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The words Paul writes to Timothy (his young protege) are the wise counsel of a seasoned veteran to a young pastor. These are words of wisdom that pastors should be especially attentive to, but they also apply to anyone who is in a position of leadership (like a parent, teacher, coach, or employer).
After challenging Timothy to set an example by his lifestyle, Paul adds these words—
Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. (1 Timothy 4:15-16)
“So that everyone may see your progress.” Quite simply: you have to be present—you have to be around people so they can see what’s going on in your life. Your presence in their lives is your present to their lives!
I need to monitor what I’m doing and why I’m doing it; what I’m teaching and how I’m teaching; what I believe and why I believe it.
I need to have goals and benchmarks. I need to make my goals—and my successes and failures in hitting my goals—known to others.
I need to be in it for the long haul. It’s awfully difficult to be an example in the present if my eyes and thoughts are always on “the next thing” down the road.
Look at the blessings—the presents—of living this way: You will save both yourself and your hearers.
Not only is my presence a present to others, but having others present in my life is a present to me! The present of presence works both ways!
Are you living so that everyone may see your progress? If not, start giving the present of your presence today!
I shared these helpful memory devices this morning, and perhaps they will be helpful to you as well. Some of the terms theologians use can be somewhat confusing, perhaps just because the words look so big! But the nice thing about the big words, they come from much smaller root words.
In these instances, these are just a different way of stating the big words, to help you remember the importance of their definitions.
Justification = just-as-if I had never sinned. When your sins have been forgiven, you appear to God just as if you had never sinned, so you have been justified by your faith (see Romans 3:22-24).
Atonement = at one-ment with Jesus. Christ said that He was the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one could come into the Father’s presence except through Jesus. So atonement makes at one-ment with Jesus, which allows us to enter into God’s presence (see Romans 3:25).
Sanctification = saint-ification. The Holy Spirit begins a process in our lives where He is forming us into saints. Whereas justification and atonement are one-time events, sanctification is an ongoing process that is conforming us more and more into the image of Jesus (see 2 Thessalonians 2:13).
I hope this helps you understand and apply these terms.
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As the apostle Paul is wrapping up his letter to his friends in the Church at Philippi, he encourages them to be people others want to be around. After all…
The #1 Rule of Influence:You can only influence people who are close to you.
The #2 Rule of Influence: People won’t get close to you unless you are approachable.
So here’s a quick checklist from Paul to Christians who want to be influencers from Philippians 4:4-9:
Rejoice in God. Always.
Be gentlemen and gentlewomen. Manners matter.
Understand God is always with you.
Don’t be anxious or fretful.
Pray about everything.
Be a thank-full person.
Be discerning of what goes in your eyes and ears.
Continue to learn and practice godly, biblical principles.
A short list, but a lifetime of growth opportunities.
The more you exhibit these qualities, the more approachable you will be. And the more approachable you are, the more you can influence people to learn about the life-changing power of a personal relationship with Jesus.
I’m leading a fun discussion at the En Gedi Youth Center with a bunch of excited 6th graders. Our class is called “An Elevation, A Mirror, And A Guy Called Bob” which is based on John Maxwell’s book Winning With People.
In Winning With People, Dr. Maxwell shares 25 principles for improving our interpersonal skills. In my class at the youth center, we’ve already covered the lens principle and the elevator principle.
The elevator principle basically says that we can only take people up or take them down in our interactions with them. There are no “neutral” interactions. I’m encouraging our students to always take people up.
One way we do that is by pausing to T.H.I.N.K before we speak. Before speaking, ask yourself, “Is what I’m about to say…
…True
…Helpful
…Inspiring
…Necessary
…Kind?”
This isn’t just good advice for 6th graders. We all would do well to remember to T.H.I.N.K. As Winston Churchill said,
“By swallowing evil words unsaid, no one has ever harmed his stomach.”
Last week I spent two jam-packed days at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit. As always, I was on information overload with the great content that is presented every year. So I’ve been taking some time to ponder what I learned.
There are a couple of past post on my blog that consistently rank near the top of the list of “most read”:
With that in mind, William Ury’s discussion on how to successfully negotiate conflict really caught my attention.
Ury pointed out that conflict isn’t bad; it’s natural. Therefore, we don’t need to eliminate conflict, but find ways to deal with it in constructive ways.
I’ve tried to learn to look at myself in the mirror before entering into discussions where the potential for conflict is high. This thought was reinforced when Ury said: The greatest obstacle to successful negotiation is: Me. Why? Because I tend to react. “When you’re angry, you’ll make the best speech you’ll ever regret,” he said.
The greatest power we have in negotiation is the power NOT to react.
Here are some strategies William Ury shared for successful negotiations:
Separate people from the problem. Be soft with people and hard with the problem. Soft means listening, empathy, and respect. Change the game: instead of squaring-off against each other face-to-face, be side-by-side facing the problem.
Focus on interests not positions. Probe behind the position to find out what the underlying interest is. He gave a great example about two girls who each wanted the one remaining orange. Our natural instinct is to divide the orange so each girl gets one half. But in watching what happens next, we see one girl throw away the peel and eat the fruit; the other throws away the fruit and uses the peel to complete her cake recipe. If we had figured out the interests of each girl, both girls could have had a whole orange!
Develop multiple options. Search for creative options that meet the needs of everyone. Ury shared an example of a successful solution to a problem in the Middle East. Egypt wanted the Sinai peninsula because it was their historic possession; Israel wanted the same piece of land as a security buffer. The solution: let Egypt have sovereign control of the Sinai peninsula, but make it a demilitarized zone. Both sides got what they wanted.
Expand the pie before we divide it up. Uses standards that are objectively fair to each side.
The final piece of advice William Ury shared was the concept of BATNA = best alternative to a negotiated agreement. I need to think this through before any negotiations start. This is what I have determined ahead of time that I will walk away with if the negotiation doesn’t go as planned. Ury pointed out that we can negotiate with more confidence if we have a BATNA.
I thought this was pretty good advice. What do you think?
It seems like a pretty simple concept. If I don’t possess something, as much as I may want to give it away to someone else, I can’t do it.
We know this, don’t we? If my best friend really needs $20, and I really want to give him $20, I cannot help him if I only have $12 in my wallet. I cannot give what I do not have.
So when you take the time to strengthen yourself physically—by getting enough sleep, by exercising, by eating a healthy diet—you are simply preparing yourself to be able to give your physical strength to another.
When you take the time to recharge yourself emotionally—by taking some solitude time, by getting around positive people—you are preparing yourself to be able to give your emotional strength to another.
When you take the time to expand your mind—by reading a book, by taking a class—you are preparing yourself to be able to give your intellectual strength to another.
And when you take the time to renew yourself spiritually—by reading your Bible, by praying, by going to church—you are preparing yourself to be able to give your spiritual strength to another.
“Brethren, let us look well to our own steadfastness in the faith, our own holy walking with God. Some say that such advice is selfish; but I believe that, in truth, it is not selfishness, but a sane and practical love of others which leads us to be mindful of our own spiritual state.” —Charles Spurgeon
Look at the life of Jesus. He never apologized for taking time away to pray, to sleep, to talk with His Father. Then He was never at a loss when someone needed physical, emotional, intellectual, or spiritual strength.
What are you doing to recharge your batteries? It’s never selfish to take the time you need to gather the strength you will need to help others. In fact, being prepared mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually is one of the most loving things you can do.
“Scripture grows upon the student. It is full of surprises. Under the teaching of the Holy Spirit, to the searching eye it glows with splendor of revelation.”
I love this!
I cannot count how many times I read my Bible and do a double-take. I look again and think to myself, “I don’t think that was there the last time I read that passage!” That’s probably because I wasn’t ready for it earlier.
In the comments below, share something surprising you’ve read in the Bible recently.
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I never want my best days to be in my past.
I don’t want things I’ve learned to become old.
I don’t want nostalgia for God’s moving and provision in my life to be greater than my current joy in His moving and provision.
I don’t want to live in the past tense, but always in the present tense.
For Christians there is a danger in reflecting more on the past than on the present. God says He is the I AM, not the I WAS. He wants to do something new in you and I today—present tense.
I love what Smith Wigglesworth said:
“Beloved, don’t forget that every day must be a day of advancement. If you have not made any advancement since yesterday, in a measure you are a backslider. There is only one way for you between Calvary and the glory, and it is forward. It is every day forward. It is no day back. It is advancement with God. It is cooperation with Him in the Spirit. … If we live on the same plane day after day, the vision is stale; the principles lose their earnestness. But we must be like those who are catching the vision of the Master day by day.”
This is my prayer: Jesus, let me catch the vision of You again today. Letmy vision always be present tense.
I was thinking about the disciples of Jesus. Can you imagine the things they heard and saw! With their own eyes they saw those jaw-dropping miracles. With their own ears they heard His profound teaching. They watched and heard Him pray. No one ever had the kind of access to Jesus than these men.
And yet, they were still so spiritually dull…
They couldn’t grasp what Jesus was teaching, even when He explained it to them privately.
Their faith was sorely lacking.
They argued among themselves over such petty things.
If these men—with their almost limitless access to Jesus—were still struggling in their faith, what would make me think I have ever “arrived”?
There is still so much more for me to learn about Jesus.
And I do want to learn more! I want to press in—closer and closer, deeper and deeper! I never want to stop learning my Savior’s heart and will!
Don’t ever think you know it all.
Craig T. Owens 