Know It All

People have said they think I’m a know-it-all. Even my own teammates! They’ll say, “It seems like you have an answer for everything.”

I don’t feel like I have an answer for everything! But I pray for wisdom, and I pray for perception and insight. If someone asks me a question about my faith or my work, I don’t want my answer to be, “I don’t know.” It doesn’t make sense to me that anyone would answer a question that way. When you ask me a question and I don’t know the answer, I’m going to find out. I’ll tell you, “I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.”

People ask me a lot of questions! As a result, I have done a lot of research. I’ve learned that when you do enough research and answer enough questions, you will accumulate quite a lot of knowledge. Now when you ask me a question, I just might know the answer.

I’m trying to gain wisdom. I’m trying to gain insight. I’m looking for understanding. And I’m doing it because I believe this is what Jesus has asked us to do. When Jesus said that He wanted believers to go into the world to preach the Gospel, I really don’t think He wanted us to sound like idiots. I don’t think He wanted us to be dumb. I think He wanted us to be intelligent, and to show perception and insight. That doesn’t mean He expects us to sound like a bunch of know-it-alls. It means He wants us to have wisdom.

You have to use wisdom in all areas of your life. You need wisdom in your marriage, and you need it to raise your children. Yet I think people forget about wisdom. They forget about perception and insight. They don’t want to read, they don’t want to research, and they don’t want to understand. They’re too content with, “I don’t know.”

I’ve signed on with charitable organizations only to find out that what they do is not right. When that happens, I leave. I’m out. I can’t be associated with organizations that lack wisdom. This isn’t because I can’t forgive, because I can. It’s because there are ramifications to what we do. When you lack wisdom, you might find yourself going down the wrong path. I believe Jesus has called us to something better.

I want wisdom for my organization, Generation Alive. I want a reputation as an organization that uses wisdom to do things. That’s why I partner with groups that show a lot of wisdom, like Not For Sale, Something to Eat, Living Water International, and the Global Orphan Project. I think it’s because of their wisdom that God has led me to them.

You know what else? They have clear reasons for doing what they do, and I think that’s important too. That’s something we all need to have. More on this next time. See you Thursday.

How to Fight for the Kingdom of God

Jesus knows our lives. Even when He walked among us, Jesus could see into 2013. He could see how bad the world would become. He could see how comfortable with sin our world would be. Sin is becoming just another part of life, and the prevailing attitude seems to be, “Hey, to each his own.” Jesus looks at this, and He says, “Man! The world needs a lot of forgiveness!

Jesus knows that believers walking the earth today need a lot of hope and encouragement.

Relationships, Not Rewards

Christians are called to love. To love like Jesus requires grace! As I reflected last time, loving like Jesus means loving and giving and sacrificing with no thought of the reward. Jesus died for us without calculating a reward. He knew that a lot of people would forget Him, or not return His love. But He died for us anyway. And He freed us from the bounds and obligations of law! Now we live in grace, filled with His Spirit. And by His Spirit, we love our neighbors like He loved us.

When I help somebody out, I do it because I love them. I don’t do it so that I can get right with God by scoring charity points. I don’t need to! Jesus already got us right with God.

Trashing God’s Name

Maybe we don’t love people the way we should love them, because we want to change them. We want that so badly. But we can’t change people! Only the Spirit of God can do that. When we try to change people, all we do is push them away from God.

Unfortunately, there’s a lot of that in the church. Sometimes people get around Christians, and they feel a kind of guilt trip. Or they feel like they’re just being looked down on in disgust. They feel that way because they are always being told that what they’re doing is wrong. That has to change!

Know It All

People have said they think I’m a know-it-all. Even my own teammates! They’ll say, “It seems like you have an answer for everything.”

I don’t feel like I have an answer for everything! But I pray for wisdom, and I pray for perception and insight. If someone asks me a question about my faith or my work, I don’t want my answer to be, “I don’t know.” It doesn’t make sense to me that anyone would answer a question that way. When you ask me a question, if I don’t know the answer, I’m going to find out. I’ll tell you, “I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.”

REBBL Launch Party

Charity can do more harm than good when it’s not done with wisdom. You can hurt people when you don’t plan for sustainability.

When I sign on with a group or an organization to help them and support them, I want to do it in wisdom. I want to do it with understanding. So I ask God for wisdom. I ask Him to show me certain groups and people that He feels I should connect with, based on my understanding of sustainment, and based on my understanding of wanting to use wisdom when I give money and lend support.

Charity Needs Wisdom

Jesus knows our lives. Even when He walked among us, Jesus could see into 2012. He could see how bad the world would become. He could see how comfortable with sin our world would be. Sin is becoming just another part of life, and the prevailing attitude seems to be, “Hey, to each his own.” Jesus looks at this, and He says, “Man! The world needs a lot of forgiveness!

Jesus knows that believers walking the earth today need a lot of hope and encouragement. And we need a lot of His wisdom!

Sacrifice

Do you see someone skilled in their work?
They will serve before kings. (Proverbs 22:29)

As we continue our preparations for our Something to Eat event, I thought I’d re-post something I wrote last January. It’s about sacrifice.

Sacrifice is an intimidating word, but I’m here to tell you that it is a major component of success. God wants you to give some of what you earn to help others. That’s your sacrifice. He wants you to give cheerfully, but that shouldn’t be hard. After all, he’s promised to give you what you need.

It’s amazing, when you think about it, the way God has made the world. He doesn’t need people to push the Gospel. He could do it however He wants to do it. But that’s the way He set things up. He wants people to bring the Gospel to the nations. And I think that God’s a genius! He wants us to use our own resources to love our neighbor, because that is how we learn to serve.