Listening to Tim Keller 'Real Security and the Call of God' (available in his free sermons podcast), one really interesting point was the strong correlation between being useful and being uncomfortable. Usually a position which makes you useful is also one which makes you uncomfortable. If you prioritise comfort and security, through jobs, houses, location, ministry choices and such, you often end up in a place where you're not that useful.
A line my friend Maicol said to me recently that I quite enjoyed:
"You can either have time or money, but never both."
"...looking at the matter in a commonsense way, it does seem that the most likely instrument to do the Lord's work is the man who expects that God will use him, and who goes forth to labour in the strength of that conviction."
p42, The Soul Winner, Charles H. Spurgeon.
"Dear brethren, do be earnest, put your whole souls into the work, or else give it up."
p45, The Soul Winner, Charles H. Spurgeon.
I've been thinking about the feeling of inadequacy that we can often get in many areas of our lives. The feeling of inadequacy, even if that feeling is just a product of our own mind, often seems to produce the very thing itself.
Like if you're not very confident in a certain area, such as social situations, job interviews or a particular skill in your profession, it's tempting to shrink back and withdraw. You can get nervous and clam up a bit every time you're faced with that challenge. And in turn you all your fears are realised as you inevitably end up being pretty rubbish at the thing you were worried about. A bit of a vicious circle.
It seems that unless you use the nerves to drive you to be better, to pray hard, to engage and work hard, you're very much on the back-foot, on the losing end of the spectrum. In certain areas of my life I definitely have to switch off my brain, silence all those thoughts, and just get on with things.
But on a positive note, it does make you Weak Enough for God to Use.
Watching the Mars Hill documentary was great. Just seeing how they were all complete amateurs and totally winging it. They pretty much just made it up as they went along. And they were really bold in the way they did everything. They worked really hard, had day jobs, and were prepared to be totally flat broke. Very inspiring, and a reminder that doing God's work isn't always easy or well paid.
One of the points that jumped out at me was Mark explaining that having very little finances required them to innovate. For example, they couldn't afford tape duplicators so they put their sermons online as mp3 downloads, and were one of the first churches to do so. They were also one of the first churches to have a website. They thought up the video campus as a way of overcoming the boundaries of time and space. And it was quite an eye-opener as to how ropey it was in the early days. They just learnt as they went along. Sometimes we're prone to not trying new ideas because it won't be that slick to begin with. But you have to try new things to get that momentum going.
I really enjoyed reading Donald Miller's chapter 'Naked' where he reflects on Adam and Eve, in his book 'Searching For God Knows What'. One of his thoughts was that Adam might have taken about one hundred years to name all the species that God brought to him, and all the while he was alone, without Eve, who God had not yet created.
I think I like it for several reasons. Firstly, I love the idea that this perfect, unfallen world was around for a bit before everything went wrong in Genesis 3. When you read the first three chapters of Genesis it sounds like it was all over in a flash. Perfect ...blink... and we threw it all away. But we don't know how long that period of perfection might have lasted. The Bible has a habit of giving us the bare minimum amount of information.
Just the idea that things were perfect in the Garden of Eden for more than five minutes definitely appeals. I'm glad creation, as it was meant to be, was enjoyed by someone for a good few years.
Secondly, I also like the idea that naming all those animals could have been real hard work. A hundred years... that's more than our whole life. Adam was the original David Attenborough, and I bet the work was satisfying.
And finally, I like the idea that when everything was perfect, Adam was still lonely and needed Eve. Even though he had a perfect companionship with God himself. Most men need a wife, no matter how many friends they've got, and even with a perfect relationship with God the Father.
"He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD."
Proverbs 18:22
". . . shun anything that distracts you from seeking first the kingdom of God. It is so easy to lose focus in the pursuit of legitimate, even good things. Job, position, status, family, friends, security - these and many more can all too quickly become the centre of attention. George Fox warns, '. . . there is the danger and the temptation to you, of drawing your minds into your business, and clogging them with it; so that ye can hardly do anything to the service of God."
Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline, p115
It occurred to me the other day that we don't always need to completely scrap and revise our efforts when something isn't quite working well enough. Often it's just a series of minor changes that together can be very effective. Like fine-tuning an engine.
I think I'm always tempted by the 'scrap-it-and-do-things-completely-differently' approach as it can offer a solution that seems the most radical. But if you get your sensible pants back on, problem solving is best because you adjust one bolt at a time. You eventually see just how influential each component is, and end up with a greater working knowledge.
Over the years I've found this to be massively true in my work as a self-employed designer, in my diet, in my personal finances, in leading a life group and probably a few other areas as well. Sometimes I need the reminder though – don't quit. Tweak, test and re-adjust.
The words of D.L. Moody...
"God is not a hard taskmaster; and, in later years, I have learned, that to do your best work, you cannot afford to neglect the common laws of health."
From D.L. Moody, Soul Winner by Chester Mann
I once read a No Fear poster that said "You miss 100% of the shots you never take". Trouble is, most of us don't set ourselves a goal. We don't know where we're running and we've got nothing to shoot at. It can feel a little unproductive.
A goal has to be clearly defined. You've got to mark it out exactly and play towards it. It pretty much applies to everything in your life that your life that you want to be fruitful in: generous giving, bible reading, daily prayer, dating your wife, health and fitness, leading a life group, earning a living... on and on. You've got to mark out your goal and track your progress.
If you take the picture further, most of the excitement games like football isn't found in the goals themselves. There might only be two or three in 90 minutes. It's in all the action leading up to them: the passing, the tackling, the shots from 40 yards that ricochet off the post. It can all be really exciting. And I guess it's the same in life. You don't always succeed on your first attempt. But it's exciting seeing how close you came. You try, try, try again until that ball is in the back of the net.
It occurred to me that when you say a particular task or goal is 'impossible', you effectively remove any obligation to try. I know I often think certain things are impossible when really they are just difficult. There's quite a distinction between the two.
One state of mind requires no effort what-so-ever, while the other you have to try, train, pray, problem-solve and persevere. I know I have to be really careful in mindlessly substituting the latter for the former. In one sense they're similar words, but the distance between them is incredible.
Following on from a previous note on being expendable for Christ (link) often, it's not our physical life that is required (i.e. martyrdom), but various little portions of our daily life. Finances, work, comfort, hobbies, fitness, luxuries, time... all of these need to be labeled 'expendable'. We give them up as and when required for the cause of Christ.
"You can work without praying, but it is a bad plan. But you cannot pray in earnest without working."
Biography of James Hudson Taylor, 1973 edition, p416
