Empowering Words

Many years ago, I read an article about a practice session of the Green Bay Packers that illustrates what a big difference we can make by what we say and how we act towards others! On that particular day, things were not going well for Vince Lombardi’s team. Finally, Lombardi’s frustrations peaked. He singled out one of his young guards for his failure to “put out”! It was a hot muggy day when Lombardi called his big guard aside and leveled his awesome vocal guns on him! “Son, YOU are a lousy football player! YOU are not blocking! YOU are not tackling! YOU are NOT putting out! As a matter of fact, it’s over for YOU today, go take a shower!” The big guard dropped his head, turned and slowly walked into the dressing room. About forty-five minutes later, when Lombardi walked in, he saw the big guard sitting in front of his locker still wearing his uniform. His head was bowed and he was sobbing quietly!

Vince Lombardi, ever the changeable but always the compassionate warrior, did something of an about face that was also typical of him. He walked over to his football player and put his arms around his shoulder. “Son,” he said, “I told you the truth. You are a lousy football player. You’re not blocking, you’re not tackling and you’re not putting out. However, in all fairness to you, I should have finished the story. Inside of you, son, there is a great football player and I’m going to stick by your side until the great football player inside of you has a chance to come out and assert himself!” With the encouragement of these words, the young guard began to feel better. He would go on to practice another day. Knowing that he had a coach who was going to stick by his side, the young guard did begin to assert himself as a great football player. As a matter of fact, Jerry Kramer would become one of the all time great guards to ever play professional football! Vince Lombardi could have very possibly destroyed Jerry Kramer. But, instead, he changed course and pointed out the potential that was there and began to reinforce that! We can look back at the record books and see the results!

God has given each one of us a tool of great power! The tongue! We have the power to build up one another or to tear down and destroy one another. I wonder what would happen if the people in God’s kingdom would practice Lombardi’s tactics more often? Often, we say and do things, sometimes even jokingly, that destroys others or leaves scars that last for years. We seldom put forth any effort to encourage or build up one another. So many times, we contaminate our environment with negative words and actions that our spiritual growth stagnates or stops completely. If you are not a Vince Lombardi fan, then listen to the words of James and Paul!
“If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.” James 1:26 ESV
“But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.” Galatians 5:15 ESV
“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion,……” Ephesians 4:29 ESV
“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” 1Thessaloniaans 5:11 ESV

Heavenly Father, bless us with a wholesome tongue and a wholesome heart as we strive to disciple the wholesomeness of your son. Help us to look for and reinforce the potential in others. In His name, Amen.

Ron Smith
Beeville, Texas

You Didn't Just Say That!

I remember the conversation like it was yesterday. 

His name was Jesse.  He had been a Christian for about two years.  He said, “I have learned so much about the bible over the last two years.  I have discovered some things Jesus said to do and not do come easier for me than other things.  I enjoy talking about the gospel.  I like serving people as an honor to God and because of God’s grace toward me.  I have picked up certain aspects of holiness quickly.  But, there are other aspects that are really hard for me.  I have a really hard time staying cool, patient and respectful when people are rude and disrespectful to me.  In my former life, to put it mildly, I exploded first and worried about the consequences later!  I never allowed anyone to walk away without expressing - sometimes rather colorfully - what I thought of their behavior and their person in particular.   Turning this part of my heart and life over to God has been a real challenge for me.  But, thanks be to God, I am making progress!”

Can you identify with Jesse? 

Rudeness is everywhere.  Heard any of these lately?  “I need it now…please!”  “What do you people do all day around here?”  “Is there anyone here who is competent?”  “I didn’t order it with mayonnaise.”  “I’ve been waiting for someone to help me.”  “You are so stupid.”  “Just get it and get out.”  “

Then there are those little detours in conversation when someone rolls by your life with a verbal semi-automatic and sprays your heart with a few sentences that let you know “I envy you…I don’t like you…I enjoy taking shots at you whenever I can…I resent what happened a while back and I’m going to make you pay for it with rude remarks laced with pseudo concern for “whatever”.  Had one of those lately?  And, as a sad sidebar, these experiences happen between Christians on far more occasions than we care to admit.   

Jesse is right.  Living out the gospel in such moments is hard as nails.    

Paul reminds us that living in the Spirit puts us in the tension between rude moments and the exhortation to “be angry and sin not.”  He continues, “…and give no opportunity to the devil.” (Ephesians 4:26).  When we are treated as less than human these words from Paul are more than a snappy memory verse.  They constitute a battleground!

It is in the tension of such moments that we have the opportunity to demonstrate what it means to be a person of faith.  It is more than a list of beliefs we can rattle off with a moment’s notice.  It is showing people that the Lordship of Christ is a rule we live by in everyday experience.  In such moments we refuse to give vent to raw power and, defer instead to the Lordship of Christ.  We do this because we do not want to “grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom we have been sealed for the day of redemp-tion” (Ephesians 4:30).  In such moments we demonstrate we are children of God by walking in love (Ephesians 5:2) thereby imitating His Son who “while being reviled did not revile in return…while suffering, uttered no threats” (1 Peter 2:22-23)

In a world in which rudeness is becoming common parlance, we speak a different language.  And, it is a language that rise above the acrimony in our streets and shows people in living color what restored humanity looks like in Jesus’ name.

O Father, grant us the strength of heart and mind to be focused in moments that cut us to the quick and lay our hearts open in unseemly ways.  Help us to know the power of composure, peace and kindness in moments when we are mistreated by other people.  May the words of our mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable to you, our Rock and our Redeemer.  Amen.

Randy Daugherty

Stephenville, Texas

Salty Salt

 “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation.

 “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!  So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.  For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.  I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.  Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.  The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.  – (Revelation 3:14-21)

13 This is the third time I am coming to you….Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! – (2 Corinthians 13:1, 5)

I never enjoy reading those two texts.  They are uncomfortable to say the least.  They challenge my assumptions about faith, ministry and church health.  As easy as it is to leave them safely under the historical glass, they challenge us in “the present” to test our “spiritual temperature” – to test ourselves to see if we are truly people of faith.  Each time I read them I have to remind myself that any offense I may feel is only my pride trying to filter out the work of the Holy Spirit who wants to clean out my thinking and sharpen my faith.

I recently read again Francis Chan’s wonderful book Crazy Love.  Chapter four is entitled “The Profile of the Lukewarm.”  It is worth the price of the book.  Here are a few snippets from that chapter.  

Lukewarm people attend church fairly regularly. It is what is expected of them, what they believe “good Christians” do, so they go.

Lukewarm people give money to charity and to the church…as long as it doesn’t impinge on their standard of living.  If they have a little left extra and it is easy and safe to give, they do so.  After all, God loves a cheerful giver, right?

Lukewarm people tend to choose what is popular over what is right when they are in conflict.  They desire to fit in both a church and outside of church; they care more about what people think of their actions (like church attendance and giving) than what God thinks of their hearts and lives.

Lukewarm people don’t really want to be saved from their sin; they want only to be saved from the penalty of their sin.  They don’t genuinely hate sin and aren’t truly sorry for it;  they’re merely sorry because God is going to punish them.  Lukewarm people don’t really believe that this new life Jesus offers is better than the old sinful one.

Lukewarm people are moved by stories about people who do radical things for Christ, yet they do not act.  They assume such action is for “extreme” Christians, not average ones.  Lukewarm people call “radical” what Jesus expected of all His followers.

Lukewarm people rarely share their faith with their neighbors, coworkers, or friends.  They do not want to be rejected, nor do they want to make people uncomfortable by talking about private issues like religion.

Lukewarm people gauge their morality of “goodness” by comparing themselves to the secular world.  They feel satisfied that while they aren’t as hard-core for Jesus as so-and-so, they are nowhere as horrible as the guy down the street.

Lukewarm people say they love Jesus, and He is, indeed, a part of their lives.  But only a part.  They give Him a section of their time, their money, and their thoughts, but He isn’t allowed to control their lives.

Lukewarm people love others but do not seek to love others as much as they love themselves.  Their love of others is typically focused on those who love them in return, like family, friends, and other people they know and connect with.  There is little love left over for those who cannot love them back, much less for those who intentionally slight them, whose kids are better athletes than theirs, or with whom conversations are awkward or uncomfortable.  Their love is highly conditional and very selective, and generally comes with strings attached.

Lukewarm people will serve God and others, but there are limits to how far they will go or how much time, money, and energy they are willing to give.

Lukewarm people think about life on earth much more often than eternity in heaven.  Daily life is mostly focused on today’s to-do list, this week’s schedule, and next month’s vacation.  Rarely, if ever, do they intently consider the life to come.  Regarding this, C. S. Lewis writes, “If you read history you will find that Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next.  It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.”

Lukewarm people are thankful for their luxuries and comforts, and rarely consider trying to give as much as possible to the poor.  They are quick to point out, “Jesus never said money is the root of all evil, only that the love of money is.”  Untold numbers of lukewarm people feel “called” to minister to the rich; very few feel “called” to minister to the poor.

Lukewarm people do whatever is necessary to keep themselves from feeling too guilty.  They want to do the bare minimum, to be “good enough” without it requiring too much of them.

Lukewarm people are continually concerned with playing it safe; they are slaves to the god of control.  This focus on safe living keeps them from sacrificing and risking for God.

Lukewarm people do not live by faith; their lives are structured so they never have to.  They don’t genuinely seek out what life God would have them live – they have life figured and mapped out.  The truth is, their lives wouldn’t look much different if they suddenly stopped believing in God.

Lukewarm people probably drink and swear less than average, but beside that, they really aren’t very different from your typical unbeliever.  They equate their partially sanitized lives with holiness, but they couldn’t be more wrong.

Easy reading?  Hardly.  But it reconnects us with a major point Jesus makes at the end of a discipleship discourse in Luke 14:25ff.  Jesus said, “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out” (Luke 14:34-35).

His words and the words from Revelation 3 and 2 Corinthians 13 remind us – if we can hear them – that their service in our lives is not that of a whipping post.  They come into our minds to awaken us to our calling to be “salty salt.”  

O Lord, help us to see these words as trusted friends.  We need their awakening and encouragement to be in the world as you want us to be and need us to be.  May their salting of our lives preserve our connection with your calling and keep us salty every day.  Amen.

Randy Daugherty

Stephenville, Texas

A Letter from Prison

Another letter came from my friend in prison in East Texas last week. We corresponded regularly during the long period he was incarcerated locally awaiting trial, and then continued to do so after he was sentenced to life in prison in the spring of 2010.

I came to know him when our associate minister befriended him and brought him to our Tuesday morning men’s prayer breakfast. He was in the process of getting into the Word and giving his life to Christ. As he surrendered his life to the Savior, his conscience was quickened and motivated him to confess that fourteen years before, he had killed his wife. He then surrendered to the authorities, pled guilty, and awaited punishment for his crime.

The ugliness of his crime was the centerpiece of his trial, and he prepared himself to accept whatever verdict was handed down. Through it all, it troubled me that there seemed to be an absolutely harsh rejection of any consideration that this was not the same man who had done the heinous crime. Yes, he needed to be punished, he expected to be punished, but it seemed to me so very cruel not to mention that the reason he had come forward and confessed his wrong was his rejection of his lifestyle of the past.

True to his newfound commitment to Christ, he took the verdict without a whimper. That commitment has remained strong as he has adjusted to prison life. He is resigned to be a witness for the Savior in the harsh environment.

His letters are liberally laced with Scripture. He loves to write of his freedom in Christ. He fusses at himself when he is inclined to whine, seeks prayer and encouragement when the going gets tough. Here is an excerpt from this last letter detailing his latest "challenge" (as he put it).

"Here is a picture of my current situation here in prison. I have a new ‘celly’ (roomy). We live two men in a cell. All types of men live and work here. My room is a Christian room, a Christian environment. Christ lives in me and the Holy Spirit is welcome in this place. I have not as yet led a man to Christ, but I am a field worker. Seeds are planted, watered, weeded, prayed over. The #1 fruit, love, is lived out daily (but not perfectly). The man I now have as a ‘celly’ is challenging the limits of my heart. He is here for raping/murdering an old woman. . . He has no remorse. He has no social skills, manners, respect for persons, space or property. He wants his ‘rights’ and all else be damned. He is dirty, does not clean or help clean, etc. He is a passive bully.

"Yet I continue to show him respect, treat him in a way I’m sure he is not used to, with patience and long-suffering. Now, I’m not patting myself on the back. This is spiritual fruit budding in my life and that is to God’s glory and honor. I am being what Christ is doing in me, for me through me. He is (has) given me the honor of seeing through His eyes, hearing with His ears, feeling with His heart; still I’m tired. I’m not sleeping much. I’m constantly hungry. It’s hard to rest (relax) in my cell because he never leaves, never shares the cell. I’m not complaining, but . . . "

He went on to appeal for communication with me and others for words of encouragement.

Here is a fellow who is incarcerated, yet his redemption in Christ brings freedom and joy in serving the Lord where he is. He is very much alive with faith, hope, and love. He has been made "free indeed" by Christ Jesus (John 8:36).

He can teach us much. His letter continues: "For so many years I did not sow good seed in good soil. Now, these past years I can say I have. The Lord is faithful to His Word, His promises. He is not an automatic dispenser—giving on command of the proper buttons being pushed. No, He is God Almighty, Sovereign in all things and ways. He is over every molecule in existence. He created them. He created us. He is the loving Father that most people never knew. They find it hard to trust Him to be that perfect loving Father, yet He is and knows how to reach His children."

He included this scripture: "By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not without effect" 1 Cor. 15:10.

"I was in prison and you came to Me." – Matt. 25:36

Joe Baisden

Belton, Texas

Vengeance is Mine

Paul ends chapter 12 of Romans with these words. “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Evil is such a blunt word. I prefer a softer word like ‘bad’. Evil conjures up all sorts of dark images…like holocaust, murder, perversion and the sort. What surprises me is the context of this passage. Paul is talking about conceit and vengeance. He even says in verse 17 ‘repay no one evil for evil.’ This idea of getting along and being noble is a good idea in a perfect world but what about this world? Could Paul actually say you shouldn’t get even?


This takes us back to David when he is in the cave with Saul. Saul is committing all kinds of evil against David…even trying to kill him. David can kill Saul with one blow and the evil Saul will be stopped. David’s problems will be solved. So why doesn’t he kill Saul? The truth is, if he kills Saul, Saul will be dead but David will now be like Saul. Saul’s sin, evil, was not trusting God. Saul took matters into his own hands. Saul, not God, ruled his life. The moment David kills Saul, he becomes like Saul. Evil will overcome him. So, ‘do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.’


Dear God, You know everything. You are everywhere and you are always good. I would not know what good is if it were not for you. Please forgive my haughtiness, my conceit and my arrogance. When I think I know best. When I seek to set things straight. When I refuse to trust you to do right. This is such an awful sin. I’m so ashamed! Please forgive me. I know more about evil than I should. Help me to do good and over come evil. Give me wisdom to know the difference.
In the name of Your Son who overcame the world. Amen


Paul Shero
San Angelo, Texas

The Real Me

I have grown up in a society that teaches me to not show my weaknesses nor admit to them, to pick myself up by my bootstraps and soldier on, to be strong, to play through pain, to keep people off-guard and above all else, to be wary of who I trust. Trust has been a difficult issue for me and for many I know.

People, friends even, talk about us behind our back, tell things about us that aren’t true, or worse, are true and we hoped no one would ever know. The people closest to us hurt us, our parents, our children, our spouses and then want us to trust them. Some even expect it, trust to follow the pain they caused. And what about our sin? We can’t go forward at church because people are going to want to know what we did and, if the sin is big enough, may not want to be around us much or will treat us like damaged goods. We can’t tell our spouse because they may realize we have a problem that affects the marriage. We can’t tell our friend because they won’t let us teach class or think of us as a leader in the church. We don’t trust people because we would be so vulnerable.

1 John 1:8-9 says, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Confess. That takes trust but that makes me nervous, even with Jesus. You see, I’ve sinned so much that I know he’s bound to get tired of forgiving me and I’ve sinned so much that I’ve started to believe that is who I am, a sinner beyond help. On the other hand, I know Jesus knows me and isn’t surprised so I can pray to him, tell him what I did and ask for forgiveness and I’ll be okay. Right? James 5:16 says, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” Say what? Tell someone else? TRUST them with my darkest, stinkiest, nastiest secrets?

Jesus wants us to live in trust. Not a cautious, wary trust but a wide-open, bold trust. The trust Jesus has given me is the trust he wants me to give others. Over the last few years, I’ve often wondered what it would be like if Jesus extended trust to me like I have so often extended it to others, the old “fool me once, shame on you but fool me twice and I’ll write you off” type of trust giving. If Jesus uses my old methods, I’m lost...but he doesn’t. Jesus boldly extends trust to me.

There’s a parable that I call the parable of the incredibly loving father because Jesus tells a story of a son who took off to live a life of wild parties and good time and ends up coming home willing to be a slave but the father won’t hear of it. Instead, the father throws the best party the kid has ever seen because the father loves the son so deeply. The father doesn’t say, be my servant for awhile and if I find you trustworthy I’ll give you a little more. No, the father throws a huge party. How often have I done that for others. Even worse, how often have I thought that God won’t treat me that way. I’m worse than that guy was. My sins are more horrific. My failures are too oft-repeated. God can’t love me that way. Can he?

In the past I have been nervous about confessing my sins to God. In the past, I have been mortified about confessing my sins to other people. In the past, I couldn’t imagine that God would ever trust me again. Hallelujah, today I know differently and I hope you do to. There is power in confession and there is certainly healing. I have story after story of the strongest bonds with God and people I have ever known gained through confession. Today, I trust God completely because I understand he will continue to trust me and I am learning more and more to give trust to others as God has given it to me. I believe trust is given, never earned, because that is how our Creator, our Savior, our Lord trusts.

Jeff Jones
Decatur, Texas

Radical is Normal

The word “radical” is so frequently thrown around in Christian communities today. You’ve probably heard it: “Live radically for the kingdom! We are called to a radical way of life!” I think it’s kind of a hyperbole. “Really? An elephant is big? Oh. Wow! Thank you for pointing that out for me. I don’t know how I hadn’t noticed.” That’s the analogy that my mind immediately makes when I think of the word “radical” as it pertains to the Jesus-Mission: “Really? The Jesus-Mission is radical? Oh. Wow! Thank you for pointing that out for me. I don’t know how I hadn’t noticed.”

Perhaps this is true for those who know nothing of the Jesus-Mission, that is, picking up your cross as you die daily to the desires of the flesh and choose to live the way Jesus did, instead.

The Jesus-Mission is radical and the Jesus-Mission is normal. It’s both. But the question applies to both sides of that coin: Compared to what? If we’re going by the standard set by Jesus Himself, the way our current definition of “radical” calls us to live is actually pretty normal. In the context of our calling, we’re mediocre at best. So, what about in the context of our culture? Well, that requires an even more specific contextualization. All these things that we think are radical—choosing to worship out in the dirt under the trees instead of in a glitzy building, spending minimally on food and clothing and toys, living simply and focusing on delving into true community because it’s all we have to cling to—are everyday life in some other cultures, and not even by choice. In Christian communities outside of middle-class America, “radical” is just normal. In those contexts, you look foolish for commending yourself for your lifestyle, because you’re just…normal.

I don’t really care what we call it, honestly, radical or normal, but we should just shut up and strive for it. You think Christians in rural Africa or Mexico or even the most impoverished areas of the United States walk around talking about how “radical” they are? No way. Paul didn’t walk around bragging about walking worthy of the calling set before him (because that’s the point of being radical in the first place, right?). Nope. He walked it and invited other people to walk with him. He also said that if he does decide to boast, it’ll only be in the Lord, not in his own radical lifestyle. Besides, if we’re really living in a way that is radical within our own cultural context, two things will likely happen. The people within that context who do not know Jesus will think we are insane and will probably treat us like social outcasts. The people who do know Jesus will feel extremely uncomfortable, because in seeing how radically we live, they will not be able to stand their own consciences.

If we haven’t experienced either of these, we shouldn’t be talking so much about living radically, because we aren’t. It’s not about trying to be marginalized; it’s just the nature of our calling. The gospels and Acts aren’t really suggestions or entertaining anecdotes about the kind of lifestyle we should pursue. Our culture today isn’t any less brutal (albeit in a different way) than the one we read about in the New Testament. If they were persecuted, we should expect the same treatment. Because if we’re truly living out the Jesus-Mission, it’s inevitable.

I’m not radical. I’m pretty normal. But, hey, I’m trying, and grace abounds for my weakness and selfishness that calls me back into the former way of things. It abounds for yours, too. So, we can pick up our crosses side by side and keep walking, in hope and joy. Before “being radical,” there was the Jesus-Mission. It’s of first importance.

"Sometimes I would like to ask God why He allows poverty, suffering, and injustice when He could do something about it."

"Well, why don't you ask Him?"

"Because I'm afraid He would ask me the same question."

I Corinthians 4:6-17

Father,

Teach us to pursue purpose, not just passion, love in deed, not just word, and lives that look more like the ones that we read about in Your holy scriptures. Give us a greater understand of what it means to take up our crosses, so that when we throw around words with heavy weight, we will not throw them around in vain. Thank you for loving us when we are arrogant and misguided. We want to love you more.

Through Jesus, the one who created the mission that we cling to,
Amen.

Erin E. Daugherty, Abilene Christian University