Senior Management

 by Chris Jones

It’s pretty easy to sit back and complain. Think about it. How often do things just get under your skin? It’s as if there’s no limit to the offenses that trigger our frustrations (political opinions, social differences, family drama, the check out line at Wal-Mart). Our first instinct is to lob insults and accusations, supposing things would be different if we were in charge.

So tell me, how exactly would things be different? What political powers would you replace? What social changes would you trigger? What injustices would you correct? If you had a direct line, a position of influence with the heads of all the world’s major corporations and economic and political powers, how would you exercise your authority?

Can you picture it?

Now, ask yourself, what are you doing with your position in the Kingdom? We rarely stop to realize that God has placed us in Senior Management. We have direct access to the throne of God. Read Ephesians 2. To paraphrase, it says, “You used to live in sin just like the rest of the world, but God gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. He seated us with Him in the heavenly realms. Now, all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit, because of what Christ has done for us. Now, you are members of God’s family.”

WHAT!?

It doesn’t stop there. Proverbs 21:1 (NLT), reminds us that “The earthly king’s heart is like a stream of water directed by the Lord; he guides it wherever he pleases.” Furthermore, we’re told to bring our requests to God, concerning anything. (Philipians 4:6)

So, the next time you think to yourself, “something needs to be done about this,” take responsibility. God is in ultimate control, and you have His attention.

Hear The Word of The Lord

 by Chris Jones

“Hear the Word of the Lord!” Those words always snap me to attention. It seems they typically precede a warning or pending judgement. What follows should never be taken lightly.

The main source of inspiration for my posts comes from my Bible reading. There’s so much that jumps off the page at me, waiting to be wrapped in a “today’s-world” type of context. God reveals himself through the truth of His Word, making His love for us known. Stepping back, seeing ourselves through the lens of that love is a beautiful and inspiring thing.

There’s a difference, however, when we look at ourselves through the lens of God’s judgement.

This summer, I’ve been reading through books like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. It’s difficult to find encouragement in the words of these books. It’s not easy because this lens shines a hard light on so much that we’ve grown too familiar with: finding comfort in our possessions, yielding ourselves unquestioningly to corrupt authority, ignoring the oppressed, complaining and quarreling, having an inflated sense of ourselves. What is there to say about such things?

My Pastor once said, “if you’re having trouble knowing what to say, maybe the Holy Spirit is telling you to keep your mouth shut”. I love that advice. What do you do, though, if you’re flooded with everything you feel the Holy Spirit what’s to say, and are scared of how it might be received?

What if God wants you to know that it’s not OK to publicly rip into people and places with harsh criticism, filling social media with bitter, passive-aggressive complaints, quarreling and gossiping with and about others? What do you say when God is revealing the selfish pride and idolatrous materialism that is manifest when we brag about and find our identity in promotions and material possessions? How do you convey God’s frustration with a people who sell their allegiance to a political party, becoming more an instrument for their platform than for His love and mercy?

Ezekiel received great instruction when told, “Son of man, let all my words sink deep into your own heart first. Listen to them carefully for yourself. Then go to your people in exile and say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says!’ Do this whether they listen to you or not.” (Ezekiel 3:10-11).

All too often we read/hear God’s judgment with others in mind, not taking the time to listen for ourselves.

Listen for yourself, Pastors. Listen for yourself, Worship Leaders. Listen for yourself, Sunday-School Teachers. Listen for yourself, Youth Workers. Don’t be so quick to assign God’s judgement to “America”. Don’t assume these messages are solely intended for those who, from your perspective, are the appropriate candidates. Listen for yourself. Hear the Word of the Lord.

Chain of Command

 by Chris Jones

There’s a general rule in any chain of command, that complaints go up.  The idea is that your concerns are best placed in the hands of those who have the power to do something about them.  Consequently, a correlation exists between the direction in which we allow our complaints to flow, and the degree to which we give individuals along those channels power over us, or at least over our problems.  There’s a certain acknowledgement that we have no better idea what to do with a problem, than to hand it over to them.  Along with it, there’s a measure of power, whether expressed or not, that we forfeit.

The greatest modern repository for such misplaced complaints is any social media outlet of one’s choosing.  I’ll spare examples, since your news and twitter feeds are likely full of them.  Many instances, however, are just complaints flowing in the wrong direction.  What’s remarkable is that those complaints don’t sound so dissimilar from those of more famous complainers who, but for one small difference, we call the greatest worshippers of all time.

Take this excerpt from Psalm 69 as an example, “…the floodwaters are up to my neck.  Deeper and deeper I sink into the mire; I can’t find a foothold.  I am in deep water, and the floods overwhelm me. I am exhausted from crying for help; my throat is parched. My eyes are swollen with weeping…”  King David was a pretty good complainer.  The difference?  He knew his complaints went up the chain of command, to the very top, in fact.  The result?  Each of his complaints evolves into praise to the only One who is in a position to do something about them.

Are your complaints flowing the right direction?  Are you unknowingly surrendering power to those who have no ability to help?  Ask yourself, “How is this working for me?”  Take a lesson from the greatest worshipper and “the man after God’s own heart”.  Let all your fears, doubts and frustrations flow to Him who is able to do so much more than you could think to ask.  Let them evolve into praise, your confession that He is able, that He has all things under His command.