My Favorite Contribution From Saint Patrick

Posted on March 17, 2015 by alanconrow • Posted in Faith, Prayer • Tagged Patrick’s Breastplate, Saint Patrick • Leave a comment

“Daily I expect murder, fraud or captivity, but I fear none of these things because of the promises of heaven. I have cast myself into the hands of God almighty who rules everywhere.”–Saint Patrick [1]

Compared to other Christian saints, we don’t know a lot about Saint Patrick. For instance, we don’t know for sure if he actually was the first missionary to Ireland. However, we do know that when he arrived in Ireland paganism still ruled the land and that he faced opposition from many druids who wished to kill him.

We also know that in the face of such opposition Patrick wrote a simple prayer that today is known as “Patrick’s Breastplate”. It’s a prayer that expresses complete confidence in the Lord and his protection. The prayer is by far my favorite contribution from Saint Patrick.

I bind unto myself today
The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three.

I bind this day to me forever.
By power of faith, Christ’s incarnation;
His baptism in the Jordan river;
His death on Cross for my salvation;
His bursting from the spicèd tomb;
His riding up the heavenly way;
His coming at the day of doom;
I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself today
The virtues of the starlit heaven,
The glorious sun’s life-giving ray,
The whiteness of the moon at even,
The flashing of the lightning free,
The whirling wind’s tempestuous shocks,
The stable earth, the deep salt sea,
Around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today
The power of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, His might to stay,
His ear to hearken to my need.
The wisdom of my God to teach,
His hand to guide, His shield to ward,
The word of God to give me speech,
His heavenly host to be my guard.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name,
The strong Name of the Trinity;
By invocation of the same.
The Three in One, and One in Three,
Of Whom all nature hath creation,
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
Praise to the Lord of my salvation,
Salvation is of Christ the Lord.

In the 19th century the prayer was turned into a song. To hear the song click here

For more on the life of Saint Patrick click here for a brief video or click here for a helpful article.

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

___________________________________________
[1] 131 Christians Everyone Should Know

5 Online Gospel Resources Worth Using

Posted on March 13, 2015 by alanconrow • Posted in gospel • Leave a comment

Where can you go online to find great gospel resources?

Of course there are numerous websites dedicated to the Gospel and gospel resources. But if you don’t have the time (or the courage) to wade through them all, here are five online resources that will get you started:

1. Bible Gateway

Ok, this is just a Bible website with lots of great study tools for the Bible. But let’s face it the only way to really to know the Gospel and to be equipped to share the Gospel is by spending time in God’s word. Because everything in God’s word is in some way connected to the Gospel. So start with God’s word.

2. The Gospel Coalition

The Gospel Coalition is often a go-to site for pastors. But it has many great articles, videos, and other resources for the average church goer. The folks at the Gospel Coalition are passionate about the Gospel are doing their best to equip churches, families, and individuals to know and to live out the Gospel.

3. Veritas Forums

You might remember Veritas from your college days. Veritas is a ministry geared toward college-aged students and academics types. Online they have some wonderful videos tackling all kinds of tough issues. Sometimes the discussion can be a little heady and academic. But if you have smart friends who don’t know Jesus, this is the site for you and them.

4. KindnessResources

When it comes to evangelism and outreach there is a lot of Jesus “junk” out there. Thankfully that is not the case with these guys. I feel like most of their products would actually be helpful–crazy, I know. That’s probably because this company was found by actual pastors who have hearts for evangelism and church planning. I think it shows in their products.

5. Liberate

Liberate is a relatively new site started by Billy Graham’s grandson pastor Tullian Tchividjian. I’ve just started going to it. I like the articles, videos, and book reviews. But more than any of that, I love that Liberate exists “to connect God’s inexhaustible grace to an exhausted world.” That’s Gospel.

I hope you find these sites helpful. If you would like more Gospel resources online or otherwise, just email me.

What resources would you recommend?

Not Just Another Sample

Posted on March 11, 2015 by alanconrow • Posted in gospel • Tagged costco, gospel, Paul, Romans 1:16, samples • Leave a comment

Costco has become one of my favorite places. Especially on Tuesday mornings when I go with Ian (our three-year-old). The place is still pretty empty. So Ian can run around, climb on the furniture, and “help” push the cart without bothering anyone—most of the time.

The morning gets better if we arrive at just the right time to miss the crowds but still get the samples. Samples are seriously a grace of God. Often Ian will ask for something, try it, then hand it to me and say, “I don’t want it.” Great! More samples for me.

It’s the nature of samples to fish for preferences. Samples aren’t made for anyone in particular. Instead they are put out for the masses. The hope is that someone will have a preference for the sample and want more. But sometimes, few people have a preference for the sample and the product just goes away.

I love samples. And it’s probably because I am the product of a “sample” culture. Everything from foods to ideas to lifestyles are put out for us to try, to see if we have a preference for it. To see if we like it. If we do, there’s always a way to get more. And if we don’t, that’s ok. It’s just not our preference. The sample just wasn’t made for us.

But some things in our world weren’t made to be samples. Some things weren’t made just for people’s preferences. Some things were meant to be served to everyone.

The Gospel is one of those things.

It often doesn’t feel this way, because a lot people seem fine without the good news of Jesus. Many people have good families, are nice neighbors, have nice jobs, and live decent moral lives – all without putting their trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior.

It can often seem like the Gospel message is just a sample. At some point people may or may not try it. And they may or may not decide it is for them. And even if they never try it, our sample culture says, “that’s ok, there are plenty of other things for you to enjoy.”

In the Bible, the Apostle Paul saw things differently. Specifically he didn’t see the Gospel as just another thing to be sampled. He says, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel because it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes…”

Paul didn’t see himself as one who passively stands in the marketplace of ideas offering one option among many for people to try. Rather, he saw himself as one called to go serve, to bring the Gospel to everyone. He knew that the Gospel was made for everyone. And that everyone needs the Gospel.

Despite what our lives look like on the outside. Despite the myriad of choices before us. Without the goodness of the Gospel, we’re always looking for good news somewhere else. We’re always in pursuit of the thing that will finally satisfy all our preferences. But sadly, in our attempt to satisfy ourselves we end up destroying ourselves and others.

Eugene Peterson describes this kind of life perfectly:

“It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.” (Galatians 5:19-21 MSG)

These are the parts of our life that we don’t like to talk about. These are the parts our life that need more than a sample of something to satisfy our preferences. These are the parts of our life that need the power of God. They are the parts of our life that need the Gospel.

The Gospel was made for everyone. Because everyone needs the Gospel.

Every person, every household, every neighborhood, every people group, every culture, whether they recognize it or not is in need of the power of God. They are in need of God’s saving work. They are in need of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This is why the Gospel will never be just another sample.

If we have been transformed by the Gospel, let us pray that God would empower us to move beyond our sample tables. In order that we, like Paul, might bring the Good News we have been given to everyone we meet.

Why We Struggle With Perfectionists

Posted on March 4, 2015 by alanconrow • Posted in Jesus, Life • Tagged abide, Charles Spurgeon, perfectionist • Leave a comment

When Meredith and I were first married, Meredith was hard to be around.

Meredith was good at a lot of things which I was not. She had higher standards for herself than I had for myself. There were ways in which she appeared perfect. And it appeared she liked to live out of that perfection.

But the problem was not her, or her perfections. The problem was me.

Perfectionists get a bad rap in our culture. And I’m one of the reasons why. Because to me, and especially when I was first married, perfection seemed stupid. Perfection, it seemed, was just an impossible standard to strive for. So why bother?

But what has become clear to me in the subsequent years is that perfection is not stupid. It just makes me feel stupid. In the case of Meredith, seeing her perfections just made me more aware of my own imperfections.

Now of course in reality Meredith has her faults just as I have mine. But if you’re a Christian then you’re in a relationship with someone who really doesn’t have any imperfections. You’re in a relationship with someone who actually is perfect.

Jesus, we are told, was/is without sin[1]. His earthly life, recorded in the four Gospels, shows this. He has no faults. He does everything right. And he holds himself and others to the highest of standards[2]. Jesus is, in every way, a perfectionist[3].

Yet we are called to abide in him[4]. That is, we are told to be close to him, to rest in him, to dwell with him, to enjoy him.

And if we’re honest, we’d have to admit that abiding with Jesus can sometimes be really tough. Sometimes we just don’t want to. And I wonder if the reason we don’t want to is because sometimes we just don’t want to be around someone who is perfect. Because the longer we’re with him, and the closer we get to him, the more we’re aware of the depths and fullness of our depravity. And we don’t like it.

Of course, the awareness of our sin isn’t the result of Jesus pointing his finger at us. It is simply the result of being in the presence of perfection. Being with Jesus is like looking into a perfect mirror and seeing the full truth of our reflection. It’s hard to look at.

No one can be around Jesus for long and not see their wretchedness. All who follow Jesus come to a point where they, like Peter, tell Jesus to “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man.”[5] Those of us who struggle with the reality of ourselves are always tempted to run or push others away.

But Jesus would prefer another option. His desire for us is that in our wretchedness we lean in. He wants us to abide in him more.

He can desire such intimacy because he has already seen us as we are. Our weakness, our sin, our insecurities, our frailties, our dirt, our past, our thoughts, our selfishness, our lack of perfection from top to bottom is nothing new to him. He saw it all and still called us to “Come, follow me.”[6]

But of course Jesus, because he is Jesus, didn’t call us to stay as we were. He called us to repent[7], turn from our sin[8], and follow him so that he could wash us[9], renew us[10], and ultimately transform us[11]. He called us in order that he might make us perfect like him[12].

When we understand this, we’re no longer tempted to run from the Perfect One. But instead we will, like Charles Spurgeon, believe that “Communion with Christ is a certain cure for every ill.”^[13]

No one likes to see themselves for who they really are. To face the reality of our dirt and grime will always be uncomfortable. But such a revelation should not trigger us to run away. Rather, such a revelation should always be seen as an invitation for us to come and be made clean.

Oh that we would abide in you, Jesus, more and more every day. That we might see ourselves more clearly in your reflection. And may we, as dirty vessels, allow you to continue to wash us with your blood that we might become more and more like you, our Perfect Lord and Savior. Amen.

__________________________________________

[1] 2 Corinthians 5:21

[2] Matthew 5-7

[3] Matthew 19:21

[4] John 15:4-9

[5] Luke 5:8

[6] Mark 1:17

[7] Matthew 4:17

[8] John 8:11

[9] John 13:5; 1 Corinthians 16:11

[10] 2 Corinthians 5:17

[11] 2 Corinthians 3:18

[12] Romans 8:29

^[13] Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening…

Relapse: How can we stop doing the things we don’t want to do?

Posted on February 27, 2015 by alanconrow • Posted in Discipleship, Jesus, Life • Tagged addiction, jesus, Josh Hamilton, Relapse • Leave a comment

I’m not a “baseball guy”. I like the sport. But currently I couldn’t name more than half a dozen players. Yet, when I recently read that Angels’ player Josh Hamilton had relapsed with his drug abuse, my heart sank.

I don’t know him. I can’t even fathom what it is like to be him. But I can relate. Because I do know what it is like to relapse.

I know what it is like to do something you never thought you’d do again. I know what it is like to be overwhelmed with temptation. I know what it is like to have your mind switch into auto-pilot. I know what it is like to do a sinful action in a completely routine-like manner. I know what it is like to say “I’ll never do that again.” And I know what it is like to later do “it” again.

Relapse.

It’s not just a drug addiction thing.

It’s a gossip thing. It’s a cheating thing. It’s a yelling-at-your-kids thing. It’s a lying thing. It’s a lust thing. It’s a being-selfish thing. It’s a not-caring thing. It’s a self-comfort thing. It’s a sin thing.

It’s a thing every person, every Christian, goes through.

What’s the solution?

The answer is found in the book of Romans. The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 7:15-25,

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do… For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it…What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Paul was no stranger to relapse. But he found freedom in Jesus Christ.

Freedom came when he acknowledged he was helpless to change himself. Freedom came when he saw his desperate need for a savior. Freedom came when he looked to Jesus Christ as that Savior.

It is the same for us today.

Freedom from relapse comes when we surrender ourselves to Jesus.

I thank God, that Josh Hamilton knows this. He surrendered himself to Jesus once before.

My heartfelt prayer is that by God’s grace he will surrender himself once again.

Pray for our brother Josh. And let us pray for ourselves that we will not fall into temptation (Luke 22:40).

One Thing That Keeps Us from Sharing The Gospel And How To Overcome It

Posted on February 25, 2015 by alanconrow • Posted in gospel • Tagged Boldness, David Platt, Francis Chan, gospel, prayer, Sharing our faith • Leave a comment

What keeps us from sharing the Gospel with others?

Until recently I would have given one of three answers:

Christians don’t know enough about the Gospel
Christians have few (if any) non-Christian friends
Christians have become too busy with their own lives

Maybe you would agree. Maybe you feel like you don’t know enough. Or maybe you feel like you no longer have any non-Christian friends. And it’s probably likely that you’re busy–crazy busy even–and you just don’t have time to even make time to share the Gospel with others.

I get it. At different times in my life, I’ve been there. And I’ve thought all the same things.

But Pastors David Platt and Francis Chan wouldn’t agree. As they see it, we don’t share the Gospel because we lack something. And that something isn’t knowledge, non-Christian friends, or more time for our neighbors.

What we lack is just one thing–boldness.

We simply lack the courage to do it.

After recently reading through the book of Acts and preaching on parts of it a couple of weeks ago, I couldn’t agree more. The early church didn’t know everything there was to know about the Gospel. They didn’t have a ton of non-Christian friends. And they had jobs, families, and other things to do. But when it came to sharing the Gospel, they were bold.

So how do we get boldness?

This is where we (and by “we” I mean “I”) tend to make the mistake. We tend to try to motivate ourselves (and others) to go share. We might try to motivate ourselves just to love others, or even just to see people as Jesus sees them.

It might work for a short time. But more times than not, the motivation quickly fades. We stop looking for opportunities. And soon we feel guilty again for not sharing our faith.

So what is the alternative?

The alternative is to stop looking for boldness within ourselves. Because it doesn’t exist in us, and we can’t generate it. The kind of boldness that enables us to share the Gospel only comes from God.

Thus, if we want to be bold we must pray. We must ask the Holy Spirit to give us what we cannot give ourselves. This is what the church in Acts understood. The answer isn’t to try harder. The answer is to pray more. We must first pray for our own boldness, and then pray for each other’s boldness. Only when we start with prayer will we not only see the opportunities to share the Gospel, but we’ll have the God-given courage to actually do it.

If you still have a few minutes, check out this great conversation between David Platt and Francis Chan on Prayer, the Holy Spirit and Boldness. You won’t regret it.

Can I Share My Faith At School?

Posted on February 16, 2015 by alanconrow • Posted in Discipleship • Tagged California School Project, evangelism, high school, sharing faith at school, South Lyon • Leave a comment

I once had the privilege of being schooled about school. Specifically what you could and could not say about Jesus in school.

“You actually can share your faith at school,” he said

“What? I thought there were laws against that,” I said.

It was a discussion between myself and a college student/ministry leader whom I was supposed to be supervising.

I was the Graduate Supervisor. My job was to help guide his ministry team to come up with vision, mission, and goals.

His team was one ministry chapter of a larger ministry called California School Project. At the time I had never heard of it, but it turns out they did some really cool things.

Here are their objectives:

Give every student the opportunity to hear about Christ, respond in faith, grow as a new believer, and plug into a local church.
Mobilize the number of gospel communicators actively sharing their faith with their friends on campus.
Gather support from the Christian community and local churches to support and sustain the movement at the campus through prayer, participation, and finances.
Equip student leaders for the movement by involving them in the process of reaching their campus for Christ and proactively training them for future leadership.

So they obviously knew something about ways students could and could not share their faith at school. One of the biggest things I learned from them (as one of their chapter’s supervisors) was there is more students can do than they think.

And the best way to find out what students can and can’t do is to read through a school’s Student Handbook. Most (if not all) of the rules will be laid out there.

So what about in South Lyon, MI? What does their Student Handbook say about students and faith?

Let’s start with what you cannot do:

1. You cannot harass other students based on their religion [1]

This means you cannot say to another student something like “what you believe is stupid” or worse “you are stupid for believing _______.”

2. You cannot distribute publications which are “are grossly prejudicial to an ethnic, religious, racial, or other delineated group”[2] or seek “to establish the supremacy of a particular religious denomination, sect, or point of view over any other religious denomination, sect, or point of view” [3]

So you can’t pass out anything that says your religion or your beliefs are more important or better than any other beliefs that may be held by someone else.

That is it.

Which means you can:

Talk openly about your faith with friends, teachers, and other school employees as long as you are being respectful and are in no way verbally attacking them or their beliefs.
Hand out religious material so long as it is not forced on anyone and is in a neutral place and not during instructional time[4].
Share your testimony with people, as long as it is not during class time, and you’re not forcing people to listen.
Use a class assignment to write about your faith or what you believe about a certain topic. Just be respectful and don’t attack the beliefs of others.
Get an excused absence for a religious observance[5]

This is how ministries like California School Project can exist. Because it turns out students do have a lot of freedom to talk about and live out their faith at school.

Whether it is students at school or for adults in the workplace, it is always just a matter of following 1 Peter 3:15-16:

⁵But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, ¹⁶keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

If students respect their school, its rules, its purposes, administrators, and teachers, and if they treat everyone with gentleness and respect, seeking to live a life of good behavior, then they should have no problem making Christ known and drawing others to him at their school.
____________________________________________________

[1] South Lyon Student Handbook p.77

[2] South Lyon Student Handbook p.89

[3] South Lyon Student Handbook p.89

[4] South Lyon School Board Policy

[5] South Lyon Student Handbook p.56

When (not if) You Have Doubts

Posted on February 10, 2015 by alanconrow • Posted in Discipleship, Faith • Tagged christians and doubt, doubts, Overcoming doubt, pastors, Top 25 Christian Apologetics Books • Leave a comment

A while back my good friend Jay called me up. It was late at night (that is, late at night for two guys with young kids—so, like, nine o’clock).

“Can I ask you a question?” he asked.

“Suuure….” I replied, feeling somewhat nervous given the late hour.

“Do you ever have doubts?” Jay asked.

“What kind of doubts…?” I inquired.

“Doubts about God, Christianity, and….”

“Oh, those kinds of doubts…,” I said with a sense of relief. “Heck yeah, all the time…why do you ask?”

Jay explained, “I was listening to a pastor on the radio, and he was asked if he ever had doubts. He said he never did…and I was surprised because I have lots of doubts…”

“He’s lying.” I said. “Either that or he hasn’t been a pastor that long. I don’t know any pastor worth his salt that doesn’t, from time to time, have doubts about Christianity. There are a lot of things about Christianity that sound crazy. Any thoughtful pastor or Christian is going to wrestle with those things.”

At this point I went on a mini rant about all the doubts I’ve had in the last year. Everything from doubting the existence of God, the deity of Christ, the validity of the Bible, to doubting whether or not I was truly saved (to be honest that last one really surprised me).

“I thought that was the case…” Jay said.

At this point I can’t remember the exact wording of our conversation but we discussed a lot of things about doubts.

We talked about how doubts aren’t necessarily bad things. And how, contrary to popular belief, doubts don’t go away just because you’ve walked with Jesus for a while or read everything there is to read on God, the Christian life, and the Bible (not that either of us had or ever will). We discussed how it doesn’t matter if you have doubts, but instead what you do with them.

At this point I probably listed out a number of books (after the Bible) that I think every Christian should read when they have doubts. (The list was likely something close to this: Top 25 Christian Apologetics Books

We then discussed how doubt is not limited to areas of faith. (Years ago after a major argument with my wife, Meredith, I think we both doubted whether or not marriage was a God-ordained institution…or even if it was a good idea at all.) We doubt relationships, our abilities, even our perception of reality.

So Jay and I concluded we’re not sure what that pastor on the radio was smoking when he said he didn’t have doubts. Maybe he was afraid that if he confessed his doubts other people (people in his congregation) would doubt their own faith (or worse…doubt him). Or maybe at that time in his life he really couldn’t think of any deep questions to which he didn’t already have the answers.

At some point we said goodbye, but if I could go back in time I would add this addendum to our conversation.

I would have said, “Jay, something I’m just now learning is having all the answers is not the same as not having doubts.”

“So you’re done reading books?” he might have replied.

“No, what I mean is I could give most people the right answer to most of their ‘faith’ questions. But whether or not I truly believe those answers is a whole different matter—that’s doubt. Do I believe what I say? Is it really true? Answers alone won’t get me there. They help, but they won’t get me to a place of complete confidence.”

“So what will?” he might have asked.

“Honestly, a relationship,” I’d have said.

Then I would have stepped into my imaginary little pulpit and continued:

“Lately I find that the more I spend time with God through prayer and just being mindful of his presence the harder it is to doubt His existence.

“The more I let Jesus have his way in my life, the harder it is to doubt that he is alive and Lord of all creation.

“The more I spend time in the Bible, really just soaking it up and letting it shape me, the harder it is to doubt that it is really God’s Word.”

And because my friend Jay doesn’t like easy answers (he’s too smart for that) I’m sure he would have liked that little spiritual reflection.

Looking back I think Jay knew the following things when he called: Doubt is normal. I don’t need to have all the answers. God and my relationship with him is bigger than my doubt.

I think my good friend Jay just needed some reassurance.

Bad Recruiting Day

Posted on February 5, 2015 by alanconrow • Posted in Jesus, Life • Tagged college football, John MacArthur, Mark 3:13-19, Michigan State, National Signing Day 2015, Recruiting, Twelve Ordinary Men, Universirty of Michigan • Leave a comment

“And I don’t think Michigan State and Michigan did all that well,” said the radio DJ this morning. He was referring to the recruiting ability of each school. Yesterday was National Signing Day.

“Ouch,” I thought.

Not so much for the schools but for the players. Can you imagine working your whole life to play college sports?

You put in the time, you work extra hard at practices, you train more than your teammates, you change your diet, you make sacrifices, you work at mental focus, and you excelled in most, if not all your games.

You make it!

You’ve been recruited. Maybe by a school you’ve dreamed of playing for your whole life.

And then some guy on the radio quips about your school’s choice, “They didn’t do so well.” Which is just another way of saying the school’s coach “recruited bad players” or at least the coach “didn’t recruit the players he should have.”

Ouch.

But that’s the business of sports. Players know where they stand. They know their role on the team. And they do their best not to care what some guy on the radio says about them.

Still, I wonder if it hurts to work so hard and still be told you’re not good enough.

Even if we’re not athletes (and I am certainly no athlete) it’s still a snare many of us fall into. We believe if we just work hard enough, have the right kind of “stats”, make the right kind of “team” then everything will be ok. We’ll be accepted. We’ll be loved. Life will be good.

Of course that isn’t true.

We can work hard, have great stats, be recruited by the right teams and still have people imply or tell us outright that we’re not good enough because we didn’t meet their (or our) standards. (Often we’re the people telling us we’re not good enough.)

Thankfully there is another kind of leader and another kind of team, one that intentionally recruits bad players with bad stats, yet is remarkably successful.

Jesus is a leader who intentionally recruits bad players with bad stats to play on his Kingdom of God team. And from the beginning his team has done quite well.

In Mark 3:13-19 we read:

“Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons. These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter), James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means ‘sons of thunder’), Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.”

John MacArthur reminds us:

“Not one of them was renowned for scholarship or great erudition…They were not outstanding because of any natural talents or intellectual abilities. On the contrary they were prone to mistakes, misstatements, wrong attitudes, lapses of faith, and bitter failure…Yet with all their faults and character flaws…these men carried on a ministry after Jesus’ ascension that left indelible impact on the world. Their ministry continues to influence us even today.” [1]

This makes me incredibly thankful…

Because my stats aren’t great—by some standards they’re downright bad. But Jesus still wants me. He wanted me enough to sacrifice himself for me. And he is able to use me to have an impact on the world around me. Not because of who I am but because of who he is. He is the coach that loves to show his ability through my inability.

Jesus never has a bad recruiting day.

___________________________________

[1] John MacArthur. Twelve Ordinary Men pp.xii-xiii

Your Most Overlooked Asset

Posted on January 30, 2015 by alanconrow • Posted in Discipleship, Faith, Life • Tagged 1 Cor 12:22, 2 Cor 2:10, 2 Cor 2:9, jesus, nick vujicic, Phil 2:6-8, The Apostle Paul, weakness • Leave a comment

I’m the type of guy who prefers to cover up his weaknesses. I doubt I’m alone in the preference.

But the longer I walk with Jesus, the more I’m convinced that’s the wrong way to go about things.

Jesus, through his incarnation, intentionally took on weakness (Phil 2:6-8). Saint_Paul,_Rembrandt_van_Rijn_(and_Workshop-),_c._1657

Jesus told the Apostle Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9).

So the Apostle Paul responds, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 2:10).

And in an earlier letter (to the same church), Paul reminds us that when it comes to spiritual gifts of those in the body of Christ, “those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable” (1 Cor 12:22).

What starts to become clear is that, as Christians, our greatest weakness might actually be our greatest asset. Notice I didn’t say strength. I know Paul said that when he is weak, he is strong. But we often hear his words differently than he intends. At least I do.

I tend to think that if I give my weakness over to God, that somehow he’ll take away the weakness. Or at least the weakness won’t bother me as much– that is, I won’t feel as hindered by it. But that is not what Paul is saying.

The weakness doesn’t miraculously change. We still experience the burden of limitation. We still have to rely on others for help. We still, in many ways, feel weak. The difference is that now the weakness is an asset to us. It is valuable to us in the sense that it is the means by which God wants to display his glory through us. It is the means by which we get to see God more.

In some strange way our weaknesses may actually be gifts.

If that sounds strange to you, take five minutes and watch the video below. You won’t regret it. I can’t get enough of this guy…

What’s your weakness? How might God be wanting to show himself off through you?

Alan Conrow

Helping people understand the Christian life and the hope we have in Jesus