Category Archives: grace

Characteristics of Thankful People

Posted on by

I thought this Thanksgiving week that it would be wise for us to take a Thanksgiving Quiz. This is not the standard Thanksgiving Quiz, with questions like, “How many turkeys can dance on the head of a pin?” Instead, the questions are more about your own heart of thankfulness.

So — let’s give it a try. There are ten T/F questions. Count every one you say “true” to:

  1. I follow Jesus’ example and give thanks for meals (John 6:11).
  2. When I sing songs to God, I am purposefully thanking him for his goodness to me.
  3. I have personally given thanks to God for his mercy in the past week (Psalm 136).
  4. I thank God for hard things that come into my life because of how he uses them to change my heart.
  5. I thank God for my church family.
  6. When I place my tithes and offerings in the plate, I am expressing my thanks to God.
  7. I thank God that I can do things for him (1 Timothy 1:12).
  8. I give thanks because I know it pleases God.
  9. When I catch myself being ungrateful, I apologize to God and thank him for his grace.
  10. I am careful not to give thanks simply with my lips, but also with heart.

How did you do? I hope you scored a ten, but whether you did well or not, it’s good to talk about being thankful. In this podcast, you discover three characteristics of thankful people.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

How does God treat me if I don’t follow His way?

Posted on by

Recently, some of us were chatting together about C.S. Lewis and his Chronicles. If you’ve read them you know that he admits into the kingdom a person who was not trusting in Aslan.

One of the guys commented, “I was reading someone writing on this and he said, ‘Lewis was wrong.'” I agree. Lewis was wrong. He’s been wrong about a number of things — eschatology and his thoughts of household pets, but I am sure that I am wrong about loads more than that.

Coincidental to that conversation, I bumped into this passage in That Hideous Strength — a passage that kind of cleared the muddy water for me. In context, Jane is deciding to cooperate with the Director and do the right thing. She’s not sold on following Maleldil (God) yet.

“Sir,” said Jane, “I know nothing of Maleldil. But I place myself in obedience to you.”

“It is enough for the present,” said the Director. “This is the courtesy of Deep Heaven: that when you mean well, He always takes you to have meant better than you knew. It will not be enough for always; He is very jealous. He will have you  for no one but Himself in the end. But for tonight, it is enough.” — C. S. Lewis, in That Hideous Strength

I only object to this thinking on Lewis’ part if he considers one may die in such a state and still be in God’s good graces. Francis Chan has done a great job addressing that folly in the past couple of months.

However, I do see that God graciously accepts us where we are, to move us to where we should be. It is the courtesy of Deep Heaven — the grace of God.

Grace — It’s Positive Energy…

Posted on by

I read today about the essentiality — yeah, that’s a word — of optimism in leadership. Corporations headed by pessimists, whether they be churches or tech giants, seldom overcome obstacles necessary to grow.  I need to be optimistic. What’s frustrating is how easy it is to be negative. It’s easier to say, “Nazareth?! Can anything good come from there,” than it is to say, “We have found the Christ,” (John 1). And it’s easy to be swayed by negative energy. It has a power to stifle both productivity and creativity.

Today I was feeling anything but positive about what God was doing in my life… until the UPS man came to my door. No, he didn’t drop off that 65 inch television I’ve been dreaming about. Instead, he dropped off the cross that we ordered to replace the one Anna bought in memory of her husband. You may recall the original cross had been stolen. Immediately, Laurel and I hopped into the car and headed up to see Anna. As we drove, I shared my negative feelings with Laurel and my struggle to be optimistic.

Then we arrived at Anna’s home. She showed us in and we talked about her health, the church, her home, and her family. I showed her the new cross and told her the story of how God had provided a larger cross for the same price as the smaller one with which we’d all been dissatisfied. We rejoiced together. We then prayed together, taking time to pray that the person who had stolen the original cross would turn to Jesus and find forgiveness. That was a great visit, but probably not for the reasons you would expect. It wasn’t because of the prayer. It wasn’t because of the new cross. It was because Anna epitomizes grace. Grace toward the thief. Grace toward her brothers and sisters in Christ. And grace toward people who crank out negative energy. She was so gracious and positive I left feeling like a completely different person. I said to Laurel, “Every now and then, God surprises you with a person who brings incredible joy.” Such people are people of grace.

As you go to God in prayer, may I suggest praying three ways:

  1. Pray that you can be a person of grace, for people of grace are anything but negative.
  2. Pray that God would use you to be a gracious influence on people around you so that when they leave they feel like life is a good thing.
  3. Pray for those who struggle with negativity — that God will so bless them they can’t help but see him in the world around them.

Oh — and pray for me, that I might have the optimism essential to ministry and life.

Let your conversation be always full of grace… (Colossians 4)