Wisdom In All Things

Conforming Badly

What was once the norm, is now rapidly becoming the exception. And those who are “conforming badly” are no longer just insisting you join them, but are forcing compliance.

To resist isn’t futile. For to remain steadfast, is to save. Consider the lemming that stops, turns around, and starts yelling, “go back the other way!”

It would seem that not conforming may very well be salvific.

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I Doubt It

Regardless of its depth, persistent doubt is certainly devastating, as even infrequent, ill-timed bouts can needlessly delay, derail, or even slowly destroy us.

The idea that we should ask for help with our unbelief is just one crucial element in properly addressing doubt.

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Being Still: Doing Nothing Misses Something

"Be still and know that I am God (Psalm 46:10)."  Doing nothing leads to nothing. Being still leads to knowing. This is the crucial difference between doing nothing and being still. Doing nothing misses the “something”. Consider this: be still, or, you won’t know that He is God. This would be a devastating “miss”. Without being still there would be significant “misses” all throughout our lives.

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From Pursuit to Promise: How Our Promotion of Happiness Has Destroyed Our Reason for Living

If happiness shouldn’t even be a goal, then it should certainly never be a purpose: “I exist to be happy.” It’s a little easier to see how ridiculous that sounds when you put it like that. But unfortunately, in big and small ways, that is have become our belief.

Maybe this is the sign you are looking for. The sign that you need to ask yourself, perhaps again, for the first time: Why am I here? And what should I be pursuing?

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Expertise: A Matter of the Heart

From the perspective of being as valuable as an expert, David W. Maister (and others) developed a “trust equation” which looks like this:

Trustworthiness = credibility + reliability + intimacy / self-orientation.

Essentially, credibility and reliability are being commoditized, leaving intimacy (emotions) and self-orientation (motives) as the means of remaining valuable and influential–and employed.  In other words, expertise is a matter of the heart.  

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Let’s Talk About Sin

In his article, 5 Wrong Ways to Talk About Sin, Derek Rishmawy describes one of the ways we avoid using this “S” word.  He calls it “The Youth Group” way, which, “treats [sin] more like chewing your nails…”  And then nails the reason why we need to–because it is “a serious, soul-destroying plague with real-world (in this and the next) repercussions.”    

That is precisely why we need to use it more often.  We need to know where that line is, when we’re about to cross it, and what happens when we do– because of the implications for everyone! 

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The Battlefield of the Mind

Not to go all ‘Matrix’ on you, but there are both “seen and unseen” forces on our lives.  This fact is quite clear from verses like Ephesians 6:12.  “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” 

We face relentless attacks that require a mental rigor that successfully defends against enemies in the physical and spiritual realms.

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Hack Your Way to a Better Life?

You’ll also want to put in view only that which should be focused on.  Everything outside the frame is not an option.

If there is any hacking to be done, it may be that you hack away those feelings and distractions that are keeping you from doing.

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How Should We Understand: Making an Impact

Does a drip worry about the size ripple it will make?  I’m pretty sure that “making an impact” doesn’t even cross its little mind.  It’s something that happens naturally. What matters most is that it dripped.  And if it desires to continue to have a rippling effect, it just needs to keep dripping.

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Wrestle God? How Bad Do You Want It?

Nothing like a good tussle.  And in this case, Jacob was past liking the idea and truly wanted God to respond.  So much so, that even though God physically weakened him (dislocated hip), he remained physically, and spiritually, persistent–until he received what he wanted.

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