mission

Additives & Preservatives

/ jerrythinks / Leave a comment

What thing, quality, or experience–if added to your life–do you strongly suspect would enhance it greatly? We’ve all likely been prone to the regularly occuring daydream where we think “If only I had ______…” or “If only I did _____ for a living, then I’d be….” or “If I could just get to _______, I know I’d feel so much happier, more fulfilled, and content.”

I want to ask you specifically to think about that thought:

What thing, quality, or experience–if added to your life–do you strongly suspect would enhance it greatly? Use the comment section below to share your answer. Or find me on social media and send me a DM. Or if you’ve got my number, text or call me. Yes, really.

This isn’t an exercise in discontentment, and I’m not trying to stir up some angst within you, forcing you to focus on and gripe about what isn’t there. This is more of an exercise in capturing (or at least spotting) the elusive bird called aspiration. Why? Because in our typical work-a-day lives, we can sometimes lose sight of what it means to dream, to plan, to move, to morph, to advance, to attain what seems good to us.

And let me be clear: wanting is not a sin. I have a long list of wants. Here are a few:

I want all my children to know, adore, and follow Jesus– not because my wife and I do, but because a living, vibrant love relationship with Christ is the only solid ground that exists in this world. I want my wife to never doubt that she married a man who thinks of her continually, and can’t wait to see her again. I want to see the Church live out its Commission in the power of the unexplainable Holy Spirit so that the whole world gets a better view of grace than we have given it. I want to commute to work on a Vespa GTS 310 or a Honda X-ADV scooter. I want to hike Ireland with my wife. I want young people to boldly take their place in this unique piece of history in God’s story of humanity. I want to win Chipotle for life. I want more land and a bigger house, so my future grandkids can build sweet memories of going there to catch frogs, wrestle goats, eat ice cream, and find joy. I want to be a wildly friendly person. I want French fries from Dante’s on Ironbridge Road. I want lower cholesterol (And yes, I see the connection). I want Post to bring back Maple Pecan Crunch cereal (believe me, I’ve asked). I want clean water for every person in the world. I want pastors who seem to revel in celebrity status to pack it up and do something else. I want us as a human race to slow our roll on AI. I want New York bagels to be available in central VA (Cupertino’s is closest, in my opinion). I want to better understand anxiety and depression so I can better connect with those who struggle daily. I want 7-11 to finally figure out how to do a sweet tea Slurpee. It seems so doable. I want more wealthy people to be more generous, and I want more impoverished people to find their way out of poverty. I want to understand why so many of my wants seem to gravitate to food and drink. I guess more than anything, I want Jesus to make good on His promise to return for His bride.

No, wants aren’t bad. Wants we have that either stand opposed to God’s wants or pull us away from intimacy with Jesus are what’s bad. Jesus speaks extensively in the gospels, and Paul speaks at length in his letters about managing our desires and aligning with God’s desires for us (which, by definition, are far better anyway). If you want to read more about those, here are some passages for you:

  • Matthew 6:24
  • Matthew 10:33
  • Matthew 20:26-28
  • Matthew 23:11-12
  • John 5:44
  • Romans 8:7
  • Ephesians 5:8-10
  • Philippians 2:3
  • 1 Thessalonians 4:11

So what would you like to add to your life right now, if you could? And being as objective as possible, what would be the logical conclusion to getting that want?

Here’s my working theory: The best additives (things we seek to add to our lives) are also the best preservatives (those things that uphold and protect the most important relationships in our lives). If you have (or attain) a want but the expense of the want is the erosion of a relationship, you had a bad want.

Likewise, if your main aim is to simply preserve what you are and what you have, you’re going to forfeit your ambition for some (or all) of your wants. Some Christians seem to operate this way. They live in a perpetual circling of the wagons in an effort to simply hold on to some illusion that things are now as they used to be.

Lord, help us to be a people driven by the mission you gave us: To love people in a way that simply points them to Your love so that the gift of salvation is the message of our lives. And while we do, help us to navigate and when necessary, surrender the things that would get in the way of our closeness with You. Give us grace to interact with others so that Your grace is clearly reflected. Protect us from attitudes that are not fueled by Your Holy Spirit. Make Your Church a unified Bride, busy at the work you’ve given us to do. We temper our wants and submit them to You. Sanctify us wholly.
Amen.

Mission: Day 1

/ jerrythinks / 3 Comments

I find it helpful to imagine that it’s my first day on the job. I do this on a regular basis in order to reframe my perspective on what I’m doing and why. If you’ve never tried this, I recommend it as a regular exercise. As anyone would (or should) on their first day anywhere, I like to ask questions like:

  • What is it we’re hoping to accomplish as an organization/company/group of people?
  • What has been done in the past that has sought to move us toward accomplishing that mission, and how was it successful or unsuccessful?
  • How is “success” measured here? Is that the best metric?
  • What blindspots have developed in those who have been at it for a while?
  • What “sacred cows” exist that I need to be aware of, if any?
  • What has not been tried yet? Why not?

Today is Monday morning after Easter (Resurrection) Sunday. Jesus’ followers should probably look at today as “Mission: Day 1.” If you know the story of Jesus’ resurrection, you know that He stayed around for around 40 days and continued to show himself and taught people about His Kingdom. (Acts 1:3)

What we see in his disciples right after Jesus’ resurrection though, was that they went back to work. (John 21) Changed internally by the life-altering reality that their rabbi was back from the dead, it doesn’t (at least at first) seem to make a huge difference in them. Let’s chalk it up to adrenaline or perhaps allowing their new reality to sink in. So, no judgment here. I’ve learned that most people’s default setting when they’re not sure what to do is to do nothing. I get that.

What are we to do today, the day after we celebrate the most incredible, miraculous, history-shaking, unparalleled event that humanity has ever known? Outwardly, is it just another Monday? Probably seems so. But inwardly (making its way out), it’s Mission: Day 1.

The news of Jesus’ resurrection spread as you might expect. He revealed Himself in resurrected/glorified form to hundreds, maybe thousands of people, before He ascended into heaven. So the fact of His resurrection was not merely tabloid fodder. This was the actual reality of the situation: A man had been crucified in front of a huge crowd who all watched him die, proven to be dead, put in a sealed and guarded tomb, and was now alive and walking around.

So, if you’re one of this man’s followers, what do you do on Mission: Day 1? Do you tuck this nugget of news under your hat and simply live as you did before? Or do you celebrate the widely-known fact that your Rabbi is the death-conquering Messiah and Lord?

Honestly, I’m not sure why the disciples went back to fishing after Jesus had been resurrected. But I do believe there’s something there for us to learn. They weren’t in denial of Jesus’ resurrection. They were simply integrating this new reality into their lives the best way they could. Probably trying to figure out for themselves how to live in this new world where their best friend is now the resurrected King of all kings.

Here’s my guess: They probably looked at people radically differently than they had before. Every person they saw was now in one of two categories: The “knows” and the “doesn’t know”. Let’s consider this.

Stop wherever you are right now. Look around. Look at the movement of humans around you right now. What are they doing? How do they appear to you? What do you imagine they are thinking? What do they know about Jesus? Do they know? Are they a “know” or a “doesn’t know”?

I don’t know how to tell you how to let them know. That’s really not my thing to be concerned with. My desire here is not to trigger any emotion in you as you read these words. My desire here is simply to invite you to imagine that it’s Day 1 of this new reality, and that there are still people who don’t know.

Go back up to that list of questions toward the beginning of this post. Now, Jesus followers: Imagine they’re applicable to this new resurrected reality we are all now living in. How would you answer them?