Tag: pride

  • Open to Change?

    My byline is: “Crazy enough to change the world.”

    Mutability. Change. Delta.

    The concept of change is the fulcrum of the Gospel message.

    Am I willing to look at myself in the mirror, accept who I am, (not) and commit to the hard work of change?

    The Gospel message is about change. Changed hearts. Changed lives. Changed motivations. Changed intentions. Changed directions.

    Without change– a life with Jesus becomes good information at best and good entertainment at worst.

    Without change– the Gospel is devoid of value.

    God changed the course of human history when He sent Jesus to die on a cross. He changed how he engaged humanity so you could change your life.

    To anthropomorphize it, God changed in the hope that we would change.

    Accepting Jesus is accepting that you need to change.

    But I wonder how many people are actually open to change in their lives?

    Am I open to change?

    Are you?

    Is change a part of your life? Or do you just talk about it, asking others to change, but you are too good for that?

    Or are you afraid to appear weak, displaying a changed heart?

    If my byline is “Crazy enough to change the world” that implies that I’m always on the lookout for people, organizations, groups who are willing to change.

    Sadly, among Jesus followers, few seem open to change.

    They refuse to accept who they can become, thus refuse to change.

    Pride sets in, change becomes impossible, and we become “about the Gospel” without living into the Gospel.

    Christian organizations would rather go out-of-business, accepting failure, than change.

    Churches would rather reach a decreasing congregation in an increasing population than change.

    This deeply saddens me.

    Oh, that we might be a people changed by the Gospel.

  • Defining quotes

    you_suck“I’m rubber, you’re glue. Whatever you say bounces off of me and sticks to you.” That’s a bunch of crap, isn’t it? The truth is that sometimes words said to you hurt way more than any of us would like to admit.

    There’s something in my personality that remembers these words, embeds them as self-talk, and run through my brain like a broken record… and they serve as a powerful motivator for me. The negative ones, I desire to shove them back into  the face of the person— long since forgotten– who spoke them. The positive ones, I try to live up to in all that I do.

    Here are some negative examples:

    – “Adam is a spiritual orphan.” — my first “real pastor” in Indiana. This implied that my parents didn’t care about me and always made me mad.

    – “You’ll never finish college. You’re destined to be a community college drop-out.” — my stepmother said this my senior year of high school.

    – “You’re not cut out for pastoral ministry. You’re too much of a maverick.” — a co-worker at my first church said this… repeatedly.

    – “You are a legacy hire, I wouldn’t have hired you.” — a former boss said this all the time.

    Here are some positive examples:

    – “Your work ethic makes up for a lack of talent and money.” — a high school golf coach

    – “There’s something special about you. God is going to use you in big ways.” — a favorite camp counselor

    – “Adam is one of the most organized/driven students I’ve ever had.” — an undergrad professor

    – “You made a big impact on my kid. Thank you for letting him in to your family” — a parent

    So what’s the point?

    First, I’m convinced that the self-talk that we all have can be either a severe motivator or a severe motivator. If you’re finding that you beat yourself up endlessly, there’s no weakness in going to see someone to help you. I’m not going to claim that I’m the most healthy emotional person in the world. But I’m here to tell you that good self-talk has gotten me through some tough stuff.

    Second, be really aware of the words you speak into people. Of the eight examples I gave above I’m convinced none of them felt like they were saying something prophetic. Some of them were even just little side comments that stuck. Words have weight… things we say to and about others can impact them for years!