Month: April 2017

TADB 010: What’s on the Whiteboard?

The timeout is a critical tool for winning ball games.  In basketball each team is allowed a limited amount.  A coach calls a timeout for a variety of reasons:

  • Thwart the momentum of the opposing team
  • Refocus his players
  • Set up a special offense or defense
  • Give his players a rest
  • Overcome the crowd noise to send in instructions

Regardless of the reason, when a coach calls a timeout, the players huddle around him with their undivided attention.  No one is on their cell phone, visiting with the cheerleaders, or talking with their friends.  A coach has 60 seconds to get his idea across.  Often he explains his plan visually on a little whiteboard so the players can see as well as hear what is said.

Jesus modeled and taught how to live in relationship with the Father.  The Gospels tell us that Jesus frequently responded to the Father’s “timeout”.  One example is when Jesus took a timeout with his Father in the midst of a very successful healing ministry.  The result was an entirely new “play/plan” (Mark 1:32-39).

I consider my daily appointment with God (AWG) to be like a coach’s timeout.  It is a few minutes each day when I give my Coach my undivided attention.  I have found that the first thing in the morning before there is too much crowd noise, is the best time for me to hear his voice and understand what he is writing on the whiteboard.

I will know his directions when I allow Christ to speak his Word into my life on a consistent basis.  Some days I feel like I’m playing offense and other days I am on the defense.  But each day I need his play.

My AWG is not a time for training or long explanations but for words of encouragement and clarity.  There are other times when I need to practice and train.  The AWG is not a time for extended Bible study; that’s a different discipline.  But each day I need a fresh word from my Coach.

A simple plan to see what’s on the whiteboard looks like this:

  • Refocus

Honestly admit the current state of your heart and mind.  “This morning I feel like I could climb a mountain; I’m so pumped!”  OR “Right now my anxiety indicator is off the charts.  I know I should not be anxious, but that is where I am.”

Next refocus by reviewing some of the portraits of Christ that hang in the gallery of your mind.  Finish the statement, “Lord, today I acknowledge that you are my ………..”  (Shepherd, Friend, Shelter, Healer, etc.)

  • Read

As you go through a book of the Bible, read a short passage such as a paragraph, several verses, or maybe a chapter.  But keep it short.  Read it over several times.

  • Reflect

Think about the meaning of what you just read.  Asking questions such as what, why, how, and when, can help in this process.  And most important, ask how this is relevant to your life.

  • Record

Write down your main thought in a journal…keep a log of what you hear God saying.  This is your whiteboard.  Journaling clarifies and focuses your mind as you ask the Lord, “What is the one idea that you want me to reflect on today?  What’s the play of the day?”

  • Respond

Pray back what you hear Christ’s Spirit saying to your heart.  Prayer makes it a dialogue.  Take what you have heard for yourself and pray it for others as God brings them to mind.  Pray the “play” into reality.

You will need to initially give some structure to your AWG if it is to become a spiritual habit.  Pick a time and place where you can be alone, undistracted and consistent.  Let your family know what you are doing so they can support your efforts.

You will probably need more than 60 seconds for a profitable AWG…but you don’t need an hour.  Start with 15 minutes until it becomes a pattern.  Then increase as you have opportunity.  Initially it may seem like you are performing a duty rather than personally meeting with the Lord.  But once you master the mechanics, your focus will become your relationship with Christ rather than filling in an outline.  At that point your AWG changes from being a duty to an absolute delight.

As you develop your ear to hear from God, you will find it easier to share your whiteboard experience with others as well.

Reflection:

  1. What is a next step for you to become consistent in a daily AWG
  2. What obstacles will you face?  How will you overcome them?

TADB 009: Free but not automatic

The simple free throw in basketball is as old as the game itself.  One of the few things that has not changed over the years and is the same at every level of play.  It has always been 15’ from a 19” basket.  Close games are often won or lost by the free throw.  However, free means uncontested not automatic.

Knowing Christ is similar to the basketball free throw.  The privilege of knowing Christ on the resurrection side of the cross is made possible by grace through faith in the person and work of Christ.  Paul refers to this new connection as Christ “in us” and we “in him”. This new reality offers us an opportunity that must be developed.

Knowing the infinite God of the universe may sound wonderful, but it takes effort, practice and skill over time if it is to be realized.  Jesus, along with the other New Testament writers, taught and modeled how this relationship is developed.  In a previous blog I mentioned that Jesus connected knowing him with eternal life.  He made eternal life to be more like a verb than a noun.  Paul challenges us today to take action.  Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called (1Timothy 6:12 NASB).

The process of knowing Christ is similar to how we grow in our knowledge of any living person.  There are four critical elements to “knowing” someone including Christ.

  • Mutual respect
  • Consistent dialogue
  • Shared experiences
  • Authentic transparency

Mutual respect

Respect is foundational to knowing and ultimately to loving another person.  The Psalmist reflects on how God views the people he has created.  What is man that You take thought of him…and care for him? Yet You have made him a little lower than God and You crown him with glory and majesty!”  (Psalms 8:4-5 NASB).

Part of our challenge in knowing Christ is to understand and accept what he says is true of us who are part of his family of grace.  John states we are children of God (I John 3:1-2).  Paul says we are saints.  But what do we say?  Do we think of ourselves as worms or wonderful, vile or valuable, sinners or saints?

Equally important is what we think of Christ – not only in theological terms such as omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent, but regarding everyday life.  Most of us have a mental picture of Christ as the good Shepherd, but do we respect him as the person we would take with us into the boardroom or classroom….even picture him teaching a course on physics or psychology?

Dallas Willard identifies this as a major problem for discipleship:

What lies at the heart of the astonishing disregard of Jesus found in the moment-to-moment existence of multitudes of professing Christians, is a simple lack of respect for him.  He is not seriously taken to be a person of great ability.  But how, then, can we admire him?  And what can devotion or worship mean if simple respect is not included in it?  (The Great Omission p 19).

Developing an accurate picture(s) of the nature of Christ is the foundation for respect and true knowledge of him.  (Topics for future blogs).

Consistent dialogue

No friendship develops without mutual and consistent conversation.  It reveals what is on the mind and heart of another person.  Close down dialogue and you shut down the relationship (as most married people know too well).  Without consistent and mutual dialogue with Christ we may have a good theology but a shallow relationship.

We usually understand that prayer and Scripture form this dialogue.  The challenge is to develop this dialogue on a consistent and personal level.  The alternative is a “911” God who we call only when we are in trouble and Scripture becomes a Chilton’s Auto Manual that we look at only when something breaks.

 Shared experiences

Friendships are built one experience at a time.  Being together, sharing adventures, joys, heartaches, and sometimes just the daily routine, builds a relationship.  Shared experience creates a history of trust that can transcend time as evidenced by fraternities, sororities, military units, and sports teams.  As we trust and obey Christ in our daily lives our relationship with him will grow in scope and depth.

Mutual transparency

Christ does not promise to share his heart with casual observers.  Jesus told his disciples:

I no longer call you servants…I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you  (John 15:15). 

A study of the training of the twelve apostles reveals that Christ gradually revealed his heart as the disciples became closer to him.  His first invitation to the disciples was, “Come and see”.  By the time they were in the Garden of Gethsemane, they saw deeply and intimately into the heart and passion of the Savior.

Knowing Christ is a wondrous gift, but it must be developed.  The initiative and the means are from him, but he waits for us to act, to open the door and invite him into a relationship of KNOWING.

Reflection:

What practice (spiritual discipline) do you need to develop that would allow for a deeper relationship with Christ?  What would be a next step to make it happen?