Ch. 7 – Appropriate Smallness (The Practice of Servanthood)

“We are all worms. But I do believe that I am a glowworm”- Winston Churchill.  What kind of worm are you? I think I’ll go with gummy worm. They’re chewy, flexible, and kids love them.

 

We may not be worms, but compared to this vast universe—we are considerably small. If you’ve seen the movie Horton Hears a Who, Horton, the elephant, discovers the microscopic world of Whoville that exists on a spec of dust. He places that spec on a flower which translates to quite an Adventure for Whoville. I won’t go into the details of the movie (although it is good movie to see with the kids). The movie ends with the narrator disclosing that earth, or the Jungle of Nool, is just one speck, like Whoville, among numerous other specs floating in outer space. It’s just a child’s movie, but it gives you perspective of just how small we are.
 

In this week’s chapter we attempt to tackle our ego. Egos are awkward to manage. They can easily be overinflated because they easily are fooled by delusions of grandeur. An overinflated ego is difficult to handle because it makes a human into a life sized bobblehead doll. That’s what I assume anyway, when God looks down on us in our foolishness. As for an underinflated ego, perhaps there is no such thing. Perhaps an underinflated ego is actually an ego that was once overinflated but at some point was popped. Therefore, since the ego is fragile and difficult to keep in check, how do we do manage it?

 

The Christian practice of Servanthood is the key. Ortberg lays out five practical ways that we must serve others if we claim to be a follower of Christ. I’m not going to cover all five, but I will share the one that hit home with me the most, The Ministry of Being Interrupted (p.120). This idea of serving basically boils down to the willingness to be interrupted. I can get so consumed with my plans for the day or the week that when they are interrupted I get aggravated or stressed. Even if I have plenty of time to get “my stuff” done, I still can get annoyed when I’m bothered. One way I have combated this is I try not to fill my schedule up. I realize I am not superman and I can’t do it all. So, when I am interrupted, I can love and serve with the correct attitude. This is especially important for serving your spouse and children. Think about it like this, if you’re always busy and you don’t have time to be interrupted by your child’s request for help with homework or your spouse's appeal for conversation—you have an ego problem. It’s not that you think you’re better than your family. Instead, it’s a mindset that you are caring the world on your shoulders and if what your doing doesn’t get done it’s going to collapse. This is a ridiculous notion for the worm, the spec we are. Proverbs 3:5-6^(NIV) says, “ Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; ⁶ in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight”. When we don’t trust God in this way it makes serving others too cumbersome because we are too busy leaning on our own understanding and abilities and so any interruption becomes an aggravation instead of an opportunity to love.

 

Another way I have tried to be available for life’s interruption goes back to our discipline of slowing down. We’ve all sped passed the car broken down on the highway because we’re in a hurry to get somewhere. That may not be the best example. In the age of cell phones, most anyone can get help within minutes. But let me give you an example of how I practiced this just last night and I am so glad I did…

 

…My life is filled with interpretations, not just because I’m a Pastor, but I have four active kids. Between school, sports, music, choir, and church activities—my kids keep my wife and I hopping. Last night my son had basketball practice at the YMCA. This is a scheduled interruption I know about ahead of time. I’m busy and I still have this blog to write, lesson to do for my small group, and a lesson for next Sunday just to name a few. I am tempted to drop my son off instead of being visibly available to support him by watching his practice and then sit out in my car and get some work done (which I have done before). But this interruption is an opportunity to serve. Instead, I went inside (with the rest of the parents) and watched my son practice. I kept my phone in my pocket and engaged in conversation with a few parents. I connected with one dad as we talked about the struggles in raising sons/boys to become respectful men. He shared a little of his troubled past and I shared my experiences. It was a conversation I never expected to have, but because I slowed down and checked my ego at the door—I turned an interruption into an opportunity to serve.

 

The sin of pride is arguably at the root of all sin and the best way to combat our ego is to serve others. Jesus exemplified this in his life—Mark 10:45^{NIV  “}for even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” I like how Ortberg puts it— “serving is God’s business”. Serving is not what God does, it’s who HE is. As his creation, we reflect his image when serving is who we are. Serving becomes who we are when we fill our ego with Christ. When serving is something we do, then the more we do, the more our ego is inflated. We feed our delusion of who we are when its based on what we do or accomplish. Then on the other hand, if we don’t do as much as everyone else, if our accomplishments or good deeds don’t measure up to others—we think less of ourselves. The lie we believe is that we think we are who we are based on what we do. But Jesus comes along and shows us that we are who we are based on how God made us. Therefore, serving is not what we do to find value, it’s what we do because we (the lowly little worm) are valued by God. Thus, serving is who we are, we are servants!!!. I want to encourage you to take this discipline of serving seriously. Embrace life’s interruptions as an opportunity to serve. Even more, look at your schedule this week or this month and try to turn some of those scheduled interruptions into opportunities.
 

Blessings,

Jason

Ch. 6 – Interrupting Heaven (The Practice of Prayer)

I hope there is coffee in heaven. Some jokingly have called it the nectar of the God’s. Surely there will be coffee in heaven. I say this because coffee is almost always my precursor to prayer. I like to just sit alone with God and drink a bit a coffee before I start to pray. Just sitting and sipping, saying nothing. Sometime I pick up a book, mostly the Bible (but not always) and I start to read before I pray. Sometimes I finish the last drop, tell God thanks for the coffee, that I love Him, and then I begin my day. Sometimes, I make a large pot coffee and let God know we got a lot to talk about before I begin my day. And then sometimes, I oversleep or my morning is interrupted by life and there is no coffee, there is only a quick “Lord help me with my day” as I am running out the door. I tell you this because I think too many people look at prayer as a duty or as a religious act that one needs to check off before they begin their day. But that’s not what Jesus taught us and that’s not what the Bible shows us.

Prayer is simply talking to God. It’s communication with the Creator. And Jesus never put a time limit on it. He never laid out a specific posture or place we should pray. He just said when you pray, pray like this…. “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. ¹⁰ Thy kingdom come,..” Wait a minute! We’ve turned this example of prayer into some type of magical prayer formula to recite too. So look at how the Message Bible explains this prayer:

Matthew 6:9-13 (MSG)

^7-13 “The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this:

Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best—
    as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You’re in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty! YES!

Doesn’t even sound like the Lord’s Prayer does it? And that’s the point, it’s just a real conversation with God about stuff we should be praying about.

So for the most part I enjoyed this chapter on prayer, but I took issue with a couple things. First, he doesn’t mention Paul’s explanation of how to pray— 1 Thessalonians 5:17 “Pray continually”, Paul says. Ortberg probably doesn’t include this because he might see it as a level of advanced prayer for those who have been praying awhile. I don’t see it that way. And I’ll explain why in a moment. The second issue I had was his recommendation to start out slow if you have never prayed before. Specifically his advice was to keep it to five minutes a day. Some days 5 minutes may be all you have time for but some days you might need 50 minutes. This is true whether you’re a beginner or you’ve been praying for years.

Let me explain: Orberg defines prayer as “talking to God about what you’re doing together”. I love that definition. That definition helps set the context of what prayers should be about, “what you’re doing together” with God. Think about what you are doing together with God. For me, I’m loving my wife. I’m raising family. I’m leading a church. I’m coaching. I’m leading a youth group. I could go on and on, but for me—I’m doing all of life with God and for God. I see all of my responsibilities in life as something I’m doing with God. Therefore, I talk to him about all of them. When I get up, when I’m driving down the road, when I get home, before I go to bed, whenever and wherever is always a possible prayer moment. This is what the Apostle Paul was talking about when he said “pray continually”. This type of praying isn’t just for the advanced pray-er, it’s for the novice, and it’s for anybody.

Think about it this way: look at all the different ways we communicate with the people we know—a phone call, a text, an email, facebook message, instagram. Oh, and we still get out the pen and paper too. For instance, when we want to tell someone we love them or we want to thank them, we’ll write a hand written note or maybe post-it note on the fridge or bathroom mirror. These are all short and simple ways we communicate to others we love. They don’t take a lot of time. Sometimes less than a minute or perhaps even just a few seconds and yet they communicate enormous amounts of information and feelings.

Now if you only communicate with someone through text or facebook and you have no real face time, then the relationship will stay really shallow. How do you think your spouse would feel if they never got to talk to you face to face. A real relationship has face time conversations…conversations over dinner, or on a walk, or those close the door conversations we need to talk. You know what type of conversations I’m talking about. You need these same type of conversations with God. These are the conversations Ortberg was getting at that we need to take time for. And his recommendation to start with at least 5mins a day is very doable. Start making time for face time, prayer time with God a priority.

Two last words about this chapter and prayer, INTERACTION and NOURISHMENT. These are the two words I circled on p.96. You need to see your prayer time in light of these two words. First INTERACTION, your prayer time is interaction with God and what’s going on in your life. It’s not a ritual of the same old words and thank you’s over and over again. Finally NOURISHMENT, just like God’s Word, prayer nourishes your soul. It contains those spiritual vitamins that are good for your eyes and helps you see things more clearly.

Now, time for some more coffee.

Java-llelujah!!!

Jason

Ch. 5 – An Unhurried Life (The Practice of Slowing)

I’m not one big on New Year’s Resolutions, but this “PRACTICE OF SLOWING” was my goal for 2014. I wouldn’t say I have failed miserably, but SLOWING is already a goal for me in 2015. My motivation for this has a lot to do with our last discipline of CELEBRATION. When I am rushed, I find it difficult to find joy in the moments that God gives me every day. It’s hard because time seems to be going by faster and faster. My girls went from Barbie dolls to high school dances to planning for college in what seemed like a blink of an eye. And I find myself wishing I could go back in time for a day with my girls just to experience a Barbie doll day with them again. Just one Saturday morning—when they wake up with their pink jammies on and they both coming running and jump on my lap and sit with me in the big green Lazyboy chair. We’d just sit and laugh and watch cartoons together. I wish for that maybe because I never really slowed down enough to enjoy my girls at that age. And now that Maria and Annie are teenagers, my time as the most important man in their life is running out. So that’s my urgency I guess. I want to slow down so I can enjoy these teenage years with my daughters. But not just for them, I have two little boys who I hope will one day be men. If I am a hurried father in their eyes (one who is present, but always too busy), then one day I’ll have sons who look like men, but who act like boys.
 

So this is a key discipline in getting spiritually fit, Otrberg says, don’t mess around. He calls a hurried life a sickness. Therefore, one must “ruthlessly eliminate hurry from our life”. The verse that always comes to mind for this discipline is Psalm 46:10 (NIV) – God says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

 

Being still is essential to the practice of SLOWING, but don’t overlook what else the verse says. While you’re still…it says to “Know that I am God”…and…exalt him. Attending church is one of the ways we can slow down and exalt God every week. This is just one of the reasons you should attend church regularly. However, you need more than that. You need time of solitude with just you and your creator. So ask yourself, do you have a place you can go and just be with HIM, a place without electronics or distractions. Think of it this way, if you’re going to work out (exercise)…then you need a place to do it. Whether it be a gym or you living room you need a place. Do you have a place for Solitude? If not, you need one. And remember it has to be a place where you can “Know that (HE is) God”…and…exalt him.

 

If you remember your reading from this chapter Ortberg says hurry is a disease of the heart, which means your heart is chasing after things of this world instead of chasing God. The ironic thing about chasing God is that it’s a pretty slow chase. Jesus never seemed to be in a hurry. And if you have prayer relationship with our creator, his answers to prayer seem to take more time than we’d like.

 

Have you ever heard the term Godspeed? It seems to communicate good fortunate or blessings. But true God Speed is to operate your life at speed that is not too fast where you get ahead of God and not too slow where you lag behind. It’s a difficult task. But if you can get there, you’ll know it. It’s that sweet spot of life. Right behind God, following him where he leads, drafting like a race car through life on the coattails of the great shepherd. It’s a peaceful place, even when the road gets bumpy, you know everything is going to be OK when you’re operating at God’s Speed.

 

Doesn’t that sound like a good place to be? It is, but it’s not easy. You have to work at it. It’s a relentless pursuit of God’s Speed. It takes perseverance and it will require that we ruthlessly eliminate hurry from our lives. Make plans and do this, go back and read the chapter again if you have to. Oh, you don’t have time…you can afford it right now—YOU CAN’T AFFORD NOT TO!!!

 

God's Speed,

Jason

Ch. 4 – A Dee Dah Day (The Practice of Celebration)

Nobody knows you like your mother. She is the one who birthed you, who wiped your nose, kissed your boo boos, and brokered your behavior modification—unbeknownst to your father, which you were very grateful to her for. At least, that is my mom—very keen on my weakness and strengths, my fears and joys. That’s a mom’s job, to know you and all your funny little quirks—so when something is off in your life, she can tell and act accordingly.

“You’ve changed” are the words that will forever echo in my soul. In my mind, I knew part of my change was for the better and so at first I blew off her comments. Actually, her comments made me a little mad. But with her tone and facial expression, I knew her evaluation of me was deeper than I was considering. The more I replayed her words in my head, the more I understood that she couldn’t see her little boy anymore. You see, no matter how old you get your mom can always see the child that you were. You know the one who would hold her hand anywhere. Her sweet, fun, little Jason was gone. All joy had been sucked out of him.    

Since that day I have been working hard to get my joy back. I’d be lying if I said my joy is where it should be, but I’ve made a lot of progress since that “day”.

Now let’s remember how Ortberg defines Spiritual Disciplines: “any activity that can help me gain power to live the life that Jesus taught and then model it”. When I first picked up this book from Ortberg I wasn’t expecting this discipline of celebration to be a part of it. A lack of joy is something I’d been working on in my life recently and so I found Ortbergs incite helpful and encouraging. I’m looking forward to treating this “centrality of Joy” (p.61) as a spiritual discipline.

Ortberg challenges us to take Joy seriously because Joy is God’s basic character and joy is at the heart of God’s plan for human beings. In fact, he points out something I too often forget—that Joy is not an option for a Christian. Philippians 4:4 says, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” This means we are commanded to be joyful.

Now I know what you’re thinking, you just can’t make yourself be happy. But that’s why this is a spiritual discipline to develop. Nehemiah 8:10 reminds us that “ the joy of the Lord is your strength.” The secret to this discipline is focus. It’s more than just being a glass is half full kind of person. Having and practicing Joy doesn’t mean you have to be the life of the party. Some of the most outgoing people the word knows are actually struggling with depression. This life of Joy is a life of intentional focus on eternal things and present blessings.

So here is where we are at, you’ve got to take this discipline seriously. Too many people who call themselves Christians are bitter and angry. Start this discipline off with having an honest discussion with God and others close to you about your joy or lack thereof. Also, remember this is one of the disciplines you can’t really do on your own. If you’re not in fellowship with other Christians outside of a weekend worship service or outside of interaction online, then you’re going to struggle to find your joy.

Focus and Fellowship will be a good start to your spiritual practice of JOY. So focus on your blessings this week. What is good in your life? Give thanks to God for those Blessings. Then make a commitment to spend some time in fellowship with other Christians you like to hang out with. Maybe make lunch plans or join a small group, or even sign up to serve with others.

Remember, the joy of the Lord is our Strength!!!

Blessings,
Jason

Ch. 3 – Training vs. Trying

            I embarrassed my son this past weekend in front of his teammates. I don’t make a habit of doing that unless I feel it’s really necessary, but in this case I did. I had arrived at his soccer game a little late because I had to pick up his sister from cross country practice. When I arrived my wife Sherry updated me on how the match was going. Apparently not too well, many of the kids were not hustling and in fact, many were standing around a lot. I’m not a soccer player and I don’t know a lot about the game, but I do know, if you’re on the field and the ball is anywhere near you, you better not be standing around. So my son Jon is one of the culprits, and again, usually I would not do this, but I made my way around the field when Jon was taken out of the game and proceeded to let him know my displeasure in his efforts on the field. Now, I didn’t yell at him, so get that maniac parent imagine yelling at their kid out of your heads. I just pulled him aside, but I spoke loud enough for his other teammates to hear (because they were loafing too). Anyway, my displeasure wasn’t in him or his lack of ability to score a goal. My displeasure was in his effort. He had broken a family value, “whatever we do, we do it with all our heart”. Jon was loafing and wasn’t giving a 100% on the field, which is a big no no in the Hight household. It doesn’t matter to me if he ever scores a goal or if he strikes out in the batter’s box or if he only gets B’s and C’s on he’s report card. My main concern is that he tries his best, that he works hard, and that he gives it a 110%.
 

Now how does this relate to our reading in chapter 3? Well, Ortberg does a wonderful job of explaining why so many people get disillusioned by the Christian walk when they try sooooo hard not to sin or to change, but they keep failing, failing—over and over again. Then he references how Greek athletes in Biblical times striving for the prize “by simply trying really hard apart from training was unthinkable” (p.44). So it is with Paul, to simple try to be Godly apart from training to be Godly was unthinkable to him.

 

Back to my son Jon, he now understands better than ever, that his father expects maximum effort from him. However, what if this was Jon’s first soccer game, what if Jon had never practiced a lick of soccer in his life? Would I be justified in my indignation for his efforts? No, I would not. It wouldn’t make sense to be displeased with lack of effort. However, I would be displeased at his lack of practice.

 

This is what Ortberg is getting at in this chapter. Too many Christians try their hardest to change, but they don’t train for change. Or as Ortberg puts it, “transformation isn’t a matter of trying harder, but of training wiser”.

 

1 Timothy 4:7 (says)  …train yourself to be godly. ⁸ “Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.” ⁹ This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it. ¹⁰ This is why we work hard and continue to struggle, for our hope is in the living God, who is the Savior of all people and particularly of all believers.
 

From here on out we’ll examine the different spiritual disciplines in each of the following chapters. I want to encourage you to take each chapter to heart and engage in each discipline given. When I say engage, I mean take time to do them. Remember, these disciplines are valuable because they “allow us to do what we cannot do by willpower alone” (p.48). If you have questions about how to practice any one of them contact me and I’d be glad to help you in your spiritual training.

 

As I mentioned above, I know little about soccer, but I do know baseball. I’ve been coaching on and off for the past 20 years. It’s so rewarding to see the kids progress from the first day of practice though the end of the year. However, what’s really embarrassing is the child that doesn’t progress. I’ve only seen it once in my 20 years with the boys I’ve coached. And that’s because I never really got the chance to coach this particular kid. He seldom showed up for practice and when he did he was always late. He never showed up for pre-game practice and he barely made it to the game on time. However, when it was time to play, he tried really hard to hit the ball, but he constantly failed. He failed because he didn’t train like the rest of the boys. It was embarrassing to watch, especially as the season came to close and there was little to no progress in his skills.

 

Now, the embarrassment I felt for this child is nothing compared to the embarrassment God feels for his children who do not mature in their spiritual life.

 Hebrews 5:11-14 (NLT) ¹¹ There is much more we would like to say about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen. ¹² You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. ¹³ For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. ¹⁴ Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.

 

So this is the no turning back part of this study. These first few chapters were designed to pump you up and get you ready for your spiritual training. You might be trying really hard to change your life right now and you might be feeling like a big disappointment to God. It doesn’t have to be that way. Commit today to quit trying so hard and instead commit to start training hard. I invite you into the Lord’s Gym. It’s going to take some time and sweat, but as you will learn in the next chapter, it can be an enjoyable process and I promise you—it will be rewarding!!!

 

Thanks again for stopping in and I encourage you to comment about your progress along the way. Your success moments are encouraging to others.

 

Let’s Do This!!!

Blessings, Jason