I am a planner.

That is why I love Jesus’ words to those who wish to follow him in Luke 14. He pictures a man going out to build a tower. Will he not estimate the cost before starting the work to see if he has enough money to complete it? Imagine a king going out to war against another king. Will he not calculate the size of the armies before going into battle? Jesus is underlining to those who wish to follow him that they need to think and plan before they leave home.

If you want to be a disciple, first, you need to think through all the ramifications of that decision and how you will handle them. In other words, even discipleship requires a plan.

Many people prefer to live organically. Just let everything happen naturally, after all, God is involved, and the book of Proverbs underlines that he directs a person’s journey. God is the one who ultimately determines the direction of our lives. 

Here is my argument, God can direct your steps while planning. Reading, praying, seeking advice, and thinking things through are ways God can guide your future. God can work in us to develop the plans needed to accomplish his will. Too often, people use God as an excuse to be lazy and thoughtless on our journey of faith.  

The biggest question you must answer is, “What is your plan to grow in your faith?” 

Not having a plan is not a sign that you are “trusting God with your future,” instead, it is a signal that you are not growing spiritually because you usually give into the tyranny of the urgent. The acts of prayer, reading, fasting, and giving are called spiritual disciples because it takes discipline to do them. And discipline does not exist without a plan.

Through the years, I have understood that what I do as a preacher on Sunday morning is vital to a Church. Preparing to preach, planning a worship experience, and ensuring all the pieces come together into one functioning team are all part of my job.

In the past few years, I have pushed myself to step out of my shell and become better at dealing with people, especially on Sunday mornings. I have listened to lectures, read articles, and learned to be better with people. Now, I do everything within my power to connect with guests who come to worship on Sunday mornings.

One thing I have learned over the last 12 months is that while people like a friendly preacher when they come to Church for the first time, my encounters matter very little. Upon investigating the results of my Sunday connections, I heard a similar phrase used several times. People said, “Yeah, but you are paid to be friendly.” Guests know that I work for the Church, and if it is successful, it reflects on me. That, in turn, forces me to be kind to everyone who walks through the doors. “Of course, you are nice. That is your job.”

I suppose I could be upset about this, but I choose to see it as an opportunity. That means the Church’s connection to guests is not in my hands. Instead, it is the work of everyone to make the new people feel welcome. Every single volunteer and attendee represents the Church in their interactions.

The success of a Church in reaching people for Jesus is connected to the friendliness experienced by every person who attends. Perhaps, the people who show kindness simply out of the goodness of their hearts are the most significant factor in a Church community leading people to faith in our Savior.

Recently I stumbled upon a short video clip from Jordan Peterson about his 12 rules for life. They have been around for a while, but this was my first time hearing of them. Upon further inspection, I found the complete list; several are simple, practical advice.

Number four captured my attention: “Compare yourself to who you were yesterday.”

This one is beneficial to most people in their faith, including myself. The tendency is to compare ourselves to other people. If we look at ourselves in light of people who are further along on their journey of faith, we can feel like a failure. If we compare ourselves to those behind us, we can develop a sense of pride in our spiritual development.

What if you took a long look at yourself and compared your progress against yesterday?

I am not where I want to be, but thanks be to God, I am not where I once was.

The preacher said something that I am sure he was repeating from someone else. He stated, “The Bible says, ‘Do not be afraid’ or ‘Have no fear’ 365 times. There is one for every day of the year. So go out into the world without fear.” 

At first, this sounds true; after all, the Bible does seem to use that phrase repeatedly. A preacher who uses his Bible has probably verified this; it is an easy connection to the days of the year. One verse for every day of the year, the application of the scripture is complete.  

Upon further inspection, there are several problems. First, I can only find 161 times in the NIV translation of the Bible where the words “Fear” and “Not” are used in the same sentence. The term “afraid” only appears 212 times in total. No matter how many ways I search, there are not 365 places in the entire Bible that say these phrases. 

Second, not all those passages are people being told “do not fear” before attempting to do something. Several of those passages are angels talking to terrified people at their angelic appearance. So there is no application to us today unless you see a legitimate Biblical angel. 

Finally, it doesn’t matter how many times the Bible says anything. If there were 365 statements, it would be sheer coincidence. By the same token, if believers are told one time to move forward in life without fear, then it is true whether it says it more or not. 

None of this is my point. I want believers to recognize the danger of repeating something without searching the scriptures to verify it’s true. I first heard this statement in college almost 30 years ago. And it keeps getting used in sermons when it is clearly not true. I encourage all believers to listen to their preachers and teachers closely and then check their sources to see if what they say is accurate before they repeat it. Your favorite Church leader, even if it is me, might very well be wrong.

Find one scripture this week about what God desires for your life, and then do it. Do it every single day for the next seven days until it becomes second nature. Then do it again the following week: one verse, one application, and one week of living it out.

That is far more beneficial to you than learning a hundred Bible things this week and doing none.

Don’t mistake information for transformation.

Being well-rounded is a myth.

You have the gifts, abilities, passion, and experience to do very few things well. For most people, there is only one thing they can do with skill.

Most of the great musicians you know are not skilled at art with oil or clay. Very few artists are great at accounting. I don’t know of any accountants who excel at public speaking.

Michael Jordan was not a great baseball player. Tim Tebow was a below-average professional baseball player too. They were both excellent in their roles as professional basketball player and college quarterback. 

The challenge in life is to find the area where God has gifted you and do it well. 

I must continually remind myself that it is okay not to be well-rounded and waste my energy in areas where I will never excel. People are most blessed when you do your one thing, as only you can do it. I thank God that Da Vinci focused on his art and not accounting.

If you apply yourself to one thing, I believe people will thank God for you using your skills for his glory.

Not every sermon you hear is a plea for you to change. 

Someone may need to hear it that way, but not everyone. Sometimes a sermon is a challenge to someone living contrary to Biblical teaching. 

But sometimes, it is an encouragement to stay on the same path. 

For a Christian, it is good to hear occasionally about specific topics and then be told, “Don’t change a thing.”  

In boxing, when someone is training, they employ another boxer to get into the ring with them. This is used for training purposes only and is a friendly type of competition. Usually, both fighters have protective headgear, and the emphasis is on technique and not winning.

A sparring partner must be willing to take punches from the contender so that they are ready for their next match.

Here is the thing, no one sets out to be a sparring partner. Everyone sets out to be a champion. But fighters who do not have the skills or have been defeated are reduced to taking punches for money.

No one wants to be a sparring partner – in boxing or life.

No one wants to get beat up over and over again. No one likes taking punches. No one willingly wants to lose for the benefit of another person. This is true physically and metaphorically.

Your spouse, kids, friends, family, co-workers, or Church acquaintances do not like taking one verbal jab after another. It hurts. No one wants to be beaten down repeatedly by fists or words.

The sad part is that there is no winner anyway.

I have been watching the NBA finals. Two teams compete to be the best in the world at basketball, and I am excited to see who wins.

It is not just the 12 players on a roster who win the championship. It is the head coach and a host of assistant coaches. It is the trainers, support staff, and equipment managers. Owners and executives will consider themselves winners despite never shooting the ball.

When a team is victorious, multiple winners celebrate the victory.

Church is a team sport. When one person succeeds for Jesus, we all do.

This is when a complete story is perceived in a given situation, but it is not the actual narrative at work. Often it is based on limited knowledge, inaccurate information, or possibly a false assessment of the situation.

Some people have left the Church I lead and hate me. It is because they came to believe a false narrative about me. They were sure I was trying to hurt them when I chose that passage for a sermon. Maybe they thought I was out to get them when I moved that thing in the Church. Whatever story they made up in their head was not what was really happening.

Here is the harsh reality:  You and I probably live with a false narrative of something or someone. 

You created a story about someone who said that mean thing to you. I made a narrative in my head about the person who left the Church. We can detail all the ways that this couple was wrong for doing what they did.  

The problem is that we have limited knowledge, inaccurate information, or a false assessment of the situation. That means that there is a great chance we are totally wrong.

One act of grace as a Christian is to fill in the gaps in our knowledge with grace. We are to believe the best in people even when we think they might be up to something hurtful. Just like people are wrong about you, there is an overwhelming chance that you are wrong about someone else.