If you are a fan of the TV show “The Office” then it is clear that you most certainly love Dwight Schrute. Do you remember the episode where for but a brief moment he gets to rule the office as the new boss while Michael is at corporate? Dwight Schrute in all his shrewdness develops a reward system for the employees by creating
the Schrute Buck!
The Schrute Buck was his shrewd way of keeping his “subordinates” in line and making them love him for it… surely an act of creative genius. That is until the office begins to out Shrewd Schrute. Creed simply printed out a couple hundred thousand Schrute Bucks and tried to cash them in for several thousand dollars! Dwight Schrute’s Shrewdness quickly came to an end.
Believe it or not this episode has a striking resemblance to one of Jesus’ parables in the Bible. Luke 16:1-9 tells of Jesus speaking to his disciples about a manager that realizes he is about to lose his job. Apparently the manager was accused of wasting his masters’ possessions and was told to give an account for his management. Being too proud to “dig” and too “ashamed to beg” he came up with shrewd plan. He went to his masters debtors, asked them what they owed him and then lowered their debt to his master to gain favor in their sight! Cunning I know.
Why would Jesus tell his disciples this story? Is Jesus actually condoning this kind of shrewd behavior as a way of living? Well….YES, sort of.
In v. 8 the master does exactly the opposite of what one might think. Rather than becoming angrier with the manager he actually commends the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. But why? What does the master see that is commendable or praise worthy?
The answer…his shrewdness. While condoning the lack of integrity and the dishonesty he commends his shrewdness. To be shrewd is to be to have sharp keen awareness of practical matters around you. The manager was commended not for his dishonesty but for his resourcefulness and intuitive grasp with practical situations. Jesus is using a worldly situation to reveal the power God gives us to use our minds. Our minds are gifts from God and are to be used for his kingdom.
Jesus said in v. 8b that “the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.” So imagine if followers of Jesus used their God given minds for his Glory and not their own gains! Imagine if we balanced our prayers of “God show up and move” with that of being shrewd in practical situations.
Donald Miller in his book “Blue Like Jazz” shows a perfect example of being shrewd for God. In one of the nation’s most secular universities he sets up a “confession booth” on the campus mall. Thinking that the booth is for students to confess their sins, they are shockingly pleased to find out that the Christians in the booth are the ones confessing and apologizing to them for any Christians who may have poorly represented Jesus.
So what do you say…go be shrewd for God. Like Dwight you may not start out with the greatest idea, but the more you practice the better you will become. Ask God to increase your Shrewdness.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Friday, June 5, 2009
Heavy Weight
Have you ever seen the World Strongest Man Competition? I'll never forget watching a 300lbs. man strap himself to a 747 commercial airplane and drag the plane from one point to another. I had dreams once to be in this competition. The only problem I had was being a 140lbs. soaking wet and well....lets face it, roids aren't even going to help this wirey body.
Shear mass isn't the only kind of weight that can be heavy though. Did you know Words can be weigh a ton. In fact there is one word that carries an extremely heavy weight. It's a word that when said makes me exhausted just hearing it....are ya ready?
PROCESS....
Yep, process. Sick huh! You can take 5 if you need to.
I have a love/hate relationship with this word, much like I do with lifting weights. it's often painful during the workout but the results are great!
I loath this word because I am product of this culture. I'm a classic type A personality, living in a fast food, fast internet, get it now, "have it your way" how you want, when you want culture. Process is the last word we want to hear. Sophomore's and Juniors in college know what I'm talking about. You're too far in to quit, but not far enough in to see light at the end of the tunnel.
Have you ever said things when studying for that exam like, "oh wouldn't it be awesome if I could just insert a chip in my head that gave me all the answers!" Or "wouldn't it be great if I could just fast forward to graduation or my new job"
The honest truth is that process is painful. So why then does Jesus seem to emphasize it so much? Why are his statements implicitly telling us to keep going? Wouldn't be easier if he just inserted a "perfect relationship with God" chip in us so that we could avoid the pain?
Did you know that Jesus' most common command was "follow me." He said it over 200 times in the Bible. In Luke 9:23-25 he said something profound:
"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross (once in your life? yearly? seasonaly?...oh no wait) DAILY and FOLLOW ME. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?
Do you see it? There's something divine, something heavy going on in Jesus' words...that when lifted brings...life, brings joy, brings purpose. The daily process oriented journey is the point. In fact I would argue that the process of following Jesus is just as important as the destination of the warm fuzzies we look forward to so often in our relationship with God.
The destinations we seek are really more mile markers than and ending point. These mile markers of memorable moments are to be celebrated and remembered, yet we are called to so much more. We are called to the adventure to keep on going, keep on journeying to know and become like the infinite God we serve!
As we can see in Jesus words through Luke, his teachings are anti intuitive. It's easy to pick up our cross once, by praying a prayer for salvation, or going to that cool event, or thinking we have payed our dues. If that's our mindset than we've missed everything!
It's like Jesus is saying:
immediate struggle creates lasting freedom.
But
immediate relief creates lasting struggle, and ultimate death.
the joy of daily process of dying to ourselves brings the abundant life that Jesus desires for us to have in Him (Jn.10:10)
I have a weight lifting buddy who likes to tell me "pain is just weakness leaving the body!" Process is refining and Jesus allows us to journey with him daily as means of knowing and becoming more like him...as a means of worshiping him and marveling over the painful but all so glorius process of giving ove his life so that we may have life.
The process, the journey is extremely weighty when applied. If you don't believe, just go on a roadtrip with some of your closest friends. You just may find that the journey getting there was just as memorable as the destinations you visited.
Shear mass isn't the only kind of weight that can be heavy though. Did you know Words can be weigh a ton. In fact there is one word that carries an extremely heavy weight. It's a word that when said makes me exhausted just hearing it....are ya ready?
PROCESS....
Yep, process. Sick huh! You can take 5 if you need to.
I have a love/hate relationship with this word, much like I do with lifting weights. it's often painful during the workout but the results are great!
I loath this word because I am product of this culture. I'm a classic type A personality, living in a fast food, fast internet, get it now, "have it your way" how you want, when you want culture. Process is the last word we want to hear. Sophomore's and Juniors in college know what I'm talking about. You're too far in to quit, but not far enough in to see light at the end of the tunnel.
Have you ever said things when studying for that exam like, "oh wouldn't it be awesome if I could just insert a chip in my head that gave me all the answers!" Or "wouldn't it be great if I could just fast forward to graduation or my new job"
The honest truth is that process is painful. So why then does Jesus seem to emphasize it so much? Why are his statements implicitly telling us to keep going? Wouldn't be easier if he just inserted a "perfect relationship with God" chip in us so that we could avoid the pain?
Did you know that Jesus' most common command was "follow me." He said it over 200 times in the Bible. In Luke 9:23-25 he said something profound:
"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross (once in your life? yearly? seasonaly?...oh no wait) DAILY and FOLLOW ME. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?
Do you see it? There's something divine, something heavy going on in Jesus' words...that when lifted brings...life, brings joy, brings purpose. The daily process oriented journey is the point. In fact I would argue that the process of following Jesus is just as important as the destination of the warm fuzzies we look forward to so often in our relationship with God.
The destinations we seek are really more mile markers than and ending point. These mile markers of memorable moments are to be celebrated and remembered, yet we are called to so much more. We are called to the adventure to keep on going, keep on journeying to know and become like the infinite God we serve!
As we can see in Jesus words through Luke, his teachings are anti intuitive. It's easy to pick up our cross once, by praying a prayer for salvation, or going to that cool event, or thinking we have payed our dues. If that's our mindset than we've missed everything!
It's like Jesus is saying:
immediate struggle creates lasting freedom.
But
immediate relief creates lasting struggle, and ultimate death.
the joy of daily process of dying to ourselves brings the abundant life that Jesus desires for us to have in Him (Jn.10:10)
I have a weight lifting buddy who likes to tell me "pain is just weakness leaving the body!" Process is refining and Jesus allows us to journey with him daily as means of knowing and becoming more like him...as a means of worshiping him and marveling over the painful but all so glorius process of giving ove his life so that we may have life.
The process, the journey is extremely weighty when applied. If you don't believe, just go on a roadtrip with some of your closest friends. You just may find that the journey getting there was just as memorable as the destinations you visited.
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