Imagine if you were responsible for something and you didn’t know it?  It’s hard to imagine. Yet it’s true. There is something you are responsible for, although you may not think about it much.

You’re responsible for the way you live your life.

At this moment, the state lottery payout is approaching 1 billion dollars!  The question is, what would you do with that kind of money. At the end of the day, God would hold you responsible for how you handled it.

You were responsible for getting good grades.  Chances are your present level of happiness is a result of the decisions you made.

You were responsible to be a good spouse when you stood at the altar.

You were responsible when you decided to have children.

The challenge is that responsibilities tend to increase as we live rather than decrease.

One word.  Grandchildren.  You thought you were done being responsible after your own children were raised.  Wrong.

Retirement.  You think it will eliminate your responsibilities.  Wrong.

What would you do if you wanted someone to be aware of their responsibilities?  In most cases, you would tell them what is expected of them.

However, that’s what we do all the time.  That allows us to avoid difficult conversations.  It allows us to remain likeable. It saves us a lot of time and energy.

In Psalm 100 he gives us 8 commands.  What if I told you that how you respond to them determines everything about your level of joy?

The reason is they have to do with more than just your actions.  They have to do with your attitude.

Attitude determines latitude.

Soaring with the eagles is a lifelong journey.

If you want to feel better, act better.

It takes practice.  Yet we live in a world where many people think things should just fall into our laps.

Not only does God command us, he commands us regardless of what are circumstances are.  No matter how rich or poor we are, God expects us to obey his commands. No matter what are finances look like, God expects us to listen to him.  Regardless of our health, God expects us to serve Him.

The question is “why’?  Why would God expect us to have the right attitude?  Why would God expect us to have the right attitude when it seems like everything around us is falling apart?  Why would God expect us to serve others joyfully, especially if we are going through financial difficulties?

Our faith shouldn’t be based on our feelings.

Feelings change just like the weather.  You can feel sunny one minute and partly cloudy the next.  Feelings change, but your attitude should not.

If you want to be joyful tomorrow, you have to start with being joyful today.  Not when you feel like it.

Psalm 100 says:

Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth.

Serve the LORD with gladness;

Come before Him with joyful singing.

Know that the LORD Himself is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter His gates with thanksgiving

And His courts with praise.

Give thanks to Him, bless His name.

For the LORD is good;

His lovingkindness is everlasting

And His faithfulness to all generations.

Why should we shout for joy, serve the LORD with gladness, come before Him with joyful singing and know Him as God.  The answer is in verse 3: because he made us and those are the things He designed us to do! Just as a Ford Mustang is designed to go fast, we were designed for so much more.  We were made to thrive and flourish because of what God has done for us.

And we have an intimate invitation to draw near to Him in all that we do.  He wants to spend time with us. Not just on Sunday or once a year at Christmas or Easter.  God wants to walk with us.

The good news is that the more we get to know Him, the more we’ll act like Him.

Imagine what it would be like to…

Dump the garbage for God,

Raise a disobedient child,

Care for a sick loved one,

Love an obnoxious co-worker,

Work for a selfish boss…

In the imperfect world, the chances are that you will have to do some or all of these things.  As you do, you and only you will have the power to make the best of each situation. You can look at them as unpleasant experiences or opportunities to serve God.  The choice is yours…and mine.

What if today, you decided to whistle while you work?   

What if you decided to begin serving God with joy and laughter regardless of your circumstances.

You can!

Don’t wait to be full of joy, be full of joy today.  Right now. Wherever you are.

You’re responsible for your own joy.  Life is sometimes difficult, but when we choose to mope, we make it more difficult than it should be.  If you want to feel better, act better. Don’t trust your feelings, walk by faith. Your feelings will change, your faith should grow.  God designed us for so much more…more than you could ever ask, think or imagine. Don’t miss out on the curriculum that God has designed to make you more like Him, just because it is difficult.  Determine right now that no matter what happens, you’re going to focus on maintaining a godly attitude. Remember, God’s loving kindness is eternal and He is faithful. We should be too.

Has the road to success destroyed your soul?  Last week we talked about redefining success. Specifically, we talked about the fact that we live in a ‘bigger is better’ world.  The truth is that there is a healthier option.

Size doesn’t matter when it comes to leadership.  Just because your organization is small, doesn’t mean that you are a poor leader.  Many people have come to realize that God builds the church and it is their job to build Christians. This distinction is important, because unless more leaders realize the importantance of remaining true to their calling despite numerical growth, they will become discouraged and quit.

How about you?  If you’re like most people, you wanted more when you began your journey.  Perhaps you wanted a bigger house. You thought ‘if only I had a bigger house, I’d be happier’.  Or, if there were 100 members in my organization, my peers would stand up and take notice. There would be numerous calls to speak at conferences.  My family could enjoy a higher standard of living.

It’s o.k to dream of bigger and better.  That’s something God has wired into you. If you didn’t have those kind of desires, you would never grow.  But a problem arises if you have a ‘build it and they will come mentality’. That is not always the case. If the church you pastor is in the middle of the desert, it’s unrealistic to think that if you work harder or dream bigger, attendance will grow by 100% this year.

As an aspiring leader you face the problem that you can see your organization as it could and should be (in the future) and the reality of what it is ( the present state of affairs).  When this happens, the natural course of action you desire is to close the gap.  You want what could and should be, not what is. You are passionate. The problem is, passion, without a clear sense of reality, can kill your soul and suck the life out of the organization that you lead.

Several years ago, I met a pastor who pastors in the south who was ecstatic about his place of ministry despite the numbers.  As we talked, he glowed as he shared how much he enjoys serving his small congregation. At the time, I thought he must be nuts.  I was doing everything in my power to see our church grow and in the process I was miserable, despite growth. You too, can be content if you learn to enjoy the journey rather than focusing on the destination every waking hour.

Don’t be so focused on the future that you neglect the present.

Remember that place in the bible where Jesus was miserable because the church wasn’t growing?  Neither do I. When you read the stories about Jesus you meet a man who was content, sublime, at ease despite his circumstances, and in intimate relationship with his Father.  Jesus loved people despite what they might be able to do for him. In fact, none of the people he developed came from the ‘religious world’ at the time. In the words of Andy Stanley, people who were least like Jesus had the greatest desire to be around him.  There was something different about Jesus, he never let an apparent lack of fruit affect his intimate relationship with his Father.

Here are 5 ways to enjoy your leadership position more.

1. Be content where you are.  One mark of leaders is that they are content.  Not just when they arrive, but during the journey.  As the saying goes, “wherever you are, be all there”.  If you’re not content with the number of people in your organization now, you won’t be content later.  God doesn’t want you to be walking around with a stick tied to your head with a carrot dangling from the end.
2. Love your people.  Leaders love their people, warts and all.  In fact, God expects you to love those you lead.  That is why they are under your leadership.  Care for them.  Bless them, despite their performance or ability to pay you back.  Never underestimate how God wants to use you to make a difference in their life.  Jesus loved Judas until the very end, although Judas betrayed him.  If you think you would be much happier surrounded by ‘yes’ people you are wrong.  If you can love and serve the most difficult ones, that is true leadership.
3. Your family is your #1 priority.  Those closest to you deserve your best.  When it is all said and done, they may be all that you have left.  Unfortunately, we can’t rewind the hands of time.  Make the memories while you still can.  Your family is your greatest asset, so never sacrifice them for your ministry.  Being more concerned about how many more you can reach and neglecting those God has given you is not part of his plan.
4. Stop working so hard.  You didn’t read that last statement wrong.  If you are spending seven days a week, trying to get ahead, you need to stop.  God created all of us to work 6 days and rest on the 7th day.  It’s an amazing principle, but God promises that you can do more by resting one day than working.  So do what you enjoy.  Go visit a friend.  Go fishing.  Shop.  Drink coffee.  Practice your spiritual gift of hanging out.  Ignore the 7 habits of highly effective people for a day.  Be unproductive.  Lounge.  Relax…
5. Celebrate!  You’ve come a long ways.  You are growing and improving.  You know more than you did six months ago.  You have more experience.  So celebrate.  Don’t wait until next year or until you complete your degree.  Rejoice now!

Years ago I went to a ministry conference and a young man struck up a conversation with me in the bathroom.  “How big is your church?”, he asked.  I answered him and he promptly turned around and walked away.  The reason he did is because based on my answer he determined I had absolutely nothing to teach him because my rural church was small in number.  I was in mild shock.

Maybe you feel the same way.  You’re laboring in a forgotten corner and it seems like your career is going nowhere and you’re not making much of a difference.  I want you to know that you are.  The fact that you’re reading this post tells me that God has big plans for you.  Always remember, sometimes God puts a big fish in a small pond.

When you think about yourself, does the word encouraging come to mind?

I know that we all, myself included, would like to be thought of as encouraging, but that’s not always the case.

This can be a painful reminder, especially when we think of the things we’ve said to our spouses and/or children.  Off stage, we sometimes let it all hang out and have regrets later.

There’s sometimes a little nagging voice in all of us that wants to say ‘I told you so’ when people need grace or mercy.  It also says things like ‘that’s what you deserve’ or in our worse yet ‘ha, ha!’.

Most of us were experts at this sort of thing when we were younger and someone had a sour experience or misfortune.  If we were honest, we thought and still sometimes think, they had that coming.

I don’t know about you, but I’m glad I don’t get everything I deserve.  If I did, I’d be in a heap of trouble.

When things go south, especially when it’s your fault, the last thing you want is someone to come along and add insult to injury.

If you lost a baby, you wouldn’t want people to accuse you of not being right with God.

If you got a DWI, the last thing you’d want is for your friends to disown you.

If you lost your job, you wouldn’t want people to say things like you shouldn’t have called in sick so many times.

If you were struggling with your weight, you wouldn’t want someone picking on you about how much cake you eat.

Part of leading and influencing and leading others means encouraging them.  That doesn’t always mean affirming the fault, but it does mean affirming people.  None of us had anything to begin with that was not a gift.  That includes the people in our lives who have contributed the most.

The choice is ours we can encourage or discourage people.

This reminds me of someone who decided to be an encourager.  His name was Barnabas.

In Acts 4:36 we read “Now Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles (which translated means Son of Encouragement) and who owned a tract of land, sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

Imagine that!  Barnabas was named Joseph (fruitful) at birth and gained the name of Barnabas because he was so encouraging.  In this case, he sold land and gave all of the money to the apostles!  If the truth were told, if we are going to encourage people it is sometimes going to cost us money!  Right?  I don’t know about you, but that kind of story inspires me to be an encourager.  Yet when I’m faced with opportunities to provide this kind of encouragement, I sometimes withhold.  It’s so easy to imagine that someone else will meet the need.  Being an encourager means setting the first example.  Barney did and his story has been retold for over 2,000 years

Resources: Encouraging people encourage with their resources.  Resources aren’t always money, they can include time and energy.  But in this case it was cold hard cash.  It’s easy to think we’re encouragers because we share our time and energies, but that’s only part of the equation if we neglect to part with our money.  The bible teaches to tithe (10 percent) as well as offer free will offerings.  Many do tithe, but are stingy in the line at the convenience store or in the community when there is a need.  We can also justify ourselves when there is a special offering, on the grounds that we tithe.  Barnabas solved the problem by giving 100%.

The next time we read about Barnabas, he is standing up for an ex-murder who experienced a radical transformation after meeting Jesus.  Acts 9:26-27, says, “When he came to Jerusalem (Saul), he was trying to associate with the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple.  But Barnabas took hold of him and brought him to the apostles and described to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had talked to him, and how at Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus”.

Rejects: While the apostles, the very people who spent time with Jesus for 3 to 3 1/2 years rejected Saul, Barnabas did not.  Talk about the majority not always being right!  Only 1 in 12 were willing to give Saul a second chance.  Not only did Barnabas embrace Saul, he was willing to lay his own reputation on the line to promote him among his own peers while the term reject seems harsh, you know what I mean when I use the word (preachers always have to alliterate!  :-).  But from a teaching stance, this kind of language stands out.  It’s not our works that make us acceptable in God’s eyes, it’s the gift his Son Jesus provided for us on the cross.  The last thing we want to do is reject someone who God has reconciled with.  Yet, its so easy to withhold acceptance from people who don’t act like we do.  Once they do, we tell ourselves, then I’ll start spending time with them.  If Jesus held that view, the apostles would never have received the training they needed.

The good news is that God is an encourager!  I don’t know about you, but when I think about Barnabas and his actions and attitude, I think of God.

Imagine if today, you decided to be an encourager…at home (wow!), in the market place, among friends, in your church.  The potential is unlimited to what could happen.  The next time you have good reason to scold someone, take a minute to think about how you can encourage them.  If you want a greater challenge think of 3 ways you could encourage them or 5 ways!

I’m sure that all of us at this point in our lives can think of atleast one person who needs encouragement.  What are we waiting for.  Encourage people!

Has success ever brought you grief?

Nearly a year ago, success sauntered into sight and I was able to grasp it before it slipped back into the fog…or so I thought.

It wasn’t the first time.  It had happened before.

There had been leadership victories followed by upsets.

In retrospect, it had never occurred to me that success can be temporary.  That it takes continual effort and momentum to keep the flywheel moving. I now know better.

How about you?  Have you ever claimed victory only to succumb to defeat?

The good news is that we can lose some battles and still win the war.

Here are ten things I’ve learned about success followed by failure.

1. We can’t ride on our wins.  We need to keep doing the things that led to victory.  Be it eating right. Planning. Staying healthy. Strategizing.  Taking the daily steps that lead to supernatural growth. The minute we do, we set ourselves up for grief and failure.  Trophies are wonderful but if we spend all of our time looking at them, we won’t win anymore.
2. Regrets are never pleasant.  This is a tough truth. The last thing we want is to have regrets.  About our past. Our children. The way we spent our time. Moral failure.  However, when we get slack we usually head for the path of resistance and it doesn’t take long to run its course.  Regrets follow.
3. Contentment can lead to inactivity.  Salesmen for example can never grow content with last month’s sales.  They have to keep doing the fundamentals if they want to win. We were never designed to have everything just come to us.  We were designed to move and seek.  Success is an uphill battle.
4. The things that once brought you pleasure can change.  We learn this especially as we grow. Many people who once enjoyed certain hobbies and pursuits, no longer do.  Age is another contributing factor. The last thing we want to do is get to the end of life and find out we were running toward the wrong end zone.
5. Failure can spur you on toward greater victory.  Nobody enjoys failure, but it can be a tool. Study the life of people like Abraham Lincoln who experienced failure after failure.  Don’t get bitter, get better. It’s failure, not success that often spurs us on to greater heights.
6. Failure after success is not uncommon.  This isn’t a cop out. There’s just something comforting in knowing that you’re never alone.  Many people succeed and many fail. In fact, in most cases success is rare. It’s natural and human to sometimes succumb to all of the opposing forces.  But failure doesn’t have to be forever.  Be humble.  Love others when they fail.  Be encouraging.  Learn to recognize diamonds in the rough.
7. We often learn more from our failures than we do our success.  Call it the ‘School of Hardknocks’, or the ‘University of Adversity’ but failure often purifies and purges.  It separates the gold from the dross. Yes, failure is often very costly, but it’s worth every ounce of pain if we learn something from it.  Sometimes you have to go smack through failure to win.
8. At the end of the day, nobody can take away your victories.  Yes, lingering over our victories can be dangerous, but there’s nothing wrong with savoring them.  When I do, I often reflect on God’s goodness. Certain accomplishments pay dividends for a lifetime.
9. Every failure provides an opportunity to learn.  While this sounds redundant, it’s not in my opinion.  In fact, just a few years ago I started doing autopsies on my failures and the lessons were incredible.  One year I missed three opportunities! After reflecting upon each one for hours, I recognized what I did wrong and now I’m better prepared for the future.
10. If we succeed and have no one to share it with, we haven’t succeeded.  Again, if we succeed and have no one to share it with, we haven’t succeeded.  Leaders take people with them and when leaders get to where they’re going, many who started with them remain.  Imagine a celebration without anyone to celebrate with. That’s not a celebration, that’s Lonelyville.

I hope that some of the mistakes I’ve made and lessons I’ve learned will help you.  It’s not difficult for me to imagine that you may be in a very hard place right now.  It’s so easy to focus on our failures rather than our success.

My prayer is that as you read this post, you will be encouraged to celebrate your victories, chase new ones and learn from your mistakes.  Remember, God never wastes a hurt!

What do you do when things aren’t going as you planned?

I’m glad that although not everything goes as planned, some things do.  For instance, I’m glad that when I close my eyes at night to rest, my body knows what to do.  I don’t know the science of it all, but part of it involves a voluntary and involuntary system.  Without me consciously thinking about it ,by body takes over and I am able to sign-off and get the rest I need.

Likewise, my heart circulates blood to every part of my body to nourish it.  I also grow- trimmed nails regenerate- hairs (albeit very few) grow.

So, although not everything goes as planned, I’m glad some things do.

How about you?  I’m sure there are some things going your way right now and some that are not.

In my experience you can get discouraged about the things that are not working and still do nothing about them.

Again, you see but do not act.

Time goes by and nothing happens.

There are lots of one liners to encourage this, such as…’Let go and let God’, ‘It will happen’.  We here this type of thinking all the time.  The most recent philosophy is ‘It is what it is’.

Now acceptance is one thing, but resignation is another.

As a leader, your job is to take what is and make it better.  Streamline it.  Maximize.  Get results.  Help people do what they want to do, but can’t without you.

I’ll use a recent dining experience as an example.  We went to a pizza place.  I won’t say where, but it was a chain store.  The first person we were greeted by was a young girl wearing a blue dress rather than a uniform.  In fact a rather young girl who said ‘I don’t work here, I’m just helping out’.  Bizarre.

When she came back to take our order, we couldn’t order because she hadn’t given us any menus.

She never came back to ask how the food was or if we needed more drinks.

Without going any further, you can imagine there was very little customer service going on.

So what was wrong?  The system had gone south.

I’m sure that someone had a system in place and it was not being carried out.  Thankfully there were parts that held up and the food was excellent thanks to pre-made pies and an automatic oven.  But the point is whoever designed the system would have been rolling in their grave.

Like the pizza place mentioned, you have systems in your own life.  A way of doing things and getting results.

You and your spouse have a system.

You and your employer have a system.

You have a system that begins every morning when you wake up.  It may or may not involve exercise, but it’s a system nonetheless.

In most cases, you don’t need to chuck out your whole system like last weeks trash.  You need to tweak it.  Maximize it.  Incorporate new elements.  The good news is that small changes can lead to large results.

Once you make the changes in your system, they become automatic and once they become automatic, they require less energy to perform.  They become habits.

As a master teacher, Jesus was all about re-evaluating old systems and implementing new ones.

For example, in Matthew chapter five alone, he says “You’ve heard it said” five times in one chapter.  Each time he does, he follows up with a ‘but….

In fact, in chapters 5, 6 and 7, Jesus taught a discourse that people have been incorporating for centuries.  Work them into your life and they create radical results.

One thing we do when are systems aren’t working as they should is put the blame on people.  When in fact, our spouse isn’t to blame.  Our employees aren’t to blame.  Our children aren’t to blame.  It’s not a matter of people failing, it’s system failure.

The systems we’ve designed over the years are achieving perfect results, they just may not be the results we intended.

I know that may not be what you want to hear right now, but there’s good news!

Change your systems and you can change your life.

With that thought in mind, what is one system in your life that needs changing and what steps are you going to take to change it?