Do Not Judge
Sometimes we Christians can be some of the most judgmental people. How ironic and sad that we who have been saved by God’s grace are unable to be gracious to others. Jesus told his followers not to judge or condemn. Yes, we should discern truth from falsehood, right from wrong. But our attitude toward others should be like God’s attitude toward us. “Be merciful,” Jesus said, “just as your Father is merciful.”
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God’s Gift of Impossible Love
According to Corrie ten Boom, who once suffered terribly in Nazi concentration camps, when Christ “tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.” Christ, alive in us through the Spirit, enables us to do the impossible, to love even our enemies. We can do all things through Christ, who gives us strength.
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The Good News of Christian Leadership – The Way of Weak Leadership?
In our various vocations in business, government, non-profits, churches and homes, pain and suffering are the unexpected consequences of being lead servants. From a Christian perspective, to be a “strong” leader means learning to be a “weak” leader. “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses … For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10, NIV). This final servant song reminds us that following Jesus in leadership means we must enter other people’s pain and suffering, the way Jesus did.
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The Good News of Christian Leadership – Following and Enduring?
Why is a Christian vision of leadership good news? Leadership is inescapably about the use of power and influence. In this series, we explore how a Christian vision of leadership reframes our understanding of how that power and influence are exercised.
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Enlightened Eyes
The Apostle Paul prays that not that God will do anything new, but instead that the Ephesians will see what God has already done.
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Tumbleweeds
Christian leaders do not have followers; they have people entrusted to their care. And sometimes God rolls those people into our lives like tumbleweeds.
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The Possibility of Impossible Love
What will help us to love people who bug us, those we dislike, even our enemies? The more we experience God’s merciful love for us, the more we will be empowered to love mercifully. The closer we are to God, the more we will be able to imitate God’s own “impossible” love. How can we love our enemies? Only through the powerful love of God at work in us.
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How Can We Love Our Enemies?
Jesus says we’re to love our enemies. It can be hard enough to love people who bug us, who do or say things we dislike, whose politics or lifestyle offends us. Loving true enemies seems, well, impossible. Yet Jesus calls us to this kind of impossibility. Lord, help me to do the impossible, by your grace and strength.
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A Shocking Command
Jesus said many unsettling things, but one of them was downright shocking. “Love your enemies,” he said. He didn’t mean “feel warm fuzzies for your enemies.” Rather, he meant “Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” This command of Jesus to love our enemies couldn’t be more challenging . . . or more needed in our world today.
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Miriam and Moses
Every superhero and super-shero has an origin story. An origin story often includes a flashback that tells us how that person acquired his or her powers as well as purpose in fighting crime. When I think of Moses I have visions of that old Charlton Heston movie “The Ten Commandments” where Moses faces the burning bush or is standing before the parting of the Red Sea. However, I am captivated by his origin story and the critical role of his older sister Miriam. Miriam’s curiosity and creativity may have seemed small, but they were of biblical proportions.
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Midwifing the Kingdom
Our work is a witness not so much in what we do, but in how we go about doing it. The midwives are exemplars of agents of life that God sets into motion to usher the life of the Kingdom. Work is the womb where that life is nourished and birthed. They knew the policies that affected people rested in their hands. They did the next right thing. The next right thing is usually the hard thing.
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Prayers for Workers: You Are My Hiding Place
God is your hiding place, a place of safety and security. God will be there for you when your work is more than you can handle, when the people you work with are at their crankiest. Jesus invites you to come to him, to find rest for your soul with him.
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Are You Willing to Listen to Jesus?
You can read the gospels. You can study the biblical text. You can hear what Jesus said. But are you willing to listen to Jesus, to pay close attention, to open your heart and your life to his word? Jesus wants to speak to your deepest needs. He wants to guide your life. Are you ready to listen?
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Avoiding the Approval Trap
Sometimes we yearn so much for human approval that we are not faithful to God and God’s truth. We say what people want to hear because we want them to like us. We can grow in truthfulness if we acknowledge the reality of God’s truth and seek it faithfully. We can find the strength to say even what is unpopular when we seek most of all to honor and glorify God.
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Wealth, Pleasure, Happiness, and Fame
Jesus invites us to examine ourselves honestly, to explore our true desires. What do you seek most of all? Wealth? Pleasure? Happiness? Fame? Though God made the goodness of this world to be enjoyed, we find ultimate meaning and delight when we seek first God and God’s kingdom.
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