Responsibility: Peak Performance

Just last weekend, I got a new phone. I didn't need a new one until the sales person convinced me that I did! I was dazzled by all the incredible features that would be at my fingertips, with download speed far superior to what I had on my existing phone. My connectivity would be enhanced, and I would experience far fewer dropped calls. I'll be the first to admit - I didn't know how handicapped I was! Frankly, my "old" phone could pretty much do what the new one does. I don't notice that things download faster, and since I wasn't really experiencing dropped calls, I guess I don't see much improvement! What hooked me was the possibilities of what I could do if I utilized this piece of technological wizardry to its full potential. Like my old phone, this new one has functions that are truly amazing, but unless I take the time to learn how to use them and perfect my use of them, my phone will simply remain a very powerful, but under-utilized tool.

Those of us who call ourselves Christians are too often not unlike these very powerful pocket-sized computers we carry around - we are designed for "greater works" (John 14:12), but we aren't fulfilling our potential. We know that we have access to connectivity that will empower us to carry out our mission (John 14:13,15-17, 26; John 15:5,7), but we don't always take the time to learn how to access that source to put it to use. 

As our kids at church wind down their focus on responsibility, they are asked to consider, "What in the world am I doing to show others God's goodness." That's a question most of us should ask ourselves, and I have certainly been giving it lots of thought. In fact, God has been making sure I have been reflecting on my own response to the responsibility he's given us as Christians.

In Matthew 5, Jesus doesn't hold back. He tells us what our attitudes should be - the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12) - and then follows those by placing on our shoulders the responsibility to be "salt and light" to the world (Matthew 5:13-16). I like his illustration - people don't buy lamps just to hide the light they provide. In other words, we want to get the full potential and peak performance from the lamp. 

Even though I have heard and read these verses many times in my life, I was drawn to the phrasing of the verse about salt - "...but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned..." (Matthew 5:13). What caught my attention was the "it" in the phrase "how shall it be seasoned." I wondered could the "it" refer to the "earth," meaning those who don't know the Lord. Supposing that relationship in wording exists, I was convicted of the responsibility I am shirking when I fail to be "salt and light." If we as Christians fail in tapping into and utilizing the resources we've been given so that we operate to our fullest potential, we are not accomplishing our commission. We may function on a basic level, but we are far from the dynamic power-tool God designed us to be.

I have been reflecting lately on the notion that as Christians we have one priority - to serve God by serving others, thus making disciples. When we allow the Holy Spirit to activate that service through us, we bring honor and glory to Him. Others will "...see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:16). 

God must have known that we really aren't very good at multitasking. He asked one thing of us, and he promised to take care of the rest. Jesus knew the people hearing his "Sermon on the Mount," and all that followed, must have been a bit skeptical. Just as we are, they were most concerned with the day-to-day realities, not with learning how to be "salt and light." But here's what he promises: "...your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (Matthew 6:32-33). 

For me, putting first things first is going to be a discipline, an act of faith, but if I believe that God is who he claims to be, then I must trust that if I allow him to use me in service to others, he will make sure that I have whatever he knows I need. I have a responsibility to allow the Holy Spirit to activate fully the functions I've been given to do the work to which I've been called. I want to be working at peak performance! 

"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much...." Luke 16:10

Heavenly Father, on paper, the responsibility seems so simple. Putting it into action isn't when I take on jobs you haven't given me to do! Please help me to keep my priorities straight and trust you to take care of everything! Help me to be "salt and light." I want to be counted faithful. In your name, amen.

Parenting - "Friending" Jesus

If you have a Facebook presence, you understand the term "friending." I have learned that who my friends are and what they say on their own wall may reflect on me. I also know that what I put on my wall says a lot about who I am and what I believe. 

Long before we had Facebook and other virtual social networks, we learned that we needed to be careful who our friends are. Our parents cautioned that we might become "like them," so we needed to choose friends who would be a good influence over us. I hate to admit it, but they were right! In fact, the apostle Paul cautions in I Corinthians 15:33, "...bad company corrupts good character." We do tend to become like the people with whom we closely associate.

In Matthew 16:13-17, Jesus is with his disciples and asks them what people are saying about him. Some folks of the day thought he was John the Baptist or one of the prophets, but when Jesus asked his disciples who they believed him to be, Peter spoke up and declared, "You're the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God." Peter, a "close associate" of Jesus, had friended Jesus, and the Heavenly Father revealed the true nature of Jesus to him. 

The result of Peter's friendship with Jesus had greater influence than the fisherman ever imagined the day he decided to follow Christ. Jesus dubbed Peter the Rock upon which he would build his Church, a church so powerful that "...all the powers of Hell will not conquer it" (Matthew 16:18-20).

Here's what happens when we decide to friend Jesus - our lives are transformed forever! We acknowledge that we need Jesus as our Savior, and this is the first change that takes place. This was Peter's first step - God revealed to him his need for the Messiah in his life. It changed his direction for all eternity. 

The evidence of the transformation comes as we become intimate in our relationship with our Friend. We begin to talk about him, want to spend time with him, be like him. II Corinthians 5:17 tells us that when we enter into this relationship, "...The old life is gone; a new life has begun!" What once defined who we are is transformed; we are influenced. As Peter entered more deeply into knowing Jesus, he became more of who he was intended to be. The brash, impetuous Peter who proclaimed that he'd never deny Christ and who chopped off the ear of Malthus was shaped into the Apostle Peter, the church-builder, boldly preaching the Gospel, led by the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit. This Peter who turned fearful and disloyal on the night of Jesus's crucifixion became courageous for Christ and died a martyr for the Gospel.

When we start hanging out with Jesus, we find our "real selves." He begins the transformation process "re-shaping" us into who we were created to be. He shapes us to serve him. We are called to be "salt and light" to our world (Matthew 5:13-14). Jesus proclaimed that Peter and people like him are the Church that can't be destroyed. He declared, "And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 16:19). We become the Church with power to serve! 

Heavenly Father, we desire to be so intimate with you that our lives will be transformed, that we will be "salt and light" to those around us, that we will be the Church. Our prayer is that of the Psalmist: "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer" (Psalm 19:14) so that others may come to know you. Fill us to overflowing with more of You and less of ourselves. May we take on your character and be more like you. In your name we pray these things. Amen.