example | Craig T. Owens

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Moderate Back Thrusts

April 1, 2009 — Craig T. Owens

How would you like to have this written on your tombstone—

Appointed by God to be king
Caused all Israel to sin against God
Doomed my family line to extinction

That is exactly the epitaph of King Jeroboam (see 1 Kings 13-14). In God’s indictment of Jeroboam He says, “Because of the sins you have committed, and the sins you have caused Israel to commit, you have provoked Me to anger and thrust Me behind your back.”

I find that phrase—thrust Me behind your back—intriguing. The word thrust means to throw something away. How exactly does one go about throwing God away? Can you crumple Him up like a piece of paper and toss Him in a garbage can? Can you grab Him and shove Him behind you? Is He like a stack of old newspapers thrown in a recycling bin? Clearly not!

One only thrusts God behind one’s back little by little. Just moderate back thrusts.

John Maxwell was exactly right when he said that whatever good things a leader does in excess, those following will do in moderation. Whatever poor things the leader does in moderation, those following will do in excess. The “moderate” ways in which Jeroboam thrust God behind his back caused all of Israel to sin excessively. And that became Jeroboam’s eternal legacy!

People are watching me—my kids, my neighbors, my friends, the baristas at Starbucks—what example am I setting for them? There are only two examples I can set: (1) Pursue God with all my heart, all my soul, all my mind, and all my strength; in other words, love God to excess. Or (2) Moderately thrust God behind my back little by little by little.

Search me, O God, see if there is ANY moderate back thrusting in me and lead me in the way everlasting (see Psalm 139:23-24).

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: 1 Kings, epitaph, example, Gospel of Matthew, Jeroboam, John Maxwell, leadership, legacy, Psalm, quote, sin. Leave a Comment »

The Passion Of Pessimism

March 17, 2009 — Craig T. Owens

I’m reading Oswald Chambers’ challenging book Baffled To Fight Better. In this book, Chambers is commenting on the life of Job as portrayed in the Bible. His thesis is that we can fight better when we‘re totally baffled on how to fight on our own—when we‘re baffled, we can only turn to God.

Today I read Chambers‘ statement, “Real suffering comes when a man‘s statement of his belief in God is divorced from his personal relationship to God.”

This reminded me of what this important principle: “The man with an experience is never at the mercy of the man with an argument.” Or I would paraphrase this, “The man with an intimate relationship with Jesus is never baffled when things don‘t turn out as he planned.”

I‘ve been going through some baffling times—circumstances aren‘t coming together the way I would have planned them. But during this trying time, my relationship with Jesus is growing more and more precious to me.

Where pessimism could reign I am finding greater passion.

What have you discovered in your baffling times?

UPDATE: One of the things that came out of this baffling time I mentioned here was the healed scars that became the basis for my book When Sheep Bite. Please check this out!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: circumstances, encouragement, example, job, Oswald Chambers, quote, relationship, suffering. 2 Comments »

Giant Killers

March 2, 2009 — Craig T. Owens

Multiple choice quiz: with which of the following biblical characters are you familiar?

(a) David son of Jesse.
(b) Abishai son of Zeruiah.
(c) Sibecai the Hushathite.
(d) Elhanan son of Jaare-Oregim.
(e) Jonathan son of Shimeah.

Honestly, now, how did you do? I’m guessing you at least got (a) since David is probably the best known king of Israel. But what about the other guys? Have you ever heard of them before?

Do you know what they all have in common? They are all a part of King David’s inner circle, and they are all giant killers.

Isn’t it interesting how like attracts like? David became the original giant killer when he killed Goliath. Abishai, Sibecai, Elhanan, and Jonathan were probably attracted to David because of his bravery, because of the stories they had heard of his victory over Goliath. But then something starts to stir inside of these men—they want to emulate David, they want to be giant killers too.

So here are the questions I’m asking myself today:
(a) Have I won any victories that would attract other “warriors” to me?
(b) Is what I’m doing today something I would want those closest to me to emulate?
(c) Are there some giants still hanging around that I need to defeat?

You can find out a lot about the significance of the victories you have won by who’s attracted to you, and by who’s imitating your lifestyle.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: David, encouragement, example, friends, Goliath, inner circle, leadership, relationships. Leave a Comment »

Hearts Like Prisms

February 20, 2009 — Craig T. Owens

God once said, “Let the light shine out of the darkness!” This is the same God who made His light shine in our hearts by letting us know the glory of God that is in the face of Christ. —2 Corinthians 4:6 (NCV)

Today I was at the Flint Institute of Arts with my kids. There was a really cool exhibit made of hundreds of pieces of glass that cast a rainbow of colors all over the wall. Yet all of these colors sprayed across the wall are generated by just two lights.

This made me think, “How am I reflecting God’s light? Is my life a prism that accurately transmits God’s light and love to others? Or does my lifestyle make it difficult for people to see God?”

Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights. —Philippians 2:15 (NLT)

I want people to see the brilliance of God’s love through me.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: 2 Corinthians, example, family, Philippians, testimony. Leave a Comment »

I Am Their Idea Of Christ

November 12, 2008 — Craig T. Owens

I’ve been pondering this weighty thought from A.W. Tozer in his book Warfare Of The Spirit—

“A sacred obligation lies upon each of us to be Christlike. This generation of Christians must have models it can safely admire. That is not the primary reason for seeking to be holy, but it is a powerful one. Many beginners are taking us for their examples. Later they will become detached from us and will learn to fix their eyes directly upon the Lord Himself; in the meantime, for better or for worse we are their idea of what Christ is like.” (emphasis mine)

The Apostle Paul said, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). I pray that my lifestyle is an example worthy of being modeled because there are a lot of eyes fixed on me.