Being Quiet

March 21, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

I love technology. But along with all of the technology comes a whole lot of noise. Not necessarily the noise that your ears pick up, but the noise in your mind.

  • We’ve got Facebook for the latest social updates
  • Twitter and blogs for the latest news and commentary
  • Flickr, Twitpic, and Intragram for the latest pictures
  • LinkedIn for the latest business interactions
  • Smart phones for instant messaging

And if we miss out on any of those things, we feel left behind.

Here’s the ironic thing about all of this social media. Trying to keep up with everything and everyone raises the level of cortisol (a stress hormone) in our bodies. And cortisol actually increases anti-social behavior.

Look what multi-tasking does to our brains…

In the midst of trying to tune in and keep up with all of these other voices, we often miss out on the most important Voice.

Jesus says: Listen! I am standing and knocking at your door. If [not when] you hear My voice and open the door, I will come in and we will eat together. (I added the bracketed commentary.)

Today I’m trying to quiet all of the other voices and just listen to The Voice. So today is a media/technology fast.

  • No blogging (I wrote this post yesterday)
  • No Twitter or Facebook
  • No texting
  • No iPod or TV or computer time

I’m taking time to make sure I’m tuning into the most important Voice. I challenge you to try it too. Listen to see what Jesus has to say to you.

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Thursdays With Oswald—Spiritual Overloading

March 17, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

Spiritual Overloading

       One continually finds an encroachment of beliefs and of attachment to things which is so much spiritual overloading. Every now and again the Spirit of God calls us to take a spiritual stock-taking in order to see what beliefs we can do without. The things our Lord asks us to believe are remarkably few, and John 14:1 seems to sum them up—“Ye believe in God, believe also in Me.” We have to keep ourselves alertly detached from everything that would encroach on that belief; we all have intellectual and affectionate affinities that keep us detached from Jesus Christ instead of attached to Him. We have to maintain an alert spiritual fighting trim.

From Facing Reality

Probably because I’m still studying and preparing for our Overloaded series, but I’ve been especially tuned into to the idea of all sorts of overload… even (especially) spiritual overloading. I never want to fall victim to the same trap the Pharisees were in:

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to His disciples, “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.” (Matthew 23:1-4)

I don’t want to overload myself; nor do I want to overload those I teach. So I’m taking a hard look in the mirror—and listening closely to the Holy Spirit—about those spiritual overloading things that may be crushing me.

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Who’s Following?

March 16, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

I have a rather large segment of my library dedicated to leadership books. They cover everything from team building, to personal leadership, to leading a non-profit organization, to leading a for-profit company. One of the recurring teachings goes something like this:

If you want a picture of your leadership, look at who’s following you.

Do you buy that?

I thought I did, but then I read this:

Later, Levi invited Jesus and His disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. (There were many people of this kind among Jesus’ followers.)

Maybe these tax collectors and other disreputable sinners were attracted to Jesus because they could tell how much He loved them.

So I have to ask myself, “How many ‘disreputable sinners’ are hanging around me?” Maybe I need to take another look at my heart for the lost.

How about you?

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Happy To See You

March 13, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Do you like being around people? Or maybe a better question is: Do people like being around you?

In the case of Jesus, the answers are “yes” and “yes.” Check this out:

When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that He was back home. Soon the house where He was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. (Mark 2:1-2)

People like being with Jesus.

They invited Him to their weddings…

They invited Him to their parties…

They invited Him to their dinners…

And when Jesus showed up somewhere, people flocked to that house.

If you and I are Christians—followers of Jesus Christ—the same thing should be said of us: People should like having us around, and they should like being around us.

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How Noble Do You Want To Be?

March 1, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Sometimes I find the most thought-provoking phrases buried in the middle of passages in the Bible that seem somewhat obscure. Take this line from the book of Nehemiah, where we read who’s rebuilding which section of the Jerusalem wall…

The next section was repaired by the men of Tekoa, but their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work under their supervisors.

This chapter lists all kinds of people working on the wall: priests (including the high priest) … goldsmiths … perfume-makers … temple servants … mayors … even Shallum’s daughters. Everyone, it seems, was willing to pitch in except these nobles.

Many times in the Old Testament this Hebrew word for nobles is used to describe God Himself. In other words, these nobles thought they were far too important to put their shoulders to the work.

Jesus washed feet. The noblest of us all came to earth to serve even the lowest of the servants.

Which do you think was really the most noble?

How noble do you want to be?

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Thursdays With Oswald—Broken And Crucified

February 24, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

Broken

       We need to remember that we cannot train ourselves to be Christians; we cannot discipline ourselves to be saints; we cannot bend ourselves to the will of God: we have to be broken to the will of God.

From Facing Reality

Crucified

       To “crucify” means to put to death, not counteract, not sit on, not whitewash, but kill. If I do not put to death the things in me which are not of God, they will put to death the things that are of God.

From Biblical Ethics

Jesus said to His disciples, “If any of you wants to be My follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow Me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for My sake, you will save it.”

Then Jesus said, “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you. Let Me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

I’m trying to live broken and crucified. Will you join me in this daily pursuit?

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Baaaa!

February 18, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.

Of all the things God could have used as a picture of our relationship with Him, He used an animal. And, no, it wasn’t an animal that seems particularly powerful or smart or noble.

He picked a sheep.

A fuzzy, sometimes dimwitted, needs-a-lot-of-help animal.

I’m a sheep. Baaaa!

But then I have the great picture of God as my loving Shepherd. How wonderful to know that the Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want!

As a pastor I am called to be the shepherd to God’s flock of sheep under my watchful eye. Jesus set the example for me:

But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice.

And Solomon said:

Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds.

Pastors, here are the questions I’m asking of myself, and I invite you to ask them of yourself too:

  • Do my sheep recognize my voice? Or am I trying to sound like someone else?
  • Do I know all my sheep by name?
  • Are my sheep following me as I follow Jesus?
  • Am I willing to go first?
  • Do I find fresh pastures and clean water for my sheep? Or is it recycled food I’m serving them?
  • Am I spending enough time with my sheep to know the condition of each one?
  • Do my sheep get my undivided attention?

What a privilege to be a pastor! What a responsibility! What a joy to know my sheep and to be known by them!

Baaaa!

UPDATE: This post was one of the seed thoughts that went into fashioning my book Shepherd Leadership: The Metrics That Really Matter.

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? ◀︎◀︎

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Let It Go

January 31, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

In prayer there is a connection between what God does and what you do. You can’t get forgiveness from God, for instance, without also forgiving others. If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God’s part. (Matthew 6:14-15)

Have you ever had an “awkward” handshake with someone?

You try to grab their hand, but they’re going for the fist bump. Or you’re thinking fist bump and they’re going for a high five?

That’s sort of what’s happening in these verses…

God is extending an open hand of forgiveness to you, but your fist is tightly clenched as you hang on to a grudge.

If you want to grasp God’s hand in forgiveness, you must let go of the slights, wounds, hurts, insults, sins, and grievances you have against others. You probably have every right to hang on to those things.

Just as God has every right to hang on to your sins against Him…

…but He doesn’t.

SO LET IT GO!

It’s the only way to be able to hold onto those nail-scarred hands of Jesus that bring forgiveness.

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Thursdays With Oswald—The Word Of God

January 27, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

The Word Of God

       The Bible nowhere says we have to believe it is the Word of God before we can be Christians. The Bible is not the Word of God to me unless I come at it through what Jesus Christ says, it is of no use to me unless I know Him. The key to my understanding of the Bible is not my intelligence, but my personal relationship to Jesus Christ. … You may believe the Bible is the Word of God from Genesis to Revelation and not be a Christian at all.

From Facing Reality

Do I just know the Word of God, or do I know the God of the Word? If I read and study the Bible just to gain knowledge, I will become a very religious person. But if I read the Bible to know Christ more, I will enter into a deeper relationship with Him.

…knowledge puffs up while love builds up… (1 Corinthians 8:1)

I want to read my Bible as a love letter, and fall more and more in love with the God who wrote it to me.

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Are You A Missionary?

January 21, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

My cousin is a missionary in a country that is over 98% Muslim. Every day he engages Muslims using their language, their culture, their beliefs, their traditions. He’s in their homes, their businesses, their marketplaces.

He shows them how much Jesus loves them by showing them how much he loves them.

The other day I was reading one of his recent e-newsletters where he described what a missionary is:

Missionaries engage culture respectfully, learning local languages, celebrating what is good, speaking against injustice, speaking for those too weak or abused to speak for themselves. Missionaries often love their adopted countries as much as natural citizens do. Missionaries exalt Christ and point to Him as the only answer for our common sin problem, and the only hope for lasting peace. They are a blessing to their families and society. They are loyal to their families, faithful to their authorities, and servants to their communities.

When I read this description I thought, “I’m a missionary. I do all of these things right here in Cedar Springs.” Like learning the local culture and traditions; celebrating the good in our community; speaking out for those who can’t; supporting our schools, police, fire, and elected officials.

I ♥ My Church and I ♥ Cedar Springs!

Two questions:

1.  Do you agree with my cousin’s definition of missionary?

2.  Are you a missionary in your community?

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