No one likes to attempt something for God and have it fail. In fact, failure is a word I’m not particularly eager to use because even projects that do not achieve the desired result often still lead to someone growing through the experience. 

Let’s be honest, some events, programs, projects, and plans do not produce the results we wanted, and for lack of better terms, they are a failure.

I want you to know that this is fine. It is okay to fail, even in Church. Some things simply do not work out as we planned. 

It is only when we attempt something for God that we might fail. And I would much rather see someone crash and burn while doing ministry than to see them do nothing.

When things are not going as planned: Admit it, own it, don’t blame other people, and move on. Failure is not final.

If you aim to find the best show in town on Sunday morning, you will frequently move Churches. Somewhere there is always a worship program with better music. There will always be someone who is a better preacher. Another Church usually has better Children’s programs. 

If your goal is to grow, connect, serve, and develop deep relationships with people in a faith community, then almost any Church will work. 

The people who hop from Church to Church are looking for the right place to grow instead of the right attitude. Until that happens, they will continually move to the next best thing.

How would your conversations differ if you assumed that every person you talked to knew something more than you do? What would happen if you worked from the idea that everyone knows better than you do on some subjects?

Approaching people with an attitude that others have something they could teach you is a beautiful way to build connections. It demonstrates a level of respect for the person speaking. It shows that you value them and their life experience.

Going through life thinking you know it all and have little to learn is detrimental to your growth and keeps you from connecting to the people around you.

“Please tell me more about that?” may be the best question you can ask anyone.

I heard a preacher make this statement in a sermon. “The Israelites went to Moses with complaints about God. Moses went to God with complaints about the Israelites.” Then he explained that if you are going through a difficult season, be like Moses and not the Israelites.

While the statement is an oversimplification, it does capture the truth in a memorable way. Being unhappy is not an issue when life gets tough, and you walk through a season of pain. The concern is what you do with your unhappiness.

Do you talk to others and voice your struggles to them more than God?

Difficult times are inevitable; use them to grow closer to God and not create a division with him when you complain.

My fifth-grade Sunday school teacher asked numerous questions every week. If you didn’t know the correct answer when she called on you, the safe bet was to reply with one of the following: Jesus, the Bible, or Prayer. 

In working with adults and helping them become mature disciples of Jesus, I have found that those answers remain the “go-to” reply for most questions.

Are you growing in your faith? I am trying to read my Bible and learn more.

How is faith impacting your life? I am trying to pray more each day.

Where do you need to grow as a believer? I just need to trust Jesus more. 

The Bible, prayer, and Jesus are always safe answers when someone questions your beliefs. 

At some point, people need to move beyond those answers. While they are all true to some extent your entire life, there comes a time to get past giving easy answers. You need to go to a place where the gospel transforms you and not just informs you.  

For example, to answer this question, “Are you growing in your faith?” This would be a mature response, “Well, recently, I learned that I need to be more forgiving because Jesus forgave me. So last night, I told my brother I forgave him for hurting me twenty years ago. I have held onto that pain, and it was time to let it go.” 

The move from easy answers to complicated transformations is a move from a childlike faith to a mature one that demonstrates real spiritual growth.    

Push yourself:  Strive to be better than you are today.

Be Kind to Yourself:  Relax and enjoy the life you have.

Somewhere in the middle of those is where you need to live.  

The year is half over. 

Six months are gone, and a little less than six months lie ahead. 

How did the last six months go for you? Did you accomplish some of your goals coming into the new year? Are you halfway toward your dreams?

If you are like most people, you are probably not completely happy with your accomplishments so far. That means that now is the time to reassess your life, your dreams, and your goals. It is time to reapply yourself to make changes or grow in the direction you want to go. Now is a great time to realign your life with your desired future.

The year is half over, is one viewpoint. The other is that half a year lies ahead, and you have so much you can do with it.

Most Bible translations, with two notable exceptions, result from a group of linguistic scholars working together to understand the original languages of Hebrew and Greek (and a little Aramaic) and put them into English.

The results can be literal and more of a word-for-word translation, or they can be more interpretive and thought-for-thought. There is room for both methods, and I encourage everyone who reads the Bible to look at multiple versions when reading difficult Biblical passages. Often one will shine light onto the others by the way it is handled.

Let me encourage you to own several Bible translations like the New International Version (NIV), English Standard Version (ESV), New American Standard Version (NASB), and New King James Version (NKJV). Hard copies are easy to find, and most Bible software programs will offer at least these four as part of their standard package. They should be vital tools in your studying of scripture.

With that said, let me give you one final thought. Please be wary anytime a preacher says, “That is how that should be translated,” and you can find no English versions that handle it the way they suggest.

One example: Recently, I heard a preacher tell his congregation that in Matthew 28:19, the word “Go” can also be translated to “As you go.” No English version of the Bible translates it that way. The word is the participle “going,” but because of its placement in the sentence, it is best rendered as “Go,” as all modern Bibles do. His words are well-intentioned and repeated in numerous books, but no Greek scholar would agree.

There is a long list of verses I have heard people make claims like this, and I admit that I have said something similar a couple of times. Preachers and teachers are well-intentioned, but be skeptical anytime one of them (even me) tells you it should be translated one way and no English Bible has it that way.

Trust the scholars who pour their lives into these modern versions of the Bible. Use a few English Bibles to study and check your preacher’s work.

She said, “That is my favorite book in the Bible,” as she told me the story of Esther. He quoted a verse from James and then confidently added, “That is my favorite Bible passage.”

If all scriptures are God-breathed and useful for us, why do people have favorites? Should it not all be accepted as equally important?

The difference is how that passage or story speaks to me and my journey of faith. We see and hear something in those accounts that touches, inspires, and encourages us.

As a pastor, I love it when someone tells me about their favorite Bible anything. It means they are learning and growing in their walk of faith. It means God’s word has penetrated their soul and spirit. It means their faith is alive and active.

If someone asks you about your favorite part of scripture and you do not have an answer, it is not because the words are always the same; it is the result of your journey being stagnant. 

Today is Independence Day in the USA. 

The New Testament gives us two essential passages about enjoying our freedom in our nation and Jesus.

“Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves.” (1 Peter 2:16 – NIV 2011)

“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.” (Galatians 5:13 – NIV 2011)

We are blessed in the USA because we have freedom that we can use to serve God and others.