In God I Trust?

On Tuesday night of this week, I went to bed sometime around 10 and found myself running through a checklist of things I needed to have ready for our Truth At Work roundtable meeting (a monthly meeting of Christian leaders which helps them to grow their organizations in a God-honoring way while at the same time helping them to grow personally and spiritually). Normally, I wouldn’t be doing this but on Wednesday we were starting our 3rd group in NW Ohio and things run a little differently in our kickoff meetings. Plus, I wanted everything to go great for our new members.

While running through my inventory of tasks, I realized that I had forgotten to check to see if our host site had wireless internet access which we would need in this meeting. I then thought of a couple of other minor things I had forgotten. I began to worry and be anxious about this. I was in “I hope things work out OK” mode. As a result, though I knew that God is in control, I struggled to get to sleep. I must not have truly trusted Him to take care of things.

God had a message for me yesterday morning when I woke up. I was greeted to a devotional from my friend, Os Hillman, which had this to say:

Seeing God's Power in the Clothing Industry

TGIF Today God Is First Volume 2 by Os Hillman

Wednesday, May 20 2009

"My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power" (1 Cor 2:3-5).

I learned a principle years ago of withholding our natural gifting to insure that God is in whatever we are doing.

Crystal is a businesswoman involved in the manufacture of designer clothing. Her designs are known for their elaborate detail and accessories sewn into the clothing. She had a contract with a major retail chain that agreed to carry her clothing. A call came from the retailer requesting that four designs be sent to them for consideration for the next season's clothing line. She had known that meeting this particular deadline was going to be very difficult due to other circumstances that were going on in her life.

Finally the deadline came and she had not completed the two of the pieces of clothing she wanted them to consider. The elaborate detail and finish work she was known for had not been completed on two of the four pieces they were asking for. She called the retailer and said she had two pieces ready to ship but the other two still needed to be completed. The retailer argued with her and said, "Send the others to us anyway."

Crystal is a perfectionist and the idea of sending her designs to the retailer without the finished detail, creativity, and quality made her very uncomfortable. Then, she recalled my teaching on this principle. She decided to do something in total opposition to her natural inclinations. She sent the two pieces of clothing to the retailer along with the other two "finished" pieces. To her shock and amazement the retailer chose the two pieces of clothing that had not been "finished" and declined the other two.

Crystal realized that God was demonstrating His power through this principle of withholding her natural gifting to show her that it was by His hand that she was being successful in her business. This did not take away her need to be creative or skillful, but there was now a new understanding to move in a dimension that placed greater dependence upon obedience rather than just her natural skill.

On the surface, this might not seem like it relates to my situation, but I know that God was using this to speak to me. It was if He was saying, “Jim, when are you going to learn that you can totally trust in Me? When are you going to get that no matter what you do, you can’t control this stuff? When will you understand that worrying won’t do anything but cause you grief?”

I love when God does stuff like this. I am not where I need to be, but I’m so glad I’m not where I used to be!

Fools

Have you ever tried to win an argument with someone who was not open to looking at any other side than their own? It's frustrating isn't it?

You may know that you are right and be able to back up your position with Scripture, but they are adamant that their stance is the correct position. What should you do?

This person who takes this stand might be known in Biblical terms as a fool. I always thought the Bible was pretty clear on what to do when you are dealing with a fool.

However, I read something recently in a TGIF devotional from a friend of mine, Os Hillman that says we should be discerning in figuring out the type of fool we are dealing with. This will enable us to treat this person the way the Bible instructs us to. This is what he had to say:

Marvin Wilson, author of Our Father Abraham, has written incisively about the various meanings for our word "fool":

In Biblical wisdom literature, the pupils of the sages and mentors are the unwise, often termed "fools" (Prov. 1:7) or "simple one" (1:22). In wisdom literature, the different levels of fools - both young and old - are the raw material on which the sages had to work, and they represent the varying degrees of rawness. Perhaps as much as anything else, the term fool is descriptive of an attitude, bent of mind, or direction in life, which needs correcting. The various Hebrew words for fool occur more than a hundred times in the book of Proverbs. [Marvin Wilson, Our Father Abraham (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1989), 284-286.]

The reference to someone being a fool was not necessarily a negative term. A simple fool, or peti, was a person who made mistakes, but quickly righted them and was restored to fellowship with God and with others. King David was a simple fool, one who made mistakes, but kept a repentant heart toward God. This is why God did not turn away from him for his many sins.

The hardened fool, kesil and ewil, makes mistakes, but never learns from them and will not listen to others. Such people can expect God's reproof to continue and will eat the fruit of their own way (see Prov. 1:31-32). The hardened fool "returns to his own vomit." King Saul was a hardened fool, one who made mistakes and continued in them even after realizing he was wrong. We're going to err in our ways. The question is, once we know we have made a mistake before God, do we make the necessary adjustments that will allow Him to intervene on our behalf? And will we avoid the same course of action in the future? God says that if we do, He will pour out His Spirit on us (see Prov. 1:23). He will make known His words to us.

The third level of fool mentioned in Proverbs is the mocking fool or letz. The mocking fool mocks the things of God. This word means "scoffer" or "scorner." When you encounter cynical people who disregard the things of God, you know these people are "mocking fools."

The fourth level of fool is the God-denying fool or nabal. This term relates to the morally wicked person who ignores the disgrace he brings on his family and who despises holiness (see Prov. 17:21). This person says, "There is no God." By failing to acknowledge God for who He is, the nabal declares himself to be a "God-denying" fool.

I have found that it is helpful to try to understand if people are teachable. Are they simple fools, those who make mistakes but seek to learn from them? I can work with those people. But if I sense I am working with a hardened fool, I know I should not spend much time on that person. Jesus did not spend much time trying to convince the rich young ruler. He presented truth, and let him make his decision. Some people must get broken before they can become simple fools. Sometimes it is simply better to let satan chew on people until the ground is fertile enough to present truth to them.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. Proverbs 1:7

TGIF

A great friend of mine owns a business in my community. He told me that for about ten straight weeks he would wear all black on Fridays. At about week seven, one of his employees noticed and said, "Bob, why are you always wearing black on Fridays?"

Bob responded by saying, "Because I am sad that this week is coming to an end and I will have to wait until Monday to see all of you again."

Kind of different, huh? And, very cool!

It seems in the workplace that everyone can't wait for Friday. In fact, I have seen studies which show that the highest incidence of suicide is on Sunday nights because people generally dread Mondays. Sad.

We all seem to live for Friday...for the weekend. TGIF is a famous acronym and I think we all know what it stands for. A restaurant chain has even become famous using it in their name.

Bob's attitude above is a tremendous one we all can adopt about our work. You see, Bob gets it. He realizes that his work has a much greater purpose than just providing a paycheck for him and his family.

We have influence over others each and every day and when we begin to realize this, we know that we can have an affect on their lives. It is our choice as to whether we make a positive or negative impact on them. God wants us to choose to have a positive impact.

If we can really get this, each and every day we can say, "Thank God It's Today!"

So let's change our thinking from "Thank God It's Friday" to "Today God Is First!" And who knows...you may even start singing like the Seven Dwarfs, "Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off To Work I Go!"

Carpe Diem!

Yesterday was my son, Robbie's 12th birthday and this Sunday, my 2nd oldest daughter Molly graduates from High School. Man do I feel old!

Last night, Mike, a good friend of mine stopped by and he was talking about how his 3 year-old son has been trying his patience. I told him, "this too shall pass. In fact, it will pass before you even know it." I then explained about my son's birthday and my daughter's imminent graduation and how it seemed like yesterday that they were both three.

This morning as I was showering, a song by Casting Crowns came on titled "Who Am I?" In the song are the following lyrics:

I am a flower quickly fading; here today and gone tomorrow; a wave tossed in the ocean; a vapor in the wind.

How appropriate!

Os Hillman has said that our lives when compared to eternity are like a cup of coffee poured into the ocean from an airplane--pretty inconsequential. I agree. Our lives (and the lives of our kids) are but a mere vapor. So we must make the most of them!

Carpe Diem!

Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. James 4:14