in relationships, so if I deal with my sin, the relationships take care of themselves. 

I have minimized going to any of the major marriage seminars or get-aways because it seems that they major on the complicated, and they make things more complicated than when we started. 

I think the complications in life come to the Godless and just carry over into our Christian lives. Trying to make sense of life without God means you’re writing your own owner’s manual, and when you do that, you will continually be adjusting it to new circumstances, making it more complicated, and thereby, stressful.

God makes it simple. I am a sinner and my sin has separated me from Him and others. When I admit that, and start to enjoy God and His Word, I can begin to sort through the complicated, and understand and apply the simple. As I spend time with Him, His Spirit teaches, convicts, and encourages me. The many things that once were extremely complicated are now simple in that God, my Father, knows about them, and has them under control. I can trust Him. 

The Holy Spirit guides me day by day, and allows me to enjoy the maze of life, rather than be overwhelmed by it. 

When I was a kid, life was simple because my Mom and Dad needed to deal with all the details of life, and my responsibility was to obey their directives. Today is no different in that the details of life are in God’s hands, and my responsibility is to obey His directives. 


When I enjoy God, I enjoy others, and life is sensible and simple. It does not get much more profound than that.

Friday, April 6, 2018

Do We Make Things Too Complicated? Part 1


It seems that life is more complicated than it needs to be, and it remains complicated to validate many of our livelihoods. 

The following statements are not an indictment of specific jobs, but a thirty thousand-foot view of the problem in need of a solution. 

I remember helping a friend (or him helping me) by working for his moving company in downtown Chicago. Many times, we were stalled in our efforts because there was a union rule that demanded we use an elevator with an elevator operator. The elevator was normal, had numbered buttons on the inside, and the operator was not necessary. Many times, many people waited for this operator to show up, or for him to take a break, and it slowed everything down and escalated the movers' costs.

When I inquired as to why we could not push the buttons, I was told I was uncaring because the question itself showed I had no concern for this man’s livelihood. 

I began wondering that if you had a job that was not necessary, if there was any fulfillment in the job anyways.  The rules that the city had set forth made things more complicated, costly, and frankly, were absurd. 

As I thought more about this (and I had time to think as there were many delays in button- pushing), I felt bad for the company that hired me, for they were wasting their money. I felt sorry for the elevator operator in that he had to keep justifying a job that needed not exist, and I thought of all those who had jobs defending the idea that unnecessary positions were necessary. 

I often think the same thoughts about those who make a living in the “tax” world, or the accounting world. I understand that I don’t understand, and that I depend upon others to make sure I am doing it correctly, yet I cannot help but think that if we simplified things a bit, we could save a lot of resources, and these people could get jobs that did more than making the finances say whatever they want them to say. 

The government often makes things harder than it needs to be, and it seems to want us all to stay in the category of ignorant, and then coin the phrase that ignorance of the law is no excuse. 

Personally, I can simplify a lot of these things. I know how to push buttons in elevators. I would love to have some sort of percentage tax, drop all the loopholes, and minimize government involvement in our everyday lives.  If we did these little things, we would have many more productive hours in areas of creativity and growth. 

Keeping things complicated protects unnecessary jobs, while simplifying things unleashes creativity and productivity. 

Years ago, we began a non-profit educational institution. I was warned to keep it simple and I was also told, that in the long run, it would be impossible. As we grew, we needed to clarify the rules of operation, and created a policy manual. We started with some simple, common sense policies that through time needed clarification, and then more clarification. Now we have many policies in this manual, and with policies come loopholes that need to be continually addressed with more policy. Arrrgggggg!

We live in an age of communication, and sometimes I think that we are communicating too much in that most policy manuals collect more dust than eyes. 


I think that the new challenge for business and government would be how to simplify rather than complicate life, and in doing so, this would unleash a workforce that would be excited to go to work again.