Joel Young Blog.com

Preparing to start the new year I have become more selective about what I spend my time doing. I have stopped reading a lot of the blog and books I was reading to maximize the effectiveness of my time spent on such things. This has meant the removal of several things from my reading list, but in several cases it has meant adding something to that list. In regards to the latter I have just recently become a reader of Mark Batterson’s Blog Evotional.com and it is already proving to be a wise choice.

This morning Mark wrote about “Seven Margin Maxims”. These seven things really resonated with me. So, I made a few personal modifications and printed them out to be posted in my office. Here are seven margin maxims as Mark relays them.

1) Put Your Family First
2) Guard Your Day Off
3) Don’t Check Email During Peak Productivity Hours
4) Get Out of the Office Whenever Possible
5) Start Your Day With Devotions
6) Put Together a Stop Doing List
7) Use All Your Vacation Days

Maybe these seven don’t fit you like they fit me. So, make your own list. Hold yourself to them and be determined to create margin in your life.

I ran across a quote while I was doing some sermon writing and studying this week that I thought was worth sharing. Check it…

“The most destructive element in the human mind is fear.” -Dorothy Thompson

Not knowing who Dorothy Thompson was off the top of my head lead me to do some digging. What I found proved that she knew a thing or two about fear. Dorothy was an American journalist who spent much of her career in central Europe. in 1931 she actually sat down and interviewed Adolf Hitler. She later wrote a book book based on that interview called I Saw Hitler. After her book was published, and no doubt because of the content of the book and other related publications, she earned the dubious distinction of being he first American journalist to be kicked out of Germany. The German government considered her work to be “offensive”. In 1939 TIME magazine named her one of the two most influential women in America, alongside Eleanor Roosevelt , for her journalistic work.

You talk about staring fear in the face and speaking out against tyranny in a way that could have ended your life, and you’re talking about the career of Dorothy Thompson. It is amazing to think about the perspective on the emotion of fear that she must have had.

Then I think about the lives that most of us live. Fear is an emotion that most of us don’t spend a lot of time thinking about or interacting with. Or so one would think. You see, even though we may never stand face to face with the kind of fear that Dorothy Thompson did in her day most of us live with the constant presence of a self-induced fear. We worry about what our actions or proclamations to the world might say about us. We worry about how our actions might affect others opinions of us, and for most of us all it does is lead us to complacent inactivity.

This week I’m preaching on the “Miraculous Conception of Jesus” at Horizon. One of the key aspects of this story is the fact that Jesus’ adopted father, Joseph, almost allowed his fear to keep him from accepting who Jesus really was.

I don’t want to preach my whole sermon right here on my blog, for those of you that will be at Horizon, but let me ask you to do this. Think about the fear in your life that is keeping you from accepting who Jesus is. Think about the fear that is standing in your way of REALLY following him, REALLY giving him your life, REALLY making him your source of strength. Think about the fear that might be paralyzing your faith and squelching your passion, and very purposefully CRUSH IT!

Let me just preface this post by saying that my blog is where I try to be as open and honest as I can be about the state of the church in hopes of helping those who make up the church to as strong as possible. This is an issue at my church and many other churches. Don’t get a big head and think this is JUST about you because it’s not. If you are convicted by what I’m about to say, that should be a sign that something needs to change in your life. You can either be a part of the problem or a part of the revolution.

Since I’ve thoroughly confused everyone let me start out with a simple question.

Should the busyness of your life dictate the level of your involvement in the church?

Most of us would probably say, “No,” but I believe that in our modern world there is no one thing that is more of an obstacle for the church than busyness. Why do I believe that? Because that’s what the lives of so many church goers proclaim. Our actions say, “I’ll be at church, unless I have something really pressing to get done.” Or, “I’m a part of the church until something, that is a higher priority in my life, pulls me away.” In essence that’s what we are saying when we allow our busyness to dictate our commitment to the church. “I think that (fill in the blank) is more important.”

It may sound like I’ve got a chip on my shoulder about this, and that’s probably because I do. Jesus Christ DIED A BRUTAL AND PAINFUL DEATH for the church. He didn’t die for your school/education, he didn’t die for your job, he didn’t die for your hobbies, he died for the church. Why? Because it’s that important…it’s that MUCH more important than all the other things we give priority in our life. It’s mission is that important to the salvation of the world, and every second that we allow our busyness to lessen our commitment to Christ’s Church we are demonstrating how little we believe in Her. I’m not saying nothing else should be important to you in your life I’m just asking you to consider a different perspective of importance…God’s perspective.

Now, I’m not suggesting that being heavily involved in a local church will solve all of your problems or in itself bring about salvation, but what I am saying is that all of us who claim to be followers of Christ should have an abnormal commitment to this community called The Church. Sure, she’s not perfect, but when you are baptized into Christ you become a part of it all. If you choose not to pull your weight or be involved you are simply dead weight that the rest of the body will have to carry. If you choose to ALLOW other things to take priority over your commitment to the church it’s a choice that you make, not some you “HAVE TO DO.”

If you’re a follower of Christ make a commitment to the church for the next six months…see what happens. Make her your priority above your busyness. Dont’ just make her a priority, go out of your way for the mission of God and the church Christ established to achieve that mission. Let other people see that…let other people know that, and see what happens…see what conversations happen. I guarantee it will change your life and maybe the life of someone you know.

You may think that I’m saying all of this because I’m a pastor and more church involvement from people like you makes what I do easier, but know that this is how I would feel even if I wasn’t on staff at a church. Take away my position, title, paycheck, whatever, and I will still preach this to believers with every breath in my body.

Over the last month I have been going through one of the most trying seasons of frustration I have ever dealt with. Every day it seems like there is yet another pressing problem or another fire to put out. Not only is it tiring, but it’s taxing on every aspect of my life. This morning as I dealt with yet another frustrating headache I realized something about myself. I expect, and even welcome, frustration during a season of personal or public growth for the Kingdom of God, but somehow I have embedded this understanding in my heart that it will be over quickly. I have been assuming that Satan’s schemes to frustrate me in my life and ministry will be like the removal of a band-aid from my forearm. I expect to lose some hair, but I also don’t expect it to last very long, so I can easily deal with it.

The problem is that Satan doesn’t always play by the rules. Look at Job as an example. After he had lost all of his family and possessions he was probably thinking the season of frustration was over, but it wasn’t. He went on to lose his health and some of his closest friends. Look at the Apostle Paul. Scholars believe that he suffered through debilitating pain most of his adult life. He called it a, “thorn in his side,” and pleaded with God to take it from him. Sounds frustrating to me.

What I’m trying to say is that if we are going to commit to serving the kingdom of God we should expect no end to the frustration. In many ways we should expect it to continue as long as we are faithful in our service. The season could last for weeks, months, years, or decades. But, since we’ll never have that kind of information we just have to push forward through the frustration and continue to work diligently in God’s will knowing that it will do nothing but frustrate Satan and his efforts all the more.

I just inadvertently stumbled onto some really stupid and petty online mudslinging. I’m not going to say who was doing it or who it was about because I don’t want to add to the drama, but a guy I know who is very close to my age and also leads a young church was the one getting trashed. He was being called a goat herder, a false teacher, and a heretic among other things. In case you’re not hip to the lingo these are all very bad things that shouldn’t just be thrown around.

I sat at my desk for more than 10 minutes before I could do anything. I was sick to my stomach, I was angry, and most of all I wished that their was something I could do to defend this guy. I can’t imagine that I would have felt any differently if I was the one getting trashed all over the world wide web. It just made me sick.

After thinking long and hard about the whole situation, and with the realization that this is more common than I know, I have decided to share my personal challenge with you all for your consideration. Here’s what I’m asking myself:

• Is it more important that people hear the Gospel, or that they hear it from YOU?
• Is it more important that your church grows or that the Kingdom of God grows?
• Is it going to hurt your ego if you see another guy doing the same thing as you doing, only doing it better?

I’m not just talking about those times when people put this kind of thing out there for the world to see, but I’m also talking about the condition of our hearts. I may not blog about it, but do I feel these feelings?

The bottom line is this: THERE WILL BE NO MUDSLINGING IN HEAVEN. If you’re in Christ, we’re all on the same team. If someone is out of line with scripture, call them on it (but do it in a Biblical manner, not on your blog or YouTube). But, if someone is out of line with your personal world views or opinions or the blessing they enjoy is eating at your heart, it’s probably time for you to get over it.

My Discipleship Group at Horizon is reading through the book of Psalms this week. If I was being honest I would have to say that I was less than enthused to start this long book full of poetical chapters. I’m not much of a poetry guy, even though I am a song writer, so it’s a bit of a challenge for me. But, I believe this time through God has allowed me to realize some things about these Psalms that I never had before. I thought I would share one this morning.

Even people like King David had major upswings and downswings in their relationship with God. As the author of many psalms, David never ceases to express his true feelings; no matter how good or bad. Sometimes you can sense his frustration with God and His plan. Other times you get the feeling that he is going to explode with appreciation. This isn’t because he’s got a polar personality. It’s because he is being honest with God. I think on some level we all need to learn that being honest with God is okay. He already knows the desires of our hearts and every thought we have, yet we try to conceal our true selves in those times when we struggle.

This week, try to be as honest with God as possible. You won’t be revealing anything new to him, but I think you’ll be surprised what it will do for YOU and how you relate to your creator.

Well, after a week like last week I’m not really sure where to start. So many things happened and so many lives were changed. Not just in the realm of my church, but in God’s Kingdom. I could run down the list for you, but just the things that I know about personally are far to expansive to list; so I’ll just say this.

God is always preparing His Church for something. It could be a for a huge blessing. It could be for a huge obstacle. It could be for a huge opportunity. But, no matter what it is we must always realize that God is preparing us for something. We should stand at the ready, with our sword in hand every day ready for whatever he is preparing us for.

Think about the brave men and women who are a part of our country’s armed forces. When they train and prepare and dedicate themselves to serve they don’t always know where it’s going to take them. Yet they still train diligently knowing that they are preparing for something.

In light of what I have seen God do over the last week allow me to urge you to prepare themselves for whatever direction God is taking you next. You may not know where that is or what that means yet, but God has a plan.

A couple weeks ago my wife and I were playing with our two year old in his room. We were doing puzzles, stacking blocks, and racing cars. Normal Friday night stuff in our house. As we all played on the far side of the house, with little attention to what was happening on the other side of the house, we heard a crash in the kitchen. We were all on edge.

As his typical response goes my two year old son exclaimed, “What was that?” Jenna and I only sat silently listening for any other noises. When we didn’t hear anything else I asked my son what he thought the noise was and he immediately piped up and said, “Jesus!”

I really have nothing clever to say about this one. It’s funny enough to stand alone.

Since my family and I moved into our new house we have done a TON of work on the place. It was built in the 60’s and had original EVERYTHING. We had family and friends pitch in for a week of hard work before we moved in, but many projects still await my attention. One of the last items on the list is a face-lift for my home office. Even though I’m in there almost every day, I’m the only person who ever really goes into my office. So for now, it has fallen to the bottom of the list underneath a heaping pile of more important projects. The wood paneling that lines the walls will continue to be my companion as I plug away writing and designing on my temporary desk, which is currently a card table.

But, even though I know it will be the last part of the house I touch there are some things about the room that can’t wait to be fixed. Probably the most obvious is the fact that the room has NO LIGHTING in it. No lights in the ceiling. No lamps on the floor. This room has nothing but two windows and a door to pull in as much natural light as possible. If it’s dark outside, it’s dark in my office. If it’s bright outside, I can actually see to do my work. You get the idea. I’ll admit, it’s a pretty strange way to operate, but I have made it work. That is, until yesterday when I took a trip to IKEA to get some lamps.

Today, as I work in the brightness of my white-fluorescent, semi-translucent, energy-efficient, budget-friendly lamps I can’t help but think, “What the heck was wrong with me?” Why did I work in this room without lights for nearly a month? What could have possessed me to do something so stupid when the solution was so simple? I think we all know the answer. I GOT COMFORTABLE WITH BEING IN THE DARK. It might have bothered me at first, but after a while it become what I expected, what I craved, and what I knew. After that, I had little reason or desire to change. No matter how bad the reality of my situation was. It took several comments from my wife about how dark my office was for me to really see what the condition of my situation was.

Take it from me. Don’t just use your own perspective to judge your situation. YOU NEED OUTSIDE INPUT! If you can’t get over yourself for long enough to seek perspective from others then you really are living in the dark. Maybe it’s time for you to add some new light to your life. Think about it.

As I was trying desperately to fall asleep during the wee hours of the morning yesterday a thought came to my mind…

Of all things I was thinking about candy. Not just candy, but the wrapper that candy comes in. I mean, candy itself is pretty unimpressive to look at. Sure, it tastes good but it ain’t much to look at. If I put a bunch of tootsie rolls on a table NO ONE would want them. If I handed you a stick of unwrapped gum you would probably try to hang a poster with it, not chew it. Without packaging most candy is strange looking and awkward.

So, candy companies go to great lengths to market their product and brand their taste so before you even take a bite, a lick, or a chomp you know what you’re getting. You’re excited about what the wrapping says is underneath and not the reality of what you’re getting. Pretty brilliant strategy for candy companies, but a really bad idea for the church.

Too many churches have been duped into thinking that there’s nothing compelling about the Gospel message itself and without a shiny, pretty, and appealing package people will never be interested. We mask the beauty and power of Jesus Christ’s Gospel and try to fool people into thinking it’s something else. It doesn’t matter if that “something else” is masked in all sorts of positivity it still shows a lack of confidence in and understanding of the Gospel. Though we may fool ourselves into thinking so, the Gospel is not chained by the wrapper we put on it. Sure, a well market wrapper can be effective, but every ounce of marketing and production we put forth to promote the Gospel should be done with the realization that it is the truth of Jesus Christ’s life, death, and resurrection that will change people. Not our brilliant packaging.

Ask yourself this question. Is the Gospel I’m living/preaching/spreading just as powerful without the packaging, or is it just a tootsie roll on the table?