“STUPID RUBS OFF” - BILL HYBELS

As does doubt, complacency, cynicism, and the critical spirit – they all rub off.  The good news is that hope, joy, faith, ingenuity, creativity and the positive spirit are also contagious.

The people around us will determine the climate of our experience; and in life’s journey we have to be fiercely protective over the atmosphere we dwell in.

Spiritual atmosphere is paramount. 

Healthy spiritual atmosphere is not luck or happenstance; it requires a concerted effort navigated strictly by a compass whose true north is victory.  Any hint of defeat, lack or hopelessness must be expelled.

Jesus was ruthless in creating strong spiritual atmospheres.  It blows me away how unapologetic He was. 

Today I write to the person facing a bad report.  I know there will be many of you.  I have read the end of your story and I want to reassure you today.  It is going to be alright – it was always going to be alright.

One day, not so far from now, you will have the gift of hindsight.  I like to call it “the place of the great exhale”.  I love hindsight.  A Divine and masterfully faithful Hand is etched into every moment, and is so glaringly apparent in hindsight. 

What is troublesome is that it is not always so apparent in the moment.  The events and experiences make so much more sense when we are looking back on them than they did in their individual case-by-case presentations. 

The problem with hindsight is that you have to make it through the seasons first.  You have to overcome to be an overcomer.  You have to win before you can call yourself a victor. 

We live in a day filled with noise.  

Every pressure, demand, and list joins the raucous chorus of sound that fills our lives.  It’s like an endless assault on any hopeful sense of peace and purpose in the world.

We can sometimes climb into bed at night, closing the chapter on another day, and wonder, “did my manic pace today accomplish anything of lasting value?”  Our lives are full and yet they feel barren.  We have joined the ranks in the over-glorification of busy. 

Still there is a quiet drum that beats somewhere in the distance.  It is ordered, it is calm, it is sure.  It is reminiscent of a truth we have always known - there is more than this.  It resonates with the deepest core of our true selves.  

How do we tune-in to that again?

Life expands or contracts in direct proportion to our response to opportunity.  The bounty hunter is keen enough to recognise that not all opportunities look like opportunities.  In fact, the critical ones rarely do.

I would say that most opportunities look more like inconveniences.  I’ve also found that saying, “Yes” to those unglamorous requests opens big blessed doors in the future.

Open hands to give are also open hands to receive.

One of my all time favourite life lessons is a passage written about Abraham in Genesis 18.  He is resting in the door of his tent after a somewhat invasive task carried out on him and his household.

I don’t know about you, but there have been times where the call of God has worn me out.  Maybe you know the feeling. You’re tired, and I’m not talking about the end-of-the-day tired.  I’m talking about you wake up in the morning tired.  You do your days, tired.  You smile at people in the street, tired.  You encourage those around you, tired.  You’re tired and no one knows you’re tired.

The cost of your obedience has been great.  You’re hurting!  You’re uncomfortable! And all you want to do is sit back and rest!  I want to tell you that this is the most important time in your life!  What you do now is crucial.

That promise you think is over and beyond your reach is so close.  Like Abraham’s promised son that still had not been conceived after so many years, that promise God spoke to you about and hasn’t come to pass, yes THAT promise - it’s nearer than you think!

HEAR NO EVIL | SEE NO EVIL | SPEAK NO EVIL (PART 2)

If you’ve travelled overseas you might have experienced the strange sensation of hearing a whole people group speaking in a language you don’t understand.  They understand each other – but you don’t understand them.  Their language is a defining factor of their culture. 

I wonder what a Jesus-follower should sound like?

Our words identify our culture and condition – The health of our heart, the beliefs we foster, our attitude, motivations and expectations for life. How we speak tells everyone around us which culture we belong to. 

Hear no evil, see no evil, and speak no evil – because that is the progression of experience.

I can tell what your tomorrow will look like by the way you speak.  I can also tell you what you thought about yesterday by what you are saying today.

Margaret Thatcher made this challenging statement,

“Watch your thoughts for they become words. Watch your words for they become actions.  Watch your actions for they become habits.  Watch your habits for they become your character.  And watch your character for it becomes your destiny.  What we think, we become.”

We cultivate the landscape of tomorrow by what we think, imagine and speak.  The challenge then is will we choose to do that intentionally?

I’ve noticed that the Kingdom of God is counter-cultural.  

When pop culture says, “take”, Heaven says “give”.  

When pop culture says “sue for what you’ve been robbed”, Heaven says, “bless your enemies”.  

Heaven says, “Love those who hate you, pray for those who persecute you.”  

Heaven says, “those who try to save their lives will loose it, and those who lose their lives for my sake will find it”

I’ve concluded that the hardest thing in life is making the choice to believe the best – about people and about circumstances.  

If we’re honest, we will admit we’ve been tempted at times to withhold a full expression of love because of a fear of being hurt.  We will admit that sometimes reality leaves us grasping at straws and struggling with doubt.

I am no End Times buff, and while I do not usually open the book of Revelation for a spot of light reading and relaxation, I can admit to you that my most favourite life theme is found in those chapters.  

The heart of God revealed in those closing pages contains what I consider to be the most powerful, pointed and readily-applicable aspect of the whole End Times mystery.