How to Grow Your Mindset

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We have complete control over our biggest problem. Getting this one thing right changes everything. Our mindset—the assumptions, judgments, and expectations we have about the world, about God, about ourselves—filters how we perceive and process information. Our mindset is such a powerful force over our lives, determining what we do and what we don’t do. Yet often it’s invisible, taken completely for granted. Worse, we often don’t realize it’s lying to us.

I’m seeing this theme repeatedly repeated over and over, again and again. (Aside: That last sentence was just to troll the grammar nerds and make them twitch. Did it work?) I have read several unrelated books in the last few years, and, although they use different terminology, they all focus on this same theme. I want to share the latest one with you today, because changing your mindset will change your life. It’s changing mine.

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, by Carol Dweck, PhD (not an affiliate link; I’m not getting any commission here). This book is about the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. Dr Dweck writes very accessibly, in plain, everyday language, no psycho-babble, with lots of stories. It’s a fun, easy, and very worthwhile read.

The fixed mindset says our traits, like intelligence, athletic ability, musical talent, writing or math competence, business and social skills, etc., are fixed at birth. You either have a skill or talent or you don’t, and there’s nothing much you can do about.

This is the fundamental lie that holds us back. Because if my abilities are fixed and I can’t change them, then any failure is a reflection of me and my character, so I dare not risk trying. And any successes I experience validates my superiority over other mere mortals who weren’t born special like I was. So failure is a threat to my identity, because I am what I do. We write a lot about this lie on this site, most recently here.

Yet the fixed mindset breeds failure, because it disparages hard work. Having to work hard at something means I don’t have natural talent. We can’t risk exposing that, especially to ourselves. Because my fixed mindset value comes from what I can do and how well I do it, not who I intrinsically am; namely, a child of God.

The growth mindset, on the other hand, says you can develop skills and talents through hard work and effort. Yes, some people are more gifted in certain areas than others, but there are no “naturals.” Everything worthwhile requires hard work. Growth mindset people view failures as learning experiences, not threats to their identity.

We feed either a fixed mindset or a growth mindset to our children, employees, spouses, and even ourselves by what we praise or criticize.

If a child brings home an “F” on a test and we say, “You’re so stupid”, we’ve tied their value to their results. We get that. But the same is true in the positive. If the child got an “A” instead and we say, “You’re really smart!” The child hears, “So if I’d gotten an ‘F’, that would mean I’m really stupid. My value is tied to my results. I’d better only do safe things I know I can succeed at.” What’s happened? We’ve instilled a fixed mindset by praising (or criticizing) the child’s traits, in this case their intelligence.

To pass on a growth mindset, don’t praise (or criticize) traits. Praise (or criticize) effort. When the child brings home an “A”, say something like, “Wow, that’s great! You must’ve studied really hard!” The message the child hears is, “My performance is tied to my effort, not my value.” If they bring home an “F”, say something like, “What happened? Did you study? Did you do the homework? Or did you just not understand the material? Let’s figure out what went wrong and then I can help you fix that.” Then help them build study habits, get tutoring, or find whatever strategy works for them. The message they hear is, “When I fail, I can fix it.”

Note: Dr Dweck caveats that this is not an argument for lowering standards or giving “effort grades,” like we see sometimes in schools today. A growth mindset keeps the standard high and tells the truth about failure, but also provides the tools to meet that standard.

Yes, this is trendy pop-psychology. But it’s accurate. And I love it when modern psychology catches up with the Word of God, don’t you? Mindset is all over the Bible. Here’s my favorite mindset verse:

For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7)

The fixed mindset is all about Fear. People with this mindset live in fear of being discovered—that they aren’t really smart or talented. They aren’t really the “natural” everyone thinks they are. They live their life one failure away from being discovered and having their identity completely destroyed. Their fixed mindset chains them to safe mediocrity, never daring to be who God created them to be, never chasing the thing that makes their heart leap.

As Christians, we know where the fixed mindset comes from: Inner vows we make to protect our heart because of past wounding. Judgments and words spoken over us by authority figures. Lies of the enemy we believe.

But Jesus wants us to live from the power of his love. He bought freedom for us on the cross, and the Holy Spirit makes it available to us every day. His love is the most powerful force on the planet. There’s no fear when we’re living out of that place. We make decisions from the sound mind he gave us, we take wise risks, and we learn from our failures.

It’s not a binary thing. The truth is we all have fixed mindset days and growth mindset days. Learning what triggers your fixed mindset is the key. If you recognize your fixed mindset, you can actively replace it with a growth mindset.

For me, my biggest trigger is when I feel overwhelmed. My fixed mindset kicks in, opening the door to self-hatred: You’re not doing all the things. Look at everything you didn’t get done. You’re such a loser! And it’s all downhill from there. I’m learning a growth mindset: No, I got something done, and I did it well. And my value isn’t in what I do, but because Jesus loves me so much. I choose to see myself through my Lover-King’s eyes.

What areas in your life are under a fixed mindset? What triggers it? In what areas have you learned a growth mindset? Tell us how you’re growing, or where you’re struggling, in the comments. This is a safe place. And please share if this post would bless someone else.

How to Succeed by Deciding to Fail

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At a recent writer’s conference (Jeff Goins’ Tribe conference), I heard a speaker, Joseph Michael, author of the online course Learn Scrivener Fast, say he was thankful for his failures. I’d always known intellectually that failures are good for you. As long as you learn something, failures are learning experiences. They’re a necessary part of moving forward in life.

I’m not talking about moral failures here. We call those sin, and that’s never good for you, although our gracious Father in Heaven often works good out of them when we repent. But that’s a whole other topic. I’m talking here about mistakes. Or maybe it wasn’t even a mistake—stuff we tried that just didn’t work, for whatever reason. The house plant died. The stock price didn’t rise; it fell. The book didn’t sell.

It wasn’t even Joseph Michael’s main point. He just said it in passing. But when he said he was thankful for his failures, in that moment something leaped the long twelve inches from my head to my heart. I felt the Holy Spirit’s conviction that I need to fail more. I set a goal to fail at 4 major things in 2019.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not setting out to fail. I’m going to try my best. But if my goal is to succeed, I won’t even try unless success is assured from the outset. “Well, c’mon,” my brain says, “with anything important or worthwhile, success is never guaranteed.” But my heart’s not going near that risky goal. The cost of personal failure is too great; it hurts too much. So I sabotage myself and never lean into my calling. Can you relate?

Some people could phrase this goal as trying 4 new/risky things in 2019. Probably most people don’t have to use the f-word, FAIL, in their goal. But I do. God is healing me from severe Performance Orientation, where I get my sense of value from what I do. If I internally said try in my goal, and it didn’t succeed, I’d tell myself the story that I didn’t try hard enough, and the heart-crushing failure would set in.

Avoiding failure avoids risk, which avoids success. My avoidance of failure keeps me safe from risk, but also from the wild success that is only possible through trying risky things.

But if internally my goal is to fail, then my heart feels free to take that risk, because I know I can meet that goal. Just the way my brain, or maybe my heart, is wired. Anybody else, or is it just me?

For some people, setting a goal to fail would mean they’d not do the work, or do it substandard, setting themselves up for failure. Those people are wired differently from me and that’s fine. For me though, I don’t have that problem. If I try something, I’ll do everything I can, the best I can, to achieve success. That’s just who I am.

For me, setting the goal of failing is the permission my heart needs to try something risky. Then if it fails and the self-condemnation loop starts, I can say “hey, I met my goal” and stop it. And if the thing actually succeeds, then, wow, Bonus! I exceeded my goal.

So get ready, 2019, it’s going to be a fun year. I’m going to actually try things I wouldn’t previously even vocalize. How about you? Are you up an adventure? Do you dare give substance to that dream in your heart? What’s the first baby step? Take it.

And who knows? Maybe failing at 4 things in 2019 will be a really hard goal to meet because everything actually works! Wouldn’t that be a great problem to have? Please share this post if you think it would inspire someone else.

How to Tell Yourself a Different Story

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Recently we were at a conference and Janet ran into a friend who told her, “I’m so nervous about wearing something that looks good I brought 3 suitcases of clothes.” Now this young woman is gorgeous and would look beautiful in anything she wears. But that’s apparently not the story she tells herself.

The negative story she tells herself is different than the positive story everyone else tells themselves about her. Everyone else thinks, “She always has it so all-together! I wish I could be like her.” But she’s filled with self-doubt and second guessing.

How often do we tell ourselves negative stories that no one else does? On the one hand, it’s good to be our own worst critic. It drives us toward excellence and doing our best work. We’re the only ones who hear the passion our heart is silently screaming to release. We know when we nailed it. But far too often we’re our own worst nay-sayer instead.

We need to hear the story the Holy Spirit says about us. We need to hear the song God sings about the identity he uniquely created us to inhabit. And we need to keep hearing it. We need it on a loop playing over and over again in our heads, because it’s so easy to dismiss and forget what we don’t agree with. It’s so much easier to agree with all the negative loops we hear playing over and over in our head.

The enemy constantly echoes our mistakes back to us. But we don’t need his help to be negative about ourselves. I can shoot down my identity all by myself, thank you very much. I’m a great shot. I hit my heart every time.

To be positive about negativity, it thinks it’s doing us a favor. It’s protecting us from risk. But by doing so it’s also protecting us from living. Life is a dangerous place, a painful place, a risky endeavor. But God is good; not necessarily protecting us from the pain, but being with us in the middle of it, and working his beauty in our lives out of it.

We empower what we agree with, and it’s time to start empowering God’s truth about us instead of all the lies, from whatever source. So here’s the most powerful way to start hearing God’s identity for your life. Are you ready?

Tell someone else God’s truth about them.

You know the truth I mean. Tell them the positive qualities you see that God’s put in them. It’s so obvious to you, how can they not know? But honestly, so often they don’t. Let’s start telling others the positive qualities in them that we take for granted. Because they honestly don’t know.

This is a principle in the Bible. God gives us what we give away, with increase. (See Matthew 7:2, Mark 4:24, Luke 6:38.)

  • Do you need to be encouraged? Encourage others.
  • Do you need a financial breakthrough? Up your giving.
  • Are you lonely? Be a friend to others.

We constantly need to be telling our brothers and sisters God’s story about them, how we appreciate them, the truth about their identity. And pretty soon, we will find people encouraging us.

Let me conclude with a beautiful story of what church is supposed to be. I retell this story often on this blog—so apologies if you’ve heard it before—but it’s so good it bears repeating. There’s an African village where, when a woman gets pregnant, she and other women go into the wilderness away from the village and pray, until they discern the “song of child”. Then they return and teach the song to the rest of the village.

The village sings the person’s song to them at significant events in their life—their birth, their death, their wedding, after great achievements or victories within the tribe.

But there’s another time when the village sings the person their song—when they mess up (often in adolescence). They put the person in the middle of the tribe with the whole village around them, and they say, “You’re not acting like yourself. Let us remind you of who you are.” And they sing the person the song of their identity that their mother got for them before they were born.

That’s what church is supposed to be. A place where people tell us the truth about who we really are that we’ve forgotten. A place where we remind each other who we really are.

TODAY’S ACTION STEP: Tell someone else today about some godly quality you take for granted and appreciate about them. Does it surprise them? Did they know this about themselves, or do they tell themselves a different story? In the process, what different story did you hear about yourself? Tell us in the comments what happens!

How to have Victory over Shame

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The most secretive prison in the world isn’t in some subbasement of some 1960s era non-descript government building in some closed dictatorial regime. But it is the most populated prison in the world. “Wait a minute, that doesn’t even make sense!” you say. “How do you keep the largest prison in the world secretive?” Put it in the human heart. Outwardly we justify our sin while we inwardly hate ourselves for practicing it. So often we live in the secret prison of shame. The good news is we can have total victory over shame.

Every human being is affected by shame to some degree. It robs us of who we really are. It sets our life on a trajectory of desperately trying in vain to numb its pain.

  • We medicate it, because the pain of the addiction hurts less.
  • We feed it, foolishly believing the shame from the last failed relationship will be healed by the next one.
  • We pretend it doesn’t exist. If I act like I’m fine long enough, maybe I’ll actually believe it myself.

None of it works. All our coping methods just add more shame.

But there’s good news. There is something that will work. Or rather, someone that will work. But to understand the victory, we first need to understand the problem. What really is shame, anyway?

Shame is not guilt. There’s a subtle but important difference between guilt and shame.

Guilt, or conviction, is what the Holy Spirit gives us, because he loves us. It’s a gift from God. He’s correcting our sinful behavior because (1) it’s self-destructive, and (2) it interferes with our relationship with him. Guilt says, “I did something wrong.” And often that’s true.

Shame, on the other hand, is not from God, but rather is Satan’s perversion of godly guilt. Shame says, “I am something wrong.” That is so totally not true. That’s a lie. Shame is a liar.

Shame is the false belief that I am uniquely and fatally flawed. (Kudos to Restoring the Foundations Ministry for this definition). There are three fundamental lies of shame.

  1. “I am flawed.” There’s something wrong with me. I can’t let anyone see. I live in the fear that someone somewhere will find out my secret. I’d better keep them at a distance.
  2. “I am uniquely flawed.” No one is as bad as me. I am the only one with this problem. If they really knew how bad I am, they would hate me like I hate me.
  3. “I am fatally flawed.” I can’t be fixed. My flaws are permanent; it’s just the way I am. The best I can do is hide it and control the situation (and everyone else) so no one ever finds out.

Shame holds so many people, even Christians, in prison, keeping them from living out their true identity, or often even knowing what it is. Yes, Christians are forgiven, but so often we’re not healed. This is why we struggle with divorce and addictions and legalism just like the world does.

But there’s good news. We can have victory over shame. His name is Jesus, and he’s made a way.

Shame’s power over us is really just a house of cards because it’s built on lies. The truth of God’s word blows it away.

Each of shame’s three lies described above get smashed to pieces by the Word of God. We have victory over shame when we choose to replace its lies with God’s truth:

  1. I’m not something wrong.
    • I was made in God’s own image (Genesis 1:27).
    • I have been made a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17).
    • God loves me apart from what I do (Ephesians 1:3-14).
  2. I’m not uniquely flawed; I’m not the only one like this.
    • No temptation has seized me but that which is common to mankind (1 Corinthians 10:13).
  3. I am not fatally flawed. My sin is not bigger or more powerful than Jesus’ blood.
    • Jesus’ blood is bigger and stronger than any and all of my sin, and by his stripes I am healed (Isaiah 53:5, Romans 6:10, Hebrews 9:28, 1 Peter 3:18).

That’s why Jesus said, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).

The question is, Who are you going to believe? God or your shame? When shame brings up your past, agree with it and add, “Yes, that’s why I have a Savior!” When we speak (out loud) God’s truth over ourselves instead of the lies of shame, shame disappears in a puff of grace. Jesus is so there.

Victory over shame opens up a whole new adventure to us—the life God created us to live and Jesus died to restore. I can’t wait to see what God does in your life. And in mine. Shall we take the plunge?

Have you been down this road? Does this resonate with you? Tell us in the comments, and please share on social media if you think this would bless someone else.

How to Honor Someone Else’s Identity

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Most of you remember the free ebook I gave to our subscribers as a Christmas present, Midget: A Fable of Giant Inner Healing. I plan to sell it later this year on Amazon and wanted you, our subscribers, to have it first for free. (It’s available on the downloads page; click the “Free Stuff” link above.)

A friend pointed out that “midget” is a pejorative term among little people. So I emailed the LPA (Little People of America) and asked them (1) if that was so, and (2) for suggestions about how to fix it. I said I’m not averse to changing the title (and the name of the main character), but would prefer to include a disclaimer with their approved wording.

Cuquis Robledo, the Public Relations Director of Little People of America, sent me a very timely and polite response. She congratulated me on the ebook and thanked me for reaching out to them. I believe they were sincerely touched that I cared enough to ask.

They suggested a title change and a disclaimer educating people against using the word “midget” at all, which they call the “m-word.” The LPA is trying to remove usage of the word from our vocabulary in general; for example, working with the USDA to rename certain food products. I confess I originally thought this was a little extreme, but then I actually listened to them. I listened to why from their point-of-view. Here is what I learned.

The m-word was used in the Freak Show era to de-humanize little people. “Come see the bearded-lady! Come see the elephant man! Come see the midgets!” I think little people have a right to be angry over the use of this de-humanizing word. Working in post-abortive recovery, I feel the same anger when pro-abortion advocates de-humanize a child as a “fetus” or as a “product of conception.”

When my dad grew up in Oklahoma, Brazil nuts were called “n-word toes”. They didn’t mean anything bad by it, and my dad was not a racist. It was just the thing’s name as they were taught. But I think it’s good that today we no longer use that de-humanizing word. I never realized the m-word was in the same category, but it is.

So this is not about political correctness gone mad. This is about respecting real people and their identity. It’s about sensitivity to not hurting other people unnecessarily. (Yes, there are times when we need to say painful truth, but this isn’t one of them.)

Even if the term doesn’t hurt me, and I don’t think it should hurt them, the fact that it does hurt them should be enough for me to not use it. Especially a word that was used in the past to de-humanize them.

While there’s certainly no constitutional right to avoid offense, we as Christians answer to a higher authority. We can voluntarily choose to follow the moral compass Jesus laid out for us in, among other places, 1 Corinthians 13 and Matthew 25 (especially the sheep and the goats parable). We can choose to walk in love.

So, all that to say, I’m voluntarily changing the name of the ebook. The question is, To what? This is the exciting and fun part! This is where you come in. I’m asking for your help. What’s a good name? Here’s some guidance to think about:

  • The words “midget” and “giant” are clear opposites. In changing the title, I’ll also have to change the subtitle, “A Fable of Giant Inner Healing.” Help me also find a word for the subtitle that’s the opposite of the new name.
  • I veto “Dwarf” right out-of-the-gate because, with the popularity of LOTR, people will expect something quite different from an ebook called “Dwarf”.
  • It should be mildly disrespectful or snarky. When the “tall ones” call the main character by the m-word, they aren’t complementing him. They are limiting him and his identity. It was meant to be a mild put-down.
  • Ideally, it would still fit on the cover in a similar way.

So what are your ideas? Leave them in the comments! Let’s have fun with this!

You Are Not What You Do

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For so many of us our identity is in what we do or what we’ve done. Especially men – what’s the first question we ask each other when we meet another man? “What do you do?” There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s safe small talk. But that’s not who we are.

God loves us based on our position not our accomplishments – our position as His son or daughter. Nothing we ever accomplish (good or bad) can ever change that. Nothing we do can make Him love us more or less than He does in this moment. In every moment. He’s that consistent.

We all say we believe that, but many of us secretly don’t. I say “secretly” because often it’s secret even from ourselves. We can test ourselves to see if we inwardly believe we are what we do, though. When we get mad at someone for disagreeing with us, when we take someone’s disagreement with what we said or did as a personal affront, it’s often because we believe that we are what we do. “If you attack what I do or say, you’re attacking me!” Do you see it?

You are special to God because you are you. You are valuable because you bear the image of God (see Genesis 1:26-27) whether you realize it or not. The trick is to understand who you really are, the unique person He made you to be.

Psalm 139:13-14 says, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” So before you were even born, before you had done anything good or bad, you were God’s wonderful work. And nothing we do can ever undo His work.

So let’s stop trying to be what we do. Let’s discover and walk in who we really are. Ask Him to take you on a journey of discovery.

Have you started this journey? What are you discovering? Do you identify with this? Tell us your story in the comments. What do you think?

The Power of “What If…?”

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There’s one question feared by the enemy above all others. There’s one question that, if we dared to ask it and follow the answer, would disrupt the status quo more than anything else. “What if…?”

There’s something on our heart that God’s put there, but the distractions of life drown it out. The daily slog doesn’t leave us with any energy for our dreams. But what if we did follow that dream?

What if I wrote that book?

What if I reached out to that person?

What if I started my own business?

What if I dared to do what God’s put on my heart?

What if I took that risk that makes my heart sing?

What if I dared to believe who Jesus says I am?

What if I ……?

Fill in the blank for you. What is it in your heart that the daily slog is drowning out? What dreams make your heart leap? God put them there. Take the first step.

What if God’s calling you to that dream? If that were true and you were actually going to do it, what’s the first baby step you’d take in that direction? What if you took it? Take it.

We have to reach the point where we’re more afraid of not trying then we are of failing. – Jeff Goins

I reached that point and that’s why this blog exists and why I’ve written two print books (available here), and one free eBook (available here). I’m working on a couple more free eBooks that should come out by the end of the year. How about you? Have you taken the first baby step?

Does this resonate? What makes your heart sing? Are you pursuing it? Leave us a comment or shoot us an email. And please share (buttons below) if you think this would bless or inspire someone else.

Peace Making vs Peace Keeping

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The beatitudes in Matthew 5:3-12 are pretty self-explanatory, if very counter-intuitive. But there’s one in particular that’s often misunderstood. At least it was by me for a long time. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). But there’s a world of difference between peace making and peace keeping. I had them confused the majority of my life, and I’ve paid a high price for it.

When we mistakenly think Jesus said, “Blessed are the peace keepers…” we live by the ungodly principle of Peace At Any Price.

But wait a minute, I thought peace was a good thing! It is, that’s why peacemakers are blessed in the Kingdom and called sons of God. But Peace At Any Price is not a good thing at all. Peace At Any Price sacrifices the plan, wisdom, and calling of God to avoid conflict. It brings unity around a false peace. And false peace is not really peace at all – it’s oppression.

Peace making is bravely going into an interpersonal conflict and bringing the plan and the wisdom, not to mention the calling and the purpose, of God to it. If God’s wisdom is accepted, it brings true peace to the situation. However, if God’s wisdom is repeatedly rejected, then it’s time for godly conflict.

But peace keeping is quite different. Peace keeping is acquiescing to the situation. Peace keeping compromises (or outright silences) God’s plans and purposes. We trade God’s calling for peace in our interpersonal relationships. I confess I did this for a long time, and my family paid dearly for it.

By my observation, many husbands live by Peace At Any Price. It takes one to know one – I did for a long time. Too often we trade our vision for our family, and our place of leadership in our household, for peace in our home.

Now common sense here, that’s obviously not an excuse to lord it over your wife. And wives have a significant role and get valid downloads from God just like husbands do. But, c’mon guys, we need to be the spiritual leaders of our home, not our wives.

Peace At Any Price is institutionalized in the culture, even in the church, with regard to home and family. How many times have you heard people, even Christians, say one of these re-phrases of Peace At Any Price:

Happy wife, happy life. Translation: “Sell out your vision for your family in order to keep your wife happy.” Or you could say it this way: “Lack of conflict in your home is worth more than God’s calling on your family.” Sorry, but not true.

If mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy! Translation: “If I don’t get my way, I’ll make my entire family miserable!” This is hardly the manifestation of the Fruit of the Spirit in a godly woman’s life. Anybody out there still think this isn’t demonic?

Now please don’t flip out on me. This doesn’t mean a husband should just impose his vision on his family. It’s just as demonic for a husband to expect his wife to roll-over and practice Peace At Any Price. None of us, husband or wife, parent or child, teacher or student, should compromise or abandon what they know is God’s wisdom, calling, plan, and/or purpose on their lives or in any situation.

It comes down to this. Peace at Any Price, a.k.a., peace keeping, is just getting bullied, pure and simple. If you are living Peace At Any Price, you have let your God-given identity get shut down by a bully. You need to repent and stand up to the bully.

In a marriage, when we come out of being bullied, we don’t impose our calling on the other person. We don’t want to become the bully. Instead, we invite: “This is where God is calling me to go. I’m going there, and I’m inviting you to come along.” And we walk toward God’s calling on our life with an open hand back to the other person. They may take it or not; that’s on them. But we are walking toward our calling, and that brings true peace, in our heart if not to the situation.

Blessed are the peacemakers (not the peace keepers), for they will be called sons of God.

Does this hit home to you? Tell us your story in the comments? Are you living Peace At Any Price? Did you used to? How did you come out of it? Tell us in the comments, your story will help others. And if you think this article would bless someone else, please share it with the buttons below.

What’s in Your Hand?

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“What’s in your hand?” That’s what God asked Moses (see Exodus 4:2). God was calling Moses to do the impossible – return to Egypt and lead a couple million people from slavery to freedom. And Moses was trying to get out of it.

Moses was holding his shepherd’s staff. God showed Moses how to do signs and wonders with his staff; specifically, at this point, how to turn it into a snake and back again.

Now I’ve heard teachings about the theology around why it had to be a staff, spiritually what that’s symbolic of, and all that. And that’s all well and good. But I think there’s a simpler reason why God used Moses’ staff.

As a shepherd, it’s what Moses happened to be holding. And God was like, “That’ll do.”

It’s a good thing Moses wasn’t, say, a professional bowler. He’d have been holding a bowling ball and God would’ve turned it into an armadillo or something. It wouldn’t have been nearly as impressive as a big ‘n’ bad snake.

It was as much a sign to Moses that God was with him as to the people God was sending him to. God told Moses the people would believe him (see Exodus 3:18). It was Moses that had the doubts. Moses was the one who took the convincing. Moses was the one God had to sell. Sometimes others believe in our calling more than we do. Sometimes God’s toughest sales job about our calling is to us. And he uses the things he’s already given us that we take for granted.

What makes your heart sing? What does your heart gravitate to? What’s in your hand? God wants to use it to do something extraordinary in your life, for his Kingdom purposes and the benefit of many people.

What’s in your hand? God wants to use what’s common and ordinary to you to accomplish the miraculous calling he has on your life. Are you willing to let God turn it into something? Tell us in the comments. And please share on social media (share buttons are below for your sharing convenience) if this blessed you. We’re looking forward to hearing from you.

 

Living Strategically -- Hand Holding Compass

Living Strategically

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HeadShot Dave 100x100What does living strategically mean? So often we just drift through life doing what we must. Go to work. Pay the bills. Put out the fires. Fix the car. Clean the house. Don’t get me wrong, those are good things that all have to get done. And we shouldn’t complain about them. We should do them cheerfully with a good attitude, serving our families as godly servants.

But our calling is bigger than that. So if that’s all we do, we’re missing it. We’ve let winning the battle keep us from winning the war. The military gets this, and uses two special words to describe it.

“Tactical” has to do with winning the immediate battle we find ourselves engaged in today.

“Strategic” has to do with winning the war – the big, long-term picture.

While tactical is important, the military understands that strategic is more important. Winning a battle does you no good if you lose the war. In fact, sometimes because of limited time, money, and energy, you have to decide which battles to let go and lose so that you have enough resources left to win the war.

So how do we go from living tactically (aimlessly drifting day-to-day) to living strategically (focused on God’s calling)? Do what the military does – have a plan. Make a life plan. Your life plan helps you say “no” to the good so you can say “yes” to the best.

There’s an excellent book I highly recommend called Living Forward, by Micheal Hyatt and Daniel Harkavy (both obviously Christians). It’s a quick and easy read. Although it’s secular per se, it’s got Kingdom of God principles woven all through it. (BTW, I’m not an affiliate. I get no commission or compensation or any other benefit if you click the above link or buy their book. This is an objective recommendation.)

Janet and I went through it last year. We had an “offsite” at a local bed & breakfast in December 2015 for a few days. We each have an individual plan, and we have one together. Having a life plan has helped us make strategic decisions toward the calling on our life we otherwise would’ve missed.

For example, I recently took a new assignment with my company that doubled my commute. At first, this seemed like a obvious no-brainer “no”. But I’d been having trouble finding time to work on our website (this blog). I’d get home at 5:30 or 6:00 with a couple hours of website work to do. But with engaging with family, church, and our crisis-pregnancy center volunteer activities, it just wasn’t getting done. I was winning the daily battles but losing the long-term war over my calling. I was living tactically.

However, God provided a vanpool to the new job location, and I could inexpensively tether my laptop to my iPhone. That gives me 2+ hours a day in the commuter van to work on the website. I still get home at the same 5:30 or 6:00, but the website work is done. So I doubled my commute and got more margin in my life! We could not have made this very positive, but counter-intuitive, decision without our life plan clarifying the direction in which we feel God’s calling leading our life. That’s living strategically.

Going through this exercise is a few of the most productive hours you’ll spend this year, because it focuses all the other hours on what God’s calling you do to in your life. I highly recommend it.

So how about you? Are you living tactically or living strategically? What has your journey been from one to the other? Your story can help a lot of us. Please share it with us in the comments. And share this post on Facebook (or your favorite social outlet) if you think it would bless others.