Posts Tagged ‘service’

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Being Humble Explained

June 24, 2015

When pride comes, then comes disgrace; but wisdom is with the humble. Proverbs 11:2

I have a friend who always brings up pride as the sin that lies at the foundation of most other sins. Perhaps he has become aware of himself and repented of past pride that almost proved his undoing.

Think about it a little. When are the times when pride has gotten between you and God? When pride has injured a friend or family member? When pride has stopped you from learning something new?

According to this proverb, humble is the trait juxtaposed to pride.

Humble is often misrepresented by those who think they do not want to lead a self-disciplined life. Or by those “social Darwinists” who believe in “survival of the fittest” and power is a virtue. They have led generations to believe that humble means weak.

But it is actually the opposite. Pride evolves from weakness. It is usually a compensation for the perceived lack of power or strength of the person. How many are they, who puff up with pride only to be deflated later. It’s only the true narcissists who continue in pride oblivious to the wreckage of the people around them.

It takes strength to be humble. One must be strong to put others ahead yet retain the strong spiritual core of a relationship with God. It takes someone strong in spiritual discipline who practices daily the spiritual disciplines of study, prayer, meditation, service, simplicity.

The other strength comes from putting aside the pride of believing that they know everything and acknowledge gaps in knowledge that can be filled through study or through the guidance of a mentor.

To be humble just means to put others ahead of yourself. It is a willingness to learn and grow every day.

I read this saying of a Desert Father that I wholly agree with, “I’d rather have a man who has sinned and repented than a man who has not sinned and thinks he is righteous.”

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Christian or Follower of Jesus?

June 18, 2015

Most of the time I just like to teach. Or point out some interesting or ironic observations. Or share something that (I hope) helps  people in their spiritual formation.

Then, sometimes I get into controversial things that cannot be explained in 300 words or less 😉

This may be one of those.

How do I describe myself?

I’ve just returned from a conference with an international focus. I count people from many cultures and many countries as friends (OK, maybe that’s a bit of a stretch, but I hope they are). I am aware of history and its impact on perceptions people have even to today.

While contemplating a completely different subject for this post, my thoughts focused on the differences between the person I was going to quote (see a future post, I’m sure) and me.

He’s not expressly a Christian–or maybe not even consciously one.

But, I sometimes have a little problem identifying myself that way. I have absolutely no problem identifying myself as a follower of Jesus. His words have penetrated deeply into me for what seems like my entire life. I want to be like him (as a disciple should), although even while writing this, I’m painfully aware of how far from that ideal I am.

I know people from the Middle East. I’m aware of the connotation that “Christian” often has. Instead of describing someone who lives such an attractive life that people want to be like them, the term often recalls savagery, genocide, exploitation. Even in Europe, “Christians” massacred each other for hundreds of years. No wonder that so many throughout the world don’t care to identify with the name.

Attraction

The Acts 2 church grew because the people lived such extraordinary lives that they attracted those around them to Jesus.

Last week I met (English names, not theirs exactly) people like Daniel and Joe and others who are living that kind of life. They are in areas hostile to “Christians”, yet the example they set is so attractive that people from a diverse religious and cultural background are led to learn more about that unique person from 2100 years ago.

I’m little interested in knowing if you identify yourself as “Christian.” I am more interested in whether your life reflects how you are a disciple of Jesus. I just used a quote at the end of my Yoga class, “As I grow older, I am less interested in what men say. I just watch them and see what they do.”

At the end of every day we should ask, “What did I do today that proclaimed that I follow Jesus” and “What should I do tomorrow to show that I follow Jesus?”

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Distraction Blocks The Heart

June 17, 2015

A brother came to visit Abb Sylvanus at Mt. Sinai. When he saw the brothers working hard, he said to the old man: “Do not work for food that perishes, for Mary has chosen the good part.”
The brother was shown to a cell, and when the time had passed for the meal, he came out and asked the father if the monks had eaten. “Of course we did,” was the reply. “Why didn’t you call me?”
“You are a spiritual person, and do not need that type of food; but since we are earthly, we want to eat, and that’s why we work. Indeed, you have chosen the good part reading all day long, and not wanting to eat earthly food.”
The brother heard these words and repented. (from the Sayings of the Desert Fathers as told in The Celtic Prayer Book.)

Some time ago, I taught on the story of Martha and Mary. My friend wrote to say she hated that story because pastors taught from the point of view of that brother. Surely, she wrote, they all ate the food that Martha prepared.

Yes, they did. With great appreciation, I’m sure.

One thing that disturbs me about modern America concerns the large number of uneducated people running around with university degrees–indeed, even advanced degrees.

Any reading of the story must assuredly come to the point that Jesus said, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things.” What’s the key concern? Worry and distraction.

Have you ever attended a family gathering or a dinner party where the hostess has prepared a great meal, and yet, she is focused on serving the guests? She involves people, sometimes, in the preparation and setting out. She makes time to acknowledge everyone.

Martha lost her focus. On the other hand, the brother in the story above thought of himself as superior. “I’m spiritual; you’re not.” He is Mary gone bad.

Both attitudes detract from our spiritual formation. We work, we serve, we do it all focused on what is important. The people I met last week doing business as mission know the meaning of work as service. They are not worried and distracted by many things. They are working and serving with the right attitude. A great example.

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What If We Were All Disciples

June 8, 2015

A disciple is someone who follows a master trying to be like the master, live like the master, talk like the master.

Jesus called the people around him at the end and gave them a vision. He wanted them all to be disciples and to make disciples of others. He also said that his disciples would be known by society at large by their love.

Maybe it was when the speaker stopped teaching and started “preaching” that my mind latched on to this idea. What would the world be like–what would it have been like–if all of Jesus’ followers actually were disciples?

Suddenly my thoughts were captured by my failures as a disciple. Have I been a good one?

That is the crux of the matter. It’s not pointing fingers at others. It’s looking first at the log in my eye before helping the other remove the spec. The German writer Thomas Mann wrote, “If everyone swept their own porch, the whole world would be clean.”

I wrote that on an engineering blog several years ago. Those darn literal engneers. One wrote back that there would still be vast areas of geography that wouldn’t be clean.

That, of course, is a metaphor. Our own porch is our own life, our thoughts, our actions, our words. 

But let’s speculate. What if all people who call themselves followers were actually disciples? What if we were all known by our love instead of our politics, or our unfounded opinions, or our stubbornness, or our fears and angers?

Maybe I’m a dreamer, but that would be a great step toward actualizing God’s Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

And forgive me for my mind wandering during church 😉

Reminds me of the little boy who sat in class staring out the window. The teacher noticed and stopped talking. Eventually the little boy noticed the unusual silence and came into the present world. “What were you doing?” the teacher asked. “Thinking,” said the little boy. “Don’t you know you’re not supposed to think in school?” replied the teacher.

That’s me.

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Leaders, How Well Do You Know Those You Serve

May 29, 2015

Recently the Keurig CEO made news by acknowledging in the face of declining sales that customers did not like the “lock-in” strategy of his new coffee machines. He had tried to use technology to assure that his one-cup-at-a-time brew machine would only work if you used coffee in his specially designed little cups (K-cups). No more freedom to use your own favorite beans.

Well, customers walked away and bought competing brands. (Duh!)

This week, the CEO of McDonalds, the fast food hamburger chain, also in the face of declining sales said that the company would change its grilling process such that it would provide hotter, jucier burgers.

Probably a genius industrial engineer goaded into finding cost-cutting processes changed the process of going from griddle to bun to going from griddle to a bin to a bun. As a result, burgers came out cold (on a relative scale) and dry.

Customers rebelled. They went elsewhere.

Leaders of organizations serve someone. Remember where Jesus said that leaders would be servants? Well, that wasn’t just for his 11 friends. It’s true today. And a leader forgets that at his peril.

Whom do you serve? Who is your customer?

If you are a pastor, do you realize that people want to be taught, not preached at? Do you realize the value of guidance to the point leaders?

If you are leading a team for buildings or missions or youth or whatever, do you know the wants and needs of your customers? Do you think of ways to serve them in ways to help them grow?

In business we talk about providing a product or service that helps someone solve a problem or improve their life. Notice the emphasis on “their”? Our thoughts, vision, effort must be directed outward toward those we serve or hope to serve.

When people become numbers on a spreadsheet, when we are focused inwardly on our costs or comfort zone, then we are in grave danger of failing. 

Then we wake up one day and realize that people have voted with their feet–they’ve left and headed for something or someone who cares about them and their problems.

How well do you know those whom you serve?

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Charity Will Never End Poverty, Opportunity Will

May 27, 2015

She visited Africa. Saw a poor, rural village where women had to walk miles for their daily water. Feeling deep emotions, the woman pulled out her check book and paid for a water well for the village.

It was a great act of kindness. 

However when she returned after several years, she was dismayed to discover that the well was not being used. It had not been used for some time. The people in the village had a well, but it had no “water department.” There was no one trained to maintain the well. Calling in a maintenance crew from the city was far beyond the reach of the local people.

People in another area once lived off the fruits of their farms. Then large corporations entered the area with the idea that the climate was great for growing crops that would be in great demand in North America and Western Europe. 

Colluding with corrupt local and national government, the company bought all the land, threw the farmers off their land, and hired them back at extremely low wages to grow the crops. That happened many years ago in places where pineapples grow. We enjoyed pineapple. The people now had no way to grow their own food and not enough money to buy it. They were modern slaves in effect.

Ethical business

That same effect happened with coffee. By the time ground coffee reaches the grocery store, it has gone through so many “middle men” that there is not enough money to pay the farmers.

I have bought whole bean coffee for years “fair trade” from a small roaster in Tennessee–Just Love Coffee. Fair trade coffee cuts through the layers and pays the farmers a fair price for their labors.

The next step is “direct trade.” A local roaster buys beans directly from farmers he met while on a short-term mission trip. 

Is it possible to run an ethical business that benefits the community, employees, suppliers all the way to the grower?

I think so. I’m an angel investor in a coffee shop due to open in 4-6 weeks just down the street from where I live. High Grounds Cafe touts a “quadruple bottom line.” (The Website is under construction, too.) We will buy our beans fromthe roaster I just mentioned.

The quadruple bottom line?

  • Spiritual
  • Economic
  • Social
  • Environmental

The working foundation is to be ethical in all our dealings–whether with the building code people, employees, customers, community. And the farmers who grow our beans.

I’ll have more to say in the future. Next month I’m heading to Colorado Springs for a conference of Christian business people with the same outlook. How can we help plant sustainable businesses in areas of abject poverty? Something that truly changes the lives and outlooks of the people rather than just handing out money.

Money is essential help following a disaster such as we just witnessed in Nepal. But giving money is not a sustainable aid package. Changed lives–that is sustainable.

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Let Your Light Shine-Why?

May 7, 2015

I’m up early and in the breakfast area of my hotel in Seattle. They have not one but three TVs all turned to one of those TV talk shows that are designed to heighten fear and anger in the hearts of the sympathizers. It’s hard to concentrate and meditate in such an environment.

I wondered, is that how I would like my light to shine? That I spend so much time being cynical and negative that my face sets permanently in that attitude?

Jesus said, “You are the light of the world.” Then he went on to state why, “Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give praise to your Father in heaven.”

These talk show people–they make a large income. They have influence over millions of souls. Their legacy, raise fear and anger in people so that they will continue to watch so that advertisers will pay high rates to present their products to the many.

How does this relate to church, you may wonder? Rightly so.

We have churches that operate the same way. They emphasize fear and anger so that people will come and obey.

Jon Swason started me thinking with his article comparing and contrasting evangelism and customer service in business and in church. Many (probably not enough) can do evangelism. But how do we rate in customer service? Do we just give them some words to memorize and tell them to go on their way?

Dallas Willard once said that church was the worst place to come to share your hurts and failures in order to find comfort and healing.

Jesus said let your light shine so that our Father is glorified. Part of that light is to fellow travellers on the way who need help. By so doing, you show people outside the fellowship the joy of becoming a Jesus-follower and joining the fellowship.

Good works, not sowing fear, uncertainty and doubt. What a thought!

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How Is The Life You’re Living Working

April 30, 2015

What are you doing right now? Well, aside from reading this.

What are your plans for the day? The week? The month?

How much time do you spend watching TV or movies?

He comes home from work, slouches on the couch in front of the TV, and gets up only to eat and use the bathroom until time for bed.

She uses every available minute to turn on her phone and check up on what her “friends” are posting on Facebook. Maybe taking time to text message a few virtual friends.

He sits for hours with the computer playing multi-player games and “hanging out” with his virtual friends.

How easy is it for our lives to slip away into meaningless activities! You look up at the end of a month or a year or a life and wonder where it all went.

Living a life with intention means that we relax when we intentionally mean to relax. And we choose our activities wisely.

Ponder on this question for a while:

Is the life that you’re living worth the sacrifice that Jesus made for that life?

Jesus made time for dinner parties with his friends and acquaintances. But he also healed, taught, mentored.

Try this. Sit and think for a while. Write a list of things you’d like to accomplish. Not so much a goal as a result. Or a place where you’d like to intentionally spend your time. Perform a service. Write a book. Participate in youth activities. Be a better employee.

Write your daily to do list based on what you want to be or what you want to do (hopefully the same). Review every month. What have I done where Jesus would be proud? Has my relaxation and entertainment been just a mindless waste of time or has it been physically/mentally/spiritually renewing? Have I connected with real people?

Live a life intentionally honoring the sacrifice made for us. 

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Who Has Integrity in Your Organization

April 28, 2015

I am reading a book on leadership. Got through a few chapters on the plane yesterday. I’ll have more details on the entire book on Friday (I hope).

There was a thought that was mentioned in a chapter on integrity

In every organization, there are one or two people at the senior level who operate as chief ethics officers. You know them—they’re the ones you go to when you need to talk with someone you can trust,

So, aside from you, my readers, whom I am positive are the paragons of integrity–OK, enough of that–can you identify someone in your organization, team, committee or group who is the moral compass of the group?

I recently read a book where the starting premise was that Adam (of apple fame) should have spoken up, should have been the moral compass, should have known better and set a better example, but he didn’t. He wimped out. Instead of saying, “Eve! Are you out of your mind?”, he said, “OK, give me a bite.”

In my long and chedkered business career, I’ve worked for guys whose moral compass was a few degrees off true north. I know there were times when I said something. But how many times did I simply stay silent? Maybe I eventually quit rather than be part of it. But was that the coward’s way out?

What organizations have you been in where the senior leadership did not exhibit integrity? You could not trust them. What was the atmosphere within those organizations?

What should we–you and I–be doing right now to be one of those chief ethics officers? What impact would that have on the organization? On our colleagues’ lives? On our life?

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Given a Second Chance, What Would You Do?

April 27, 2015

What would you do if you were given a second chance to live? Wither away in bitterness? Help the person who tried to kill you? Dedicate your life to helping others in similar situations as your attacker?

Ten days after 9/11, a shocking attack at a Texas mini-mart shattered the lives of two men: the victim and the attacker. In this stunning talk, Anand Giridharadas, author of “The True American,” tells the story of what happened next. It’s a parable about the two paths an American life can take, and a powerful call for reconciliation.

Watch this TED Talk for a moving story of redemption. Not explicitly Christian, but that’s OK. It’s the power of love.

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