Where do you get your funds?
Budget time rolls around quickly, doesn’t it? We plan, we figure, compute the costs, and we make our plans to come up with the needed funds. While this process isn’t always the most fun, it is necessary and important. Many have said it…if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!
As Christian ministries and organizations, I believe God expects us to diligently plan and prepare. However, we have a supernatural resource we can look to in order to meet our needs.
In my Bible reading the other morning I came across a passage…a little slice-of-life story…that underscores this truth.
In Matthew 17, Peter was confronted by a tax collector. The temple tax was due. When Peter came to Jesus to talk with Him about it, Jesus gave Peter instructions on how to get the needed funds. I can imagine Peter just staring at Jesus as if to say, “What?” Do you remember those instructions?
[blockquote author="Matthew 17:27b (NLT)" link="" target="_blank"]…go down to the lake and throw in a line. Open the mouth of the first fish you catch, and you will find a large silver coin. Take it and pay the tax for both of us.[/blockquote]
The Bible account of the story ends there, but can’t you see Peter. He grabs a pole and heads to the lake. And sure enough, the first fish he pulls out had a four-drachma coin in its mouth, just exactly what was needed for the temple tax for Jesus and Peter. In my imagination, I can see Peter beginning to laugh, maybe falling down on the shore with growing laughter. Then, realizing what had just happened, Peter gets up, and returns to Jesus with worship and praise in his heart.
Now, before you go out to buy a fishing rod, look at the principle. Jesus was saying, “You have a need, I have the resources to meet that need.” And I think that is what the Lord wants us to realize, too. His resources are sufficient. We can depend on Him.
There is a beautiful hymn that speaks of this. And though the hymn writer talks of strength and endurance, I think we can make the application to all areas of our lives and our needs.
When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources
Our Father’s full giving is only begun.
His love has no limits, His grace has no measure,
His power no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again.
It is probably good to note that there isn’t an account of that miracle happening again and again. I suspect Peter and the others had to come up with the temple tax other ways at times. But they had a great illustration of the supernatural storehouse of riches that the Lord has for us in our time of need.
Infinite riches in Jesus. God’s resources are never ending…and He wants to give, and give, and give again.
Being Yourself
Uh…I need to…uh…stop saying “uh.”
The magazine article caught my eye. Its topic was "How to sound authentic on the radio." Among the tips the author listed was:
“As you read your on-air copy, throw in a few “uh’s” along the way. You'll sound more real to the listeners."
I laughed! I say “uh” plenty of times without having to throw a few of them in on purpose. Is that how you sound authentic? Real? It reminded me of a funny saying, a pseudo life principle we used to have in college.
Be sincere…whether you mean it or not.
What was this author saying? There is the possibility that an on-air person can be so polished and so perfect that he or she doesn’t sound real. The perfectly modulated tones. The perfect phrasing and interpretation. Perfect in every way. Yet we look around our world, we realize it is far from perfect. They tell me that even the most precious diamonds have small flaws. We live in an imperfect world that strives for perfection.
But will a few “uh’s” thrown in at random change all that? Really? That could sound just as artificial as the perfect voice and presentation. So what’s the answer.
Be real. Talk to people via radio and TV like you would someone sitting across from you. And when reading a copy, work to sound natural and personable. Record yourself reading. Listen to it. How does it sound to you?
Remember:
The goal isn’t perfection, it is communication.
By the way, most of us need to work on reducing the number of times we say “uh,” or whatever the equivalent is in your native language. We need to eliminate the extraneous words we use that have no real meaning. In the USA we need to control the use of “you know,” “like,” “just” (which comes up often in prayers), and many more.
Communicate clearly.
Communicate authentically.
Communicate personably.
Did you…uh…get all that?
Strength in Numbers
It seems wrong grammatically when you say it…but the meaning is clear.
“We” is stronger than “me”.
My friend Tom McMinn used that phrase in a recent blog on leadership. The longer version of it helps clarify.
All of us are smarter than one of us.
The idea here is for the leader to recognize that there is strength and wisdom to be gained when others on your team are brought into the decision process. McMinn calls this robust dialogue. He says:
Robust dialogue occurs in a group when everyone is encouraged, allowed, and even required to give their honest input on issues. The value of robust dialogue is: Every idea or plan will be improved upon when submitted to the wisdom and input of others. If your idea is a seven (on a scale from 1 to 10 with 1 indicating a bad idea and 10 an outstanding one) and you submit it to robust dialogue, it will become an eight or higher.
The Bible underscores this, too.
[blockquote author="Ecclesiastes 4:12 NLT " link="" target="_blank"]A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.[/blockquote]
[blockquote author="Proverbs 20:18a NLT" link="" target="_blank"]Plans succeed through good counsel;[/blockquote]
In other words, there is strength in numbers.
So how does this look in our decision making process? Tom McMinn offers these suggestions.
- A leader says to his team, “I’ve got an idea I want to share with you. Please give me your honest thoughts about it.”
- A leader says to his team, “I need to make an important decision by the end of the week. Before I do, I want to get your input.”
- A team member has the freedom to say, “I think we’re going in the wrong direction on this project.”
There may be occasions where you must make a decision without the input from others. That should be rare. God has given you a team of folks who can help you as you lead. They will appreciate you for asking them for their wisdom. And your ministry will be stronger and more effective in its mission.
Getting Gems from the Storehouse
In my morning Bible reading I came across a verse I had never noticed before. I love how the Holy Spirit does that. It’s like wandering through your house and finding a present someone gave you that you haven’t opened yet. A surprise. A treasure. Here’s the verse as Eugene Peterson renders it in his paraphrase of the Bible.
[blockquote author="Matthew 13:52 (The Message)" link="" target="_blank"]Then you see how every student well-trained in God’s kingdom is like the owner of a general store who can put his hands on anything you need, old or new, exactly when you need it.[/blockquote]
As I looked at that verse I saw several things of importance. First, it speaks of a student. We are in a life-long “university.” We ought to be learning every day. Both professionally and personally.
The verse says “…well-trained in God’s kingdom….” We are not just students. We are to be good students. We ought to be eager to learn, digging out information and absorbing it, memorizing it, and applying it. Whether we are talking about our leadership roles, our communication ministries, or our spiritual lives, we need to be that diligent workman that Paul talked about in his letter to Timothy.
[blockquote author="II Timothy 2:15 (NLT)" link="" target="_blank"]Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth.[/blockquote]
What is exciting to think about is the result of being a well-trained student. You can put your hands on what is needed exactly when it is needed. You probably have had that experience. Maybe you were on the air and a truth from God’s Word came to you so you could share it with the audience. Perhaps it was when counseling a friend who needed spiritual insight for a deep need, and you were able to put your “hands” on what was needed at just the right moment.
Can I be honest with you? When that happens to me, I don’t gloat or think “what a wonderful person I am.” I am usually humbled by it, and wish I had studied the Bible more so I could grab more “gems” from God’s storehouse.
Thankfully, the Lord is gracious and allows us to be life-long learners. We can recommit ourselves today to study…be a good worker…receive His approval…and be able to put our “hands” on what is needed when it is needed. If so, you will be blessed, and those around you will receive the wisdom from God’s storehouse of treasures… His Holy Word.
Simple…and Profoundly Important
Simplistic sounding…but profound in its application. Trust God.
If you have heard Dr. Charles Stanley’s sermons, you have probably encountered his Life Principles. Dr. Stanley, who through several decades has seen God use media in amazing ways in his In Touch ministry, often speaks of life principles. These are tenants of our faith taken from the many promises from God’s Word.
I have heard and read many of these through the years, and they become like markers along the highway of life, guiding us to the destination of Christ-likeness that the Lord intends for His children.
One of the things that I have learned through my 70+ years is that our God is infinitely trustworthy. We can trust him in every area of our lives. However, saying we trust Him is only part of the issue. It’s like when James challenged believers to put their faith into action.
[blockquote author="James 2:19 (NLT)" link="" target="_blank"]You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. [/blockquote]
We say we trust God, but what do we do about it? One of Dr. Stanley’s Life Principles expands on my “trust God” philosophy by saying.
“Obey God, and leave all the consequence to Him.”
Well…that sure changes things. Faith in action. Putting trust to the test. Maybe you are familiar with the American saying, “That’s where the rubber meets the road.”
Dr. Stanley says, “When God directs you to do something, how do you respond? Do His commands seem too difficult or costly for you to obey? When you choose to disobey God, what you are really saying is that you don’t have confidence in Him. Yet you cannot have intimate fellowship with someone that you don’t trust.” Dr. Stanley concludes his study based on this life principle with these words:
“What challenge are you facing today? What is God leading you to do? Your choice in this situation will determine whether you succeed or fail; therefore, obey God, and leave in His hands whatever consequence is causing you to fear. If God makes a promise to you, you can be assured He will bring it to pass.”
Trust God. Obey God…and then leave the consequences to Him.
A Job or a Calling?
About a year ago I was privileged to speak to journalists in Ukraine for the Novomedia Forum. My topic was, “Journalism: A Job or a Calling.” It is always good to define your terms. Thomas Addington and Stephen Graves, in their book,
A Case for Calling, said:
Calling is the truth that God calls us to himself so decisively that everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have is invested with a special devotion, dynamism, and direction lived out as a response to his summons and service.
Even the American Heritage Dictionary definition has an element of the spiritual in its explanation of a calling:
An inner urge or a strong impulse, especially one believed to be divinely inspired.
Maybe this old illustration will help you.
A man was walking through the city and came upon three men working with bricks and mortar on a wall. He asked the first man, “What are you doing?” The man replied, “I’m getting $15 an hour to stack these bricks up.”
He posed the same question to the second man he encountered. “What are you doing?”
The second brick layer said, “I’m building a wall. In fact, I’m building several walls. I’m quite good at building walls.”
To the third man, he asked “What are you doing?”
The third man stopped his brick work, and began to look up, gazing to the sky. He said, “I am building a great cathedral, who's spire will reach to the heavens…and this cathedral will honor and glorify God!”
A job…a career…a calling.
So with that insight, what difference would it make in your day to day job if you were to see your efforts as more than a job or a career? What does it look like to have a calling…not just a job? Compare these:
A Job: You write your story
A Calling: You write, rewrite, and rewrite your story
A Job: You show up for work at the last minute, and leave at the earliest moment
A Calling: You show up before expected and stay as long as it takes
A Job: When editing a story, you say, “That’s good enough”
A Calling: When editing a story, you work on until it is perfect…and then look at it again to see if you can make it better
A Job: You do research and read background material when you have to do it
A Calling: You continually read and research on your topic
A Job: You think of a good story as bringing an award…or a raise
A Calling: You think of a good story as making a difference in someone’s life
A Job: You think a good story should bring YOU honor
A Calling: You think a good story should bring glory to others…maybe even to God
So…are you laboring in a job, or do you have a calling from the Lord?
Healthy Tension
Good leaders want to lead by example. Good ministry leaders want to lead by spiritual example. But I have found a great tension in the Christian life. I’m not the spiritual leader that I want to be. I'm probably not the only person who has ever thought that.
The Apostle Paul, in Romans 7 (NLT), wrote to the believers in Rome of the inner struggle he dealt with in his spiritual journey. Listen to the tension in his life.
I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate…. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do
what is wrong, but I do it anyway….
Oh, what a miserable person I am!
Sometimes I feel that way about prayer. I want to pray more, but I don’t. I want to be faithful to pray for people and circumstances, but how much prayer is enough? Tension.
I’ve learned some things by observing godly people. And I always learn from God’s Word and Paul’s letters. Here are some things I have gleaned that help me. Maybe they will help you, too.
First, when I tell someone I will pray for them, I look for opportunity to pray right then. It may be in an office lobby, on the street, or at a store. I ask them if I can pray for them right there, and I have never had anyone turn me down. Then, I can go on with my day knowing I have kept my word to pray for them. If you look for those opportunities, you will be surprised at how many times God opens the door.
Second, I've learned my prayer doesn't always have to be a long prayer. Yes, we need to be willing to spend time...often extended time...with God in prayer. But there are times when a prayer breathed briefly will be appropriate. In the great story of Nehemiah, we see several types of prayer that this man of God uses. In chapter 1, upon learning of the conditions in Jerusalem, Nehemiah prayed for days. Some months later, when the King asked him what was wrong and how he could help, look at what Nehemiah did.
[blockquote author="Nehamiah 2:4 NLT" link="" target="_blank"]
The king asked, "Well, how can I help you?"
With a prayer to the God of heaven, I replied...
[/blockquote]
That doesn't sound like a long prayer to me. A brief prayer born out of other extended prayer, no doubt.
Third, Paul often wrote to his Christian friends,
[blockquote author="Philippians 1:3 NLT" link="" target="_blank"]I thank my God upon every remembrance of you....[/blockquote]
That tells me that as God brought people to mind, Paul prayed for them with thanksgiving. Not every day. Not all the time. But as often as the Holy Spirit presented people to Paul’s spirit, he took that opportunity to pray.
Yes, the tensions of leadership are real. Yet they can be healthy if they drive us toward the mark, the standard that the Lord has set for us. But don’t let Satan beat you up if/when you fall short. Press on!
Connecting the Dots
My printer has a problem. Or maybe it’s my computer. It somehow disconnects itself, so that when I want to print, the computer tells me the printer isn’t connected. After making sure all cables are in place, I disconnect the USB cable and reconnect it.
Violá!
It gets the information and the printer prints.
I’m sure an IT person could tell me what the problem is and get it fixed so that communication flows. After all, they are masters at understanding how this stuff works. But…it seems I am just too busy to do that. So I just keep unplugging and plugging in the printer cable to make it work.
I wonder if we do something like that in our attempt to communicate biblical truth. We have carefully put together what we want people to receive. We key the mic or feed the signal out, but somehow there is a disconnect. We can check the wires, the transmitter, the internet, and not find anything wrong.
To quote William Shakespear…
[blockquote author="" link="" target="_blank"]The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves…[/blockquote]
Are we relating to our audience in a way they can understand? Are we doing the little things that help us connect the dots between us and our listeners…so the information can flow?
If I were to talk of the cobblestone streets of Korçë , Albania, those living there would more likely listen. If I mentioned the gravel walkways in the gardens of the Schönbrunn Palace, the people of Vienna would feel I knew what their city was like. Little things, to be sure, but once dots are connected and links are made, then it is more likely that important information can flow.
I’ve mentioned before a disc jockey in Dallas named Ron Chapman. For 40+ years he was at the top of his game, the most popular person on radio in this fifth-largest metropolitan area in the US. If there was one important thing that he did, it was to connect with the listener. You felt he knew what the street you lived on looked like. And as a result of that connection, you listened. And kept listening.
Connecting.
Jesus did it. You remember His amazing encounter with the Samaritan woman. He connected with her from the start by talking about what was on her mind. Water. Then he was able to share the important things. Her need for a savior. And it worked. In John 4:29 we see her astonished comments about her conversation with Jesus.
“Come and see a man who told me everything I
ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah?”
How can you connect the dots? How can you build a strong conduit for passing on to others the only hope we have in this world…Jesus?
Surprising Scripture
It happens from time to time. I’m reading a passage I am sure I have read before. This time, though, something catches my attention that I have never noticed. Occasionally it is because I may be reading a different translation, and the way the scripture reads brings out a thought or action I had not caught before.
Recently in my morning Bible reading time I have been reading through the Acts of the Apostles. It was the start of Acts 26 when I read a surprising passage. You remember that the Apostle Paul was in prison because the Jewish leaders were plotting against him. King Agrippa was willing to listen to Paul as he made his defense against the charges brought by the Jews.
[blockquote author="Acts 26:1 (NLT)" link="" target="_blank"]Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You may speak in your defense. So Paul, gesturing with his hand, started his defense[/blockquote]
There it was… “Paul, gesturing with his hand….” My first thought? Why did God’s Spirit inspire Luke to write that?
Most commentators agree that Paul was chained by one hand to a guard. That left one arm free. One said this action showed, “…how ready he was to embrace the opportunity of pleading his own cause.” Others said it showed the boldness of his speech and to the securing of the attention of his audience. The phrase “boldness of his speech” tells me Paul spoke with passion.
Passion.
One dictionary described passion this way:
Passion is when you put more energy into something than is required to do it. It is more than just enthusiasm or excitement, passion is ambition that is materialized into action to put as much heart, mind body and soul into something as is possible.
It got me thinking about our role as ambassadors for Christ. We sometimes have those key opportunities to share the hope we have in Jesus. Most of the time we are not in “chains” as we speak, though it may be a bit uncomfortable to do so.
Paul, even in literal chains, could not help but gesture in a way that commanded attention and expressed the passion he had for his Lord Jesus. As Peter would write: “And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it.” (I Peter 3:15 NLT) When we express the hope we have in Christ, do we speak in a way that commands attention and shows our passion?
By the way, it may not be the gesture of your hand. It may be the intensity of your speech, the firmness of your eyes, the expression on your face. It may be the humility of understanding what God has done for us that others see. It may be the love of Christ that shines through as we speak.
Whatever it is, let’s be ready, willing, and able to share the hope we have…the only hope of this world…Jesus...and do so with passion.
Communicating? Are you sure?
Are you a communicator? I know some great ones, able to hold an audience in the palm of their hand. When they speak, we hang on their every word. But not everyone is a great communicator. Or even a good communicator.
Just because we speak doesn’t mean we are communicating. And just because we put a program on the air or on the internet doesn’t mean the communication process has been successful. Remember the old question, “If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?”
Aristotle (384-322 B.C) was a Greek philosopher from Northern Greece. He was also the teacher of Alexander the Great. While exploring the human nature scientifically, Aristotle developed a linear model of communication for oral communication known as Aristotle's Model of Communication. To simplify, there needed to be a speaker, a speech, an audience, and an effect. In other words, what you say has to be understood in order to bring about an effect.
Aristotle also talked of the three important elements of the communicator.
- Ethos- your credibility…the reason the listener should believe what you are saying.
- Pathos-the emotional connection…the reason the audience believes what you are saying will matter to them.
- Logos-your ability to appeal to the listener’s sense of reason. In other words, logic.
All the authority and empathy in the world won’t help you if the audience doesn’t understand what you are talking about, or how you arrived at your conclusion.
Those of us who hope to communicate biblical truth, must first receive that truth from God, His Spirit, and His Word. In his famous prayer, St. Francis of Assisi asked God to help him to “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” This is still true in our communication process today.
And, we need to be sure we use the language and words that are easily grasped by our audience. Again, Aristotle had instructions on this important element.
“Think as wise men do,
but speak as the common people do.”
George Bernard Shaw once said, “The greatest problem with communication is the illusion that it has been accomplished.” Don’t fall into that trap. The public speaker has the audience to look at to determine if his or her message is getting through. How are you evaluating your communication…your programming?
Ultimately, our communication process should seek to please the Lord. The Psalmist, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, gave us this guideline as a prayer.
[blockquote author=" Psalm 19:14 (NLT)" link="" target="_blank"]May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. [/blockquote]