Shaping Our Habits

"We shape our habits; then our habits shape us," says Rick Warren.  Every morning when I look in the mirror I am reminded of this "shaping" factor.  In fact one wife said to her husband recently,  "Honey, I want you to get in shape!"  He replied abruptly, "Round is a shape!"  That was not exactly the shape that his wife was suggesting.

Habits are a creature within themselves that needs to be mastered, but we cannot do it alone.  Habits are something we all have, good and bad.  Our habits often change, like changing clothing.  In fact, Hal Urban states, "The original meaning of habit was 'garment' or 'piece of clothing.'  As with garments we wear our habits daily."  What habits have you been wearing lately?

God's Word tells us why we ought to shape our habits:

"Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come" (I Timothy 4:8 NLT.)

 God's Word tells us how we ought to shape our habits:

"Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.  Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect" (Romans 12:2NLT). 

 God's Word instructs us to:

"...Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable.  Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise" (Philippians 4:8b).

Bad habits are like unwashed clothing, they are noticeable to those around you before they are noticeable to you.  Are there habits in your life today that you need to change, delete, or adjust?

Let the habits that you have, shape you into a shape that best resembles Christ.

Jack Of All Trades, Master of None

Many of us go through life being "average" at a lot of things but never seemly being an expert at anything.  I laugh at myself when I look back at all of the things that I have attempted to learn to do in my life.  At the risk of being too transparent let me list a few...

Musically talented?  Hardly!  By the age of 16 I had taken musical lessons on how to play the Flute, the Accordion (back in the Lawrence Welk days), Guitar (in the Elvis Presley days),  and Piano (in the 'Deno's days).  I never mastered any of the above and don't know that I am "average" in being able to play any of the instruments mentioned.  But it was fun trying to learn.  I contribute my lack of success on these adventures to lack of practice.  My mother always told me "practice makes perfect."

Superb athlete?  I don't think so!  I love sports and still attempt, at the age of 53, to play softball and basketball occasionally but have shifted more to table tennis (ping pong) and a popular game in this part of the world called "corn toss".  Yes, I now refer to both of these last two mentioned as a sport!  I actually wrestled in high school for one year and attended spring training for football for one week but never really mastered any of the above.

Construction?  I have done a little construction; laying block, laying carpet, laying tile, and laying down on the job but the later is what I seem to do the best.  Maybe I am "average" at doing construction but you wouldn't want me to oversee the building of your home.  If so, you would not have an average home.

This is probably the story of a lot of our lives.  We seem to be "average" at a lot of things but master very few things in life.  I hope that I am at least considered an average pastor, average preacher, and hopefully an average writer.  And I am okay with that as long as I am being measured, not to the standards of others, but to what God's Word teaches us what an average pastor or preacher should be like.

"Friends, don't get me wrong:  By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward-to Jesus.  I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back."   Philippians 3:13,14 MSG

But the things that I want to focus on being above average are being a good husband, father, grandfather and a good friend.  With the risk of sounding tawdry I hope that the later part of my life I can work toward being exceptional in these areas of my life.  Theodore Roosevelt once said, " I am only an average man but, by George, I work harder at it than the average man."

I have come to the conclusion being average is not a terrible thing after all.  In fact, to make it through life you need to be "average" at a lot of things and will probably only be really good at a few.  I encourage you to master the areas that God has gifted you and be content at being average in other areas of life.

                                                                

Right Relationships

A special thanks to Rev. William Strickland, who's serves as Editor of the Official Publication (The Gospel Messenger) for the Congregational Holiness Church.  Rev. Strickland also serves his denomination as an Administrator and Director for Mission USA.  I am grateful for his friendship and willingness to contribute to my blog this week.                                                                     Tim Lamb

Hello, my name is William and I’m a habitual offender. Seriously, I am. Throughout life my offenses toward loved ones, relatives, co-workers, and church members have tallied untold numbers. And believe it or not, on countless occasions I have also been the offended victim of these same people groups. Come to think of it, since we’re all in the same human race, your story could be similar.

In early adulthood, what began as a childhood conversion yielded a commitment to follow Christ. Since then I have learned so much about my Lord, His Word, and our Christian faith. But interestingly, this process has also led to self-discovery, learning more about William than I originally wanted to know. Also, by reading after Christian psychology and the use of personality assessment tools I know me. Myers Briggs labeled me as the INFJ and the DISC Assessment pinned me as a SC. So there’s my excuse. Just like that fictional sailor man, “I am what I am and that’s all I am.”

I know, I know; there are no excuses for being a habitual offender. But while there aren’t any excuses for Christ followers to walk in willful sin (all offenses are not the result of willful sin), there is explanation and help for us in Christ.

Well-versed Christians know what Scripture tells us about love. But herein lies the problem. All people, men and women alike are basically selfish because of our fallen nature. The passage of Romans 3:10-23 describes the ugly details. The underlying trait of all sin is selfishness and we all share this root cause in common. Even what we commonly call love is typically tainted with personal selfishness; most people “love” for the purpose of accommodating themselves, not for meeting the needs of others.

If a person has truly received God's love vertically, they should show it both vertically toward God and horizontally toward others. In our present earthly make-up as believers we possess the Spirit of Christ. But even though we have been indwelt with the Spirit Who is love, “Houston, we’ve had a problem here.” We still live in our earth suits and alas even the most sanctified of believers have the potential for willful sin.

We know that the love of God must be shown towards others. But the subconscious motivation of most people is: I want to love you but I cannot completely disregard the consideration of what’s in it for me. It’s easier to love those who love us than those who do not. “But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them” (Luke 6:32). Loving those who love us is the natural exchange of love.

But when it comes to love, there is a supernatural standard for Christians to reach. In 1^st Corinthians, after Paul’s teaching on the Lord’s Supper and the right use of spiritual gifts, the Scripture attests “And yet I show you a more excellent way” (31). Therefore 1^st Corinthians 13 is the love that can be shown by the children of God. The love chapter ends like this, “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (13).

Yet, loving others does not mean blindly accepting the harm they want to inflict upon us and other innocent people, instead it involves proper evaluation. If they show love, we should reciprocate. If they show hatred, we should recognize it and find a way to love them. But the Lord wants our discernment to be just, fair, accurate, and not for personal gain. A proper judgment of others equips us to lovingly pray for their healing.

But let’s not forget this caution: “Judge not…” The Greek verb translated “judge not” (see Luke 6:37-38) is in the active continuous. If you’ll allow me to paraphrase, Jesus is saying, “Don’t let judging be your way of life.”  Our Lord continues “and you shall not be judged.” With this phrase the Lord is indicating that we shall all be judged by God and His vertical judgment is contingent upon the kind of horizontal judgment we have shown.

Verse 38 (of Luke 6) is typically quoted out of context and given fiscal application. Now don’t receive offense. The principle of reciprocity remains, but we must yield primary interpretation to the connectedness of context. What was Jesus talking about with this profound statement? “Give, and it will be given to you…” should be applied to judgment, condemnation, and forgiveness. So in these areas of life we must remember that “with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”

As a habitual offender and the victim of many offenses, the lesson I often return to is this: since I am in a right relationship with God, I can maintain a right relationship with others. But those who are not right with God have not received His love. And those who have not received His love cannot love (in its truest sense) themselves or others. They cannot be right with others because they are not right with God.

And for those who already consider themselves right with God the matter is as serious as eternity. We, as believers cannot stay in possession of the peace of God if we cannot stay at peace with those inside and outside of the family of God. Hebrews 12:14 says, “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.”

Life is all about relationships. The most important decision you could ever make is to get right with God and even though “it is impossible that no offenses should come” (Luke 17:1), we can stay right with God and others. As we walk in that grace called forgiveness, let’s extend its beauty to others.

Follow the Leader

As a child I use to play silly games (before X-Box) like "Follow the Leader," "Mother-May-I" and "Ring Around the Rosie".  Sounds silly don't they?  They were but I had an older sister that insisted that I join in on the games.  Silly?  Yes, but so is some of the games we still play today.

There was one common denominator in the three games I mentioned - they all required a leader.  Life itself requires a leader.  Proverbs 14:28 MSG says, "The mark of a good leader is loyal followers; leadership is nothing without a following."

Leaders often focus on who is following but fail to look ahead to see who's leading.  John Maxwell states, "Give therefore thought to which leaders you will follow because they will determine your course."  This statement causes me to take a second look at who's in front in my life.  In fact, I took time to write down a few in my journal, but the names of these leaders are to be read only after...well you know.

I first established that there are several leaders in my life in whom I follow.  Some I know personally and draw from their wisdom.  Others, mostly of who do not know me personally, are writers that I enjoy reading their books and blogs.  They are the people that I believe are on the "cutting edge" of being a great leader and have something to contribute into my life.

Here are a few things that I found out about a great leader:

• They will lead you into areas that you haven't been before.  If you are always treading on the same ground, you may just be going in a circle.
• They are confident where they are going, and don't mind if others follow.  In fact, a good leader usually wants to share the experience of their journey with others.
• They are truthful about their journey.  They never try to camouflage their journey, the good or the bad.
• If they can't go ahead of you, they will give you the directions and point you in the right direction.  King David at first wanted to build the temple but after he realized that was not meant for him, he did not mind sharing the vision or the materials with his son, Solomon.  A good leader wants others to succeed and go further then they went!

To be a good leader I have to be careful of whom I'm following.

"Remember your leaders who taught you the word of God.  Think of all the good that has come from their lives, and follow the example of their faith."    

Hebrews 13:7 NLT