Everyday Truth with Kurt Skelly

As an attention junkie, I have to admit that I was quite the daredevil as a teenager. Looking back though, I would label some of my "brave exploits" more like "totally stupid, what-was-I-thinking, brain-cell deficient lunacy"! But there were some real people who did some really important things that were really life risking. They deserve our attention.

Do any of you have that kind of friend that know you so well that he actually finishes your sentences? Or randomly hums the tune of a song that ringing through your mind at the exact same moment? It's actually kind of odd! But truly to be likeminded goes even beyond that, and is rarer still. 

Murmuring, complaining, and petty disputing are great ways to diminish your influence. In fact, you might as well take the batteries out of your flashlight altogether! Ministry becomes empty and fruitless when it's practiced under these negative conditions! Find out why in today's episode.

At the name of Jesus, every knee will ultimately bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord. What a statement! And what power! A name represents the sum total of a person's reputation--that for which he is known. The humiliation of Jesus is simply a short road to His exaltation. 

Most of us know that WWJD stands for, "What would Jesus do?" But the answer to that question is impossible without asking the preliminary question, "How would Jesus think?" Our actions grow out of our thinking. The bible is clear when it tells us to have the mind of Christ. What does that mind look like?

Years ago I heard this simply poem: "Just two choices on the self: pleasing God or pleasing self." Why do we do what we do? When we intend to advance our own agenda, we inevitably fertilize strife. When we choose to honor God by placing more value on others, we both emulate and glorify Christ.

Has God been good to you? If your answer to that question is, "yes," then you have a responsibility to pay it forward. What would happen in a church if we treated people forwardly as God has treated us, instead of treating people reactively as they have treated us?  

Spiders? Snakes (me)? Clowns? Pitch dark rooms? Speaking to strangers? One thing is for sure: fear will change your attitude and your behavior. It will keep you from participating, going, saying, and doing. Fear paralyzes. Would it surprise you if I told you that God allows His children to be placed in scary places? Don't suffer from ObeyGodaphobia.  

I love Christmas! I especially love when our tree is fully decorated. It's so peaceful late at night just to sit near it and relax. But I will admit that I've seen some poorly decorated trees. Downright ugly. Tragic. There ought to be some kind of penalty for that! Did you know that your life is supposed to be a decoration? Yes, it is. And when we don't have the spirit of Christ in a unified mind for the gospel, we serve about as much purpose as an ugly Christmas tree.

OK, I will admit that I actually had to look that up. A convex lens is one that makes objects look larger, like a magnifying glass. Paul lived his whole life as a convex lens. He wanted people to look at him in any situation--good, bad, or ugly--and see Jesus Christ looming large. People at looking at you too. And they're looking through you at Christ. Is He bigger or smaller with you as the lens?

Catchy title, huh? But it's more than that; it's the perspective that Paul maintained. His prison experience caused *many* others to preach the gospel with more boldness. But *some* preached with wrong motives. Don't let the *some* have louder volume and more sway in your life than the *many.*

Sometimes the answer to that question is, "I'm falling apart!" But the Philippians perspective is so much better: Things aren't falling *apart.* They are falling *out* unto the furtherance of the gospel. God is not doing something to me; He is doing something in me and for me and through me. Wow!

Paul viewed the church of Philippi as a strong Gospel partner. But his view of them was not primarily from the perspective of a shared work load. He loved them! And they loved him. In fact, his concern was for their love to grow more and more. Love is our why. When the why is right, the what takes care of itself. Learn to see people through the lens of love, not through the lens of how their gifts and energy can help you.

Paul wrote Philippians while he was in prison. Ironically, he wrote to a place where he had previously been in prison! Yet the tone of the letter belies both sets of prison circumstances. It's a letter of JOY! Joy is neither contingent upon nor related to our circumstances, past or present.

What a fitting conclusion to a letter that drips with the compassion of the pastor who wrote it! Don't be content to allow your brother to wander away without lovingly reaching out. Understand your own proclivity to roam. Humbly approach the one who has. Tone down the condescension, and ramp up the compassion.