Can We All Get Along?

These famous words were spoken by Rodney King following his public beating by police officers and a week of rioting in Los Angeles. Many times, I ask it myself in relation to our society and the church. It appears that the early church also asked itself this question. In James 3:13-18 (MSG), the writer of this books states it this way:

"Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for wisdom? Here’s what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It’s the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts. Mean-spirited ambition isn’t wisdom. Boasting that you are wise isn’t wisdom. Twisting the truth to make yourselves sound wise isn’t wisdom. It’s the furthest thing from wisdom—it’s animal cunning, devilish conniving. Whenever you’re trying to look better than others or get the better of others, things fall apart and everyone ends up at the others’ throats.

Real wisdom, God’s wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor."

Three things jump out at me and challenge me in this scripture. "It’s the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts." The old adage of actions speak louder than words echoes in this verse. I often think more highly of myself in my head than how I live. The reminder here is to guard against that type of thinking. What does a holy life look like? It is "characterized by getting along with others." It can be difficult at times because other people can be difficult, and so can I. Finally, we are reminded that healthy community is a result occurs "...only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other..."

We need to treat others with respect and common decency. It is hard work, but it is how we are told we should act. Let's reflect God’s wisdom and not our own, and I think we can answer the Mr. King's question with, "It is possible."

Written by Chip Kelly
Territorial Lay Leader
Development Bureau Director

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Comfort

Comfort - we all crave it. Commercials advertising comfort repeat hundreds of times. Comfort food, get a relaxing massage for only $49, come sip fancy drinks on our Caribbean cruise. How much is too much? These messages can lead to complacency and an expectation that my comfort is a priority and all that matters in this life. Being comfortable can easily become the status quo. 

Isaiah, the prophet, speaks of another type of comfort. The words recorded in this book of the Bible are often shared at this time of year because they speak about the coming of a Messiah - one who would bring comfort. The type of comfort described in the writings of Isaiah sound a little different than the world's view on comfort.  

Isaiah repeats words describing comfort more than a dozen times throughout his writings.  Isaiah 40, a passage often used during advent, speaks of this comfort: 

1 Comfort, comfort my people,
    says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
    and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,

11 He tends his flock like a shepherd:
    He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
    he gently leads those that have young.

28 Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
    and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary
    and increases the power of the weak.
Isaiah 40:1-2a, 11, 28-29 (NIV)

Verse 11 highlights the way God cares for His people. He watches, pulls us close, looks out for those with children, and we are loved. Verses 28-29 reinforce the comfort and care He provides. It never ends - He does not grow tired of caring for us, and there is a special place for the weary and weak in God's kingdom. 

God's view of comfort reminds me clearly of the way he arrived in the flesh. There was nothing comfortable about his birth. A long donkey ride, straw, smelly animals, scrounging for a blanket. Who was told about this arrival? The weak and least of these, simple shepherds tending to their sheep in a field.

In this season, we can become easily distracted, believing comfort can be found in trinkets, relationships or comfort food. Jesus' arrival reminds us of an everlasting comfort that lavishes care, love, and strength on His children. Embrace that comfort this season.

Written by Chip Kelly
Territorial Lay Leader
Development Bureau Director

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Consistency

Titus 1:2 
 
This truth gives them confidence that they have eternal life, which God—who does not lie—promised them before the world began.

When I listened to Titus 1 today, this verse struck me. The word I kept hearing was consistent. Paul is laying out his introduction to who God is, what he is about, and what it means for us. Even before God created mankind, knowing we would fall, he wanted us to have eternal life. That sentiment has not changed; God is consistent.

When I strive for consistency, my attempts often fall short. Every October, I order a calendar refill for my written calendar, determined I will keep my task list, appointments and other items up to date. Usually, by February, I have totally abandoned it. It is not one of my gifts to stay on task. God sends people along the way to help us; this can be to encourage us in our gifts and what we are consistent with, or it can be to jump in and be consistent where I am not gifted. I am thankful for those people in my life. 

God wants good things for people. All people. He designed it that way. Celebrate where he has gifted you by being consistent with it, and ask Him to make you aware of those areas that need to be pared away. 

Written by Chip Kelly
Territorial Lay Leader
Development Bureau Director

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Small Beginnings

"Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin..."
Zechariah 4:10 (NLT)

Are you at the beginning of something? Or are you in the middle of trying to begin again? This verse struck me as I listened to it this morning. At first, I thought it was because I was at the beginning of something new, but then I tried to dig deeper beyond my gut feeling. Often times, I want to skip the beginning and get to the end result. My new year's resolution of dropping those extra, unwanted pounds is hard work, and I would rather it just be gone.  Nature doesn't work that way. 

God doesn't work that way either. The principles of our universe don't work that way.  Remember learning about inertia in science class? If you suppressed that memory, here is what it is:

"a property of matter by which something that is not moving remains still and something that is moving goes at the same speed and in the same direction until another thing or force affects it"

Basically, if something is not moving, it will remain that way until something acts upon it. If it is moving, another thing can affect it. Notice this principle is no respecter of size. 

To God, size doesn't matter either. God rejoices to see the work begin and specifically says He rejoices in the small things. I'm not sure where you are at or what might be waiting to begin in your journey – it doesn't matter, just start.

Written by Chip Kelly
Territorial Lay Leader
Development Bureau Director

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Examine Your Assumptions

Assumptions are a powerful thing.  If we assume something, for example that it will rain today, it affects how we plan for that day.  You might grab an umbrella, reschedule a hike, or cancel a trip to the beach. 

Let's go deeper than just how it affects our day-planner.  Merriam-Webster defines assumption in the following ways:

1 : a taking to or upon oneself <the assumption of a new position>

2 : the act of laying claim to or taking possession of something <the assumption of power>

3 : arrogance, pretension

4 a : an assuming that something is true

b : a fact or statement (as a proposition, axiom, postulate, or notion) taken for granted

Depending on your life experience and working definition, you may identify with many of these definitions above.  The fact of the matter is when we make an assumption, we begin to own it or take possession of the idea or thought.  We all make assumptions.  It is part of our human condition.

Here is the big question:  What assumptions do we make about God?  Our faith? Scripture? I think we would be naive to think we don't make assumptions about God, either consciously or otherwise.  How can assumptions impact our faith? How do we move beyond these assumptions in our walk?  Scripture has a few things to say about this danger. 

1 Thessalonians 5:19-21

Do not stifle the Holy Spirit. Do not scoff at prophecies, but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good.
What happens when we go beyond just our assumptions?

Ephesians 4:14-15

Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won't be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.

Assumptions require going deeper to find out what lies beneath a thought or notion.  If we do the hard work of pressing beyond our assumptions we make ourselves open and available to the Holy Spirit.  We might not always know the end result, but at least we haven't settled in and stopped at simply assuming.

Written by Chip Kelly 

Territorial Lay Leader
Development Bureau Director

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My Six, Three, Seven, or Twelve Point Plan

Have you ever been in a meeting, conference, conversation or any interaction and feel like your head is spinning?

"If you only follow these (5) steps in my book, life will be perfect." Purchase my book and "Have A New Kid By Friday." Simply follow the 'South Beach Diet,' and be slim and trim.  Everyone is telling us how to improve managing our home, kids, workout routines…and the list goes on…and on…I think you get my point.

Information overload can become just that - overload. How do we know where to turn? What is the answer?  

Stop spinning for a moment, and take encouragement from these words found in Paul's letter to the Romans 8:5b (NIV).  

"…but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires."

Hear me on this one - being productive, efficient, and focused are not bad things. The trouble comes when our focus is off. Scripture needs to lead the way.     

Listen to it in another version from the Message, and see if this resonates with you:

Romans 8:5 (The Message)

"Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life.  Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them – living and breathing God."

Let us be known as people who "trust God’s action in them" and not simply a person who trusts in a business plan, the latest gadget, app, or 5-step book.

Written by Chip Kelly
Territorial Lay Leader
Development Bureau Director

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What Difference Does It Make?

This question is one that I am sure each of us has asked at one time or another.  Perhaps it was out loud while talking with a trusted friend during a crossroads moment in your life or blurted out in frustration over a specific event. Maybe it was simply in a quiet moment of reflection.  

For each leader, there are three basic tools they have at their disposal:  power, authority, and influence.  Each of these is necessary to possess, but I think the one most needed at their disposal is influence.   Drew Dyck, managing editor of Leadership Journal shares how influence can impact others:

“Young people who have meaningful relationships with older Christians are much more likely to retain their faith into adulthood. I had those connections and have no doubt they were instrumental in my life.“

I know for myself I can look back and remember my first young adult bible study teacher.  His name might not mean anything to you, Tom Hinzman, but it does to me.  At the time, I lived in a small Western PA town, and Tom was your typical blue collar guy; worked in the local steel mill, wife, three sons.  I can only imagine his work environment – gritty, 100+ degrees in the mill, and by the time he hit the locker room to clock out, I would have to imagine many of his co-workers were mentally and physically exhausted and maybe a few choice words were flying around the room.  

However, he was a steady witness to his co-workers; when one of them was running short on food, he sent them down to the Salvation Army food pantry; if they needed a ride to work because the car wouldn’t start, he was outside their door waiting to pick them up – and the list goes on and on.  He not only shared the Bible in that teen class with me – he showed me how it influenced those around them. He taught me that where it mattered most was in the places God gives you influence. The point is this: He made an influence – on me and those God put in his path.

Tom was simply living out the gifts God had given him in the places of influence he naturally navigated.  The Bible talks about influence, both positive and otherwise many times.  Jesus used this in his ministry more often than power or authority.  Whether it was while talking with the Samaritan woman at the well, having dinner in the home of a tax collector who simply wanted, “to see who he was,”  the New Testament talks about each of us having gifts and using them to serve others.

It brings me 20+ years ahead to where I am now in my life.  As an adult, I see others in my own life living out their gifts, and it often manifests itself in simple ways.  I watch as one gentleman, formerly living on the streets, recruits people each week to help collect the offering in church on Sunday. 

Are you not sure of what your gifts might be or what difference you make?  We are all here with a purpose.  Try the test below to discover your spiritual gifts and how they can impact others:

Spiritual Gifts Test

Written by Chip Kelly
Territorial Lay Leader
Development Bureau Director

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