SELF-DISCIPLINE ADVANTAGE

Successful business people, Olympic athletes, and professional musicians have this in common: they are known for their extraordinary self-discipline.

Are Christians? Do we eat healthier, exercise more, and foster positive morning routines like prayer and Bible study?

Maybe I am missing something, but I don't see that trend among the general church population to any noticeable degree.

If we aren't known for self-discipline, what are we known for?

Are believers known for their love?

For being joyful?

Are we full of peace?

Known to be patient and kind?

Do we have the reputation of being good, faithful, and gentle?

It seems to me that all those characteristics would be associated with believers to a much greater extent than "self-disciplined" would be.

But you may have already recognized that list of good characteristics. 

These are the fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5.

Self-control is also on that list, though. So why don't we see more of it? 

After all, we have a pronounced advantage over any secular business people, athletes, and musicians - We have available to us a self-control fostered by God's Holy Spirit!

THIS BLOG'S GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT

Next month I will be completing three years of writing (almost) daily here. I guess I am "proud" of that accomplishment and it has improved my writing and editing skills.

And that's been valuable to me.

But as far as having eternal value to the Kingdom goes, the greatest accomplishment of this little blog has been playing a not-insignificant role in introducing two individual missionaries to Cap Haitien Christian School. And they are both currently serving there.

The first, Kacie, has been there many years now! 

The second just arrived in country two weeks ago: Joel Zizi is there to teach 6th grade through 9th English and PE. 

Tonight he sent me his first photo-packed newsletter from the field and two things struck me:

1. He looks like a natural fit in the classroom. And in Haiti in general. 
2. I am homesick for Haiti.

Tomorrow is Vertieres Day - a national holiday in Haiti. It's the day all the missionaries always made our substitute Thanksgiving. We have so many great memories of November 18ths in Haiti in particular. 

I miss it dearly!

If you have a heart for Haiti and want to support either of the two missionaries this blog has had a small hand in getting to Cap Haitien Christian School, you can go to their support pages by clicking on their names below:

Joel Zizi

Kacie St. Fidor

I know they both are doing great work for God's Kingdom and both could use a little extra financial support.

WHICH CREED DO YOU HOLD TO?

I got the attention of a Calvinist YouTuber - Daily Theology 1689 - by posting the following comment on his video, "Election is Biblical":

"It's good to see a Calvinist openly admit they see "faith" as a "work". (Although Scripture obviously does not.) Most go to great lengths to dance around this."

He chose to engage with me to show me where I was wrong in opposing Calvinism, and before long he was asking me, "What is the gospel?"

I replied: "Everlasting life and reconciliation with your Creator has been made available to humanity through the life, death, and resurrection of God's Son for whosoever believes."

I thought that would rile him up (because of the "whosoever"), but the whole thing threw him for a loop. He next asked:

"Do you affirm that God is a Trinity? Jesus is fully God and fully man? What creed or confession do you hold to?"

I had no doubt what the answer was for him - it's right there in his YouTube name: He's a devotee of the London Baptist Confession of 1689. 

(Those guys apparently got everything 100% correct and there's been no need for any believers to do any digging or questioning of their own in the past 334 years.)

I wrote back, "Yes, Yes, and there's no particular creed or confession that I pledge allegiance to. Why do you ask?"

This really got to him:

"Without a statement of faith it's difficult to discuss or understand where you are coming from. It may be helpful to write your own statement of faith, affirmations and denials."

But you know what? That's what I am actively avoiding these days. 

I don't have a problem with saying something like "Here's what I currently believe regarding X, Y, and Z theological issues."

But I will not tie my identity to any such position.

And I refuse to equate the affirmation of certain propositions about God - what we casually call "beliefs" - with actual saving belief in Christ. 

INROADS

For 3 years, my mission agency - Mission Resource - has been praying and advocating for the innovative work of OrganiLock, the Kentucky  company with an organic fertilizer we believe could revolutionize farming worldwide and revive soil everywhere. 

Kind of a big deal.

Since God first introduced Mission Resource and OrganiLock, we have wanted to see the potential of their fertilizer unleashed in soils across Africa. 

Not long ago, Mission Resource sent our first shipment of OrganiLock fertilizer to Ghana. Now we are helping to send 4 tons to Malawi. 

And other opportunities are starting to multiply!

Just last week an OrganiLock representative, Joshua Miller, attended the International Agriculture Conference in Florida, coming away with serious inquiries from operations in Cameroon, Cambodia, and India! For 30 years this conference has been gathering together missionaries and agricultural specialists to network and share advances. It is sponsored by ECHO, a Christ-centered ministry focused on teaching farming best practices. 

ECHO's work reaches 190 countries!

By conference end, ECHO itself decided to use OrganiLock fertilizer at their test farm in Florida! 

Please pray for OrganiLock's leadership and the doors opening for our partnership on the mission field. 

I am convinced: Big Things are Coming!

ROCKSTAR

When I was teaching teenagers, I would sometimes point out to them how easy it would be these days for them to distinguish themselves from teenage peers in the workplace.

The bar is set so low that all it takes to stand out is basic considerations like showing up on time, refraining from phone scrolling during work hours, and being friendly to customers. 

If you do those things, I would tell the teens, you will be considered a rockstar by your employer. 

So simple.

And it seems to me that one could say something similar to American Christian adults.

(I try not to be too negative about the modern American church, but there's also no use in denying reality.)

 It would be super easy to stand out among American church members these days: pray regularly, study the Bible on your own time, and support the church and missions with your resources - time, energy, and dollars.

So simple, but you would automatically be in the top 5% of believers nationwide.

A rockstar of the faith.

So why don't more believers do it? I suppose for the same reason more teens don't put effort into their afterschool jobs ...

Not many care to be rockstars.

THE LORD

What do you do when faced with a faith tradition nearly universally honored and almost never questioned but you decide is kind of suspect?

This is how it is with Bible translations substituting "LORD" for God's proper name, "YHWH", usually transliterated as "Yahweh". 

"Yahweh" is specifically given first to Moses as God's name all the way back at the burning bush. It then appears nearly 7,000 other times throughout Scripture.

But somehow a few centuries before the birth of Christ, the Jews started substituting "Adonai" (which meant lord or master) for Yahweh in both the copying and the public reading of Scripture. 

The justification was this: We don't want to risk breaking the 3rd commandment of "taking (Yahweh's) name in vain". And so, because it is so holy, we won't say it or write it.

Later, Christians followed suit and continued this tradition.

But why did the scribes and teachers decide it was within their rights to make such a major change to Yahweh's inspired word? Why would He offer His name in the first place - and tell Moses to use it with the Israelites when explaining Who sent him - if He didn't want anyone to ever utter it? 

To me, it's not that it is inappropriate to refer to the Supreme Being of the Universe as "God" or as "Lord", obviously, but either of those options creates quite a bit more distance than His personal name would. 

Jesus' use of "Father" brings a distant "God" or "Lord" much closer again, which is good. But how should a modern Christian preacher deal with "LORD" throughout the Old Testament? 

Just ignore the underlying reality? Or start reading it as "Yahweh"?

GOD IS GOOD

You have probably heard this short back and forth repeated during a worship service:

    Leader: "God is good."

    People: "All the time."

    Leader: "All the time."

    People: "God is good."

I used to roll my eyes at preachers who would make weekly use of this mantra. I thought it was so simple and so obvious that I couldn't imagine any reason to repeat it. 

But these days I am convinced that God the Father has a PR problem. 

But it's not of His own making.

I suppose it is a result of our shame and guilt, but we imagine God to be angry, vindictive, and demanding. We only avoid the burn of His wrath and disappointment from day to day because - thankfully - He is also standoffish and distant. 

But what if God is much kinder, more loving, more gentle and patient and compassionate and ... simply GOOD than we tend to give Him credit for?

I am beginning to think believers cannot be reminded often enough: God is good.