Looking For Good

No less than three times last week I was reminded to look for more good around me.

There is so much bad in the world. So much evil. So much trouble. So much pain and sorrow. And as a Christian, I know that much of the bad that comes my may is either of my own doing (flowing out of my sinful human nature) or of the devil’s doing.

I’ve realized that I’ve been sucked into the devil’s trap of focusing on all that bad stuff. I forget the good that God gives. The Bible says, “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning….” (Lamentations 3:22-23a).

When I turn my head – and my heart – to look at the mercies, at the good, that God showers on me every day my whole attitude changes. A smile comes to my face. My heart is lighter. I tend to say nice things, and do nice things, to other people.

When I’m focusing on the bad stuff in my life and in the world, I feel differently. I feel tired, worn out, beat down, and I tend to say snarky things about other people. Mostly without their knowledge. I’ll read something on Facebook that someone says about an idea being stupid and take it personally (hopefully more personally than they actually intended). Or I’ll be driving in the car and listening to talk radio and really get in a poor mood about what they are saying.

I need more good – and more God – in my life.

So, I’m being more intentional about looking for the good from God in my life today. And the second half of the passage from Lamentations is thumping in my heart!

“Great is your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’” (Lamentations 3:2b-24)

Why Do They Leave?

Being a pastor in the Church is a joy for me. When asked why I became a pastor, I only half-jokingly reply, "Its the only thing I can do!"

One of the parts of being a pastor, though, is not so much fun. Watching people leave the church. I've seen people leave for a lot of reasons - church is boring, it doesn't meet my needs, the people are not friendly, the pastor is not friendly (that one kicks me in the groin gut every time).

Today I read a blog post that deals with the specific issue of why young poeple leave the church - those age 15 to about 30 years old.

You can read that blog here: (and I strongly encourage you do to so).

After you've done that, would you please post your feelings as a comment about one or more of the reasons that are cited in the article.

Thanks!

Pastor B.

Reason #1 – Churches seem overprotective.

Reason #2 – Teens’ and twentysomethings’ experience of Christianity is shallow.
Reason #3 – Churches come across as antagonistic to science.
Reason #4 – Young Christians’ church experiences related to sexuality are often simplistic, judgmental.
Reason #5 – They wrestle with the exclusive nature of Christianity.
Reason #6 – The church feels unfriendly to those who doubt.

Make A Dent in the Universe

A couple of months ago I re-entered the wonderful world of Junior and Senior High School ministry. Twenty years ago I was a youth ministry in St. Louis. But that was when I wasn't much older than a youth at the time – 25 years old.

Now I’m 46. I’m the age I felt was old when I was in high school.

I suspect that I’m considered old by the high school kids in my church. I know I am to my own kids (one of which is now in high school).

You would think that many things would change in 20 years. And they have. In 1991, the World Wide Web (WWW – sound familiar) had just come online.

However, that year the WWW could only be used on a NeXT Computer.

What a NeXT computer is isn’t nearly as important as who created the NeXT computer.

Steve Jobs.

Yes, the guy who co-founded Apple Computers!

Last week, Steve Jobs died at age 56 – 10 years older than I am – from complications due to pancreatic cancer.

A lot has been written about Steve Jobs, but there are two things that Steve Jobs said that caught my attention and really made me think.

The first one is this:

“I want to put a dent in the universe.”

This made me think about what Steve Jobs did with his life. Yes, he made a boat-load of money. But from what I read and heard about him, that wasn’t the reason he did what he did with his life. His motivation was to make a difference. He had a dream of doing things that went beyond the two feet around him. I get the impression that he didn’t really think of himself in a selfish way. His approach to life was not “what’s in it for me” but rather one of “how can I make a dent in the universe.”

This is a good way to live. But I didn’t think that way when I was in high school. When I was a teenager, I thought only of myself most of the time. Most of the things I did were designed to make me feel good. I did them to have fun and didn’t really think all that much about what other people thought.

I see this in high school kids today. I’d like to tell them what I needed to hear more often when I was their age, that there is more to life than just “me.” But that I also can “make a dent in the universe” through what I do and say.

There’s nothing wrong with having fun and feeling good. But there is so much more for a son or daughter of God. You don’t have to wait till you are older to make a dent in the universe. Look up and look out beyond you.

So a lot of what I do with the youth group today is based on a question, “What are you doing to make an impact in the Kingdom of God?” A corollary to this question is “Is what you are doing bringing glory to God’s name?”

I never gave that much thought when I was their age. I wish I had. Maybe I could have gotten to some very important and impactful things a lot sooner – and could have made an even larger dent in the universe.

The second thing that Steve Jobs once said just floored me.

“I want my kids to know who I am.”

He said this in answer to the question, “Why did you authorize your biography and sit down and do so many candid interviews for it?”

Steve Jobs was afraid that the only way for his kids to know him was to make sure a biography was written about him.

How sad is that?

I want my kids to know who I am. So I spend time with them. Lots of time. I pitch to my sons until my arm feels like it’s going to fall off (then I feed balls into a pitching machine). I sit with them as they fish. I play Wii bowling with them (but not as often as they would like, I suspect). I worship with them daily through devotions and prayer. I eat dinner with my family at least five nights a week.

That’s how I’m making a dent in the universe. I won’t invent some new technology like the World Wide Web or an incredible piece of electronic gadgetry like an iPhone or iPad. I won’t make billions of dollars.

I will make a dent in the universe by loving my kids – and the kids I minister to in our church’s youth group. They won’t need a book – or an ebook – to know who I am.

And I will tell them of the love of Jesus Christ. I will do it by making it a goal that everything I do will be so that God gets the glory and others will know I work in God’s Kingdom.

Living the Life

There seems to be no question that we are living in times of difficulty. The adverse economy has affected nearly everyone. 

There are many problems in the world that seem to have no solution, at least not one in the near future. Saint Paul’s descriptions of people living in difficult times nearly 2000 years old could have been written about today’s people. 

This list of descriptions is from 2 Timothy 3.

Lovers of self.

Lovers of money.

Proud.

Arrogant.

Abusive.

Disobedient to their parents.

Ungrateful.

Unholy.

Heartless.

Unappeasable.

Slanderous.

Without self-control.

Brutal.

Not loving good.

Treacherous.

Reckless.

Swollen with conceit.

Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

Having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.

You may think that none of the descriptions on this list apply to you. I know that there are times when I’m tempted to think that about myself. But it isn’t true. Which ones on the list strike close to the heart with you? I’ll tell you which one it is for me: “Having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.”

Oh yes, there are times when I’m arrogant. There are times when I was (and still am) disobedient to my parents. There are times when I am reckless – in that what I say is quickly followed by “I’m just kidding.”

But the one that slays me is “Having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.” This is when I do not take seriously what it means to be a Christian, to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. And this is devastatingly detrimental. When other people see me doing this, it tells them that I’m only playing at being a Christian, that I don’t take it seriously. And if I don’t take it seriously, then why should they? And if they don’t take it seriously because of me and the way I’m just playing at my faith, then they will not know Jesus. And if they do not know Jesus, then they are lost in their sins.

Because I am paid for what I do as a pastor, there is a great temptation to think of what I do as merely a job. That I do what I do simply because I have to. Because I’m a pastor Ihave to go to church. I have to read the Bible. I have to go to Bible study.

Do you know anyone who shows up for work because they have to? How well to they do their work? How inspiring are they in their work? I worked with a couple of people like that at Target. For the most part, the people I worked with at Target were good people, they were good workers. They did their jobs well and you got a sense that they enjoyed their work. But there were one or two people who were there because they had to be there. They didn’t want to be there. They only did the bare minimum of the job and no more and didn’t really care what the consequences of that were to the overall goals of Target.

I think it is that attitude that Saint Paul is getting at with his phrase, “Having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.”

But here’s another way that I look at this phrase. Often, I think, people get the idea that if they are doing something “at” church or “for” church that it somehow means they are living the life Christ won for them by His death and resurrection.

But Christ didn’t die and rise again so that we could “do” things for the church or be “at” the church.

Christ died and rose again to give us life (John 10:10). Here’s what Christ has done for me. When I am at the church, I ‘m not working a job, I’m living a life. And this life has consequences – eternal consequences. I really believe there is power in living a godly life and that power comes from God’s Word – Scripture, the Sacred Writings that Saint Paul mentions in 2 Timothy 3 – whether it be preached, read, or inwardly digested through the Sacrament of the Altar.

I want to know more about that power. I want to have more of that power. I want others to know and have more of that power.

That’s why Bible studies are so important to me. I try very hard to have Bible studies that are relevant and interesting. But beyond relevant and interesting, the Bible makes you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. The Scriptures are inspired (breathed out by God) and are profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.

The Bible will make the man – and woman – of God competent and equip us for every good work.

Our Blank Page

Image courtesy of Photobucket.com

Today was the first full day of school at Lake Zurich High School.

Yesterday was the actual first day of school, but it was only a half-day. That doesn't really count.

Today, each student and each teacher at the school had an opportunity to "make it count."

The first day of school is like a blank piece of paper and a newly sharpened pencil. So much potential. Nothing is wrong, there are not mistakes made. It is the proverbial "clean slate."

The blank page can be daunting. Like the song lyric says,

The writer stares with glassy eyes
Defies the empty page
His beard is white, his face is lined
And streaked with tears of rage
Thirty years ago, how the words would flow
With passion and precision
But now his mind is dark and dulled
By sickness and indecision

(Neil Peart, Losing It)

The challenge is to not let what has gone before have a negative impact on your "blank page" today. That isn't to say you shouldn't let the past influence your present. I'm not even sure you have a choice in that. But take what you've done (or has been done to you) in the past and use it to make this new, blank day as good as possible.

The first chapter of the New Testament (Matthew Chapter 1) was once a blank page. How St. Matthew decided to fill that page (inspired by the Holy Spirit) is very interesting to me. He fills that first blank page with a list of names - a family tree that begins with Abraham and ends with Jesus. 

In Jesus' past there is a prostitute, a couple of non-Jews, an adulterer, murderer, and several polygamists. 

And yet, despite that "checkered" past, Jesus is the perfect Son of God who lived, died on the cross, and rose again from the dead to save you and me from sin, death, and the power of the devil.

Jesus gives each of us a "blank page" every day. 

When we are sorry (contrite) and repent (change our ways) daily by the power of the Holy Spirit, the sin and our sinful past that filled our lives is gone (drowned and killed). A new person daily emerges and arises to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.

Think and pray about that tonight and see how your "blank page" of tomorrow turns out.