• Our hope-filled future is bound up in sharing the story of Jesus, in discipling others, in bringing those disciples together into communities of believers, and in developing and releasing those believers to create other communities... till Jesus the King comes again!

The power of words

Posted on June 24, 2015 by wtdavid

Words have a ‘power’ that we often underestimate.  They can bring joy to a heart (Proverbs 12:25) or distress to one’s soul (Proverbs 15:1).  They are capable of building a person up in the faith (Ephesians 4:29) or ‘devouring’ the good name of another (Galatians 5:15)words bis

Words have a ‘power’ that we often underestimate.

The Bible is replete with verses “about how to speak and listen, how to use words and not abuse people.”  Yet, in my day to day conversations I seemingly overlook and forget these truths.  I can create conflict and mistrust, rather than a safe context for others.  I can stifle, by my words, the growth of others.

Words have a ‘power’ that we often underestimate.

This is why gossip is so insidious. It appears harmless at first view: “Have you heard about what happened to John?  I don’t think he would mind me sharing with you as we should really be praying for him right now.”  Yet, information (sometimes false or distorted information) is shared which diminishes the other; that tears down instead of builds up; and that creates an opening for the evil one to further attack our consciences.

We all know it is wrong and hurtful. Why cannot we not stem its tide?  Why are Christian agencies and churches some of its more fertile soil?

One main reason is because we love ourselves more than Christ.  We love being the one with privileged information.  The act of letting others in on that information, we think, builds us up in their eyes.  It’s warped thinking.

One look back at Jesus would make us feel the pain of those words and would melt our hearts at the forgiveness Jesus extends to us over and over again (1 John 1:9).

One word from another might pull our eyes off of ourselves and put it back on the One who took our wrongs upon Himself.  The simple question of: are you sure that is true? might awaken our hearts to turn towards our Redeemer.

Filed under: Communication, Gospel, Power | 6 Comments »

Call it for what it is

Posted on May 22, 2015 by wtdavid

If we found ourselves dealing with a conflict between several disciples that we were working with, we would quickly move to get those disciples into the same room so that they could listen to one another.  We would not tolerate them ‘talking behind one another’s back’.  We would not let them walk away from each other without having addressed the issue that was creating the conflict between them.

In the book, Crucial Conversations, the authors provide numerous helpful guidelines to creating a context of trust and shared pool of knowledge for people to be able to share what may be burdening their hearts and causing relational conflict.gossip_1900288b

I sometimes observe another strategy, used by us workers, when the conflict involves us.  Another worker creates relational tension, which I perceive as a conflict, and then I choose to share my disappointment or frustration with a different worker, rather than the person concerned.  It always sounds innocent because ‘I’m looking for someone to help me process’ or because ‘I don’t feel like that person hears me’. 

It may also sound spiritual, but we need from time to time to call it for what it is: gossip.  Gossip is when “a person who has privileged information about people and proceeds to reveal that information to those who have no business knowing it.”  It is actually a form of self-justification as we seek to make another appear to be at fault by sharing their ‘faults’ with others.

Paul describes the damages that can be caused by this strategy: “For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.”  (Galatians 5:14-15)

The way to address this wrong strategy is twofold.  First, drive deep into our hearts the truth that grace creates or brings forth effort.  The more we appropriate the love and acceptance we have in Jesus, the more willing we will be to go to the person with whom we are in conflict.  Second, take a neutral person with you for such a conversation.  Such a person can help you ‘hear’ the other person well and can serve to remind you of the Gospel at each moment in the conversation.

Filed under: Communication, Community, Gospel, Listening | 5 Comments »

Laying hold of it

Posted on May 19, 2015 by wtdavid

It seems self-evident that a movement such as ours would have to have the Gospel as a central driving value.  However, when we say that the Gospel is one of our guiding principles, what we actually mean can be less than clear and ‘interpreted’ differently by various workers.heart affection

The Gospel is certainly the message of the substitutionary atonement of Jesus which delivers us from the guilt, the power and the pollution of sin. When we say the Gospel is one of our central driving values, we mean more than just that definition.  We mean that we are ‘Gospel centred’.  We mean that more than anything else, Jesus is ‘the joy of our desiring’.  We mean that Jesus has displaced all other things that might capture our heart: our reputation, our ministry, or our success in ministry.

Thomas Chalmers in his message: “The Expulsive Power of a New Affection” put it this way: “Its [our heart] desire for one particular object may be conquered; but as to its desire for having some one object or other, this is unconquerable.  Its adhesion to that on which it has fastened the preference of its regards, cannot willingly be overcome by the rending away of a simple separation.  It can be done only by the application of something else, to which it may feel the adhesion of a still stronger and more powerful preference.”  What Chalmers was trying to express was the difficulty we have in being ‘Gospel centred’.  Our hearts resist the shedding of one affection, one desire, or one focus if there is not something more powerful, more important that will push out of the way what currently captures our heart.

We often talk about the reality of spiritual warfare in the task of bringing the Gospel to those without Christ.  Perhaps that same reality exists in our hearts when we allow other ‘affectations’ to capture our hearts rather than Christ.

To be as concrete as I can, living as a ‘Gospel centred’ worker would mean asking another worker to pray with me for Jesus to become again the ‘joy of my desiring’ as something else may have become much more important to me at this point in my life and ministry.

It’s a fight, it’s a struggle to live as Gospel centred workers.

 

Filed under: Gospel, Jesus Christ, Prayer | Leave a comment »

Have you grown any?

Posted on April 15, 2015 by wtdavid

The question kind of startled me: “Are you a happier person than you were two years ago?”  I might have been able to shake that one off if the speaker hadn’t continued with several other likeminded questions:happier

  • Are you harder to discourage?
  • Do you worry less?
  • Do you take criticism better?
  • Are you growing in grace?

There was the rub as we say.  All those questions centred on how the new life implanted in one’s heart works itself out in one’s life.  Growth comes from a life that finds its happiness more and more in Christ.

However, the question can still be bothersome as it can easily reveal how little tangible growth in grace is evident in one’s life.  We may be able to talk more deeply about grace, but is that very grace running deeply in our lives to the point of making us different people than we were two years ago?

Are you (am I) a happier person than you were two years ago because ‘you are seeing more and more the truth of who you are and the beauty of what Christ has done for you’?  May that be our prayer this month: that we would find our happiness more and more in Christ, and that His love would make us ‘happier’ people, less discouraged people, less worried people.

Filed under: Gospel, Grace | Leave a comment »

The Difficulty of Honesty

Posted on April 3, 2015 by wtdavid

One of the reasons that I liked John’s book, In Other Worlds, was because of the simple honesty with which he shared his journey as a cross cultural worker.Honesty

As cross cultural workers, oftentimes we are averse to honesty about our ministry journey.  We can feel as if it doesn’t ‘play well’ to supporters, friends, or those praying for us.  We hesitate from sharing when a ministry project fails or doesn’t produce the fruit for which we were praying.  We try to put a positive spin on such a situation, so that others will continue to think well of us and our work.

John pointed us back to the truth that it is in our weakness that we find our strength.  It is when we find ourselves at ‘the end of ourselves’ that we see God’s faithfulness and love to use people like ourselves, ‘wrecks that we are’, for His mission.

There is actually a freedom in believing that the ministry is all about God’s work in our lives and others’ lives.  It allows us to be honest with our own failings and faults, and to marvel in the amazing truth that God loves us with such a deep and powerful love.

The outcome or fruit of basking in such a truth is the growing desire to serve Him and please Him more.

Filed under: Gospel, Honesty | 2 Comments »

Merci encore

Posted on February 17, 2015 by wtdavid

Those were the words that opened the email I received today from a young man who had led worship in our local French church on Sunday.  He “thanked me again” for taking the time to send him a brief evaluation or assessment of his leadership on Sunday, and for the encouragement that it contained.Stift Konzept - Merci!

Reading that note, I recognized again how vitally important is our stance, our approach to assessment.

First of all, I needed to have a developmental approach towards this young man.  In other words, I had to see him as God saw him, with all the potential that He had placed in him.  I needed to find ways to spur him on in further growth in his gifting.

Next, this young man needed to view assessment not as a criticism of who is and what he does, but as an opportunity to receive feedback that he could use to grow in his capacity and fruitfulness.  Sifting through the assessment given, he could then establish growth steps to help him in further development.

The Gospel helps us overcome our default approach to seeing assessment as judgment and criticism by reminding us again and again that our value is not found in what others think about us, but in what He has already done for us!  This frees us to accept assessment and evaluation as a means of ongoing growth in our journey with Him, strengthening us to give Him greater glory.

Filed under: Assessment, Encouragement, Gospel | 5 Comments »

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