Life is a combination of experiences, knowledge, beliefs, and values that we each hold dear.  One of my core values is, “Leave things better than you found them.”

At my job, I have practiced this with the buildings the Church owns.  I have thrown away junk, help paint, and asked the board to make improvements.  Throughout the years, I have helped lead in significant remodeling projects, adding accessible restrooms, installing lights, along with the addition of new siding.  Each project left the building in better shape than when I arrived.

This principle works itself out in other ways within the Church.  The infrastructure of a Church is a critical part of it achieving its mission.  I have worked to improve bylaws, provide leadership training, and teach whenever possible.  It has led me to implement ministry teams, create procedures and start membership classes.  I want the next minister to walk into an organization that is well run and ready for the future.

Finally, it also applies to people.  Whenever I encounter people who attend the Church I lead, I want them to grow at least one step closer to God in their faith.  John Maxwell talks about “Adding value to people,” and I think he is correct.  Believers help other people carry their burdens, encourage them when they are down, and lend a helping hand when needed. 

As you walk through life, you have two choices.  Will you be a user who takes without giving back?  Or will you be the type of person who leaves things better than you found them?  I hope that my work with buildings and programs is not in vain, but I know that working with people never is. 

Having issues with someone in the Church can be one of the most painful, frustrating, and aggravating things in the world. It causes people to leave the faith, quit Churches, and curse both God and Christians to everyone they encounter.

Why do Church struggles seem so ugly and leave such lasting hurt?

Because the people who follow Jesus should know better

They should have read their Bibles and understand what God desires from them. They should be making changes to be better people who love their neighbors. They should be the best people in a community at love, compassion, and truth.

The people of the Church should practice grace, be kind, overflowing with love, and understand the need to value people over buildings, programs, or projects. They should reflect Jesus in their actions and attitudes as they handle people.

Every believer should know better.

That includes you.

The other coach looked at me and said, “That kid just gets it. You know how some kids get it, and others don’t? He gets it.”

Without any explanation, I knew exactly what he meant. This young man understood what we were doing, why we were doing it, and how to get better. He listened and learned. His time at practice improved his skills and made him a better player. It was not that he had a unique skill set but a mentality that separated him from so many of the others.

You probably know what I am talking about, even if you have never played or coached sports. It happens in business too. One of the employees just seems to excel while others languish. I see it with electronics. Some adults just grab the concepts, make the device do numerous functions, while others don’t get it. Almost every activity in life has a group of people who get it and a group who doesn’t.

I have seen this truth in the Church too. Ron was on my leadership in training team, and he got it. He also recognized the other people who got it. One day he asked me the million-dollar question, “What can the Church do to help more people get it?”

My blank expression revealed a deep secret I had never revealed to anyone. “I don’t know.” I am not sure why it all comes together for some people and not for others. Maybe God needs to do a work in their soul. Perhaps they need to have a catastrophic event to get them to think differently. The prodigal son had to hit rock bottom before he “came to his senses.” After all these years as a pastor, I am not exactly sure why some people get it, and others do not.

One factor that helps people get it is repeated exposure. When you do something over and over again, eventually, some of it sticks. Play hundreds of basketball games, and you start to grasp more. Assemble enough widgets, and soon you can do it in your sleep. Work with electronics long enough, and you begin to see how it all connects.

If you want to be a person who gets it when it comes to faith. Then I believe you will have to open yourself up to the ways of God day after day after day. There are no guarantees that you will get it, but your chances are much better.

Basketball and football both have an intermission halfway through the event for players to rest and regroup. It is time for the head coach to make adjustments based on what they just saw and how their team is performing.

This past week we finished the first six months of this year. We are halfway done with another calendar and headed into the final stretch. Along with ending six months, many people got a day off or an extended weekend with the fourth of July. Still, others took the holiday to take a vacation through this weekend. We are at halftime of another year.

Right now is an excellent time to assess what happened in the first six months and adjust our lives for the coming six months. Covid has made life interesting for the past months, and now things are returning to semi-normal. Through all these changes and new adventures, what has worked and what has not? What new lessons did you learn about yourself and those around you? What changes need to be made to make the second half even better?

The first half of games are important. No one wants to dig a hole that is almost impossible to get out of at the end. But, on the other hand, games are won in the second half. With a bit of coaching and making necessary changes, there is a good chance of success when the final whistle blows.

I hope you have experienced a great January to June. If not, I pray you take some time to rest and reflect. The end of this year could be one of your best ones ever. It won’t be easy, but it is not impossible.

I know I am not the best person to give relationship advice. The struggle for me to connect with other people as an introvert is well documented. But what I am about to write is the one piece of information that can help to transform any relationship.

Pay attention to details.

This one bit of advice can help your marriage, family connections, friendships, and even with your relationship to people you currently consider strangers. Take the time to notice the details of their life. Watch what they like and don’t like, how they take their drinks, favorite foods, enjoyable activities along with the unique and beautiful things they do. Notice them as you pay close attention.

Then use them as a building block to a better relationship.

Telling a coworker that you notice how much they enjoy trains and then giving them a small toy train will change your connection. Buying a small drink and giving it to a neighbor just the way they like it, and you will make them your friend. Giving your spouse a comment about how they wore their hair or that new piece of clothing will make them look at you differently.

Noticing those details tells people that you see them as an individual. It shouts that you appreciate their uniqueness. It means that you are paying attention to them in a way that others are missing.

The secret to excellent relationships is noticing the details that make each person unique and then embracing that with your words and actions.

The devil is a master of manipulation. Naturally, he wants you on his side.  But his goal is not to get you and me to bow down to him at some alter in an evil underworld.  No, he only needs us to get on the opposite side of God. 

In the Garden of Eden, Satan tempts Eve in the most seemingly insignificant way.  He does not shout with a loud voice, “Worship me!” He does not even ask them to choose an evil act like hurting one another. Instead, he simply asks, “Did God really say?” Thus, the seed of doubt was planted, and the journey away from God has begun.   

All you need to do for evil to succeed in your life is to question the goodness of God.  Then to violate his word and his will at some point, no matter how minor it seems. 

I bet that evil will not work its way out in your life the way you imagine.  It will not come with a full-frontal assault on all you believe. Instead, his plan will include a few innocent-looking steps away from God.  In fact, in the temptation of Jesus, Satan misuses, misapplies, and purposely misunderstands scripture in an attempt to get Jesus to sin.  He will likely do the same with you.  And with the Church. 

When our lives are over, someone will stand up and say something about us at a funeral service, graveside, or “celebration of life.”

What would you like them to say? 

Knowing they will have only a short time to talk, what few things would you like people to remember about your life? 

Once you know this, you have determined the core values to build your life around.  If you want them to praise your garden and yard work, then spend all your time doing that.  Maybe you desire people to honor your work with pets, then do that.  If you want people to view you as a firm believer in Jesus, you will need to give yourself to that.  Possibly you want to be known as a great spouse, benevolent parent, or committed sibling.  Then you need to organize your time to make that happen. 

When the end is clear, then your work in the present to achieve that goal is also evident.  Wherever you spend your time, money, and energy is what people will talk about on that day. 

You get to decide right now what people will say at your funeral.  Choose wisely. 

“Trust your feelings.”

That is how a well-intentioned Christian recently advised someone.    

This individual was encouraging this college-aged adult to feel and not think. Yet, the only thing that kept running through my mind was Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” 

Because of my distant relationship with the person and a firm belief that most Facebook “confrontations” are fruitless, I scrolled by the original post.  Still, I can’t seem to shake the foolishness of the comment. 

God created us with feelings, and they are powerful tools, but they are only one weapon in a whole arsenal.  We are to seek God’s word and His will first.  Then we should pray and ask for guidance.  This includes looking for open and closed doors to move forward.  Next, we should ask mature Christians what they think.  Then we should search into facts and do our due diligence.  Only at the end of our search should we ask, “How do you feel about this?” This is because our heart is easily manipulated and deceived.  Sometimes our feelings betray us, and our emotions can be just plain wrong. 

As believers, we must be keenly aware of the mistake of trusting our feelings.  It is bad advice no matter who gives it to you.  Trust the Lord.  Then move forward from there. 

Paul was an Apostle of Jesus, and he trusted in the power of God.  He sought guidance through prayer and the advice of other believers. As a result, his steps were made with wisdom and faith that completely trusted God to guide him and work through him wherever he was directed.  The sovereignty and omnipotence of God were the power that made his ministry successful. 

Paul also worked hard.  Acts chapter 18 verse 2-3 tell us that his occupation was a tentmaker.  The manual labor needed to cut, sew, and assemble a tent was required to put food on the table.  Once in each of his letters to the Church in the city of Thessalonica, he reminds the believers of his work. “Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you” (1 Thessalonians 2:9 – NIV 2011). “…nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you” (2 Thessalonians 3:8 – NIV 2011).  The Apostle Paul took his work seriously and gave a total effort to each tent that he made.  It took toil and hard work to make ends meet, but he and his companions did it. 

He also commended the virtue of hard work to the believers in Rome.  There he mentions hard work done by and for those in the Church.  Inside this great letter of faith, he ends in chapter 16 by saying, “Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you.” (Romans 16:6 – NIV 2011) and “Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, those women who work hard in the Lord. Greet my dear friend Persis, another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord.” (Romans 16:12 – NIV 2011)   Paul loved to see people working hard in the Lord also. 

Trusting in God to provide, guide, and bless are cornerstones of the Christian faith.  So is getting up each day and giving a full effort to the tasks at hand.  Whether it be manual labor or serving God, or both, there is no substitute for hard work.  I have to remind myself of this every Monday when I see the large amount of work ahead that week.  I say my prayers and then roll up my sleeves and get busy.  I hope you can find the motivation to do the same thing today.     

On his podcast, the Church consultant said that one key to growing disciples is to create “Easy Next Steps.” That way, people will know what God wants them to do first, second and third on their journey of faith, and then they will be able to do it. 

I understand the thrust to make “easy to understand next steps.” People need to know what God might be calling them to do in their walk with him. However, there is a difference between easy steps and easy-to-understand steps.  Following Jesus is rarely easy to do, even when we know precisely what to do. 

Jesus is constantly pushing and pulling people toward growth, and it is usually by doing the most difficult of projects.  He asks us to follow him above our family.  He invites us to die to ourselves.  Jesus challenges us in what we do with our time, money, and giftedness. 

The way to being like Christ is self-abnegation, personal sacrifice, and painful decisions.  These might be simple to understand, but they will rarely be an easy next step.