From men I trust…
Thoughts on Community
I loved digging through Genesis and finding many treasures I'd missed. In Chapter 2, I never realized that God's first "not good" in creation was loneliness. It was God and Adam and a perfect garden, and God saw that Adam still needed companionship. As we make our way back to the Garden, God doesn't intend for us to make that journey alone.
God is the first and original small group: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. Made in His image, you and I are most like God when we live in community with others. As men, this is especially important. We are most vulnerable and most subject to satan’s attacks when we are alone. We see this in nature: the best way for a lion to hunt is to find the weak and isolated. The lion knows that it’s prey is weakest when it is alone. The same is true in the physical and spirtual life of man.
**And don’t forget… Women are relationship oriented, men are task oriented. Thus it is our job to remind men that the relationship is the task.
Thoughts on Generational Blessing
"...the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." — 1 Corinthians 1:18-31
"I destroy the wisdom of the wise;" [v19'], "Where is the wise person? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?" [v20]
"But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise...the weak things of the world to shame the strong...the lowly ...and despised...to nullify the things that are." — vv26-29.
This morning, my 14-year-old son came to me in tears. He buried his head in my chest and confessed. He'd listened to a song that I told him he couldn't listen to. He revealed his disobedience to me, and I stood there holding him with an odd mix of feelings. It was such a little thing! I wanted to immediately tell him not to worry about it. At the same time, a rivaling voice whispered in my head, "This is a really big deal. Don't brush this off." So I paused and tried to explain what I thought was happening.
First, I told him it was ok and that I forgave him; I explained that even though it really wasn't a big deal in and of itself, his willingness to confess was incredibly important in the spiritual realm. We talked about how sin works. How it starts small and wins little victories until, before you know it, you are completely captured, lost in the dark. Our only defense, I explained, is confession. James 5 has taken up residence in my head this year, and I shared it with him: "Confess your sins to one another that you may be healed."And so my son found healing... with me. And I was blessed.
As I think about it now, I wonder if this moment is an example of a generational blessing passed down from my beautiful but broken father. He was many things to me as I examined his life when I was a boy. He was a leader, an educator, a protestor, a handyman, and a singer. But when I think about the legacy he's left me to follow and pass on, it is his wide-open brokenness that I think about the most. My father looked at me in the eyes and told me he was sorry. He did it over and over again, mostly when he would lose his temper. Even after I became a man, he apologized to me for the ways in which he just didn't have the ability to help me through boyhood like he wished he could have.
My father's wide-open weakness did not make me look down on him. I never saw him as the imposter he always felt he was. It endeared me to him. His confession taught me not to hide my weakness. And I rejoice to think that I have passed this blessing to my son. It's a strange kind of strength to admit your weakness, a strange wisdom to show yourself a fool in this world. But God uses the foolish and the weak and the lowly and the despised. What a strange but beautiful truth for 2024.
Thoughts On Leadership
Mentions in the Bible:
Leader = 6 times
Servant = 800+ times
More often than not, the Bible equates leadership with servanthood. Leadership looks a lot like serving others. If serving is beneath you, leading is beyond you.
A boss says 'Go.' A leaders says 'let’s go.'
Coming & Going
"For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light." — Psalm 36:9
Jesus says "come to me." Come to me who are tired (Matt. 11:28). Come who are thirsty (Jo. 7:37; Rev. 22:17). Come and let’s eat together. Come buy wine, milk, and honey (Is. 55:1-3; Rev. 3:20). Come men. Come women. Come little children. Come to me and I will never cast you out (John 6:37).
Over and over Jesus says, "Come to me."
Before we can become who Christ has called us to be, we must simply come to Him. More times than not, the hardest thing is abiding [coming to Christ]. Abiding in Christ is the first and great work. In order to become like Him, we must come near Him. So much in me, and of me, pulls me away from Christ. Pride. Shame. Busyness. So often He is the last place I go. Like Bono once said, "most days I am robbing my own bank and I don’t even have gas in the get-a-way car…"
Feeling empty today? Tired? Beat down nd heaven laden? Draw near to Christ. Go to the Fountain that never runs dry. Go, and He’ll make you 'light and free.'
"O Christ, He is the fountain,
The deep, sweet well of life:
Its living streams I’ve tasted
Which save from grief and strife.
And to an ocean fulness,
His mercy doth expand;
His grace is all-sufficient
As by His wisdom planned."
Here’s to a better, lighter, wiser New Year.
— Harp
