Books

Important Question #2

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Two entries ago was a post referencing the first of Tripp’s two important questions for God’s children. That question was “what in the world is God doing right here, right now?” Here’s the second question: “How in the world should I respond to what God is doing right here, right now?”

These must be answered sequentially. Why? Starting with what God is doing avoids going down the wrong road of what man is doing. Going down the wrong road, focusing on man’s actions, makes way for a child of God to respond more horizontally rather than vertically. Watch one hour of news and you’re moved to be overwhelmed with what man is doing. That’s horizontal. So you must find avenues that show you what God is doing. That’s vertical.

When you do, then you can move on to the second question. You should move on to the second question. Why? Being an applauder of God isn’t being a follower. Acknowledging awe of God is more than just identifying what He’s doing right here, right now. A follower of God gets in on the action rather than settling to be a spectator. A follower of God remains in awe of God’s work and chooses to no longer live for themselves but to respond to God’s guidance (see Galatians 5). 

  • So how do you respond when man is causing division? Look up to get the self-control and peace from God to redirect man’s division to God’s unity.
  • So how do you respond when man wants to ignore truth? Look up to get the love, patience, and kindness from God to redirect man’s passions to God’s glory.
  • So how do you respond when man wants to gripe and complain? Look up to get the joy from God to redirect man’s disappointments to God’s faithfulness.
  • So how do you respond when man pursues evil? Look up to get the goodness and gentleness from God to redirect man’s darkness to God’s light.

Ask question #1…move on to question #2

Important Question #1

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In chapter 9 of Awe, Tripp says there are two important questions to the child of God. The first one is, “What in the world is God doing right here, right now?”

Notice the question isn’t why is God allowing what is going on the world, nor is it how is God allowing what is happening to me. Those two questions, whether we like to admit it or not, turn the inquiry into worship of man rather than worship of God. Tripp suggests that our awe has been repositioned when we turn the question to focus on ourselves.

What a temptation. What natural questions. It goes against our spirit to not think how circumstances impact us directly. However, when we live life in that view, it can be extremely burdening. It’s a burden to have to understand all the whys of life. Freedom comes by changing the question from why and how to what. Focus is put back on God and away from feelings or even circumstances. When God is the object of the focus, hope is restored, faith is strengthened, and worship is realigned and unforgotten.

In these days of political uncertainty, try asking what is God doing.

In your days of family challenges, try asking what is God doing.

In your season of job insecurity, try asking what is God doing.

In the valley and on the mountaintop, in the winter and the summer, at the beginning of life and the end of life, protect your awe. Ask God what He is doing.

Moses: 40 Years of Captured Awe

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Exodus 3&4 recount the call of Moses out of a 40-year exile to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. God’s awe-filled display is dismissed by Moses’ fear. Read Paul David Tripp’s words on this scene (chapter 2 of Awe):

At the end of God’s glorious display of power, Moses begs God to send someone else. It’s as if fear of personal inadequacy and political danger has completely blinded his eyes to the awesome glory of the One sending him. Moses is not in awe of God. No, the awe capacity of his heart has been captured by fear of the Egyptians, and all he can think of is being released from the task to which God has appointed him.

Captured. Has your awe been captured? What does that even mean?

It means your awe has been redirected toward something or someone that doesn’t represent your best option, purpose, or worship. In Moses’ 40-year-captured case, this happened because of fear. 

You may think a lack of focus or maybe thoughts of doubt or confusion are to blame. Most likely, the root of your captured awe isn’t doubtful, confusing thoughts or inability to focus. Most likely, a fear is responsible.

Might it be a fear of comparison…of failure…of rejection…of success…of loss…of uncertainty…of loneliness…of pain…of expectations?

What if you saw God as the source of love…of purpose…of forgiveness…of healing…of power…of everything?

What if you remembered that God filled your lungs with breath…took you as you were…brought you out of the dark?

What if you released fear and gave God back your captured awe?

The Awe Boundary

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In chapter 2 of Awe, Paul David Tripp talks about war. He isn’t talking about political or international war. He’s talking about spiritual war, and a very personal war at that. 

…a war wages over who or what will rule and control the awe capacity that God has established within the heart of every human being.

This war started soon after man’s creation. This war started when man was tempted to step over the awe boundary to pursue becoming like God. 

This dangerous fantasy now lurks in the heart of every sinner. We want godlike recognition, godlike control, godlike power, and godlike centrality. This was the initial moment when awe of self overrode awe of God and set the agenda for every person’s thoughts, desires, choices, and behaviors. For billions of people ever since, awe of self has literally driven every selfish, antisocial, and immoral thing we do.

Can you see it? It’s all around us. We are in awe of ourselves. Everyone of us face this war. 

TRUTH: this is a war we will lose, now or later. For everyone’s sake, it’s best to surrender-to step back across the awe boundary every time we find ourselves on the wrong side. It’s a constant battle that cannot be ignored.

TRUTH: the war really has already been won. It’s why Jesus came. He’s worthy of our awe. Maintaining focus on awe of Him keeps you on the right side of the boundary.

Leadership and Self-Deception (book review)

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…no matter what we’re doing on the outside, people respond primarily to how we’re feeling about them on the inside.

For me, this quote sums up the content of this book. The self-proclamation of the book’s purpose is to educate the reader about their self-deception that is central to their relationship problems. In the fictional approach to the subject, all relationships in a person’s life are brought into the light. The focus is mostly on the work environment, but family relational dynamics are also put under the lights.

You could say that the principles discussed help you analyze your ability to live by the Golden Rule. You could also say, from a biblical view, this book challenges your struggles with pride and tests your production of the fruits of the spirit. Two key principles, among others, that are analyzed are the impulse to blame others for our problems and the tendency to deal with things that are going wrong rather than helping things go right.

Should you read this book? Do you want better family dynamics? Does your team need better communication? Do you want to grow? If you answered yes to any of these questions, get to reading. By the way, it’s an easy read. Fast readers could knock it out in one evening. With intention, you could get it read in a week or two.

Happy Reading!

Recovering Demanders

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“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭100:1-5‬ ‭ESV‬‬

This Psalm came to mind when I read this sentence in Breakfast with Bonhoeffer: “Fellowship can be entered when participants enter not as demanders but as thankful recipients.”

Many churchgoing people are recovering demanders. Some know it; others are still figuring it out. Were they to write a Psalm about how to enter church, it may quip, “I’ll enter so long as it suits me.” They may not say it, but they enter the court with expectations, maybe even unspoken demands.

Psalm 100 gives it’s own demands that can help recovering demanders:

  • Make a joyful noise – unashamedly
  • Serve with gladness – service has a way of producing thankfulness and squelching demanding
  • Come with singing – indicates coming with a participatory spirit rather than a sit-and-watch posture
  • Know the Lord is God – the focus is not on any human leader or human preferences
  • Enter with thanksgiving...Give thanks to Him – indicates entering already in a thankful spirit
  • Bless His name – this mindset puts the follower/the created/the child in the right position under their Leader/their Creator/their Father

Psalm 100 establishes a case plan for recovering demanders.

Bonhoeffer on Obedience & Submission

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Reading through Breakfast with Bonhoeffer thinking I’m not getting much. Then here come these quotes from chapters 7 & 8:

Bonhoeffer says Jesus calls us to a concrete faith. We can’t just have faith in general; we must take specific steps of faith – visible, concrete steps. And the steps can’t just be anything; they must be the steps Jesus tells us to take. We can take great risks, thinking they will please Jesus, but unless Jesus initiates them, they are faithless steps…Obedience doesn’t merely reflect faith; obedience leads to faith.

Bonhoeffer has convinced me that the number one reason so many of us are stuck in spiritual immaturity is that we commit to Christ rather than submit to Christ…Commitment still leaves us in control, deciding, according to our own agendas, when or where we’ll serve Jesus. Submission means we yield to the will of Christ and do what he tells us to do day in and day out, altering our lives in obedience to him and his word (Galatians 2:20).

I’m awake now.

Questions to meditate on: 

  1. Am I committed or submitted?
  2. What area in my life needs altering in obedience?
  3. What concrete steps of faith in my past can I look back on and see where my obedience led to faith?

Please leave any comments or stories that might encourage others with their obedience and submission.

Finishing Well

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In his conclusion of It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over, R.T. Kendall listed the following ten principles to follow in order to finish well:

  1. Put yourself totally under Holy Scripture
  2. Be accountable to reliable people
  3. Be squeaky clean regarding finances 
  4. Maintain sexual purity
  5. Come to terms with jealousy you feel by another person’s gifts or popularity
  6. Be willing to not get the credit for what you do
  7. Always keep your word
  8. Live in total forgiveness
  9. Be a thankful person
  10. Maintain a strong personal prayer life; spend much time alone with God

  

The Power of the Truth

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I’m nearing the end of R.T. Kendall’s It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over.

Section three of the book focuses on God’s faithfulness. Chapter 13 is entitled “Vindication.”

Vindication means to have your name cleared. It means to be exonerated from a false accusation, to be absolved from blame. It can mean that your reputation is restored, that your integrity and judgment are extolled by the same people who sincerely thought you had been unwise or untruthful.

Kendall points out scripture that declares we don’t need to seek our own vindication; God will do it for us. The challenge is to wait for it, for Him.

Kendall asked this question that grabbed my attention:

Has it ever crossed your mind that God is the most unvindicated person in the universe? Have you ever wondered why God does not vindicate himself when he could surely do so? Why does God not clear his name now-if He wants me to believe he exists?

Kendall then referenced the lives of Jesus and Job. Jesus did not seek vindication after He resurrected. He certainly could have found those who mocked him and eventually carried out His death and demand vindication; instead, He only visited with those who sought the truth, to show them the power of the truth. Job eventually did seek vindication after his friends drove him there; God’s questions brought him face to face with the reality and power of the truth also.

Truth is, God isn’t after vindication; He will eventually clear His name, but He is more after us knowing and seeking truth. Therein lies all vindication.

13 years of wrong

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it ain't over

I’m reading “It Ain’t Over till It’s Over” by R.T. Kendall. In chapter 1, he references the story of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar.

At Sarah’s suggestion, Abraham slept with her handmaid, Hagar, in an effort to make things happen-to make good God’s promise to him. All that was needed, they reasoned, was that the baby be male.

This wording made me think about something for the first time. What was the nine months before Hagar gave birth like for all three of these people? And then, when it was a boy, what was their reaction toward God?

  • During the nine months, “Did we do the right thing?” After the birth, “I guess so. Thank you, God!”
  • During the nine months, “What if it’s a girl?” After the birth, “God, I shouldn’t have doubted you.”
  • During the nine months, “Was this God’s direction or our manipulation?” After the birth, “I guess it doesn’t really matter.”

It wasn’t until 13 years later that they knew they had been wrong. How could this have been avoided? How can we avoid the same path, years of wrong? Suggestions:

  1. Major decisions must be rooted in peace from time spent with God.
  2. Be honest with yourself and God. If you’ve come up with the decision out of weariness or impatience, confess that to God before moving in that direction.
  3. Admit often to God that you trust in His ways and His thoughts, even though you don’t always see or understand them.
  4. “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” – check this decision in where it ranks in God’s priorities for your life.
  5. Be ready and “quick to the draw” to own any wrong steps you take. Get back on the path ASAP.