Have you ever thought about the connection between what one believes and how one behaves? What might we learn about someone by watching their behavior over a protracted period of time? All of us are really open books and to the observant we can be read fairly easily.
Your world view, the things you believe to be true about life, about yourself, about God, about why you are here, etc, etc, form the platform on which you live out your life. Beliefs are very powerful in this regard. Beliefs can lead someone to spend their life caring for AIDS victims in Africa, or on the other hand, lead another to drive a plane into a building killing thousands of people. These two very opposite behaviors both spring from a foundational belief system and world view.
The person confined to a padded room and straight jacket, thinking the CIA have surrounded his room, and the young dad, just home from a hard day's work, playing with his young son on the carpet, are both acting from a belief system that has come to define their view of life, reality, and help shape their behavior.
What we have come to believe and accept as true, as reality, shapes our lives in ways we aren’t even aware of most of the time. Observe you own life. Make note of your actions and choices over a period of time. What might they reveal about what you really believe or at least what your true core values are? I understand any of us can act “out of character” at times, but our behavior over the long haul always tells the truth.
Herein lays the importance of truth, and true reality, as it relates to the process of spiritual formation. Jesus said it beautifully, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”. In another place he made this amazing declaration, “I have come to give testimony to the truth”. When John is introducing Jesus in his gospel, he makes this breathtaking pronouncement, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth”. When it comes to the things that contribute most to our spiritual formation, grace and truth are right up there at the top of the list, and both are embodied in the person of Christ.
Jesus lived and taught a new reality. He brought a radical new paradigm of truth that resulted in turning the world “upside down”, or should we say right side up. The truth he embodied became the dividing point of human history. A whole new way of viewing God and his relationship to people shook the known world then and continues to shake it today. Those who embraced him by faith became carriers of this new reality…this belief system….this world view….this truth, and the world has never been the same.
The challenge for us who are followers of Jesus is to make sure we are seeing (believing) from his point of reference. One of my favorite quotes comes from my pastor, Bill Johnson, who says, "Jesus is perfect theology". Oh, so true! On the other hand, bad theology has lead to all kinds of horrific and idiotic acts of behavior.
If we wish to be apprentices of Jesus who become like him in his actions than it is imperative we think like him – that our view of reality is his view of reality. This is what it means to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. When my belief system and world view becomes shaped by Truth (by Jesus), in such a way that my thoughts, emotions and actions are deeply impacted, then I can expect my behavior to become increasingly more like his.
“…... as he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17b NKJV)
Monday, September 27, 2010
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Living Favor Minded
Something amazing happened last Saturday evening. My family and I were at a football game my 17 year old high school senior was playing in. This is only Ryan's second year playing football. He went out his freshman year but ended up sitting on the bench for the season. He opted not to play his sophomore and junior year. For some reason he chose to go out again his senior year and has ended up on the starting defensive squad as corner back. He also plays on all special teams.
As the game got underway, I found myself hoping he would do well and not make any major mistakes or suffer any injury. I have to admit, tracking down negative paths has tended to come rather natural for me. Anyway, somewhere into the second quarter, I consciously made a shift in my thinking and began to declare God's favor over Ryan. I declared that Ryan was a favored son and asked God to make that favor visible by allowing him to make a pick (an interception) and run it back and even score a touchdown (a pick six).
I had been declaring these things only for a few minutes when suddenly a pass from the opposing quarterback was tipped by his intended receiver and was grabbed in the air by Ryan. Ryan charged off down the field managing to out run two pursuing defenders. As he approached the end zone, he was pushed from behind, fell forward, and landed in the end zone for a touchdown. He had covered 63 yards on the return. Luanne and I were ecstatic. The pick and run back alone were amazing. The touchdown was icing on the cake. I was impressed with the speed he crossed those 63 yards.
As I was taking it all in and celebrating I began sputtering to Luanne, trying to explain to her what I had just been declaring over Ryan. This was no coincidence. God had responded to that faith declaration over Ryan, and he had done so almost immediately. I was awed. Later in the game I again declared more favor over him, and once again, within a few short minutes, Ryan made his second pick of the game.
Now, I'm not suggesting there was some kind of magic in my words. What I do believe is that God was teaching me a simple yet profound lesson regarding the connection between my thoughts, my words and my faith.
Days prior to this game I had began reading a book by Joel Osteen entitled "Your Best Life Now". I had come across this book at my mother-in-law's on a visit to Sacramento and just casually began reading it. Now, you must understand, Joel Osteen has never been on my list of favorite authors and I have rarely listened to him on TV. However, as I began reading this particular book I sensed God saying to me, "Joel has something to say to you. Hear him out". So I borrowed the book and brought it home.
Joel is, what some might label, an eternal optimist. Every page resonates with his positive, faith filled attitude. You would have to be a deeply committed pessimist not to find yourself being encouraged and hope beginning to rise a little higher just by his positive outlook and the stories illustrating his points. However, for one whose default mode tends toward the negative, Joel's perspective and language can, at first, come across as something a bit trumped up. Something along the lines of a spiritual "happy meal". As I was able to put my biases aside, his words of encouragement were feeling more like a refreshing splash of cold water on a hot day.
The truth of the matter is, those of us who are followers of Jesus really have every reason to be the most encouraged and positive people on the planet. This is not to say that we will not encounter hardship, disappointment, discouragement, heartbreak, or any other difficulty that is common to the human condition. It is to say, we should have a perspective, based on a belief system in God and his view of us, that transcends all that stuff, and can provide in the midst of it, an abiding hope, joy and optimistic outlook. Jesus said, "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33b NIV)
What Joel was reinforcing in my thinking is that we need to live not for favor but from favor. That little shift is huge. As one who has already been accepted by God in Christ, I am a favored child. I have been seated with Christ in heavenly places! That's quite a position of favor if you ask me. Living favor minded is simply accepting the truth of God's love and delight in us and trusting the goodness of his heart toward us. His thoughts and plans for us are not to harm us, but to prosper us and to give us a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11)
As the game got underway, I found myself hoping he would do well and not make any major mistakes or suffer any injury. I have to admit, tracking down negative paths has tended to come rather natural for me. Anyway, somewhere into the second quarter, I consciously made a shift in my thinking and began to declare God's favor over Ryan. I declared that Ryan was a favored son and asked God to make that favor visible by allowing him to make a pick (an interception) and run it back and even score a touchdown (a pick six).
I had been declaring these things only for a few minutes when suddenly a pass from the opposing quarterback was tipped by his intended receiver and was grabbed in the air by Ryan. Ryan charged off down the field managing to out run two pursuing defenders. As he approached the end zone, he was pushed from behind, fell forward, and landed in the end zone for a touchdown. He had covered 63 yards on the return. Luanne and I were ecstatic. The pick and run back alone were amazing. The touchdown was icing on the cake. I was impressed with the speed he crossed those 63 yards.
As I was taking it all in and celebrating I began sputtering to Luanne, trying to explain to her what I had just been declaring over Ryan. This was no coincidence. God had responded to that faith declaration over Ryan, and he had done so almost immediately. I was awed. Later in the game I again declared more favor over him, and once again, within a few short minutes, Ryan made his second pick of the game.
Now, I'm not suggesting there was some kind of magic in my words. What I do believe is that God was teaching me a simple yet profound lesson regarding the connection between my thoughts, my words and my faith.
Days prior to this game I had began reading a book by Joel Osteen entitled "Your Best Life Now". I had come across this book at my mother-in-law's on a visit to Sacramento and just casually began reading it. Now, you must understand, Joel Osteen has never been on my list of favorite authors and I have rarely listened to him on TV. However, as I began reading this particular book I sensed God saying to me, "Joel has something to say to you. Hear him out". So I borrowed the book and brought it home.
Joel is, what some might label, an eternal optimist. Every page resonates with his positive, faith filled attitude. You would have to be a deeply committed pessimist not to find yourself being encouraged and hope beginning to rise a little higher just by his positive outlook and the stories illustrating his points. However, for one whose default mode tends toward the negative, Joel's perspective and language can, at first, come across as something a bit trumped up. Something along the lines of a spiritual "happy meal". As I was able to put my biases aside, his words of encouragement were feeling more like a refreshing splash of cold water on a hot day.
The truth of the matter is, those of us who are followers of Jesus really have every reason to be the most encouraged and positive people on the planet. This is not to say that we will not encounter hardship, disappointment, discouragement, heartbreak, or any other difficulty that is common to the human condition. It is to say, we should have a perspective, based on a belief system in God and his view of us, that transcends all that stuff, and can provide in the midst of it, an abiding hope, joy and optimistic outlook. Jesus said, "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33b NIV)
What Joel was reinforcing in my thinking is that we need to live not for favor but from favor. That little shift is huge. As one who has already been accepted by God in Christ, I am a favored child. I have been seated with Christ in heavenly places! That's quite a position of favor if you ask me. Living favor minded is simply accepting the truth of God's love and delight in us and trusting the goodness of his heart toward us. His thoughts and plans for us are not to harm us, but to prosper us and to give us a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11)
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