Stewardship

🎶”I showed up in boots,
and ruined your black tie affair”🎶

We know this line from Garth Brooks’s song “Friends in Low Places”.
We all may relate in some differing way to the situation that is portrayed in this song. Maybe your “Cousin Eddy” shows up for Christmas.
Could it be time, that our corrupt, self-serving Congress experience an uncomfortable situation like this?
Maybe it is time that we send boots to Washington instead of Louis Vuitton’s. How about the boots of a steel mill worker, or those of a rancher? How about the high heel boots of a woman that built a business, or the Bearclaws of a single mom that raised four kids while working two jobs?
Is it time that we send boots that protect feet, that are attached to legs, that attach to a torso, that houses a servant’s heart?
Is it time we drop the ideological litmus tests and test the hearts of those seeking these offices? Is it time to hold them to the test of stewardship? Have they been faithful in little things?
It is time that we send men and women of honor.

Honor #Congress #faithfulness #integrity

What a Difference a Day Makes.

A day. A noun used to indicate a unit of time. It can be divided into hours, minutes, and seconds. Adding them together signifies a week, month, year, or a period of time.

“Back in the good old days.”
“Happy New Year!”
“Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
“When I was younger…When I get old enough.”
“Today was a heck of a week.”

These are just some of the clichés or sayings we use. An apostate King Solomon offered this pessimistic view,

Eccl 3:1-8 NLT
For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.
A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest.
A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
A time to search and a time to quit searching. A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace.

Time. One’s view of it is often influenced by the situation they are in. External pressures, anxieties, and foreboding deadlines all influence one’s outlook, as does pleasure, leisure, and anticipated reward. As I sit here writing this, my wife reminds me that we leave in a half-hour to get haircuts.

“What are we going to do?” The young wife asked her husband as the day approached in which the mortgage needed to be brought out of arrears.

“How long do I have?” The man asked the Doctor.

To some valuable, to others a thing to be endured. To a business owner, or someone that is deceived by the riches of this world, “Time is money”, and all things must suffer. To this one’s family they endure separation longing for the point of enough.

We often think that time’s rate of passage is variable. At work the clock seems to pass like cold molasses from a bottle. On vacation it whirls like the electric meter in July. In the mind of a young child, the Christmas morn may seem like an eternity away. To the young man awaiting his sixteenth birthday, and the opportunity to drive the car his dad had fixed up for him, the day couldn’t get here fast enough. Two prisoners have differing thoughts. One wishes time would slow as he hopes for a call from the Governor, the other wants for it to speed by as he looks at a twenty-five year sentence.

Time is measured in increments, as is money. Just as a hundred dollars would reap me more “stuff’ than a dollar, I would prefer a year on the beach in comparison to a week.
60 seconds make a minute, 60 minutes make an hour, and 24 hours make a day.

A day…”yesterday” he sighed.

Yesterday he watched as the One that is eternal subjected himself to time for the last…time. He sighed again. He looked around at the others, their faces revealed their hearts. One looked repentant, another had doubt written all his face.

6 days ago He entered the city undeterred by the suspicious glaring of the Roman garrison, the hypocritical piousness of the Pharisees as they looked down their long noses, and the celebratory shouts of the people.

“Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

5 days later the crowd shouted “Crucify Him”!

33 hours earlier Pilate found no wrong with Him. Yet because he feared the crowd and wanted to gratify them ruled against Him.

24 hours earlier sunlight returned to the afternoon sky. The Father ripped the veil of the temple from the top downward, a sign of both an invitation into the presence, and the New Covenant that had been concealed in the Old Covenant had come!

24 hours earlier the Roman Centurion in his official status of overseeing the crucifixion, declared Him just and righteous. This declaration was significant to those that heard it because they left with actions of repentance. They beat their chest.

22 hours earlier Joseph hurrying to beat the start of the Sabbath, buried Him.

This minute everyone rested as the commandment of the Sabbath. When He was alive He often said that His hour had not yet come, and about 3 days. 2 days ago he was jolted from a garden slumber by His words, “My hour has come He couldn’t fully understand everything that He had told them 48 hours earlier, but he couldn’t get away from the part about the 3 days. Yesterday, today…tomorrow?

Honor in Your Words

Proverbs is so rich in wisdom. Its principles are often applied in business, law, and medicine. My opinion is that it should be a required course for high school students. What better way to start a young person off, than them learning the wisdom given by the Creator of everything.
There is instruction, advice, and correction. There is contrast between honorable and dishonorable. The wise leader and faithful servant are celebrated, while the fool, sluggard, and mocker are not left out
One aspect of life that is repeatedly addressed is our speech. How we are to talk, what we are to say, and when we should speak.

Proverbs 21:23 NKJ
Whoever guards his mouth and tongue Keeps his soul from troubles.

Proverbs 18:21 NLT
The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.

Proverbs 17:9 NKJ
He who covers a transgression seeks love, But he who repeats a matter separates friends.

Proverbs 11:9 NKJ
The hypocrite with his mouth destroys his neighbor, But through knowledge the righteous will be delivered.

The writers of the New Testament understood this wisdom.

Ephesians 4:25 NKJ
Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another.

James 3:2 NKJ
For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.

1 Timothy 5:13
And besides they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house, and not only idle but also gossips and busybodies, saying things which they ought not.

Ephesians 4:31 NKJ
Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.

The Master in His earthly ministry gave us warning about gossip, slander, and vain blabbing, and lying. He called them idle words.

Matthew 12:36 NKJ
But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.

Finally there is reward for keeping a guard over a blabbering tounge, potty mouth, or lying lips.

Psalms 15:1-3 NKJ
LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill? He who walks uprightly, And works righteousness, And speaks the truth in his heart; He who does not backbite with his tongue, Nor does evil to his neighbor, Nor does he take up a reproach against his friend;

Slander:
noun
the action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person’s reputation.

verb
make false and damaging statements about someone.

“It is not the wedge that splits a log, but the one hammering.”

Nothing has more potential to destroy a team, than unresloved conflict. Some leaders will go to great effort to avoid conflict with their subordinates, only to stand by and ignore it between their subordinates.
So whose hand is holding the handle of the hammer?
It is the one that fails to see the value and good in others.
It is the one that fails to work in agreement (same mind and purpose).
It is the one that fails to put aside self centered desires and agendas.
It is the one that fails to see their part in the conflict, and blames other people and external reasons.

The answer is simple, let go of the hammer.
Recognize that everyone has value to bring to the team.
Treat everyone with respect, it’s free and won’t cost you anything.
Be peaceful and a peacemaker, keep reconciliation as the end game.
Judge yourself, and own what you may have brought into the conflict.

Honor

“A good follower strives not to impress, but to be impressive. Short-lived heroics seem insignificant when compared to a life of epic service.”
They lack any agenda. They require no daily acknowledging of their deeds. They possess not the high maintenance egos that require codling, but a self-confidence that needs no affirmation. They are not up one day and down the next. Their production and attendance doesn’t resemble a seismogram. They are faithful in both the spectacular and the mundane.
Self-starters, internally motivated, these servants take to terrain of industry or office to perform their duties with honor and integrity. With a work ethic imparted by parents, developed by teachers and mentors, and proven by experience, they chase not the center position in the lens of the camera, but the satisfaction of a job well done.
Often overlooked and underappreciated, and their completion of tasks taken for granted, they consider “promotion” as being called on again when it counts. Not concerned with what some may say of them, they desire only one adjective be placed on them…reliable.

Joshua

In Marvel’s movie, “Thor”, we were introduced to a fictional character named Heimdall. This character was the gatekeeper of a fictional place called Asgard, and possessed incredible strength and abilities. But the greatest quality that the developers gave this character was honor.
Psalm 84:10b NKJV
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God Than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
Back in reality, and in contrast to the fictional Heimdall, stands Joshua. In Numbers 33:11, we find Joshua fulfilling the duties of a gatekeeper.
Numbers 33:11 NKJV
So the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle.
Both were fiercely loyal. Heimdall was loyal to the king of Asgard, and served the movie’s creators in making money.
Joshua served God, and was loyal in being a help to Moses.
Both possessed incredible abilities. Heimdall’s was founded in the imaginations of the creators. Joshua’s was in The Almighty God.
Both performed great feats. Heimdall’s were fake, and fleeting. Reserved only in context of a movie.
Joshua’s were certain, and remain for all time and eternity.
While there are many lessons to be learned from Joshua, there are two that stand out to me in light of Psalm 84:10, 11.
The first, Joshua avoided being caught up in the rebellion of those in the camp, by being properly positioned to the one he served. (Exodus 24:13).
The other, Joshua learned that God did not just provide the manna and the quail, but that He was, The Provider, of everything needed. Once the Israelites became obedient and crossed the Jordan River, the promise of “eating from the good of the land”, came to them (Jos. 5:12)
Psalm 84:11 NKJV
For the LORD God is a sun and shield; The LORD will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold From those who walk uprightly.

Bad Leader…No Biscuit

Bob stared at the letter of resignation on his desk. It had been placed there only minutes ago by one of his subordinates.

Disheartened and sighing deeply, he thought,

“How many now?”  And how many more?”

Bob rose his chair and picked up the letter. He knew that he would receive the same demeaning, and deflective response from his superior upon delivering the news to her. While Bob was frustrated by the loss of these people, his superior would dismiss it apathetically and seek quickly another “dancing chicken on a hot plate”.

Bob saw the hemorrhage of value in knowledge, experience, and cohesive relationships.

Bob opened the top drawer of his desk and pulled another letter out. Heading to his superior’s office he added his own resignation.

People leave organizations for various reason. Some are good and noble reasons, some are not. For some years now I have observed firsthand and vicariously, those with substantial tenure leave an organization. In some of these it came as a surprise, in others it could be seen clearly. But what astonished me in many of these, was the reason and response. Reasons in those that left, response in them that were left.

Here are three reasons that I found alarming.

“I can’t see any forward movement. I feel as though I am stagnating.”

“This place is becoming too intrusive in my life. There is no work/life balance, and my mental and physical well-being is being affected.”

“I have lost trust in the leadership.”

Not everyone that leaves an organization is chasing after something. Many times they are getting out of, or away from a bad or toxic work environment. As leaders we have responsibility for the environment of our work places. And senior leaders, this should be a red flag! It could be time to leave the ivory corporate tower, and get down to ground level.

A mid-level manager once confided in me that, “I created this mess, now I am going to have to fix it”. Had he listened to the adage, “An ounce of prevention, is worth more than a pound of cure”, then his company would not have suffered the loss of highly skilled people.

Recently I listened to a senior leader talk about the current and future objectives for the organization. He talked strategically at first, then brought it down to where the rubber meets the road. He talked about the recruitment, development, and retention of people. Since he assumed command he has proclaimed two very important principles for the organization.

“Take care of our people.”

“Give everyone the leadership they deserve.”

In these two statements is the answer to recruiting, developing, and retaining experienced, productive, and loyal people. It is time for the senior leadership of organizations to face a truth. It matters greatly who they place in entry, and mid-level management positions.  

Some years back, I heard a sermon preached on how 20% of the people do 80% of the work in the Church.

“God is building an Army…not an audience!”

Reverend Buddy Bell

1 Corinthians 12:27-28 KJV

Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.

The Holy Spirit through Paul, after writing to the Corinthian Church about the Body of Christ, reveals that we are all members of that Body. Then He gives the ministry gifts that God has set in the Church. Now you read the whole verse right? You didn’t skip any of it?

The ministry of helps is an appointed position by God in the Church. It is just as spiritual, just as anointed with supernatural ability as an apostle. Some of us read this verse many times and simply read over this highly esteemed ministry. Some saw it and put down their highlighter and picked up a sharpie. Even many of the commentators speak of it as something for that time and that it is not for today. Helps is often referred to as,

“These were…”

“They might have been…”

“As instances of the former deacons…”

I have been to churches that had an abundance in their ministry of helps. I have been to some that had severe lack, others didn’t even have one. If you look at the verses that follow, you see that a series of questions are asked.

1 Corinthians 12:29-30 KJV

Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles?

Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?

Did you notice that, “Do all help”, is not there.  The helps ministry is the predominate part of the Body. The Master told His disciples, and us, that we should serve one another.

“An authentic servant empties himself of personal desire to be used as a tool in the hand of the one he serves.”

Reverend Marie Myers

So why is it there are not more stepping up to fill the ranks? Why are some content to drive to a building, sit and listen for a time, then go eat chicken before returning to their routine for another week. It has been my observation that it is because people lack understanding of the will of God concerning His highly esteemed ministry. They don’t know how to help. Where to start, or what they should be doing. The answer is so easy! Allow me to share my story and maybe it will help someone.

Once upon a time there was an apple tree. This apple tree produced big, luscious apples that were sold to a juice company. One Sunday on the way to evening service a mother bought her little girl apple juice. At the church the little girl spilled her juice right at the entrance to the sanctuary. I saw a man, his name was John. He looked busy as he rushed about preparing for the start of the service. He saw the girl spill her juice. I saw the girl spill her juice. John set everything aside to begin to assist the mother. I knew he had other things to do so I asked,

“Can I help?”

John looked at me for a few seconds then rushed off to return with a mop and an usher shirt.

The next week I was serving with the Custodial Team, and as an usher.

In a few weeks I was leading the Custodial Team.

In a few months I was the Head of Ushers.

In a year I was at Rhema Bible Training Center receiving training in the Ministry of Helps.

Several years later before moving away I was serving as the leader of several teams in the Helps Ministry.

All because a little girl spilled her juice and I asked,

“Can I help?”

Recently an instructor of mine asked for a one sentence summary of what I had learned concerning the Ministry of Helps. Here is my response.

“From my heart, with love I give my time and resources to make it easier for someone else to accomplish their calling in the edifying of the Body.”