Tag: Psalms

Day 3 :: Living Stone of RESPONSIBILITY

Join us for the 12 Day YMCA Devotion Series – LIVING STONES: LEAD, CARE AND SERVE LIKE JESUS

How can we be ‘like Living Stones’ used by God to strengthen the presence of Christ where we lead?

Recently, 24 YMCA leaders with the OnPrinciple program visited 12 places throughout the Holy Land where Jesus taught about how to live and lead in God’s kingdom.

From this experience comes 12 spiritual leadership principles – or Living Stones – (inspired by 1Peter 2:4-5) that Christ-followers can embody as we are being built up to lead, care and serve everyone, like Jesus.

by Jorge Perez, CEO & President with the YMCA of Greater Cincinnati

On a trip to Bethlehem, we visited fields believed to be where angels announced the birth of Jesus to shepherds watching over their flocks.

What you need to know about shepherds is they are a gritty bunch; hardworking, calloused hands, 24-7, and never-say-die folks.

Their daily tasks of tending, herding, feeding, or guarding made them synonymous with the leadership principle of Responsibility.

As a five-year-old boy, I understood Responsibility because I needed to take care of my three sisters while my mother worked to provide for our basic needs.

In my early teens, I became a wage earner, a mechanic, a plumber, a carpenter, an interpreter, and a surrogate parent; my familial duties left little room for school.

Although I remember feeling proud of my contributions, I struggled with the accountability placed on my way-too-young shoulders. 

For me, Responsibility was a set of duties and obligations that added to my life’s burdens.

But this was not how Jesus described Responsibility; he counterbalanced duty and obligation with love and faithfulness.

This is highlighted in Jesus’s story of a shepherd who searched for a lost sheep, leaving behind ninety-nine.

When he found the lost lamb, joy replaced drudgery: “Rejoice with me! I found my lost sheep.”

But if leadership and service are only out of duty and obligation, the work will become a burden.

Leaders have a responsibility to shepherd individuals in their care.

However, if love and faithfulness are incorporated, we can step into the rest-giving, weary-lifting sphere of cause-driven, living-stone of Responsibility.

Try these three ways to lead with cause-driven Responsibility, like the Good Shepherd:

Embrace duty and obligation. Without it, love and faithfulness are unproductive; a gritty commitment to excellence is not optional.

Align what you do (duty) with why you do it (love). As embodied by Jesus, the never-say-die shepherd, the combination of obligation and faithfulness refreshes our soul and those we serve.

Take time to rest. Responsible shepherds who work hard and love sacrificially need to be led by the Good Shepherd; he will give you rest.

“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul.

He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

Psalm 23.1-4 NIV

This YMCA devotion series brought to you by onPrinciple – click here to learn more about it – a new leadership development program to strengthen the presence of Christ in the YMCA

Click here for the entire devotion series as a downloadable PDF booklet

Click here to access entire devotion series on YouVersion

How’s Your Spirit Doing?

So what does a healthy spirit look like? What’s some language we could use to talk about how our spirit is doing?

Since the YMCA is about putting Christian principles into practice for a healthy spirit, mind and body, what are some Scriptures we could use to guide our search on words to use to figure out how our spirit is doing?

Check out these examples of how a healthy spirit is described and embodied in everyday life.

Ask someone how they are doing, and we have standard answers: Fine. Good! Not bad. Ok. Hanging in there.

It’s pretty easy to talk about how your body is doing – we can chat for quite a while on aches and pains, surgeries and sickness, weight and appearances.

Ask someone what they are thinking about, what their plans are, what’s on their mind, and an answer is not hard to provide.

But ask someone, “How is your spirit doing?” and you’ll likely create an awkward silence.

It’s just not a question that gets asked.

But in the YMCA, our mission is centered around building a healthy spirit, mind and body for all.

So what does a healthy spirit look like? What’s some language we could use to talk about how our spirit is doing?

Since the YMCA is about putting Christian principles into practice, here are some Scriptures we could use to guide our search on words to use to figure out how our spirit is doing:

  • Gospel According to Luke, 1:46-47 And Mary said: “My soul exalts the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.”
  • Luke 23:46 And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Having said this, He breathed His last.
  • Second Letter to Timothy, 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power and love and discipline.” – Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus
  • Psalm 34:18 “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
  • Psalm 51:17 “My sacrifice is a humble spirit, O God; you will not reject a humble and repentant heart.”
  • Ecclesiastes 7:8 “The end of a matter is better than its beginning; Patience of spirit is better than a prideful spirit.”

Based on this small selection, here are some words we can use to answer the question of “How’s your spirit doing?”

You could say, I’m happy and full of joy.

You could talk about people or projects you are committed to.

You could be vulnerable and describe your lack of courage and confidence, or share about your strengths, your passions, and self-control.

You could describe the despair within you in response to the brokenness of the world around you, or of your own personal failings.

You could be courageous and talk about the wrongs you’ve committed and how you’ve tried to make amends.

Finally, you could let them know how easily you can wait for what you want.

Does that help?

It helps me give some language to how my spirit is doing. Am I easily irritable? That’s a spirit thing. Am I constantly disappointed and discouraged? That’s my spirit. Am I frustrated with others? That’s my spirit.

Pay attention to your spirit.

Give yourself time to breathe deeply and slowly.

Let your spirit rest by being alone to reflect on your blessings. Get some sleep. Build margins into your schedule to play and pray.

Laugh at yourself, encourage everyone around you more often.

Let go of grudges and slights quicker, stay focused on making amends more authentically.

As Christians, we are called to solidarity in our spirit with the Spirit of Christ. Paying attention to the spirit of Christ within us is also the way to build unity with other Christians.

It’s through the Spirit of Jesus Christ that we can humbly and patiently embody the power of God’s love and justice in our world together.

We want his strength to strengthen us, his love to empower our love for others, his healing to flow through our spirit, his courage to encourage us to love, serve and care for all – friends, family, and enemies.

How’s your spirit doing?

Patient or prideful?

Courageous or unconfident?

Humbly happy or angrily resentful?

Thankful or unforgiving?

Now, try asking yourself:

How’s my spirit doing?

 

Leading For Good, For All

Your influence is your leadership.

For a community and organization to forsee and flourish, people must use their influence for the common good or what our founders referred to as the Commonwealth.

That means character and integrity must be evidenced every day, along with accountability and friendship, since no one can be successful alone.

There must be a spiritual center to the common good- we are not just thoughts and actions, we need a power greater than ourselves to guide, convict, and compel us to do what is good, true, beautiful and just for all.

The following Psalm was part of the Scripture for the lectionary reading this morning:

“But they flattered the LORD with their mouths;
they lied to him with their tongues.
Their heart was not steadfast towards him;
they were not true to his covenant.
Yet God, being compassionate,
forgave their iniquity,
and did not destroy them;
often he restrained his anger,
and did not stir up all his wrath.
He remembered that they were but flesh,
a wind that passes and does not come again.”
[Psalm 78.36-39, NRSV]

Psalm 78 is a poetic summary of the turbulent relationship between God and the leaders of Israel. It highlights God’s faithfulness to them and their inconsistent loyalty. It’s a vulnerable song, laying open the reality of being God’s people.

God has to put up with leaders who don’t trust him, who profoundly wrong one another, and bring shame on his name – and yet God has bound himself to his people and must find ways to care for and correct them, to reprimand and transform them.

People follow leaders. God works through leaders.  I look up to leaders who help me look up to God. It’s so painful when the leaders I looked up to who helped me look up to God were also at the same time looking down on other people and taking advantage of them in despicable ways.

The psalm puts in perspective the stories that continue to emerge of abuse by Christian leaders towards women, children, other men, the church, and the world.

While this news is “old news” in that abuse and sin has always been part of humanity, America and the Christian religion, it also highlights the need for “good news” – the leadership of Christ Jesus the Lord.

Through his example and Spirit, Christ convicts a society and people of sin, humbles us to repentance and fosters transformation towards loving kindness in all things.

It’s disillusioning to hear of Christian leaders who hurt those they serve.

Especially when it is influential American Evangelical Church pastors. It’s not just “those Christians” who do terrible things, it’s now my tribe, my role models, the pastor that deeply shaped how I think about and do ministry with the church.

This renews my resolve to treat everyone with dignity, to not abuse anyone, and faithfully follow the Lord. But it also makes me question myself and to be brutally honest about “but for the grace of God, it could have been me.”

Like the psalmist recalls, it is easy to flatter God and others while ruminating and planning dark things. No one is righteous, everyone has sinned, which is why lament and repentance are essential to the Christian community.

We lie to God and ourselves when we insist on how good we are while glossing over what is wrong with our culture, our thoughts, and actions. Sometimes it takes death and brokenness to open our eyes to the sins we’ve committed and been blind to. 

It’s not just a matter of will-power to resist the temptation to lust, greed, gluttony, pride, and envy. It’s not just a mind and body struggle, but also a spiritual struggle with power.

The more influence one accumulates, the more checks and balances, the more accountability and friendship is needed to support spiritual practices so that you and those you influence become more humble and kind, wise and just in your dealings with everyone.

Staying attuned to the presence of Christ in all places and times is central to it. The sacrificial, generous, wise, courageous, patient and compassionate leadership of Jesus can be real within us, and through us.

Lead for good, for all.