Just how unique are each of us made in the image of God?

For the last dozen years I have been a disciple of strengths-based work and understanding what I am called to do. Chances are you have not heard of strengths-based work or, at best, you are not familiar with it.  

For the uninitiated, simply put, strengths-based work means I focus on what I AM GOOD AT, not what I am poorly fit to do.

This past weekend I attended a seminar at Gateway Church in Southlake, TX, to get a better handle on my Christian identity and to my surprise, they embraced the Gallup Strengths Finder and a spiritual gifts finder hand in hand to help plot my course. 

During my time in sales with Johnson & Johnson EVERY field ride was the same- NEGATIVE. I would hear things like “You know anatomy & procedure very well,  you know instrumentation, you are very good with your customers, BUT we wish you were better at this or that.” These items on their wish list were invariably clerical in nature- minutiae if you will, that did not enhance my relationship, sales or customer service. Just one area to work on to make me a more-rounded employee. It frustrated me and my colleagues no end because at the time, no one knew any better. Today, many are still laboring under these arcane ideas. 

The Gallup organization breaks strengths into 35 areas or terms. For me, my top 5 are Context (understanding the intent), Responsibility, Belief (I HAVE to believe to move forward), Includer (I ensure others are included in discussions), WOO (Winning Others Over or persuasion). Few people have the same strengths as me in the same order. So few in fact, if we extend the list to my top 6 and looked at the nearly 7 billion people on earth, we might find 220 people with the very same strengths in the same descending order. 

Let’s look at the top 8- there would be approximately .0026 people in the entire world with the same top 8 strengths, in the same descending order as me. Statistically speaking, not even ONE person alive today!

Now, extrapolate that out to all 35 strengths….   

In case you are wondering how to figure that out, it is simple multiplication with the possible remaining variables. In other words, 35x34x33x32x31…. all the way down to 1. Does that give you a sense to the size of that number? HUGE. In astronomical terms, it would probably be measured in light years! In human terms, it is likely no one has ever existed with the exact same gifts in the exact same order. NO ONE in all of humanity's existence.

Well, that’s all well and good- so what?

Take another look at the rankings of YOUR strengths. Since there are so many variables and combinations, can you not see how unique YOU are? How amazingly designed YOU are?

Can you now see the tragedy the business world has perpetrated against us and perpetuated in trying to help us with our “weaknesses” and not focusing on the strengths God gave each of us? And what about the recent "equality" push where we seem to be eliminating gender from the equation in the hopes of making everyone equal. The paradigm is revolutionary and breathtaking. 

Rather than continually striving to be something you can NEVER BE, God has intended us to find work and even ministry using that which we are already anointed with and in which we will find fulfillment, and thus peace and a restful heart.

The other thing I found fascinating about this class was how we can use science to confirm God's Intelligent Design! Too many people have failed to understand the argument and have learned they have to choose BETWEEN God and science, but that is a topic for another conversation.

What are you waiting for? Find your strengths and change your life today!

Forgiveness first requires the wound to be addressed

Before a splinter wound can begin healing, the infection must first be treated.

Watching a terrific sermon on forgiveness today, a real-world illustration helped me better understand a basic tenet of Christianity that many of us believers may not fully understand how to process or to completely forgive someone for their transgression against us.

I know from a personal standpoint I may have "forgiven"someone in the past but never really addressed, or processed what happened, how I felt about it and how I would move forward. As a result, the usual human reaction of "I will forgive but not forget" rears it's head and I may say I "forgive" but without fully addressing the underlying issue, am I truly forgiving the other person?

Consider the illustration above. By design, the human body rejects an offending foreign object like a splinter. The process begins with anti-bodies surrounding the site to mitigate infection. From there, the body starts to reject the foreign object to the surface, or encapsulate it in scar tissue. Now if we were to put a bandage on top of the splinter wound, we would cover it up, but the pain will still be there and will continue to be sensitive as the wound festers. Our first reaction is to simply bandage the wound but that is only a superficial treatment.  Below the surface is where the real offense lies and that is where it needs to be addressed.

By bandaging the wound, we are in effect, only covering something up rather than getting to the root of the matter. However, if we dig in and take hold of that splinter and remove it, the healing process can begin immediately and the pain from the infection is dramatically reduced. The human body can now naturally heal itself from the inside out.

In other words, in my estimation, until I fully engage the who, what and why of what offended me, my forgiveness is only superficial, can continue to cause pain and not permit me to process, forgive and move on as Jesus has done for me.

The Symbolism Surrounding Peter's Denial of Christ

 

Today as my wife and I listened to another powerful message from Pastor John Stickl at Valley Creek Church, God opened my eyes to some amazing revelations when he was continuing a series titled "It is Finished", (It is Finished, Separation), (It is Finished, Striving) (It is Finished, Shame) a reference to Christ's last words on earth as he was crucified. That simple phrase, just four syllables, so indelibly changed out relationship with God. The series has been very enlightening and full of hope, but more on that at another time.

Last Sunday May 4th, John spoke of how Jesus told Peter how he would deny him 3 times before the cock crowed. Peter, a large strong and powerful man because of his many years of fishing, was petulent and rash, assured Jesus he would not. In fact John would deny you before me. Everyone else maybe but never me. Not surprisingly he of course denied Christ 3 times, once to a servant girl who wasn't even an adolescent. The third time he denied Him, the cock crowed and Peter locked eyes with Jesus.

Can you imagine the shame and pain he felt? Peter ran away, in pain and anguish, crying, and returned to his fishing, no doubt trying to forget what had just happened.

As a foreshadow of how He acts with you and me today, Jesus pursued his disciples and came upon Peter fishing, Jesus calls out to the men on the boat in John 21:5 asking "Children, have you caught any fish?" to which they answered "No." Jesus then tells them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat. Following His direction they cast the net on the other side and caught so many fish they were unable to easily pull it into their boat.

That's when God revealed to me somethings I had not seen before in this passage, and the significance of this simple interaction was quite stunning to me.

The first thing that struck me was when they stopped relying on their EARTHLY knowledge their catch was far greater than they could have hoped for, and in fact more than they could handle. Understanding how these men thought, I can only imagine their amazement at how this stranger could so impact their results despite their many years of experience. And oh, by the way, the width of the boat being no greater than maybe 15 feet seemingly was all the difference in the world. Amazing.  But such is what happens when we stop thinking and using the world experience we have and LISTEN to what God would have us to do WHEN He would have us do it.

Second, He of course changed WHERE they fished, and perhaps even to teach them to go one more time even though they thought they had already tried that place. Perhaps the place was right but the timing was not, underscoring the importance of everything being in God's timing, and how He reveals to us what we need when we need it.  This of course a key part of the Lord's Prayer: "Give us this day our daily bread". Give us today the Word You would have me to hear and sustain me.

Third, I think it was clear this was a hint of things to come, when Jesus told Peter to follow Him and He would make him a fisher of men. The catch they experienced with Jesus' direction was greater than they alone could handle. So prophetic about what the future held for the work they were about to embark upon, and the groundwork they were about to lay.  Just as God promised Abraham in Genesis 15:5 your descendants will be more numerous than the stars in the sky

Lastly, I thought about the significance of the previous stories about Jesus blessing a couple of fish and feeding thousands. How far then would these "fish" (the men the disciples had shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ with and brought into the fold of believers) the disciples caught and brought to the Lord go with the blessings of Jesus? How many lives would they impact with His Word and guidance? How much light from His Kingdom would they be able to bring?

Far enough to fulfill the prophecy He gave Abraham. And then some.

Keeping Your Eyes on the Road Ahead

Our sermon today at Valley Creek Church had us listening to a guest speaker- one of our elders Don Manning.  His sermon had some great applications and refreshing insight to me as a father, husband and bread winner.  Several points stuck out but one resonated with profound clarity to me:

Keeping your eyes on the Lord!  We daily lose sight of God working in our lives and rush from one moment to the next, stuck in the past, worried about the future and losing sight of the here and now. Can you identify with that? I sure can!

I remember instantly thinking about the parallels between what he said and every day life. Rare is a day in which I drive to work and not see a traffic accident or a near miss.  We travel with it all the time- we see someone tailgating us or the cars near us, texting on the phone, eating, doing makeup, shooting across several lanes at once to make an exit, you get the idea. As a result, WE have to look out for them and make concessions lest we get a chance to meet them in person.

It struck me this morning (pardon the pun) how we take our eyes off Jesus and start looking at life by only what is directly in front of us; the exact same way so many people drive today. This is a reactive lifestyle and with the pace of life faster than ever it is even more vital for us to slow down and be more deliberate in our lives.

I remember a time in the 70's and 80's in which a third brake light was not on the back of cars, but legislators thought it prudent to create a law to help us avoid accidents by mandating that light be installed in all passenger vehicles. Would it not have been a better idea to teach us how to drive properly? By that I mean to look 20-30 seconds ahead of the vehicle in front of us. I learned this trick in a professional driving course years ago and an amazing thing happened when I did: I could not only see much further ahead but my periphery also increased. In other words, by simply changing my point of focus, much more came into clarity and I was better able to avoid an accident.

While we think we see a lot, from God's perspective our view is like   looking at the world between our hands like this image shows.

I always scratched my head at how the Israelites could not remember one day to the next the miracles God gave them to escape Egypt and be delivered from slavery. Of course they didn't have the benefit of the Holy Spirit to stay with them but I also miss how I forget every day what He has done for me and my family when I worry about something or don't pray for guidance. I am in effect, staring at the bumper of the car in front of me while I am traveling through life at a high rate of speed. (I touched on the importance of timing in your life in my January 27 article when I write about Jesus' never being in a hurry). Day by day I strive to change my focus onto God.

When we put our eyes on God literally and figuratively, we will as a result gain the vision our loving Father has for us minimizing any distractions, but we also can see rising distractions exactly as they are and be fully prepared to address or dismiss them as appropriate. This will permit us to live in the moment, leave the past in the past and welcome the future gracefully and never in a hurry, and allow us to smell the roses. 

Why were the wise men "wise"?

The definition of wise is possessing inside infor-mation, exercising good judgment, or to be informed about a particular matter.

For me, to be wise means to be able to apply your book knowledge with grace and love to your fellow man. This grace comes from the Lord, and thus wisdom, for me, comes from Him.  The Christmas story (Matthew 2:11) tells us the story of the 3 wise men who traveled to meet the new-born king.  At first blush, this seems innocuous, especially when we have long-forgotten the significance of the gifts. Our pastor's sermon this week reminded me of the significance of these gifts and the import of the prophecy they foretold. I felt compelled to share these ideas with you to deepen your faith and hopefully get you to ask more questions.

The old tales we have been told of the "3 Wise men from the Orient" may not be entirely accurate. Some accounts mention Magi, which could have numbered 12, while the number "3" may refer to the gifts which were rendered to baby Jesus. This link to Wikipedia names three probable Magi- Melchior from Persia or modern-day Iran, Caspar from India and Balthazar from Arabia.  When you look at the current map of the middle east, it is apparent they did not all come from the east nor travel the same distance. Arabia is to the south and quite close to Jerusalem while Caspar traveled the greatest distance coming from India. It doesn't really matter HOW many actually made the journey to see the new savior, at least not in this article, but why they came and what they brought.

Since we can reasonably assume these wise men were from different nationalities, they intuitively knew by the new star in the sky symbolized something significant had just taken place, and individually decided to make this trek to meet this new king. We know they realized the newborn was a king for in biblical times gold was a gift for kings. We also know frankincense was used in preparation by the priests for communing with God for the atonement of sins and myrrh was used in conjunction with the preparation of a body for burial.  Combined, these three gifts are quite prophetic which of course indicates these men were wise indeed; so much so they prophesied the arrival of the King of Kings, the Lamb of God and the Savior all in the same baby, and 33 years hence that prophecy would be fulfilled.

To further illustrate the wisdom, in Matthew 2:, he writes King Herod received these visitors and was quite angered by the proclamation the King of the Jews had been born. Herod was after all, the King of the Jews and of course being a small-minded man could not appreciate what the wise men shared with him. Rather, he was threatened by this proclamation so he calmly asked the men to return to share with him where the baby lay so he too could offer worship and praise.

    Realizing Herod had ulterior motives, the Magi were reticent to tip their hand they were on to him and returned home a different way.  Pastor John made an interesting analogy here: They came before the new born king, received new wisdom and returned home on a different path. Likewise we are born of this world and, when we accept Christ as our savior, we too take a different path to our destination (assuming we become followers rather than just believers).

Word quickly spread later when Herod realized the Magi were not going to return and report to him the first-born sons of all residents in Bethlehem were to be sacrificed, Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus fled for Egypt.  There they lived comfortably for several years off the proceeds of the gifts they had received.

Here is another sage piece of insight Pastor John shared: Those who are the furthest from God seek Him the most. People nearby in Bethlehem didn't even bother looking for the baby in a manger yet the wise men traveled a vast distance each to find an answer for themselves. God even announced the birth by sending angels to the shepherds in the fields and the gentiles, the simplest and furthest (spiritually) from Him. John added the lesson of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-31) in which the son turns his back on his father, family and responsibilities, leaves home, squandering his inheritance before humbly returning home to live as a lowly servant. His father would have none of that and hastened his other son to welcome and honor his brother and his servants to prepare a feast. Angered by his father's not honoring his loyalty, the other son wanted no part of the celebration. His father had to share his wisdom with him by saying "It is right to make merry and be glad for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found." (v31)

John goes on to point out the prodigal son, like the the Magi and the many other instances (Lazarus, the sick daughter whom was resurrected, the bleeding woman, the prostitute, Zacchaeus are but a few examples) in the Bible where people take from Jesus first before they can receive.

You must first take before you can receive. 

In other words, before you can have anything to give to God or anyone else, you must first receive from Him for without God, we have nothing. The Magi realized this, sought the new born king, took wisdom from Him and then gave him the gifts of a king, a holy man and a man being prepared for a funeral.

What is Jesus wanting you to take from Him?