In my vocation, I do problem-solving, performance improvement work.

Over the years, I have worked in healthcare, state/federal governments, non-profits, engineering and construction, and biotechnology. One of the biggest challenges I have faced is to get those with whom I engage/consult to see improvement as a process and not an event.

Many in the church are likewise disinclined to see discipleship as a process instead preferring to see it as an event. Much like the proverbial child in the backseat of the car on a long trip (to them!), we keep crying out, "Are we THERE yet?!" In our 60 second sound bite, attention deficit, and etch-a-sketch world, it is challenging - at best - to stay on The Way for the long view.

So much of the Bible speaks to this proclivity of believers to get weary, want to stop, to turn around and go back to our own personal "Egypt," or to just plant ourselves at some point in development as a disciple that we can look back and see we are "better" than we were (than others are) and that we can look forward and see there is yet a place for us to grow up/in to so we have a built in excuse of, "I'm not THERE yet."

Just me...

This entry's somewhat more personal/self-promotional than past entries, but a year and a half's worth of work will drive a man to push the envelope. And this is the right group to tell about it. So I appreciate your forebearance....

Jesus told us in John 15:13-14, “No one has greater love than this — that one lays down his life for his friends. You are my friends  if you do what I command you.” That’s really the heart of discipleship.

But it often comes in pieces. How do we lay down our past — our old life, sins, compulsions, shame? How do we lay down our present — our burdens, weaknesses, strengths, possessions, reputation? And how do we lay down our future — our fears, goals, expectations, even the good things God’s already given us?

Our lives have to move from being of Christ to being in Christ, and ultimately to where finally each of our lives “is Christ” (Phil. 1:18, et al.). And that’s tough. Lay It Down makes the processing part, at least, a bit easier — and offers you the opportunity to process both on your own and in a small-group environment.

A synopsis of contents follows, but first, the critical purchase info:

• To purchase the physical book (210p.) directly from CreateSpace ($12.99), go here.

• For the Kindle version ($9.99, with free borrowing for Kindle Prime members), go here.

• And while you’re at it, go Like the Lay It Down Facebook page here – then Share it.

Section 1: Lay Down Your Past—We need to allow God to deal with what’s already happened in our lives before we can fully move forward. Even long-time Christians have issues from the past that have a way of cropping back up in our lives in brand-new ways—or even in ways we thought we’d left behind.

• Week 1, Lay Down Your Old Life, addresses the core issues of our old life without Christ, such as sin and our former patterns of thinking

• In Week 2, Lay Down Your Baggage, we address those issues from our past that might still have a hold on us—old hurts, grudges, addictions.

Section 2: Lay Down Your Present—What are your current life issues, and how are you trying to control them on your own rather than lay them down before Christ?

• Week 3, Lay Down Your Kingdom, deals the stuff we hold onto and take pride in apart from Christ—and how to hand over the reins.

• With Week 4, Lay Down Your Triggers, we take a step further toward trusting God fully with our lives and identity right now, so that God can provide something better.

Interlude/Retreat: Lay Down Your Time—Between the Present and the Future I’ve inserted an Interlude. (Where better to put it?) This directed retreat can be done on your own or better yet, with a group. I pretty much guarantee that those following the structure presented here will come back renewed, refreshed, and with a deeper sense of spiritual intimacy and purpose—I’ve seen this work too many times to believe otherwise. And with that, it’s time for…

Section 3: Eternal Life Starts Now—Everything we do here on earth is rehearsal time for that endless day we will spend in eternity with Christ. The remainder of the book explores that.

• Week 5, Lay Down Your Future, addresses our immediate future—how to lay down our anxieties, fears, and even our own expectations about what God has planned for us.

• In Week 6, Lay Down the Law (and Leave It There), we’ll explore what it looks like to walk out our entire lives in the Spirit, and the different ways God has provided so that laying down isn’t just sacrifice, but rest and peace in Him.

• In Week 7, Lay Down Your New Life, we’ll look at what it means to lay down our new lives in Christ. God always has something better in store for us, but in order to receive it we need to lay down our gifts and worship the Giver.

• And finally, with Week 8, we’ll Pick It Up, Put It On, Walk It Out. We are pilgrims together on this journey, and even now we should be able to recognize our new life in Christ in one another as well. We’ll explore what that looks like.

So that’s it. Interested? That’s what I was hoping. Enjoy, be blessed, be changed, and spread the word.

Almost every Tuesday and Thursday, I meet with a few other men for the purpose of making disciples.  We hang out, talk about life, ask accountability questions and think through certain points of the Bible together. 

We’re not looking to create a mini-country-club.  A club of three is admittedly a sad club.  We’re not striving to solve the problems of our community or create the perfect church.  We’re simply trying to be – and make – disciples.

You may not think of a two or three people gathering at a local BBQ as the epitome of disciple-making, but regardless of what your discipleship process looks like, it has to have an end goal.  Whether you think of discipleship in terms of classes or in terms of life-on-life interaction, you have to define your discipleship target before you can truly make disciples.

So, let’s define the goal of discipleship.

But before we jump to the center of the target, let’s clarify a few things that we are NOT shooting for (these seven things may get you some points on the religion target, but they are not the primary goal):

1. It’s NOT about living a good life and helping others to conform.
   If the goal of discipleship was to train people to act appropriately, Jesus did not need to come.  The law already existed.  The Pharisees spent more time studying the law than we spend studying Facebook (and that’s a lot of time)!  They had rabbis and they were already producing disciples.  Beyond that…the cross (hello?).  It’s not about increased knowledge.
2. It’s NOT about increasing attendance or participation in the church.
   Although this is a natural consequence of making disciples, it is not the goal.  If the church was the ultimate goal for Jesus, He would have given it a little more attention.  But, as it is, He only mentions the church three times in the gospels.  So, while the church is critically important, it is not the goal of discipleship.  The goal is not the church.
3. It’s NOT about more money for God’s kingdom.
   There are times that all of us feel like we need to help God push this effort forward.  And to be fair, God does allow us to participate in advancing His kingdom.  But, He doesn’t need more “money for missions.”  He owns it all.  I don’t recall any points of serious concern for Jesus because of a lack of money in the pot.  It’s not about more money – even if you are funding a great cause.
4. It’s NOT about joyfully proclaiming the glory of God.
   In Revelation 5:13, John sees an amazing sight as all of creation joins together to proclaim the glory of God.  He says, “And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying,

   ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
   be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!’”

   What an amazing time of worship that will be!  But…worship is not the goal of discipleship.  Much like participation in the church, worship is one of the fruits of discipleship.  It is not the goal of discipleship.

5. It is NOT about obtaining specific spiritual gifts.
     See 1 Corinthians 12:11; 19-20 and 28-31.  (Or just read the entire chapter for the full effect.)  God wants us to utilize the gifts that He gives us, but spiritual gifts are not the goal – or proof of – discipleship.
6. It’s NOT about dragging as many people as possible into life-after-death heaven.
     Don’t misunderstand me - evangelism is commanded by Jesus.  In Acts 1:8 He tells us, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”  Evangelism is part of the disciple’s life, but it is not the goal of discipleship.  On top of that, life after death is not the goal.
7. It’s NOT about dwelling in the kingdom of God.
     It’s not about experiencing “life that is truly life” or “abundant life” or “God’s will on earth as it is in heaven.”  It’s not about entering the fullness of kingdom-life today.  In fact, even though Jesus taught extensively about the kingdom, He indicated that we will not fully experience the kingdom while we are on earth.  He was quick to remind His disciples that while the Spirit would help them to “overcome the world,” they would still “experience trouble” in this life (John 16:33).  He also noted that “there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life” (Mark 10:29-30 – bold added for emphasis).  Therefore, experiencing the kingdom of God is not the ultimate goal for disciples.

So, if knowledge, the church, money for missions, worship, spiritual gifts, heaven and the kingdom of God are not the goals of discipleship, what is?   What is the aim of a disciple’s life?

Paul summed it up pretty well when he said,

I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead (Philippians 3:8-11). 

When Paul said he wanted to “know Christ,” he used a Greek word that was sometimes utilized to describe sexual intimacy.  Before we strike up a LBGT controversy, let’s be clear: Paul was not speaking of sexual intimacy here.  But, he was making a powerfully charged statement that he wanted a deep, personal relationship with God.  And he went further than that.  At the end of that statement, he noted that deep intimacy with Jesus would result in an all-encompassing imitation of Christ.

That’s the goal of discipleship: true intimacy with God that results in an everyday imitation of Jesus.  As we aim at that goal, all of the other items (knowledge, the church, the kingdom of God, etc.) will be thrown in.  But, if we make the other items our focus, we cheapen both that item and the process of discipleship.

Originally published at DiscipleWriter.com

We are thrilled that you have decided to join the discipleship revolution. Churches across the globe have begun to realize the importance of this biblical mandate (Matt. 28:19–20) and are imagining the transformation of lives and the culture where their church exists. Church leaders like you are dreaming of a congregation and community saturated with mature followers of Christ willing to do whatever it takes to further God’s Kingdom.

Some have asked, “Why would I want to lead my church to become a disciple-making church when the people I lead are happy with the status quo?” There are many undeniable and essential reasons.

1. Jesus expected it. Jesus never anticipated that His bride would become a people who simply hosted church events and held weekend worship experiences. He declared that we should, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matt. 28:19–20)

2. Mature disciples evangelize. Every biblical church is passionate about making the gospel known to the world allowing those who are in the world to start and eternal relationship with Christ. Mature disciples intuitively tell others about the Jesus who has transformed their own lives.

3. A disciple-making church is never void of leaders. One of the most tragic realities in the present day church is that she is void of the leaders necessary to accomplish the vision the senior pastor has been given. A disciple-making church produces leaders who produce leaders.

4. It transforms the church dynamic. Many churches suffer with a church full of immature followers of Christ. Because of this, the church is constantly dealing with petty arguments and unhappy congregants. At the same time, those who visit the church are hesitant to join as they sense the tension and immaturity of the people who make up the church. A church that makes disciples is full of people who exhibit “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control,” the fruit of the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22–23) A church made up of people exhibiting these characteristics is a magnet for both believers and unbelievers.

5. It transforms households. Many families are made up of husbands and wives that are church attenders but have never been discipled. Because they have never grown to maturity spiritually these couples live a life of carnality often leading to divorce. For those who do stay together and raise children, their children are void of parents who nurture them spiritually so, when they reach adulthood, these children often leave the faith for the rest of their lives.

6. Disciple making allows the congregation to take ownership and empowers the laity to care for one another. Many pastors are overwhelmed with an unending number of counseling sessions, mediating conversations between those who are at odds with one another, and easing the tensions of immature believers concerned that the church isn’t “meeting my needs.” Over time, a disciple-making church is filled with people who need less counseling as those who have been discipled depend more and more on the power of God and the Holy Spirit, are mature in Christ so they are less conflictual and when conflict does arise they follow biblical directives to singularly clean up the mess that has been made if possible (Matthew 18:15-17), and who realize that it isn’t the churches role to meet their needs, rather, it is their role to serve Christ through the church and in so doing, they will be fulfilled.

These six why’s of a disciple-making will make your church a church that makes the gospel known, is a magnet for those far from Christ and believers seeking to be part of a healthy congregation, and makes it possible for you to give your time to study of God’s Word, prayer, and leadership.

See you downstream . . . . . .

Do my questions have any bearing, any weight, on the core of orthodox Christianity?

In my book, If God Disappears, I talk about my experiences traversing a massive and very steep glacier. It took 12 hours to carve out hand and foot holds to go up. It took 5 minutes of glissading to come back down. Did my boots and gloves make any difference to that glacier while I was climbing up? And, did my boots make any difference on the way down? No. Why not? That glacier very well could have been on that steep mountain side for thousands of years. It was immensely thick and mainly consisted of very hard packed snow turned to ice. What’s more, the glacier stretched for 2 miles. My presence no more impacted that glacier than an ant does while walking up and down the bark of the massive 125-year-old pine tree in my front yard.

Again, do my questions have any bearing, any weight, on the core of orthodox Christianity? No. Why not? By definition, the core of orthodox Christianity was established nearly two thousand years ago. It was intensely forged and mainly consists of a reiteration of the core Gospel truths espoused by Jesus Christ and His apostles. What’s more, every branch of Christianity down through the centuries and around the world has borne witness to those truths. My questions have no more impact on the core of Christian orthodoxy than an ant does walking on the massive pine tree in my front yard.

For this very reason, I should not be afraid to ask questions. Tough questions. Skeptical questions. Doubting questions. Even angry questions. The very kinds of questions that the biblical David asked some three thousand years ago, fully confident that God was pleased to hear his psalms. All of his psalms. Even the ones we’d rather skip reading in the middle of our Bibles.

For all these reasons and more, I also should not be afraid to hear the questions of others. Questions from fellow believers, from struggling saints, from doubters, from skeptics, from agnostics, and even from atheists. Why? Because their questions — even the ones that shock, shake and stump me — cannot damage, diminish, harm or shake the core of orthodox Christianity.

This week marks the release of Ignite, the student edition of Lead Like Jesus. The quality of content and video for this project is second to none. This week was also a slam-dunk for me. I had the privilege of interviewing one of my leadership heroes, Ken Blanchard. His passion for leadership is stronger than ever. And his urgency to see students embrace a biblical model for leadership is contagious. I will be sharing that interview with you on this blog in the coming days.

I also had the opportunity to visit with Phyllis Hendry, President and CEO of the Lead Like Jesus organization. Their staff of leaders continues to lead multiple certification training opportunities. As we talked, I was convinced the following principles that under pinned the training would be of interest to you. The following is a part of the conversation I had with Phyllis.

I began to think about the belief statements that color all of our teaching. We believe that:

1. Jesus is the greatest leadership role model of all time.
2. Leadership happens anytime you influence the thinking, behavior, or development of another person.
3. Effective leadership begins on the inside with the heart.
4. Servant leadership is the only approach to leadership Jesus ever validated for his followers.

Jesus is the greatest leadership role model of all time.
As we proclaim Jesus as the greatest leadership role model of all time and encourage people to adopt Jesus as their leadership role model, we are engaging people to live moment to moment in the power and presence of God as Jesus did when He was on earth. We ask two questions, “Whose are you?” and “Who are you?” Scripture in John 13:3 reminds us that Jesus was sure of whose He was. Scripture says “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God.” We are beginning to ask the question, “What would our life look like if we lived in the power and presence of God as Jesus did?”

Leadership happens anytime you influence the thinking, behavior, or development of another person.
As we define leadership, everyone, everywhere is a leader, so every individual is raised up as one who can have influence on others. This belief highlights the impact potential of one person whose heart is transformed and then influences others. This is a huge belief statement that reminds us there is no separation between the secular and sacred roles or life and organizational roles when it comes to leading like Jesus.

Effective leadership begins on the inside with the heart.
Our belief that effective leadership begins on the inside with the heart radically changes every other leadership paradigm. The model of Jesus and the declaration that leadership starts in the heart is radical. A healthy heart is the only way to lead like Jesus and the only way to a healthy heart is by an ongoing connection with the Father. A healthy heart will produce a different kind of leader. The challenge is we can’t produce it.

The only way to have a “healthy heart” is to connect to the Father. His incredible one-way love that while we are still sinners (far away from God), Christ died for us. It is as we grasp that there is nothing that we need that we don’t already have, there is nothing we can do that makes us more lovable that we can surrender. It is done, finished once and for all and once we can accept and abide in it, surrender comes, and we can live in freedom. His love for us grows love in us and then from us! This is not a new app for an old operating system. The message of Lead Like Jesus is dismantling the old operating systems for a new system with a heart that is totally connected to the Father. It is as we soak in His unconditional love, the antidote for our pride and fear, the answer to whose we are and who we are and much more that our hearts become healthy and we find freedom to lead, love, and live boldly in service to others and become the hands and feet of Jesus.

Servant leadership is the only approach to leadership Jesus ever validated for His followers.
I was asked recently about our reference to servant leadership and the remark was made that so many organizations talk about servant leadership. Does Lead Like Jesus mean something different? My answer is yes. First, leading like Jesus is not just about servant leadership. Certainly, it is an overflow (result) of someone leading like Jesus. Second, we are not simply talking about servant leadership behavior; LLJ is talking about a servant heart.
We are talking about a servant heart who freely serves not to get but to give, not to manipulate but to serve.
Connection to the Father – receiving and surrendering in His unconditional love and grace - equals a healthy heart and produces freedom so that we can Lead Like Jesus.

It’s clear to see why this model and the Ignite student project is a great fit for the Discipleship Revolution.

Epic Quotes on Discipleship & Influence from Prof Howard Hendricks (1924-2013)

Over the last several years church practices have changed and through that process many methods and methodologies have changed as well. Those changes have been subtle and yet significant. Jesus gave us a model to follow. It’s about relationship not religion. It’s about authenticity not activity-based. It’s about intentionality and not options. The reality is living obediently in response to God’s Word does not necessarily mean faithfully participating in a program (even a great program). Living obediently is following Christ. It’s receiving the love that He has for us and in turn loving people well. It’s grace. It’s His Spirit in you.

As believers we have to stop right now and evaluate where we are. There are many of us (leaders included) that have missed this. We have made discipleship more complicated than it was ever intended to be. As a result, we are worn out. We are feeling the pressure in our homes, in our careers, with our friends and the list goes on. We have done everything that we know to do. We have polished up all of our processes, sermons, social media, etc. Yet at the end of the day, the questions still remain: Did I follow Christ today? Did I accept and know God’s love for me? Did I love people well? Do my family, friends, co-workers, and really anyone I come into contact with experience the fruit of God’s Spirit in me?

You see experiencing God’s love and loving people well is what discipleship is all about. It’s walking through life with people in way that honors God. It’s worth it. In June, NavPress will host the National Discipleship Conference at Northwestern College in St. Paul, MN. It is our vision, our desire and our focus is to advance the Gospel of Jesus and His Kingdom into all of the nations through a spiritual generation of laborers living and discipling among the lost. Believers are to be and make disciples. Come join us for an opportunity to be engaged, equipped, and empowered to do just that!

See you there.

I'm currently in the process of my half-dozenth or so go-round with Watchman Nee's The Spiritual Man. If y'r familiar with the book (and even if you're not), it may not be Summa Theologica or Institutes of the Christian Religion but it's still a pretty hefty read. And I never fail to get something new out of it each time through. This time around, one of those things looks like this (additional emphasis mine):

"God's intent is not merely to curtail the movement of our will but also to smash its inner tendency so that its very quality seems to be transformed. Strictly speaking, an obedient will and a harmonious one are very different: obedience is related to activity whereas harmony is related to life, nature and tendency. The obedient will of a servant is seen in his executing every order of his master, but the son who knows the father's heart and whose will is one with the father's not only fulfils his duty but fulfils it with delight as well. An obedient will put a stop to one's own activity, yes, but a harmonious will is in addition one heart with God. Only those who are in harmony with Him can actually appreciate his heart....

"When the moment of temptation and trial comes they will discover that an obedient will is not the same as a harmonious one, that non-resistance does not necessarily mean no will of their own self. Who is there who does not care for a little gain, who does not withhold a little something for himself? Who really desires no gold or silver, honor, freedom, joy, advantage, position or whatever? One may think he cares nothing for these items; while he has them he may not be conscious of their bold upon him; but let him be on the verge of losing them, and he shall soon discover how tenaciously he wants to hold on to them. An obedient will may agree with God's will on many occasions, but at some time or other there is bound to be a mighty struggle between the life of the believer's will and the will of God. Unless His grace realises its fullest work, the saint can hardly overcome....

"[O]rdinarily we say that an obedient will is already dead in itself. Yet strictly speaking it still possesses a thread of life which is unbroken. There continues to be a hidden tendency, a secret admiring of the former way of life. That is why on certain occasions it finds itself less joyful, less ardent and less diligent in obeying the Lord than at other times. While the will of God is in fact obeyed, there nevertheless remains a difference in personal like and dislike. Had the life of self genuinely and completely been consigned to death, the attitude of the believer towards every part of the will of God would be exactly the same. Any disparity in speed, feeling and effort shows a lack of concord in one's will towards God's will."

I could stop right there and I think you'd get it. But the thing is, I somehow found a great comfort—and simultaneously, a great deal of mental hand-wringing—in all this, and found myself wondering why. Here's what I've come up with so far:

• The restlessness—or dis-ease—we may feel as we are obedient to God may not be OK, but it is to be expected. It is not to be misinterprested as disobedience, or even necessarily as a spiritual attack (although it could be either, or both). It simply means that there is more to this than our obedience. We are to remain obedient to what we know, and let God show us the rest when He's ready—and for that matter, when we're ready to be shown it. And then, of course, be obedient to that as well.

• It's easy, especially as Americans, to mistake a lack of obvious influence for a lack of obedience. However, the idea "I'm not reaching these numbers of people; therefore, I'm not doing enough" doesn't come from God. At best, it comes from me—and very likely, from somewhere worse.

• By definition here, I won't be perfect. In fact, I can't be. However, God does ask me to be obedient, and thus to keep my conscience clear. Doing that is the only legitimate response I can make in response to my dis-ease.

• I can always come up higher. I can never be proud of being obedient; it is only my "reasonable service," as Romans 12:1 puts it. Nonetheless, it is the means by which God takes me higher, and closer to Him. My dis-ease is a reminder that I have further to go, and that any peace along the way is God's gift—and not my reward for "being a good boy."

• Even when I'm obedient, to the best of my knowledge and abilities, I'm not truly "in the center of God's will." It can certainly be said that I'm within God's will—which is far from nothing—but again, it's nothing to become self-satisfied over. What I can hopefully rejoice in, even as I keep walking and following, is that I'm being led deeper into God's will.

• All in all: Restlessness can be holy ("divine discontent"). Restlessness can be evil (rebellion). And sometime, restlessness is just... restlessness. Our emotions, in themselves, mean nothing. What's truly driving them, however, means a great deal. Only as we resolve to continue on with God do we discover what lies behind our restlessness.

And that's just what I've got. Comment away if you have more....

Let me eat when I'm hungry / let me drink when I'm dry / two dollars when I'm hard up / religion when I die... —"Moonshiner," traditional (via Dylan and esp. Uncle Tupelo, in my case)

Religion, in its truest form, is for when we die. But much of what passes for religion—and what's often perceived as "religion" from the outside—has gotten away from one huge fact, and it's this: That dying takes place the moment we receive Christ, and we are to spend the rest of our lives living out of that death.

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life....

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace (Romans 6:3–4, 12-14)

We are to walk out in the newness of life, and walk away from the deadness of the old life. To grow closer to Christ is to grow away from the things we used to hold onto—and may still hold onto, even as Christians.

Our spiritual progress is not measured by our feelings—even legitimate feelings of joy in doing God's will—but in the degree of obedience we have toward God's will. Are we willing to follow, no matter what the circumstanecs, no matter how fulfilled or empty or or peaceful or overwhelmed we're feeling? Are we really willing to put ourselves aside for Christ's sake? That's when we know we're getting somewhere in God's kingdom.

"And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (John 17:3), Everything else is incidental.

True spiritual power comes in the wake of spiritual fruit, not as a predecessor to it. The trouble is, we often confuse power with fruit. We see an influential or charismatic leader, and assume that natural ability (and the numbers it often generates) are a sign of God’s blessing. Very often, it is not. Very often, power is just power.

Even those who witnessed Jesus’ “triumphal” entry into Jerusalem were looking for power, not fruit. And yet, almost immediately after pulling into town on his stretch limo donkey Jesus says this:

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him (John 12:24-26, ESV).

Alone, we are kernels of wheat. We might be big, talented, self-impressed kernels, but kernels nonetheless. But by dying to self, God can turn us into stalks of wheat, which Jesus can then use to create and serve the bread of life to others. But it can’t happen until we die—then we can begin to grow. And then, we can bear real fruit—the kind that nourishes and enables others to grow.

So, are you feeling lucky—or more to the point, led? Lay down your power, so that God can turn it into fruit.

Max Lucado’s new book on an oft discussed topic says this about grace: “Here’s my hunch: we’ve settled for wimpy grace. It politely occupies a phrase in a hymn, fits nicely on a church sign. Never causes trouble or demands a response. ... Grace is the voice that calls us to change and then gives us the power to pull it off.”
                        
I have a sense as I read through the book that Max feels western Christians have for the most part not really been fully impacted by God’s grace in such a manner that its affected huge changes in their everyday lives. This is evident as we often see judgementalism, legalism and works-oriented living seep into our lives as individuals and churches.  

Max writes a book that tries to illustrate the life-transforming power of God’s grace to affect every aspect of our day and life. One of the better chapters in the book is on confession. Max relates how he had to confess to a sin that he tried to keep private. It was through confessing that sin to God and others- that he experienced God’s grace and healing.

If you are familiar with Lucado’s writing style - Grace will not disappoint. Easy to read and understand. Full of illustrations from real life and the bible. My only critique would be the wish that Lucado would have leaned to stronger and bolder language to illustration his main points.
I really appreciated the readers guide at the back of the book.  It can used for a group study or for individual reflection.  There is also a DVD curriculum based on the book.

"Book has been provided courtesy of Graf-Martin Communications and Thomas Nelson n exchange for an honest review."

This is still kind of rough shards of thought, but bear with me; I think I’m onto something here… plus, it ties in to my other random devotional pieces as of late…

Everything God gives us is done with the goal—His goal—that it be spent for His glory. The thing is, maybe especially as Americans, we tend to think of giving only in terms of money. And to be sure, our money can represent a number of things lurking behind it. But what about the gifts, spiritual or material, that He’s given us?

And moreso, what about the authority—or, more rawly put, power—He’s entrusted us with, whether that’s in our marriages, our families, our work, our church? Are we as willing to give that away for the sake of those who don’t have it?

Power, like money, is something to be given away to those who need it, rather than hoarded. We serve an all-powerful Lamb who was willingly slain for us, and we must be willing to follow.

Chris Heuertz, in his remarkable book Simple Spirituality, described the measure of our love this way, “It’s not what you give—but what you keep.” Conversely, what we insist upon keeping reveals where we’re still lacking in love.

What we release, lives; what we hang onto dies with us. Thank God for what He’s given you; and ask God to open your hands, and to release what you’re holding onto.