Activity Without Productivity

Heard a good friend yesterday speak at a luncheon and he quoted an author that the best way to engage in your faith is to find out where God is at work and join Him there.  - Henry Blackaby, Experiencing God.

At another meeting this morning with Pastor Marshall Brandon of the Christ Community Chapel in Highland Square/Akron he said that "activity without productivity" is wasted.  What a great statement.  How many of us are active with no results?  Maybe we should look harder to discover where God is at work and then join Him. 

This just may be the problem with many of our churches.  A lot of Sunday activities and no productivity during the week.  So then my son lays the article attached to this post.  Let's think about these things. 


http://www.faithit.com/dear-church-heres-why-people-are-really-leaving-you/

Links In A Chain

In John Piper's book Don't Waste Your Life, the author credits a college teacher with the following, "The verses of the Bible are not strung pearls but links in a chain".  A chain that tells a long story of salvation and redemption.  Picking off an occasional pearl misses the big picture. Being a bicycling enthusiast I can relate to the word picture.  You don't get anywhere on a single link - it takes the whole chain to get somewhere.

Newsweek decided to start the new year with a diatribe against the Bible.  A friend and former pastor of the church our kids grew up in shared the attached counterpoint article which I thought was interesting.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/06/living/newsweek-evangelicals/index.html

The article in Newsweek includes this statement.  "They wave their Bibles at passersby, screaming their condemnations," writes Kurt Eichenwald of evangelical Christians. 

I fail to read in the Bible where it encourages Christians - or anyone for that matter - to scream condemnations at passersby.

The wasted life is the life without a passion for being what God calls us to be.  There's no asterick after the great Commandment, "love God and love your neighbor", that says * "Except people who think like this".

Do what's right, avoid what's wrong and if you have any doubts, look to the Bible, not one pearl at a time but rather linking the whole picture.  Love God and love your neighbor.  Do it through action.

You can not pick through the Bible like a box of chocolates, choosing only the quotes that apply to the moment.  Reading the Bible as though links in a chain and not treating it like a string of select  "pearls of wisdom" would help us all understand God's design for our life better.

Change

"It was not always plain to me that pursuing God's glory would be virtually the same as pursing my joy.  Now I see that million so people waste their lives because they think these paths are two and not one."  - John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life

Two things the past days remind me of one truth.  Change is constant.  The death of Stuart Scott, ESPN anchor and the announcement that Knight Foundation Akron program director Josh McManus is returning to Detroit seem unrelated, but remind us that change is all around us.

Scott remained one of those personalities that you always looked forward to seeing.  You hoped his personality in real life would be the same as what you picked up on screen.  According to the testimonies his colleagues and friends gave on air and in print, it seems he fought the good fight with grace and vigor.

Living with Christ - I have no idea of Scott's spiritual journey - is better than walking my own path.  Rest in peace, Stuart Scott.

After only five months Josh McManus is leaving Akron for an incredible opportunity in Detroit.  Our loss is Detroit's gain.  I was impressed with Josh's grasp of the situation in Akron and his "all in" approach.  He'll be missed but time marches on and waits for no one.

Change is constant.  Those who adapt thrive.  Life is fleet, but neither disease not moving across the country can change our desire to be the change we wish to see.  Change with Christ as the head of life.  Pursue God, keep your eyes on Him.

Only one life,
'Twill soon be past;
Only what's done
For Christ will last.

To Do Lists

“It is about the greatness of God, not the significance of man. God made man small and the universe big to say something about himself.”
― John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life

Today starts time off, not New Year's Eve.  Book #1 I'm reading is John Piper's, Don't Waste Your Life. I'm struck by the fact that I already miss my to-do list, so I'm going out this morning to buy a pack of lined index cards, my to-do list tool for the past 34 years of my 40 year full time career.  I believe that I miss drawing yellow lines through the items, but I'm conscious of the thought that this list has changed. The great thing about index cards and a yellow highlighter is that you can always see what the list looked like and what you've done.

January 3, 2015

Funny feeling.  You've heard the phrase.  That gave me a funny feeling. January 1 was one of those. For the first time since teen years I'm not employed anywhere.  After 40 years of continuous employment with the YMCA I'm taking a break.  For the next 2 months Kathy and I will travel, explore, read and turn our faces towards what's next.

My son gave me a book by John Piper titled "Don't Waste Your Life".  It's on the list along with Tim Keller's "The Prodigal God".  This'll be a time for listening for God's small, still voice.  Jeremiah 29:11 ^"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  It's on my heart and echoing in my head.

Pardon me while I take a break right now.  My grand-daughter just woke up...