My book When Sheep Bite is all about recovering after difficulties—whether they were created by your mistakes or someone else’s mistakes. In the Introduction to my book I wrote:
I want to give you what I wanted when this happened to me: empathy, insight, a helpful perspective, and a manual of help that God has provided in the Bible. I don’t want to try to one-up your story of pain, because I’m confident that no one could truly know how deeply you’ve been hurt. But I do want to give you some assurance that I know what I’m talking about. …
Your pain and your circumstances are unique. Your pain is real, and it is incomparable to anyone else’s pain. But the biblical principles that God revealed to me—those things that helped me heal and the thoughts I want to share with you—are applicable for any shepherd. These tried-and-true principles can help you not just survive this pain but thrive in spite of this pain. I would say to you something that C.S. Lewis wrote, “Think of me as a fellow-patient in the same hospital who, having been admitted a little earlier, could give some advice.”
The mind of the prudent is ever getting knowledge, and the ear of the wise is ever seeking (inquiring for and craving) knowledge. (Proverbs 18:15 AMPC)
It is a humble person who says, “I don’t know it all; there is so much more to learn.” Thusthe humble person becomes a lifelong learner. This pursuit increases the learner’s knowledge base, which requires diligence to make sure a know-it-all arrogance doesn’t creep in and block future learning.
Humility starts the process and humility can keep the process going for a lifetime. But be on guard: the more you learn, the easier it is to become proud of your learning. This arrogance will derail future learning and growth.
To maintain your gains and to continue to learn more, you have to fight to remain humble. Check out the blog post and flowchart Humility is a Daily Choice.
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Even with the Voice of the Holy Spirit in our ear and the Mind of God giving us insight, we still “miss it” sometimes. Maybe it’s fear or impatience or immaturity, but we try something on our own and the results are painful.
I like the maxim, “Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn.” It’s true, but in order to learn I need a proper lens or a wise tutor to help discover those lessons from my experiences. This is what the Holy Spirit does for us: He helps us make senses of our “misses.” Otherwise, if I don’t learn from these painful experiences I will become either arrogant and God opposes this kind of pride (Proverbs 14:7; James 4:6a), or I remain ignorant (Proverbs 15:32; James 4:6b).
Peter heard from Jesus that the baptism of the Holy Spirit was intended to empower the Christians to take the Good News of Jesus to all people—including Gentiles. Peter struggled with this part, as would all good Jews. In their minds, Gentiles weren’t eligible for the blessings of God, especially not the gift of eternal life which would allow them to be in God’s presence forever!
Before we look at Peter, we need to remember what was happening with Saul/Paul at the same time. Saul met Jesus (Acts 9:3-15), and he then went to Jerusalem (vv. 26-28; Galatians 1:13-19).
Now let’s go back to Peter. He had just seen a vision from God and heard the Voice of the Spirit (Acts 10:9-16, 19-20). In obedience to this Voice, he went to Cornelius’ house and was given the Mind of God to preach to them. These Gentiles not only accepted Jesus as their Savior but were baptized in the Holy Spirit (vv. 44-48).
Now let’s switch back to Paul for a moment. Antioch became the home base for Paul and Barnabas (where the believers were first called Christians), and apparently there was a large Gentile population there. At one point, Peter came to visit and struggled with whether or not the Gentile Christians must then convert to Judaism. Peter was struggling with obedience to the vision that God had shown him, his disobedience was beginning to affect others (including Barnabas), and Paul called Peter out on this (Galatians 2:1, 7-14).
Back in Jerusalem, the Jewish Christians were insisting that the Gentile Christians become Jews. It was this controversy that prompted the Jerusalem Council. At this Council, Peter responded like one who had throughly learned a lesson from his previous “miss” (Acts 15:5-11).
I like this verse in the Amplified Bible, particularly one phrase: I will praise and give thanks to You with uprightness of heart when I learn by sanctified experiences Your righteous judgments (Psalm 119:7 AMPC).
Sanctified experiences. A “miss” that the Holy Spirit uses to teach us. The “miss” has been sanctified to become a learning experience. This is what Jesus said the Spirit of Truth would do for us (John 16:13).
There are things we simply experience, and then there are “sanctified experiences” where the Holy Spirit teaches us an invaluable lesson. These sanctified experiences are what the Holy Spirit uses to bring our thought and conduct into alignment with the perfect standard of God’s Word.
The Holy Spirit never condemns us for our missteps (Romans 8:1), but uses them for God’s glory (v. 28).
Just as Paul had to help Peter learn to pay attention to the Voice of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit wants to make us learner-teachers as well. In Psalm 119:7 the Hebrew word for “learn” is lamad which is also the word for “teach.” In other words, I’ve learned it well enough to teach it to another person. Even David with his sinful behavior—a really big “miss”—learned from the lesson from the Spirit of God so well that he could teach others (Psalm 51:10-13).
Spirit-baptized Christians can lean into the Spirit of Truth to help them learn sanctified experiences from even the difficult things that have happened to them.
With many such parables Jesus spoke the Word to them, as they were able to hear and to comprehend and understand. He did not tell them anything without a parable; but privately to His disciples (those who were peculiarly His own) He explained everything fully. (Mark 4:33-34 AMPC)
We will “comprehend and understand” more when we are ready to handle it. There is a joy in the learning process—an excitement that comes as new depths of meaning are revealed to us. Be faithful and obedient with what has been revealed to you. Continue to abide in the presence of the Lord, meditating on His Word until He explains more to you.
Jesus wants us to understand His words.
There is a joy that comes through the prayerful pondering of and the searching through what He has said. Even if we don’t fully grasp all of the truth initially, what we do perceive is precious. And what we don’t fully understand, we keep searching. As G.K. Chesterton noted, “The riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man.”
Then Jesus said—
“Things are hidden temporarily only as a means to revelation. For there is nothing hidden except to be revealed, nor is anything temporarily kept secret except in order that it may be made known. If any man has ears to hear, let him be listening and let him perceive and comprehend.” And He said to them, “Be careful what you are hearing. The measure of thought and study you give to the truth you hear will be the measure of virtue and knowledge that comes back to you—and more besides will be given to you who hear.” (Mark 4:22-24 AMPC)
Shepherd leaders cannot allow past hurts to negatively impact their current situations. Don’t give in to the natural fight-or-flight response, but ask God to help you response with supernatural faithfulness. I unpack this idea in greater depth in my book When Sheep Bite.
I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.
In responding to an evolutionary biologist’s claims that the material world is all that matters, John Stonestreet invokes the timely wisdom of G.K. Chesterton and C.S. Lewis. One of my favorite quotes from Lewis appears in this post: “A theory which explained everything else in the whole universe but which made it impossible to believe that our thinking was valid, would be utterly out of court… It would be an argument which proved that no argument was sound—a proof that there are no such things as proofs—which is nonsense.”
“Good leaders love leading the people they lead more than they love leading people.” —John Maxwell
Gerrit Scott Dawson writes about how the Bible helps us see ourselves more clearly. “The truth-telling mirror of Scripture exposes and composes us. Imagine a mirror that would make you as appealing as you could hope to be. Imagine a well of clear water that not only reflected but washed you clean of dirt and blemishes. When we read Scripture with open hearts and in reliance on the Spirit, that’s what happens.”
“Twice in the book of Hebrews we are urged to ‘consider Jesus.’ In Hebrews 3:1, the writer exhorts us to consider Jesus (κατανοήσατε) so that we will continue believing in and confessing Him throughout our lives. This word means to pay attention to something through direct observation, with the implication of also thinking about it, meditating on it, and returning to it often, just as one might carefully observe an object in creation or a work of art. … In Hebrews 12:3, the writer calls us again to consider Jesus, but this time as a work of rational analysis (ἀναλογίσασθε), a theological analysis, as opposed to an aesthetical contemplation. This suggests the need to study, read, think deeply, meditate, talk with others, and know Jesus in terms appropriate to His uniqueness and mission.” —T.M. Moore
“Be silent, if you choose; but when it is necessary, speak—and speak in such a way that people will remember it.” —Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Leaders need to give others confidence to try something new. We need to help people get moving so that we can coach what they are doing. For more great leadership insights, check out The Craig and Greg Show.
I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.
A couple of thought-worthy quotes for pastors. First from David Mathis: “Pastors, observe that in and of itself, mocking is no clear reflection of the faithfulness or fruitfulness of preaching Christ. Wise preachers do not take mocking as an indicator of failure, nor as an indicator of success. Twice in Athens some mock Paul, which may seem like a failure compared to his homiletic triumphs elsewhere. However, others say, ‘We will hear you again.’ And then, in the end: ‘some men joined him and believed’ [Acts 17:32-34]. … How foolish it would be to distract ourselves with the mockers. Or to call special attention to the mocking as some great badge of our own faithfulness. Rather, we have the example of Paul at Mars Hill, who, so far as we can tell, wholly overlooks, with a holy disregard, these mockers and concerns himself instead with those asking honest questions.”
…and then one from John Piper: “Preaching is a happy business. Because even if the text is a hard word that devastates the hearers, the preacher connects the hard word with the gracious word and the hopeful word, and he catches them as they fall. So, in the end, all preaching is a happy business.
“A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.” —Dwight D. Eisenhower
“For condemnation to work, we must say to God what the devil has said to us and believe it. If I want to stand before God with excuses that make what He said to me void, I’ll have to quote the devil to God. Does that sound like a good thing to do? God’s will for me is not to condemn me, but to liberate me from everything that holds me back from being what He created me to be through an ongoing relationship. To accomplish that, I need to do the opposite of what I used to do when I walked in condemnation. Instead of quoting to God what the devil is saying, I quote to the devil what God has said.” —Jim Wiegand, in Recruiting To Releasing
Another great story from the “Here We Stand” series of biographies of notable people during the Reformation. “An attendant asked [King Henry VIII] whom he wished to have at his bedside. The king asked for Thomas [Cranmer]. By the time Cranmer arrived, King Henry was unable to speak. Foxe tells the story. ‘Then the archbishop, exhorting him to put his trust in Christ, and to call upon His mercy, desired him though he could not speak, yet to give some token with his eyes or with his hand, that he trusted in the Lord. Then the king, holding him with his hand, did wring his hand in his as hard as he could (Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, 748).’ The scene sweetly punctuates the most important friendship in the English Reformation. Whatever King Henry believed when he squeezed Cranmer’s hand that day, God used the bond between them to break England free from Roman Catholicism and to recover the one true gospel.”
The ICR reports, “Genesis claims that people in the pre-Flood world routinely attained 900-year lifespans. The best-known example is Methuselah, who had the longest recorded lifespan of 969 years (Genesis 5:27). Skeptics dismiss these great ages as fanciful legends, but recent fossil data are providing unexpected, albeit indirect, corroboration of the Bible’s testimony.” Check out this full report.
“In my experience, each failure contains the seeds of your next success—if you are willing to learn from it.” —Paul Allen, cofounder of Microsoft
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The game-winning field goal, the bottom of the ninth home run, the last-second fadeaway jumper! In sports we are quick to recognize a clutch player. You might not perform in front of millions of fans, but you can be a clutch player for your organization as well! Join Greg and me as we discuss what it means to be clutch for your team, and lay out how your leadership can help empower others to do the same.
[0:23] Some people’s clutch-ability makes them stand out from the crowd.
[2:20] A clutch person won’t always succeed, but when it matters most they’re the one you trust to deliver.
[3:20] How do people gain the confidence to be clutch?
[5:05] Greg talks about his first college football play, and how the experience helped him learn how to succeed in the long run.
[6:50] As leaders we can’t be afraid of mistakes, we need to view them as learning opportunities.
[10:55] How much can we do as leaders to help our team be clutch, and how much do they need to figure out themselves?
[13:10] Setting the right tone helps your team feel empowered to learn from their mistakes.
[15:23] We can name a lot of greats by looking back at their career, but in the moment they didn’t always feel like greats.
[16:29] As the leader, you have an extra responsibility to acknowledge your mistakes to your team.
[18:11] Why do people quit, and how can we help them stay in the game?
[22:37] Greg shares some wisdom about preparation.
[23:50] Greg tells a story about a compliment he received while coaching high school football.
Check out this episode and subscribe on YouTube so you can watch all of the upcoming episodes. You can also listen to our podcast on Spotify and Apple.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
I’d like to teach you an important lesson from 2nd Grade. I had the opportunity to interact with some young students, and I think we all learned something valuable.
Check out this episode of The Podcast.
My wife does a great job promoting a growth mindset in her classroom. Check out A Safe Place For Mistakes where I talk about how she fosters this learning environment.
C.S. Lewis shared some great insight about eliminating the Scarcity Mindset, which is a huge hindrance to the growth mindset.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
A meme that makes me chuckle every time I see it is a “quote” attributed to Abraham Lincoln in which he says, “The problem with quotes found on the internet is that they are often not true.”
(Not to spoil the joke for you, but unless Lincoln knew how to time travel to the future, I don’t think he knew about the modern internet! 😂)
I love this meme because it captures something that so many people fall into: a quick acceptance of a statement without verifying its source or thinking through the implications of the statement’s truthfulness.
Some insightful comments sound Shakespearean, but William never wrote them.
Some pieces of wisdom sound Socratic, but Socrates never taught them.
Some religious maxims sound godly, but the Bible never recorded them.
I would like to invite you to join me as we relaunch this series called Is That In The Bible? I think you may be surprised to discover just how many phrases we call biblical aren’t, and how many phrases there are that we never realized are actually in the Bible.
By the way, if you have a phrase that you would like to have us explore in this series, please leave it in a comment below. You may want to check out the questions we have already addressed:
John Piper was asked to weigh-in on the value of repetitive phrases in worship songs. He said, “The issue’s not repetition per se but whether there is enough substance, enough rich content of truth about God woven into the repetitions to justify them, to warrant them. That’s the issue. There’s a difference between repetitions that are called forth by the repeated crescendo of new, glorious truth, and repetitions that serve as a kind of mantra without sufficient truth that is simply used to sustain or intensify a mood. Moods in worship should be awakened and sustained primarily by truth, assisted by music—not primarily by music with a little truth thrown in to justify the singing.”
Pastor John Piper used Psalm 136 as an example in the post above. T.M. Moore also shared this thought about Psalm 136: “The term most frequently used to describe this everywhere-present-and-always-at-work love of God is translated as ‘lovingkindness’ or, in some versions, ‘steadfast love.’ Especially Psalm 136, with its antiphonal arrangement of verses, insists that the cosmos is upheld, sustained, and pervaded by the lovingkindness of God. … It would improve our learning to pray without ceasing if we simply took some time out during the day to thank the Lord for the many ways His steadfast love surrounds, sustains, and swarms us at every moment!”
“When people refer to a man as a man of the Book, meaning the Bible, he’s generally found to be a man of multitudinous books, which simply isolates the one Book to its proper grandeur. The man who reads only the Bible does not as a rule know it or human life.” —Oswald Chambers
Men’s Health magazine shared an interview with Jeremy Renner, who was nearly killed in a tragic accident. I love his attitude about making today better than yesterday. His words remind me of a poem my grandma used to use to motivate me to keep “besting” what I had already done.
Christopher Ash writes about reading the Psalms through the lens of Jesus. He concludes this way: “I remember seeing on the wall of a church the words of Psalm 20:4: ‘May [the Lord] grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans!’ How wonderful, you might think. The Bible promises me all that my heart desires. Until you read the psalm and realize that Psalm 20 is a prayer for the king in David’s line. Ultimately, it is a prayer that Jesus will have His heart’s desire granted and that His plans will be fulfilled. And they will! The Psalms are not all about me. If I think they are, I will end up disillusioned. But when I grasp that they are all about Christ, my heart lifts in joy that He is the blessed Man and I belong to Him.”
I want to give you what I wanted when this happened to me: empathy, insight, a helpful perspective, and a manual of help that God has provided in the Bible. I don’t want to try to one-up your story of pain, because I’m confident that no one could truly know how deeply you’ve been hurt. But I do want to give you some assurance that I know what I’m talking about. … 
Craig T. Owens 