November 23, 2004
Bibles and Papers 2
I was intrigued by a comment from a friend regarding my previous posting on "Bibles and Papers". You can view his comments here. [Comment #3] As such, I thought some clarification was in order.
This is what I am not saying: I am not saying that if you carrying your Bible around with you where ever you go that you are spiritual, mature and/or a leader. No, rather I am saying the opposite.
I am saying that if you are a leader, then you will bear the fruit of such. As our friend was good to point out, it is more important that the Word be hidden in our hearts. However, if you cannot in clear conscience come to a leaders meeting in full assurance you don't need your Bible with you, then I ask you, "Where is it?" Are you actually prepared for what it is you said you are willing to take on as a responsibility?
What will you do if the leader of the leader's meeting asks for an impromptu Bible Study? Do you have enough of God's Word in your heart to not need the Bible?
Again, I am not saying that you are spiritual or mature if you carry your Bible with you. No, what I am talking about is being adequately prepared for what it is you are doing. So I thought I would take on a more tangible topic.... Daily Quite Times. (Or daily times with the Lord.)
Would it be wrong to mandate that all leaders have a daily quite time with the Lord?
Yes and no. I think the 'no' is evident. If what you are saying is: "By having a daily quite time with the Lord, you are a leader."
On the other-hand, if you say, by having daily quite times you demonstrate in part, a heart after God, then you can be a leader. This is the 'yes' to the question.
It's just a matter of which is coming first. Do I say, "Once you are a leader you are mandated to have daily quite times." or do I say, "You have daily quite times, now it is okay for you to be a leader." Both sentences mandate daily quite times. One just does it in the proper Biblical prioirty.
So then this begs the question, "What do you do with the person who became a leader and then later stops having daily quite times?"
But back to topic. I don't think by saying, "The fruit of leadership is that the Word of God is near you." and as such, expecting some form of it to be with you at the Leader's Meeting is inappropiate.
It's just a matter of preparedness. I'm asking the tough question.
So yes, I expect that some action be taken. Either the person is confident enough with the Word in their heart or they have the appropiate tools handy to help them. Is there someting wrong with my expectation of this from the people who are calling themselves leaders and coming to an All Leader's Meeting?
As for using Colossians 2:8, I would be careful here. In context Paul the Apostle is making sure that the Colossians aren't decieved so they don't be come saved (v1-5) or that they are not mis-informed about the Truth, their standing before God and how they got there (v9-15).
That is why I said, "I am not saying....". No what we are talking about is expected behavior in a given context. Not many people would claim picking your nose in public or going around bare foot in public spaces is appropiate. But at home those actions are just fine. The context drives the appropiateness of the action.
What is appropiate behavior to expect from leaders at a Leader's Meeting. The questions I raise in "Bibles and Papers" addreses this soley and is not intended to state anything about their position before God, thus I am not confident my remarks qualify for Col. 2:8.
Hope that clarifies a few things. The more appropiate discussion would then be: What is appropiate behavior for the Leaders at Leader's Meetings?
Posted by mtriley at 04:24 PM | Comments (7)
November 22, 2004
Don't Care?
A friend of mine wrote on his blog a feeling or symptom I think we all suffer from time to time. In fact, reading it this morning, I was struck again by the emotion of it all. He was much better at words, so I’ll quote, “On a brighter note, this week sucks. No motivation. I'm really starting to not care anymore. Pry a bad time of the year for me to develop that attitude, ey? But hey, if I don't care, then I'm not affected by the disappointment, and I can just continue to exist, right? Sleep is comforting. Sleep is just about the best use of my time anymore. Sleep is a great escape.”
I know from time to time we all feel as if we don’t care. But do we stop to think about why that is? Why is it that I get to a point that I don’t care? Or are you simply willing to go on not caring until something magical or something new happens to suddenly make you care?
There are times in my life where I simply didn’t care. When I look back at those times and even now consider some frustration in my life, I have begun to realize several common threads. I have put this entry in the theological section of my blog because I think Christianity offers real answers to the question, “Why don’t I care?” or “Why does life suck?”
But before I talk about some Christian answer, let’s look into the heart. I can only offer mine at this point, but if you feel you have something to add, please leave a comment.
When I have felt like I don’t care it is usually a result of a few things going on in my life. In particular regard to classes, I was usually in a class where I hated doing the work or didn’t see the point of it. That is my first point:
#1) You start not to care when you loose sight of what it is you are doing and why.
This question raises several others. Why is it that I am doing what am I doing? Is there any point to what I am doing? Is what I am doing really satisfying and how do I know that it is?
I think the heart of it is that we want to be satisfied. My friend commented that he wasn’t satisfied. In life, I too have been completely unstatisfied to the point of frustration. Are you unsatisfied now?
Considering point one, I think it raises the deeper questions of, “What is it in life that I am really living for and what is it out of life that I really expect to gain?” Thus point two:
#2) You srart not to care when you are unable to connect what it is you are doing to what it is in life that you are living for and or striving to gain.
Before I go any further, because you are either going to hate my answer or love it, I want to make one thing clear. I don’t care much for the answer either. In fact, I think, in the depths of my heart, I really hate it too. So I want to make it clear, I am not only speaking to you out there who doesn’t care but also to myself.
For those who are not Christians. I belive you are on your own. I was there at one point in my life. I used to be an atheist running after certain life goals. And as I look back (and in the depths of my own heart) at them, I see constant striving to remove pain, burden and strife out of my life. I think to get out of the cycle of not caring you must be able to clearly express what it is you are living for and be able to clearly connect what it is you are living for to what it is you are currently doing. If you can’t, then I would consider doing something else or start by cleary expressing what it is you want to do with life.
But I feel it necessary to point out several things about life that the Christian must keep in full view and for the non-Christian to be watchful off. That is there are things in life that you must accept. Those things you can’t change nor can you prevent. They may even completely prevent you from fulfiling what it is in life you want to gain, and that is simply life. It’s not fair, and making it so, I belive is just as fruitless as attempting to make it your life goal to be something that can’t be done; like preventing the earth from rotating. I’ll offer some illustrations in my own life:
Several of my life gains were to have deep friendships, a wife and a close father. However:
1) I couldn’t help the fact that my peers (schoolmates) didn’t want anything to do with me.
2) I couldn’t stop them from taking every opportunity to make fun of me, tease me or ridicule me.
3) I couldn’t make people like me.
4) There was nothing I oculd have done to make a girl like me despite all the negative peer pressure/ridicule that was upon my life.
5) I was in no way able to prevent the cancer that showed up in my dad in 1992 and later came back to take his life in 1997. [I was 17 at the time. {Jr. in HS}]
Subtle to all of this is another point:
#3) You must be able to define a life end that is safe from the attacks and threats of others or circumstance.
Otherwise, I believe you’ll start down a road of pain, bitterness and eventually hatred. Though, if you are able to derive a life goal that is devoid of the pitfalls of life, please let me know. I’d be most interested in hearing what it is you have to say. {I later thought of self-actualization as a goal as I was revising this entry, but that too I think can be thwarted by a mental illness.}
This is at the point that I belive Christianity offers real answers to the problem our discussion begins raise.
If you logically follow where this dicussion leads, you will realize you need a life end that transends this world, circumstance and potentially all the bad things that can happen. Sure you can get lucky in life and things work out. But I’ll assert that a life that relys on that and actually suceeds, is a rarity and for the common person, not achieveable.
The ‘duh’ answer is that Jesus Christ transends this life and is the one we must put our hope in. I’ll spare you the cheesy Christian pat answers here. I want to focus on some spiritual truths to help the Christian in times when they are not feeling as if they care anymore about life or what it is they are doing. (And yes, I have been there myself.)
I also think it is important to point out right now, that I personally believe, from what I have seen growing up and now as a person involved in this Christian thing full time, that apathy is one of the greatest evils our world faces and is the greatest pain causer man has ever invented. (Why I belive this is for another discussion.)
To the Christian, the one who has accepted Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior who trusts in His divine work to bridge the gap between man and God and who hopes in His second coming and knows that He wants more than religious duty, but rather a deep relationship:
When you don’t care, you must ask yourself what it is you are living for? Are you genuinely living for the things of God or have you placed something else in the way that is ultimately unsatisfying?
When I look at my life, the times where I begin not to care, the times where I get down right frustrated at life, I see a constant stiving towards something that isn’t found in the Lord. So I’ll speak from experience.
I have come to realize that my biggest Christian hangup, the thing that constantly keeps me from purusing and connecting with the Living God is a constant strife to avoid pain, difficulty and to achieve satisfaction. (What is your constant stive that pulls you away from Him?)
You see, my aim in life prior to being a Christian was to be as perfect as possible as soon as possible. So now, as a Christian I’m bugged by the fact that I’m not perfect. Thankfully God brought John Meyer to this last weekend’s GCLI and things in this Christian life are starting to make a little more sense.
There are several spirtual truths I want to bring to bear on this “don’t care” mentality that can easily plague us. (You see, my frustration, in the end, leads to not caring. Your’s will too, if you let it.) We need to remind ourselves of these to help end the cycle of not caring or apathy.
The first truth is that Christ did not promise satisfaction in this life. We are not promised that things will go well, that God will bless us (in ways that we may want to define {this is a tricky point so if you are confused by what I mean, ask}). In fact we are promised the exact opposite: Paul the Apostle encouraged the saints in Lystra, Iconium and Antioch with this truth, “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:21-23 NIV) “Endure hardship as disciple for God is treating you like sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?” (Hebrews 12:7 NIV) Christ said the world will hate us. (John 15:18-24)
When we get our eyes off of Him, carrying the cross and focused on what it is that will please or satisfy us, is what in the end will lead to frustration and then a general attitude of not carrying or apathy.
I’m still learning what this means in application but I do know that if we don’t take the higher ground, the more difficult path to find satisfaction in the Lord, we will always end up disappointed.
John Meyer talked about the placing our hope in the second coming of Christ. You see, things in this life, are broken. I belive much of my deeper sense of tension is a result of an internal realization that things are not right and my drive to fix everything. You see, we are not saved in the sense that life will make sence and things will all work out. I could list many examples from the lives of the saints to demonstrate this or you could turn to your Bible and read about the lives of the first myarters.
We are saved from our sinful nature. We are no longer slaves to our flesh. We are new creations (endwelled by the Holy Spirit), with some old baggage still but that will eventually be removed. Thus we are also saved to a new kingdom. An eternal kingdom. A kingdom where all the problems are fixed. John hit this point well, we are saved to something new. A time when every knee will bow and tounge confess that Christ is Lord. A time when all wrongs are corrected, all hurts healed all dissapointment turned into satisfaction. But it is not in this life. I’ll write more on this topic when I understand it to a greater degree.
The overall point is this: If you don’t care you are attempting to find, either directly or subtly in the depths of your heart satisfaction in something that isn’t of God or in the Lord. You must therefore learn, as I am starting to as well, learn to find satisfaction in Him and hope in the second coming of the Kingdom where all things will be made right.
Upon third review of this entry, I was thinking of the college graduate or the person who feels stuck in the rut of life. It’s easy to get hung there and feel dissatisfied and start not to care about work. This too I think is a loss of sight of what we are to be living for. We are not to live for the work, but the people at the work. We don’t live for the money, but for the opportunity to give that money to build the Kingdom. We are not interested in chugging out eight or more hours of productive work for some company that in the end will burn, but chug out eight hours of glorious service to our King on High for the opportunity to advance His Kingdom in our midst and/or through the finances he bestows upon us to be faithful with. I’ll add though, if you feel as if you go to work and keep wishing you were doing more on the mission field, I would consider full time staff. Just remember, it isn’t easier nor better than the full time job.
P.S. After the 4th revision, I realized that I never said why I don’t care for the Christain answer. Put simply, I want things fixed now and it irks the heck out of me that they aren’t or cannot be fixed in this life.
Posted by mtriley at 11:03 AM | Comments (2)
November 19, 2004
Bibles and Papers
So I was thinking this morning about a few thoughts I have been carrying with me over this last week. Being the administrator I am, it's part of my job to help people keep on top of what is going on in the Rock. As such, I have to announce upcoming events and activities at our All Leader's Meeting. So, what have I begun to notice?
....
How can you show up to a spiritually engaging battle like prayer, or the administrative side of the spiritual war front without your Bible and the tools needed to carry out one's God given responsibilities?
....
It seems to me, that very few people who are calling themselves leaders actually bring paper or their schedule to leader meetings or some other medium to which to write down important events, changes or announcements. I find it hard to believe that so many can actually keep all the upcoming events strait in their mind.
I think we saw the fruit of this last Thursday (yesterday) when many of our key leaders forgot it was the day we agreed as the Rock to fast for world hunger in our joint support with our Catholic friends. But we have also seen this in the fact that important upcoming events, like All Rock Prayer, isn't on people's minds. Some have even forgotten that we gave them a calendar with all the important dates on it. [Not to mention the wonderful web-site that Kirsten keeps up to date.] So, what is the world coming to?
But I have also noticed that many people seem to come to church functions, like leader meetings or prayer meetings without their Bible. They just show up. Maybe I am strange, but when I go somewhere and my Bible isn't near by, I feel really naked. Tim shared a thought at our Men's time about soldiers not forgetting to put on their armor or not forgetting to carry their rifle. Of course, I naturally think, duh, they are in a war and they physically see it. The spiritual war is hard to see and putting the armor of God on is like a constant mental work to keep ourself yielded to the Spirit and in God's presence, but to leave the Word of God somewhere not near by, is just like the soldier putting on armor and leaving the gun at home. It's our only tangible weapon (as in, we have either have it completely memorized or carry it around with us) and many of us treat it like a text book.
How can you show up to a spiritually engaging battle like prayer, or the administrative side of the spiritual war front (leader meetings) without your Bible and the tools needed to carry out one's God given responsibilities?
My thought went a little father this morning. I was wondering if some of use are more interested in our position as a leader (aka the fact that we can come to leader meetings and hold a position) than really interested in the responsibilities and duties of that position?
Or maybe we have just lost sight of what it means to come to church functions (with our Bibles!) and to leader meetings (with paper & schedules!), ready to do and know our part of this spiritual war. It is very important to remember that leader meetings are no less important than other things, it is where the business end of the spiritual war takes place and it is where the Devil can scatter (or spread out) the flock by causing organizational chaos or mis-information or what have you.
{And in case you forgot, I love the leaders and am honored to work with and for them. We are young and need to grow in this arena of spiritual war.}
Posted by mtriley at 01:44 PM | Comments (3)
Disclaimer
Since I work full time for Stonebrook Community Church and The Rock, Ames, I thought it necessary to include some form a disclaimer about the thoughts, opinions and views of this blog. Since I am a representative of these two fine organizations, I wish to make it clear that the opinions and views expressed through this blog may in no way be the offical position of either Stonebrook Community Church or The Rock, Ames. If there is any doubt, please leave a comment or talk to me directly via e-mail. mtriley at stonebrook.org. :)
I will also, today, launch a few leadership comments. Since obviously my leadership experience is associated with the two organizations I work for, it is natural to think certain events or people will spark the thought. As such, if I ever cause offence, though believe me it will never be my intention, please let me know via responce or e-mail at mtriley at stonebrook dot org. I, in no way, intend to harm or cause pain, but I'll probably poke a nerve here or there. {But then again, Tim did say to leave scathing comments on people's blogs to get their attention, so I don't know what he's trying to say.... ;-)}
Posted by mtriley at 01:35 PM | Comments (0)
Wow
Wow.... I had no idea one small post saying, "Hello Bloggers" would get so much attention. I'll try, during break, to visit your blogs and see what is up. I'm also hoping to lauch several small discussions or thoughts, (probably mostly) thoughts, though. We'll see how time permits.
Posted by mtriley at 01:32 PM | Comments (3)
November 18, 2004
Hello Bloggers
Is Bloggers really a word? I'm not sure. But after about a taking a year of nagging from my friends... (Thanks Matt & Tim), I finally broke down and started a blog.
Actually, in part, you can thank this years election for a fueling drive to start blogging. That's becuase my plan for this blog isn't really to be an on-line journal or something of that nature, though, I am sure over time, part of it will morph that way, but rather to be used as a forumn for discussing Christian Politics. Specifically, given an appropiate Christian world-view, what should our polictical stance be? [I'll comment more on this later...]
Tim, one of the pastors of Stonebrook Community Church and The Rock, Ames (www.stonebrook.org and www.rockisu.com) also had been suggesting a blog to me as a fourm for discussing leadership topics and other such things that happen to be on my mind, so I am sure you'll get some of that here as well.
I'll add more about myself at a later point, since I am now rushed for time. If you are interested, you can find a picture of me and a brief bio at the Rock Staff Page.
Have a great day! :)
Posted by mtriley at 11:40 AM | Comments (7)