Faith Venture

Fill Me With God

August 18, 2022

According to the Apostle Matthew, Jesus noticed the crowds and his closer followers (probably one of the better understatements in the New Testament), and walked up a hillside, sat down (as was the custom), and taught.

He led with eight thoughts about being blessed. The first three we discussed in the last two posts concerned emptying yourself. Now, why should we empty ourselves? Yes, to be blessed, for sure. But Jesus continues:

You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.

An empty mind and soul can be the devil’s playground. But not if you intentionally choose what will fill them. That is why I always recommend turning off TV news. Be ever watchful of what fills your mind. With 2,000 years of Christian writers to help us, there is no excuse for not finding something to help us fill our minds with God. Work up a good appetite, Jesus says. Eat and drink from the goodness of God.

Here are a few items on the buffet table: the Desert Fathers, John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, the author of The Cloud of Unknowing, Henri Nouwen, Thomas Merton, many more guides and mentors.

Read. Sit quietly and focus. Fill your mind and soul.

Posted in Disciplines | Leave a Comment »

Content Within Our Own Skin

August 17, 2022

Walking through the Beatitudes in The Message translation. Here is the third one, which is akin to the first two.

You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.

The theme of the first two of these theme points of Jesus’s talk concerned emptying yourself so that there is room for God to enter.

This one talks of emptying yourself of all the delusions you have about yourself. Maybe you think that within you are the seeds of being a gazillionaire technology entrepreneur. Maybe, on the other hand, you think that you are worthless–someone who can’t do anything.

Neither is true.

I was lying on the ground staring up at a circle of faces. Below one face was the body of a boy my age wearing boxing gloves. We were maybe 12. I also had on boxing gloves. I don’t think he hit me that hard, but I was down. At that moment I saw the entire scene as if I were above it. I saw the stupidity and futility of living with anger and fighting. More than likely that was the moment I became a pacifist and sought peace in life. Perhaps I was on the way to being content with who I was.

Jesus said that when we empty out the illusions, when we, as Scottish poet Robert Burns said to “see ourselves as ithers see us,” then, at that moment, we own that which cannot be bought–God.

Posted in Attitude, Awareness | Leave a Comment »

When You Are Empty, Then You Can Be Filled

August 16, 2022

I’ve been reading the Christian Bible, the New Testament, in a different translation. I like to do that. The new choices of words open my mind enabling deeper insights into meaning. These sentences are the first two “Beatitudes” or the opening words of the way Matthew presented what we call The Sermon on the Mount.

You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
Your blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the one most dear to you.

Both of these speak to our condition. When we are too full of ourselves, too full of our competence, importance, possessions, people, then we have no room for God.

The presentation seems to prepare us for all the teaching that follows throughout Matthew chapters 5, 6, 7.

We should not have the hubris to dive in and just read those teachings as if we can easily pick up the meaning. We must begin, much like the 12-step program, by recognizing our limitations, by emptying our self-importance. Then we can appropriately approach what Jesus is trying to teach us.

Scholars, both professional and amateur, miss the next point which is the conclusion of of the sermon:

Whoever hears these words and does them…

Posted in Disciplines, Doing, Wisdom | Leave a Comment »

Waterfall in Iceland

August 15, 2022

I have lots of words running around through my head. But, we grabbed a holiday in Iceland last week. We contemplated ocean waves, geysers, and waterfalls. Here is a waterfall from southwestern Iceland. What can I add?

Posted in Awareness | Leave a Comment »

To Pray in Spirit and in Truth

August 12, 2022

To pray in spirit and in truth enables us to enter into contact with that infinite love, that inscrutable freedom.
Thomas Merton

The church I attended for years sponsored a youth camp in the hills of southern Ohio every summer. The theme was JOY—Jesus, Others, You.

All the writers of the New Testament agreed, but James was most clear, that first you need to be in communion with God, then you needed to exhibit that faith through how you treat others. Then, of course, you have to take care of you.

We need daily—some of us several times daily—to reconnect with that source of love, energy, direction we call God.

One of my Biblical mentors is Daniel. Not for the visions at the end of the book about him. No, what impressed me was that he took time from his busy days administering the greatest empires known at the time to reconnect with God—three times a day. Regularly. With intention.

He remained focused until the end of his days as far as we know.

It works also for us. To come with intention to pray in spirit and in truth. Set aside time and place and prepare to meet with God.

Posted in Meditation, Prayer | Leave a Comment »

Develop the Best in Everyone

August 11, 2022

The way to develop the best that is in a person is by appreciation and encouragement.
Charles Schwab

“Spare the rod and spoil the child” is a phrase I’ve heard from my youth before someone got smacked or chastised.

Some people use the method of criticism even to physical punishment or threat of losing job, security, family in order to “improve” the object of their wrath.

In Jesus’ time, the Romans used violence and the threat of violence to achieve power over others. This attitude went from emperor down to head of the family.

The Pharisees were great at comparing how great they were and loved by God to how others were outside of God.

Jesus took a different approach. “It is the sick who need the physician,” he once told the Pharisees.

Appreciation and encouragement—the better path.

Posted in Compassion, Leadership, Relationship | Leave a Comment »

Consider Gratitude

August 10, 2022

Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.
A.A. MIlne

Stop.

Pause for a moment.

Consider gratitude. Ponder at the end of each day.

What has happened this week for which I am grateful?

Who has touched me for which I am grateful?

Where have I been that offered opportunities for which I am grateful?

When have I stopped to serve someone for which I am grateful for the opportunity and strength to serve?

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True Growth

August 9, 2022

One of my early business teachers pointed to a truth that has stayed with me many years through many Silicon Valley booms and busts—the only true growth is growth in profits.

We have lived through a period of church history, not only in the United States, but also in many other areas of the world, where churches were measured in terms of growth in attendance or maybe membership. We’ve seen the growth in numbers of “megachurches” led by charismatic and driven men striving for earthly success. There are doctoral degrees in church growth.

Forty years of megachurch growth in the US. And then the pandemic. People were told not to mingle in order to arrest the spread of the disease clogging hospital emergency facilities. We are now at least six months into an opening of society. But megachurches, and indeed all churches, are reporting quietly a 50% decline in attendance and financial support.

But, I ask, are those the important numbers?

If real growth in business is growth in profits (not sales), then what should a church be “measuring?” Perhaps a church should be know for the increasing spiritual development of its members along with the outward and visible sign—actions pleasing to Jesus, their leader. Things like binding the wounds and providing care for the traveler (story of the Good Samaritan), feeding the poor (doing for the least of these…), caring for the prisoner, and the other examples and instructions from Jesus.

James told us the two are linked—growing in spirit and serving others.

Does it matter if a church has 50,000 with a well-paid staff or 50 struggling souls? Does it matter the positive impact on the world around them?

Posted in Mission, Service | Leave a Comment »

Catch Them Doing Good

August 8, 2022

Keep your eyes open and try to catch people in your company doing something right, then praise them for it.
Tom Hopkins

Business management thinker and writer Tom Hopkins nailed it with this little piece of advice.

How often in our organizations, churches, businesses, do we sit in judgement on people? People around us? Committee members? Leaders? People outside the organization? We can’t wait to catch someone doing it wrong.

I have a vision of elementary school teachers who sit at their desks or pace the floor watching for miscues. When you go to the board at the front of the class, they’re watching for each mistake. And we’re all like that. All the time.

In Jesus time, there existed a group of people who lived that life. They were the antagonists of the Christian Bible story. They were called Pharisees. Jesus was so encouraging in general, but not to the self-righteous. He pointed to the hypocrisy.

How wonderful to refocus our attitude and begin watching for people doing something right. Being helpful. Solving a problem. Trying.

Then, instead of being the voice of judgement, being the voice of encouragement. What a change for everyone.

Posted in Attitude | Leave a Comment »

Know Before You Speak

August 5, 2022

I picked up this thought from the James Clear newsletter (author of Atomic Habits).

Playwright, poet, and writer, Samuel Johnson, on listening and learning: “I never desire to converse with a man who has written more than he has read.”

This seems to fit within the wisdom of the Apostle James, the half-brother of Jesus, who advised thinking before speaking, be slow to speak and quick to listen.

I finally blocked most of Facebook from my feed in 2020 because so much was just passing stuff around that probably originated in Russia, anyway. No thought. All reaction. No conversation.

Johnson was right. Interact with those who have read and thought much. Fewer people. More depth.

Posted in communication, Friends, Listening | Leave a Comment »