May 2011
Archive

Jesus and Bad Advertising

I was on a road trip about a year ago and Elijah needed to use the bathroom. There was a gas station that said “clean restrooms,” so we pulled in.

But the restrooms were filthy. Pee and trash everywhere. It was disgusting. Elijah looked at me and said,  “why does it say clean restrooms when these aren’t clean?” I said, “I guess they lied to us.”

Not too long after this, Elijah and I were in a nice hotel and we went into the restroom and it was super clean. He said to me, “Daddy, does this restroom have a sign that says it has clean restrooms?” It didn’t. Then he responded, “Why do some restrooms say they’re clean and they’re not, and then other restrooms are clean and they don’t say that they are?”

I don’t know.
And I also don’t know why this same dynamic continually plays itself out in the Church either.

The Church is fond of saying that the world offers everything but has nothing. And that’s true. But from my experience, the Church offers everything but doesn’t know how to really advertise it. Either corporately or individually.

People come into our worship experiences and hear us say Jesus is great, but then they see us celebrate Him with mediocrity.
People look at our lives and hear us say we’re Christians, but then they see very little difference in us that would compel them to want the supposed hope and joy that we have.

I’m tired of the world selling their product so well when their product can’t do anything for anybody. But I’m equally tired of the Church having something that can do everything for everybody but we make it look like it can’t do anything for anybody.

I believe the most important message in the world deserves the best presentation. That’s why I’m so adamant about the Church being known for excellence. And that’s why I’m also so adamant about people living up to their full potential in Christ. It’s not that we’re trying to impress people with how great we are. It’s that we’re trying to impress into people how great Jesus is.

Some people might respond by saying that Jesus doesn’t need us to make Him look good. In fact, by presenting the gospel with excellence, we’re taking away from it. We’re stealing glory from God. Making people love the messenger rather than the message.

They probably should have told that to Moses when he was making an ornate Tabernacle.
To Paul when he presented the gospel with skill at Athens.
And to Apollos who was a skilled orator and was used by God powerfully.

Of course Jesus doesn’t need us to make Him look good. But I also don’t think He wants us to make Him look bad either. Or neglect to reflect how great He is.

We’ve got the greatest message in the world.
Let’s not make it harder than it has to be for people to realize how great it is.

Resource of the Day: One mistake people make about excellence is that it’s about competing with other churches. This completely misses the mark. Other churches are not your real competition. To find out what is, check out this blog post: The Real Competition.

Walls or Doors

I’m convinced now more than ever that perspective can change everything. And this is probably nowhere truer than when we’re talking about the struggles we face in life.

Most of us think of our struggles – our circumstances, obstacles, and enemies –  as walls. They’re there to set us back or hold us back. We avoid them at all costs. When we encounter them, we usually turn back because after all, who wants to climb a wall? Especially a wall that can sometimes seem insurmountable.

But the truth is your circumstances and obstacles aren’t walls. They’re not there to set you back. In reality, they’re there to set you up.

Your struggles are not walls, they are doors.
Doors to the next level in your relationship with God. Doors that lead to a new horizon of His favor. They’re the necessary passageways through which all of us must pass to get to the place God is taking us to. And until you go through them, you can’t get there.

You can see this truth repeat itself throughout the Bible:
Slavery and prison put Joseph in position and served as his door to save millions.
Goliath gave David a stage and served as his door to public promotion.
The cross gave Jesus the means of His death and served as His door to save the world.

Imagine if any of these men had not gone through their doors. Imagine if instead, they saw them as walls. As things to be avoided or run from.

Millions would have starved to death in Egypt.
The whole David and Goliath metaphor would be shot.
We would still be in our sins.

Luckily all we can do is imagine. I hope the same can be said about the doors you face in life. I’d rather you imagine what life would have been like had you not opened them, than to have to imagine what it might look like on the other side if you had.

Whatever circumstance, struggle, or enemy you’re facing, don’t turn around. God has something for you on the other side better than what you have now. And it’s something you’ll never experience until you walk through the door.

Yes, it’s a difficult door to go through. But that’s only until you realize that the cost of not going through it far outweighs the cost of making it into a wall and forever imagining what was waiting on the other side for you.

Resource of the Day: This past Thursday night we put on a special event for the leaders of Elevation by having Dr. Emerson Eggerichs, author of Love and Respect and one of the leading voices on marriage today, come in and do a special one-hour teaching on marriage. It was so great, I thought I’d share it with all of you who read the blog. You can watch or download it exclusively at our video podcast.

Purpose over Personality

But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”
Numbers 20:12

Everyone is replaceable.

A lot of times we try to motivate people to embrace their calling by saying that if you don’t  ______, no one else can. You’re the person God has appointed to do this, and no one else can do it.

It sounds good. Very motivating.
But it simply isn’t true.

To the Israelites, it probably seemed like Moses was the only one who could lead them into the Promised Land. But he wasn’t. And so when he wasn’t willing to trust God enough to do what he had been commanded to do, the responsibility and privilege was handed over to someone else.

There’s a scary truth that we all must accept:
Like Moses, you and I are replaceable.

Do we really think that if we don’t use our profession as our pulpit, God won’t raise someone else up to do it?
Do we really think God can’t raise up another church to have the impact He wants ours to have if we don’t do what He’s calling us to do?
Do we really think God’s purpose depends solely on us?

God is not hamstrung by our disobedience. Or by our unwillingness to join in on what He wants to do in this world. In God’s economy, He values His purpose over the personality He uses to accomplish it. If you won’t do what God is calling you to do, He will simply find somebody else to do it.

Don’t get me wrong, God doesn’t just replace us on a whim or at the first sign of resistance on our part. He chases and pursues us. He is more patient than we can possibly imagine.

But the Creator of the Universe’s purpose is greater than any one person.
You are a part of the plan. But you are not the plan.
You’re special. Valuable. You’re one of a kind.
But you’re not irreplaceable.

This isn’t easy to accept, but it’s absolutely essential that we do it. It communicates urgency to us. Not in the sense that God is urgent for us to do something for Him. But urgency in the sense that the window of our opportunity to do something with God isn’t open indefinitely. It has to be seized now.

Believe it or not, there are countless people in this world who would do anything to take your spot in how God wants to use you. Don’t give them the opportunity. Whatever God is calling you to do, do it. And do it now.

The Flames of Heaven

By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work.
1 Corinthians 3:10-13

These verses aren’t about our salvation. Or about the content of our lives.
That’s the way I’ve heard countless pastors preach them. But that’s not what they’re about.

If you read the context, they’re about our ministry.
And they should be sobering to us all.

I think the scariest prospect for any person is a wasted life. You have such a limited time on this earth, so you have to make it count. And while we usually think of wasting our lives as doing something besides what we’ve been called to or living against our purpose, there seems to be something even scarier than that. And that’s doing exactly what you have been called to do but doing it in such a way that you waste your life anyways.

According to Paul, those in ministry aren’t exempt from this possibility.
You could pastor a church for 40 years. Everyone would say you’re a paragon of faithfulness. But if you added hay for 40 years, it’s going to burn up in 40 seconds.
What a waste.

It’s not enough to simply “do ministry.” It’s not enough just to show up day after day under the guise of working for a church and hand in crap. Or do things that really don’t matter, even if you think they do because you’re getting paid to do them for God. We’ve got to make sure that what we’re adding is of the highest quality. That it’s something whose impact outlasts the present.

My goal isn’t to have the biggest bonfire in Heaven. I don’t want to spend a lifetime building something that isn’t going to last into eternity. I don’t think you do either.

So whatever you do in your church – preach, crunch numbers, assimilate, counsel, herd 8th grade boys – make sure what you’re adding is worthy of the foundation it’s being laid upon. Otherwise you’re just stacking wood to watch your life’s work eventually go up in flames.

Resource of the Day: The greatest fear of many Christians is ruining their lives. Doing something catastrophic that completely undoes them. While this is a real possibility we must avoid, as I said above I think we face a greater and subtler danger: wasting our lives. For more on the difference between the two, check out this blog post: Playing Not to Lose.

Ambition and Arrogance

There’s a word many Christians are afraid of. It’s almost a bad word. If you have it, many people assume it means you’re self-serving. Power hungry. But most of all, arrogant.

I’m talking about ambition.

It’s almost like if you want to excel at something or do big things with your life or organization, then you must have a God-complex. An all too elevated sense of self-importance.

There’s no denying that that’s definitely true in the case of some people. But I also fear that our fear of ambition is severely limiting other people who have been called to do great things for God. Why should we put a cap on their potential because some people can’t put a cap on their pride?

I’ve seen too many pastors settle for reaching hundreds when God called them to reach thousands. I’ve seen too many talented businessmen stop short of the impact God had called them to make on their field. All because they feared being thought of as ambitious.

So let’s clear this up once and for all: nowhere in the Bible is ambition condemned. Selfish ambition is definitely warned against. But ambition for the sake of God’s glory is not only condoned, it’s commended. It’s a required asset for anyone wanting to rise above the mass of men and do something extraordinary.

Ambition led Noah to build the ark. David to expand the borders of Israel. Solomon to build the Temple. Nehemiah to rebuild the walls. Paul to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth.

I wonder if people accused them of being arrogant? Maybe. But then again, if you’re never accused of being arrogant, it’s probably a sign that you’re not being ambitious enough. You’re dreaming too small. Your goals are too easily attainable.

Let me free you: it’s ok to want to be the best at what you do. It’s ok to want to achieve as much as you can with your life for the sake of the God who gave it to you. I sincerely doubt God is going to look at you at the end of your life and say, “you did too much for me.” But I do sincerely believe that God is going to look at many people and say you were too “humble” for your own good. And the good of countless people you could have impacted if you had a little more ambition.

Don’t let anyone ever tell you that ambition is synonymous with arrogance. Godly ambition is what God uses to do incredible things in our world.

If that makes you look arrogant, don’t back down from what God has called you to do. Instead mourn for the people who are living so far beneath their potential that anything greater must be arrogance.

Play it Out

There’s a simple exercise that can reorient your perspective for any struggle or temptation you’ll ever face.

One of Satan’s greatest weapons is to get you stuck in the moment. The moment of your pain. Your trial. Your temptation. He freeze-frames your current situation and makes you forget everything that you have to gain from it. Or everything that you have to lose from it.

When you face these situations, the best thing you can do is get out of the freeze frame and fast forward to the end. Take a moment and play it out.

Play out your struggles:
If I suffer…I’ll get more reward.
If I experience pain…it’s not worth comparing to the glory awaiting me.
If I die…I’ll be with Christ.

Or on the negative side, play out your temptations:
If I do something unethical…I’ll lose my job.
If I look at porn…I’ll lose my ability to see God clearly.
If I have an affair…I’ll lose my family.

Yes, it’s simple. But it can make a profound impact on nearly every circumstance you’ll ever face in life.

Start taking your situations or temptations to their conclusion. See what incredible possibilities might be in store for you because of Jesus. Or what horrible ones might be in store for you if you neglect Him. There’s more potential in your pain than you can possibly imagine. There’s also more travesty that can come out of your temptation than you can possibly understand.

Don’t let the limited perspective of a moment dictate your life. When you find yourself in a moment of struggle or temptation, stop for a moment. Play it out. And then move forward towards the conclusion God wants for you.

What is Your Vision Worth to You?

The king said to me, “What is it you want?” Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it.”
Nehemiah 2:4-5

Nehemiah left a comfortable job with the Persian government and risked his life in the presence of the king for the opportunity to rebuild the walls.

God’s vision for his life was worth everything to him.
His job security.
His status of living.
Even his life.

What is your vision for your life worth to you?
Honestly. What would you give up for it?

Your time?
Your pay grade?
Your comfortable lifestyle?
Your current career to start a new one?
Your current home to move to a new one in a new city?
Your relationships that are holding you back or bringing you down?
Even your life?

If not, the problem probably isn’t that you’re just not passionate enough about what your vision for your life is. It could be. Maybe you’ve just been lured into apathy and complacency for a vision that’s truly worth everything. But probably not.

The problem might be that your vision simply isn’t worth being passionate about. The problem might be that you’ve got the wrong vision. Or at least a vision that’s too small.

People who are living in God’s vision for them generally don’t have to get psyched up for it. They have down days. Days where it’s hard to keep chasing after it. Yet their passion sustains them because their vision compels them. Passion is what you’re willing to give up for what you love. And the assumption is that what you love is worth giving something up for.

If your vision for your life isn’t worth giving yourself up for, it’s not worth giving yourself to. Stop wasting time spinning your wheels on something that can’t stir passion within you.

Go back to the drawing board. Pray. Seek. Dream.
And acquire a vision worthy of your life.

Resource of the Day: For some help on acquiring a vision for your life, check out the first video in our Sun Stand Still short film series: Page 23.

Fences Bring Freedom

Nobody likes boundaries. Fences.

They’re constraining. They give us a line we can’t cross. They cut against the grain of our culture that says the best life is one in which we can say whatever we want. Have sex with whomever we want. Cheat whomever we want. Essentially, do whatever we want. As long as it makes us happy.

Basically, we feel like boundaries limit our freedom. And freedom is everything.

It seems to make sense. And on the face of it, it is kind of true: boundaries constrict us. But this viewpoint also ignores an ironic, but essential truth:
Fences bring freedom.

This is obvious enough in real life. A few years back we put a fence in our backyard for Elijah and Graham. The purpose wasn’t to keep them in. It was actually to keep what could harm them out. Did the fence set a boundary they couldn’t go past? Yes. But it also gave them the freedom to play in the yard and enjoy what was theirs.

In the same way, boundaries give us the ability to enjoy the blessings of God in our lives. A lot of times we think that God puts fences up in our lives and puts things off limits in order to keep us captive. He just wants to limit our happiness. But in effect, He is giving us the ability to enjoy what He has given us. He is actually trying to put us in a position where we can be happy.

For example, the reason God doesn’t want us to have sex before marriage isn’t because He doesn’t want us to experience pleasure. It’s because He wants us to experience the unique pleasure of completely giving ourselves over to another person in purity.

I think the reason we have a problem with boundaries is that our operating mindset is “how far can I go?” rather than “how free can I be?” The first mindset has its eyes on getting as close to the border of God’s blessings as possible. The second mindset has its eyes on actually enjoying them.

We claim we want freedom, but we don’t. Freedom isn’t having the ability to do anything you want. Freedom is being able to enjoy what you have.

God has already given us everything we need to be happy in this life. We’ve got a bigger yard than anyone else in the world. The fences are just there to make sure we have something to enjoy.

Boundaries are a blessing, because what we value, we protect.
So stop focusing on and resenting the fences that God has put around you.
And start doing what they’re there to enable you to do:
Play in the yard.

It Doesn’t Matter if I Like God

God isn’t always likable.

We can pretend like He is. Like it’s always easy to understand His rationale behind the things He does. Or that undergoing His grace-filled discipline is a fun exercise.  But it’s not. It can actually be downright frustrating.

Now sometimes this is true because people try to fashion God into what they would want their ideal friend or version of God to be like.  They dictate the parts of God they can accept and the parts they won’t. You hear them say things like:
I wouldn’t like a God who did ________.
I couldn’t believe in a God who ________.

These people have already set the terms of a likable God. And that god tends to be a reflection of what they like about themselves. Until they come to understand that God is not limited to the confines of their own opinions and prejudices, there’s really not much you can do for them.

Some of you fall into that category. But most of you probably don’t. Instead you’re probably like other people who experience pain. Struggle. Disappointment. Discipline. And in these moments, if you were honest, you don’t always find God very likable.

You don’t say things like the other group. Yet you wonder:
How could God let this happen to me?
Why won’t He take me out of this situation?
I thought God was a God of grace. Why am I being disciplined for my sin?

What do we do in these situations? What do we do when we don’t like God?
Well, there’s not really much you can do. Whether you like it or not, we’re all going to undergo times of pain, struggle, disappointment, and discipline. There’s no way around it.

Instead I think the biggest thing is coming to an important realization:
It doesn’t matter if I like God.

God’s not interested in making me like Him. God’s not trying to stay in my good graces. What He is interested in is making me love Him more. What He’s interested in is doing what’s best for me. And what’s best for me isn’t always a likable thing.

God is like any good parent. A good parent doesn’t always try to be buddy, buddy with their kids. They love their kids but they’re not interested in whether their kids like them from day to day. They’ll let their kids learn tough lessons because they know that’s how they’ll grow and develop character. They’ll lay down the law if they’re disobedient. And that doesn’t diminish their love for their kids in the least bit. In fact, their kids will eventually realize it was because their parents loved them that they did things that didn’t make them like them.

God can handle you not liking Him. What he can’t handle is you not being like Him. What He can’t handle is you not truly loving Him. And so He’ll do what He has to do to make you into who He wants you to be.

You may not always like Him for it. But trust me, in the end, you’ll love Him for it.

The Sun Stand Still Experience Kit

I wanted to take a day and let all of you know about a special Sun Stand Still resource we just put out that I think has the potential to make a big impact in your church or business.

From before we launched Sun Stand Still, I knew I wanted to do more than just ask leaders to read the book and then do all the work to carry its message to their churches, small groups, or businesses. As much as possible, I wanted to do the groundwork for you and equip you with the highest quality resources and content available.

Initially we put tons of free resources on sunstandstill.org, all of which are still there. But as we kept going we felt like we wanted to go another step above and beyond for you guys.

So we’ve put together the Sun Stand Still Experience Kit. Our team did a fantastic job creating this and I believe it has everything you need to help you launch your own Sun Stand Still movement in your city or town.

As you can see from the picture, we’ve packed a lot of resources into each kit, many of which cannot be found on sunstandstill.org. Stickers. Rubber bracelets. The Sun Stand Still sermon series along with transcripts of each message. Graphics and support videos for your own series. All of the short films, and a corresponding interactive group study guide. Children’s curriculum. And more.

The idea is that you could use the kit to do a Sun Stand Still sermon series. Use it as your church’s small group curriculum. Or maybe even use it to lead a Bible study at your business.

While there is a small price for each kit, we’re not making any money off of these. We wanted to do this at our cost so that more people could be empowered to dare to ask God for the impossible and see it happen in their lives.

We really believe in the message of audacious faith. We’ve seen firsthand the incredible things it’s done in our church and have heard stories from churches across the world about the impact it’s made on their people and their city. We’re praying that through this kit, the same thing will happen in yours.

For more info on what’s in the kit or to order one or more, go to sunstandstill.org.

Comfort Zones and Sweet Spots

It’s widely accepted that one of the most important duties of any leader is moving people beyond their comfort zone. I completely agree.

But I also feel like we sometimes get the concept all wrong.

It’s good to stretch someone beyond their comfort zone. To put people in situations that stretch their capabilities and familiarity. It’s how you pull potential out of people they didn’t even know they had. Make them realize they are capable of things they won’t believe until they do them. Past the edge of our comfort and convenience is where God can raise our lives to new heights.

But there’s a crucial corollary point that we can’t afford to forget. While it’s good to stretch a person out of their comfort zone, we have to understand that it was God who wired them, gave them life experiences, passions, burdens, and skills to do what He called them to do.

In other words, they have a God-ordained sweet spot. A place of intersection where God has called them to live in and function out of.

People can’t be anything they want to be. Or anything we want them to be. But they can be everything God created them to be. And this only happens as they’re operating in their sweet spot. Where they’re using everything God has equipped them with to be all He has called them to be.

Stretching someone out of their comfort zone should be a means of developing people in their sweet spot. Not taking them out of it. There’s such a thing as being uncomfortable because you’re being stretched. And then there’s being uncomfortable because you’re doing something you weren’t created for.

I want my creative team sweating because they’re working on projects that test their limits. I don’t want my creative team sweating because I decided to stretch them for a week by running the church’s finances.
Extreme example, but you get the point.

As a leader, you’re responsible for helping people maximize the gifts God has given them. But you’re also responsible for making sure they maximize them for the calling God has given them.

Stretch people beyond their comfort zone.
But don’t force them outside of their sweet spot.

Resource of the Day: For some tips on how to identify your sweet spot or the sweet spot of the people you lead, here’s an old school sermon from a series we did a few years ago: All-Stars.

Hearing God in Surround Sound

The most important skill that you’ll ever develop as a human being is the skill of hearing God. Knowing His voice. Being able to discern what He wants you to do in any given situation.

But that’s easier said than done. In a world full of competing voices and distractions, it can be hard to tell what God’s voice sounds like. It can be easy to mistake it for something else.

It reminds me of watching a movie in surround sound. Every time a phone rings, I usually think my phone is ringing. Sometimes it is. And sometimes it isn’t. When you’re surrounded by sound it’s simply hard to tell what noises are real and what noises are not.

We have the same dilemma in hearing from God. We live life in surround sound. Most of us operate at a near frantic pace. We’re surrounded by literal noise all day long. We hear messages that directly compete with what God is trying to tell us. And in the midst of this environment, it can be hard to tell what’s God’s voice and what’s the voices of others.

Right here is where I might come in and say something like, “the problem is you need to turn off your surround sound so you can hear God’s voice.” But I won’t say that. Because surround sound is the world we live in.

In other words, we can complain all day that our lives are really busy. That there’s too much noise. But guess what, that’s not changing. Yes, we can and should hit the off button on the surround sound and periodically take breaks by spending time in silence or taking a vacation. But these are short-lived moments at best. After they’re over, we’re right back to the 95% of our life that is spent in surround sound. With real noise, real demands, and real distractions. And it’s the place we really need to hear from God.

Many Christians think that in order to hear God, they need to spend a week in the mountains. Or maybe go real crazy and take a short-term vow of silence at a monastery.

I have news for you, the same God who speaks in the mountains and monasteries is also speaking to you in the middle of your crazy, noisy day.  If we want to hear from God, we’re simply going to have to learn to be able to filter out all of the noise and all of the static and tune into God’s frequency.

Don’t confine yourself to the mountains or the monastery. God is speaking to you in the middle of you surround sound life. Even today. Even right now.

Yes, it’s difficult. But that fact should not lead you to think it’s impossible to discern God’s voice in the midst of all the noise around you.

It should lead you to tune in and pay attention more than ever.

Resource of the Day: For some practical tips on hearing from God, check out our three-part Do You Hear? series on our new video podcast.

Can I Do Anything I Want and Still be a Christian?

Grace and sin have a complicated relationship.

In one sense, you can’t separate them. You see this in Romans 5:20-21 when Paul says:
But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Where there is sin, there will always be grace. Every time sin raises its ugly head, the grace of Jesus rises even higher like a sweeping tide and covers over it. Every sin. Every time. No matter what you do.

The problem is if you just read these two verses, you could easily conclude that grace should be proportional to sin. If the more I sin, the more grace I receive, why not sin more and receive more grace? If I can do anything I want and still be saved, why not do anything I want?

Why not continue to look at porn?
Why not continue to live selfishly?
Why not continue in my old patterns of living?

These are good questions. For an unbeliever.

Because while grace means that I can do absolutely anything I want, it also means that what I want is now being informed by grace. And not just sin.

While in one sense you can’t separate grace and sin, in another sense grace and sin should be continually growing apart from each other. Right after Romans 5:20-21, Paul goes on to say:
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
Romans 6:1-2

For the believer who loves Jesus, grace and sin should be inversely proportional. The more grace we receive the less we should want to sin because God’s grace empowers us to live for Him. Grace will never lead you to continue doing the very thing it just rescued you from. True grace will never lead you to take it for granted by trampling on it.

Does grace mean I can do anything I want and still be a Christian?
Yes.

But it also means I won’t.

Resource of the Day: Many people associate grace with weakness. It’s either too weak to rescue them, or too weak to transform them. In reality, grace is power to do both. For more on this idea, check out this blog post: Grace is Power.

Being Successful vs. Being a Blessing

Success is the god of our time.
It’s what almost everyone aims for. Plans for. Goes to school for.
To be a success.

In one sense this is natural and even good. No one should want to live a mediocre life. God-driven ambition is a good thing. But in another sense trying to be successful is a fool’s errand.

And that’s because success is a moving target. The bar is always moving, and no matter what you do, you’ll probably never quite measure up.

In regards to other people, you’ll always be in-between people who are more successful than you and this will make you feel insecure. Or less successful than you and you’ll be prideful.

In regards to yourself, no matter how much success you achieve, there will always be more to achieve. A new mountain to climb. A new level to reach. And the new mountain and the new level will make the previous one look like you weren’t successful.

I’ve experienced this firsthand. Early in my ministry I would try to be the most successful preacher at conferences. Have the best blog. Pastor the most successful church. I tried hard, and I’m sure I did some good, but it was never enough for me personally. And no matter how successful I was or my church was, I could always point to another person or church that was more successful.

But then I heard my friend, Matthew Barnett of the LA Dream Center say something that his father once told him that changed everything:
Stop trying to be a success and start trying to be a blessing.

My whole paradigm shifted. Now when I went to a conference, I was asking myself what the people there needed to hear. Not what would get me invited to more conferences. What blog posts would bless people the most? Not simply boost my numbers. How could I bless the most people in my city? Not just have the most people in my church.

What’s interesting is that not only was I more effective, I usually got the success I had been trying to get before anyways. By trying to be a blessing, I would get more conference invites. Better blog numbers. A higher church attendance.

When I tried to be successful, I usually didn’t get either. When I tried to be a blessing, I got both.

You could spend a lifetime trying to achieve success that will always be just beyond you. Or you could spend it trying to bless everyone around you.

One is infinitely more satisfying. One is more likely to get you both.
Be a blessing. And you’ll be a success.

Getting Shortchanged by God

Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”
Acts 3:2-3,6

I think one of the great difficulties in life is letting go of what we think we need so that we can have what God wants for us.

The man wanted money. It’s what he desired. It’s what he thought he needed.
But it’s not what he got. Peter and John’s monetary resources were limited. But the power of Christ that was at their disposal was unlimited. And so he walked.

While the man ended up rejoicing, I can’t help but wonder what he thought when he first heard Peter say that they didn’t have any silver or gold. He was probably disappointed. Silver and gold was exactly what he wanted. But the truth is that if Peter would have had money in that situation, the man would never have gotten to walk. And what’s better: having some money, or being able to walk for the rest of your life?

Not getting what you want or are expecting is never easy. It can sometimes feel like you’re getting shortchanged by God. You can come to believe that you’re missing out on your best life. That you’ve lost something irreplaceable.

But like the crippled man, we have to flip our perspective. We have to understand that if we got what we wanted, it might mean forfeiting what we really need. If God shuts down the thing you desire, it may be because He desires something even better. If God doesn’t do what you’re hoping He will, He must be planning to do something bigger and better.

For example, what’s better:
The relationship you had that you thought would last a lifetime, or the relationship God has for you that He wants to last a lifetime?
The job you really wanted but didn’t get, or the job God has custom tailored for you that’s waiting in its place?

Your destiny never depends on anyone or anything that leaves your life. Or on a desire that doesn’t end up being fulfilled. Let go of what you wanted. Take hold of what God wants for you.

God will never shortchange you. If God has shut down something you desired recently, I dare you to believe that He’s got something better for you on the way.