NateLindseth

Wow, it has been way to long since I last blogged! Time to start blogging again. Today I want to talk about keeping a right perspective. It is so easy to see things from a perspective that does not honor God. I was recently at Annual Conference, which is our Northwest Ministry Network’s big conference of the year. I enjoyed the conference immensely. However, I found myself having thoughts of jealousy throughout the event. I would hear about how great one Church was doing, how amazing their facilities are, how they have the best youth pastor in the state, and I couldn’t help but think… “my Church is amazing too!” As childish as that sounded, I would be dishonest if I didn’t acknowledge that at least a part of me felt that way.  Jealousy is an emotion that everyone deals with but few will admit. So, how do I deal with a heart of jealousy?

5 Ways:

1. Be honest about strengths and weaknesses
2. Know yourself. Be OK with who you are and who you are not
3. Avoid comparisons
4. Celebrate others victories
5. Love people – don’t need them.

Finally, my Pastor (Cal Carpenter) reminded me that as Pastors we were never called to be successful, we are called to be Pastors. The Pastor’s heart is for the people to Encounter God, Engage in healthy relationships, and that every person would be empowered for a life of significance.

Jealousy only lives if our perspective is mi-optic. As Jesus said, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve…” The right perspective is to serve others and put our own selfish, irritating, and petty desires behind. I believe this is a much better perspective!

I am reading a book called the Prodigal God. My Dad gave it to me this past thanksgiving. The title bothered me at first because my definition of “prodigal” is mostly understood through the lens of the “prodigal son” found in the New Testament. However, the definition of prodigal actually is: 1. Recklessly extravagant 2. Having spent everything. When I think of God, His love, and His grace. I can’t imagine a better description of how He views his creation. I think of my life, the grace that God has given, this definition and I can’t help but smile.
The question that the book raises however is, has the Church become the older brother in the story of the prodigal son? In case you don’t know, in the story the younger brother takes his inheritance early, leaves, and spends it all. He comes back to his father, hoping to work as a servant for his father because of the shame he has brought on his family. However, the father runs to the son and hugs him. He then proceeds to throw a huge party for his son. The older son is upset and feels cheated. He did everything right, he was faithful, and he never brought shame to his family. I bet the older brother had questions like:
Where is my party?
Why do we have to celebrate the return of a fool?
Why is my father so forgiving?
The point is, the heart of God, his position towards his children, and love for mankind is recklessly extravagant and having spent everything by sending his son for our sins.
My prayer is that I will be a prodigal and not an older brother to those who come back to God.

I recently viewed a sermon with our staff called: “A leader’s Constant Companion”. The sermon revealed very quickly that this companion is pain. (I know, really exciting right?!!!!) I must admit, I don’t like pain, for obvious reasons. However, the sermon points out that God will use pain in order to get us where we need to be. The most impacting part of the message for me was the idea that I should pray for a higher pain tolerance so that I could let God do all that he needs to do in my life. I am challenged by this, and pray for the strength and courage to do what pleases God, not man, even when it hurts.
This message brought back memories of a book I read in high school called; “The Gift of pain”. I don’t remember the author but I remember reading this book and afterward thanking God for pain! Here’s why, pain is the alarm that lets our body know that something is wrong. If we can’t feel pain, then we don’t know if were injured, sick, or in serious trouble. The book explained that one of the major problems with Leprosy is that it attacks the nerves in the body that allows a person to feel. Therefore many of the people with Leprosy loose limbs because they can’t feel they’re injury and therefore do not get help or fix the problem.
Pain is a gift if we can see it from a different point of view.

I wonder what God might be trying to teach me through pain?

I wonder if my pain today, is my preparation for a miracle tomorrow?

Proverbs 10:9
“The man of integrity walks securely, but he who takes crooked paths will be found out.”
I was reading an article about another scandal involving a high profile Pastor and his moral failure. The thought crossed my mind, “why does it seem like so many Pastors take crooked paths?” I even began to wonder about myself, everyone else seems to be failing in the morality department, when will it be my turn? As if it were a lottery number that was pulled and you really didn’t have a choice, it just happens. I must admit, in that thought, I felt a little scared about my future.
However, when I read Proverbs 19:10, I realize that since I am in Christ and he is in me, my path is secure, as long as integrity goes with me. I once had a mentor define integrity as: “The things we do when no one else is around.” My path can be secure, but I must make the right choices every step of the way for my path to be secure. One of the ways that I believe people, not just pastors can have the security that Proverbs talks about is by examining motives and making sure that they are in alignment with what God would want His people to have. A verse that I believe will keep our motives in check is…Psalm 19:14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
Any other ideas for walking the secure path?

Ecclesiastes 9:4 “Anyone who is among the living has hope—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!”
I must admit, there are times when hope seems hard to come by. Discouragement can arrive in our lives as fast a phone call or a wrong lane-change on a highway. Life can seem so precarious if we start to focus on how easily life can implode at a moments notice. However, if we look to some stories in scripture, it seems that God does incredible things in the most hopeless of situations. I think of the Roman soldier who thought his son to be dead, took only the words of Jesus with him and he saw his son alive and well. The widow and her son in the middle of drought, preparing to die see the hand of God stretch their food so that they could live.
I think of people who leave Churches, jobs, friends, spouses and children because life got difficult, I wonder if salvation was only a moment away? Maybe God might be telling you to stick it out and trust him with your situation. It may not be flashy, but you just might be in the center of a divine encounter with the almighty God. Hope allows us the privilege to believe in a God who cares about even the hairs on our head, no matter how many or few they might be.
The writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us, if your still reading this,  your alive! Which means there is still hope…

I can remember playing a basketball game in High School. There was an errant pass that flew into the stands and hit a girl holding a huge cup of soda. The soda exploded by the impact and flew not only all over the girl, the stands, and other spectators. It also came flying onto the court! The game stopped and everyone froze to see if the girl was OK. She was, but the question then was who was going to clean up the gym floor? What seemed like only a split second, my coach ran over to the gym closet, got out a mop, cleaned the floor, dried it, and were playing again! Over the loud speaker in front of 600 to 800 fans the announcer said, “no job to small for coach DeBoer.”

I still think about that line from time to time. I wonder if leaders ever think to themselves, this job is to small for me?

Matthew 25:40
“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

As people who follow Christ, we must remember that we are called to serve, even if it seems “below our pay grade”.

If you are in any leadership role or a person trying to be more like Jesus ask yourself daily, whom have I served today? If its only yourself, you might want to change your plans for the day.