Sometimes Gratitude Just Requires Perspective

I heard a story about a young man named John who received a parrot as a gift. The parrot had a bad attitude and even worse vocabulary. Every word out of the bird’s mouth was rude and obnoxious. John tried to change the bird’s attitude by consistently saying polite words and playing soft music. He tried everything he could think of to “clean up” the bird’s vocabulary.

Finally, John had enough. He was angry and yelled at the parrot. The parrot yelled back.

John, in desperation, threw up his hands, grabbed the bird and put him in the freezer. For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed. Then suddenly there was total silence. Not a peep was heard for over a minute.

Fearing that he’d hurt the parrot, John quickly opened the door to the freezer. The parrot calmly stepped out onto John’s outstretched arms and said, “I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and actions. I’m sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and I fully intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable behavior.”

John was stunned at the change in the bird’s attitude. Just as he was about to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in his behavior, the bird continued, “May I ask what the turkey did?”

Oftentimes, an attitude of gratitude simply requires perspective. It’s easy to become preoccupied with self and absorbed with an entitlement mindset. Take a moment and consider how good you really have it. There are so many others who are far worse off than you and I are. Let’s make the most of this Thanksgiving Season by expressing our gratitude for what God has already done and look for ways to help those who are less fortunate that we are.

When you’re in the freezer, be sure to look at the turkey. ☺

The Plumb Line

A carpenter cannot build a house without a plumb line. It’s not good enough to try to line things up by sight. The house will end up crooked. The same principle applies to our lives.

To live a life worth living and one that is constructive and beneficial to others requires a plumb line. Our personal perspectives and experiences are much too limited and finite. A life lived with no regrets must be built with plumb lines that guide us and give us true readings.

I was reminded of this by a recent conversation I had with a fellow passenger on a flight home the other day. The young man thought it was wrong for others to be critical about the lifestyle of others. He believed that people should be able to live anyway they want to live as long as it doesn’t directly hurt an innocent party.

The problem with this kind of thinking is that it ignores the truth about human nature and assumes that we are omniscient. Human nature will always minimize the pain of others to justify our own personal pleasures. We are so prone to distort and misrepresent truth and reality in order to justify our current lifestyles. It’s hard for most people to admit that they are born bent with a disposition toward self-centeredness and selfishness.

But the truth is true whether we believe it or not. And, if our lifestyle denies the truth, it does not change the truth.

Think about it this way. Suppose an experienced carpenter tries to eyeball the line necessary for a perpendicular wall and builds the wall based upon what looks right to him. Afterwards, a rookie carpenter or apprentice to the carpenter uses a plumb line on the wall and discovers that the sight line was slightly off and that the wall is now crooked. Can you imagine how absurd it would be for the experienced carpenter to try and justify his crooked line based upon his sight and experience? It’s not about how much experience he has…it’s about the truth.

It is so important that we measure our lives with God’s plumb line. We dare not trust our experiences and sightlines as being precise measurements of truth to build on. We are so prone to be slightly off center because we were not designed as human plumb lines. Over time, building a life slightly off center will result in disaster and a life full of regrets.

God’s Word is the plumb line. Don’t be surprised when you use God’s plumb line and it exposes your life as crooked and needing re-alignment. Also, don’t be surprised when you disagree with the findings of the plumb line on your life. Our desire for pleasure often blinds us to the truth.

So, what’s the take-away here? Trust God’s plumb line even when it doesn’t make sense or feel right. A plumb line is always straight and reliable…our perspective and experience is not. Invest time daily in the reading of and study of God’s Word. Ask yourself the hard question, “Does my life line up to the truth?” You won’t regret it…especially when you’re looking back at your life and asking the question, “Was it worth it?”

Snapshot of Two Healthy Churches

I’m in the Dayton airport awaiting my flight back home. I’ve been in Ohio for the last 8 days and had the privilege of renewing friendships with two pastor friends while speaking in their churches throughout the week. While here, I observed and was reminded of a number of things that contribute to the good health of a church. Both churches were very different but had so much in common. I thought I’d share some of the similarities with you.

1. These pastors genuinely loved the people in their church.


2. These congregations trusted and loved their pastors.


3. These pastors were not so scripted that they couldn’t be flexible and spontaneous.


4. These congregations demonstrated their concern for others with their “acts of kindness” and talked about it so others could learn how.


5. These pastors had a sense of humor and weren’t afraid to laugh at themselves.


6. These congregations were generous and didn’t wait for someone to ask before they demonstrate it.


7. These pastors measured effectiveness in ministry and direction for ministry with an evangelistic baseline.


8. These congregations were eager to grow in their knowledge of God’s Word and demonstrated it with their participation in special services and Bible Studies at the most inconvenient times.


9. These pastors were disciplined men and demonstrated it by prioritizing time for the study of God’s Word and prayer.


10. These congregations permitted and encouraged their pastors to spend large quantities of time with their families.


11. These pastors paid attention to their wives and kids and were quick to pull out pictures that demonstrated how much they valued and loved them.


12. These congregations and their pastors were passionate about their personal relationships with God and wanted others to know about it.


13. These pastors were committed to stick with their churches during difficult times and had weathered storms in the past that earned their congregation’s trust.


14. These churches had both been willing to follow their pastor’s lead even when their personal preferences had to be denied.


15. Both pastors regarded past victories as reason to celebrate but not as “sacred cows” to maintain or repeat.


16. Both pastors saw themselves as pastors to their communities as well as their congregations.


I could go on and on with many other observations but I’m afraid God will already hold me accountable for all that I’ve listed. J This has been a refreshing week and a reminder of many of the subtleties of effective ministry. I return to Sarasota with a renewed commitment to pastor, lead, and enjoy the wonderful people God has placed in my life.


Special thanks go to Pastors Greg Jackson and Dave Hill and their churches, First Southern Baptist Church in Camden and Northside Baptist Church in Springfield. You’re both making a huge difference and honoring God with your ministries.

Spiritual Progress Checklist

I just finished a study of the Sermon on the Mount by Jesus found in chapters 5-7 in the Gospel of Matthew. It appears that the point of His message was to clarify what actually works when it comes to connecting personally with God and growing spiritually.


When seeing that Jesus wrapped up His sermon by emphasizing the long-term importance of applying all the things He had just spoken about (Matt 7:24-27), I looked for a way to summarize these truths and organize them in the form of a checklist. I’m now using this checklist to keep me on track and help me to evaluate my progress. I’m passing it on here just in case you’re looking for something similar.


The Ingredients of a Life that Lasts:


1. Humility – Come to God on His terms. Matt 5:3-6; 1 Pet 5:6

2. Love – Value people the way God does. Matt 5:7-11; John 3:16

3. Impact – Purposefully live a life of influence. Matt 5:13-16; 2 Tim 2:2

4. Overflow – Let your lifestyle reflect your devotion to God. Matt 5:17-32; Col 2:6-7

5. Predictable – Be consistent. Matt 5:33-48; Matt 18:21-22

6. Transparent – Don’t allow your devotion to become a performance. Matt 6:1-8; Matt 23:23-28

7. Dependence – Use prayer to develop intimacy with God. Matt 6:9-15; Ps 37:4

8. Discipline – Use fasting to demonstrate dependence upon and humility toward God. Matt 6:16-18; 1 Tim 4:7

9. Simplicity – Remove clutter from you commitment to Christ. Matt 6:19-24; Prov 3:5-6

10. Trust – Deal with worry before it destroys you. Matt 6:25-34; Phil 4:6-7

11. Compassion – Beware of a critical spirit. Matt 7:1-6; Gal 6:1-2

12. Patience – Graciously deal with difficult people. Matt 7:7-12; 1 Pet 4:7-9

13. Proactive – Be decisive, alert, and relational. Matt 7:13-23; Eph 5:15-16


For more information about each individual point, I invite you to listen to the individual message on each point on my church's website. The sermon series was entitled, "Living Inside Out."

How To Graciously Deal With Difficult People

Tomorrow I’ll preach a message entitled, “How To Graciously Deal With Difficult People.” I mentioned it in a tweet a couple days ago and have had some interesting responses.

“This is basically every day in the ER”

“This will be very useful, thank you for sharing a sneak peek at this Sunday’s Word.”

“My struggle is that most of my personal stories with difficult people involve the people I’m preaching to.”

“Post that one on YouTube. We all could use this one.”

“My pastor just asked us to deal with that in Women’s Ministries this year – conflict resolution and marriage.”

“Uh oh, looks like you got me again…Do you have ESP or what? Your messages seem to be directed at me specifically."

“I know that your message tomorrow is on dealing with difficult people. I hope that it also speaks the truth about what to do if you are the difficult person. I have been reading the proverbs lately and am very convicted...”

Jesus began His “Sermon on the Mount” (Matt 5-7) by identifying the kinds of changes that are necessary within a person in order to live a “Kingdom” lifestyle. In fact, the whole point of chapter 5 is that a follower of Christ is one who has been so transformed within that it shows on the outside…in his or her lifestyle.

Chapter 6 then proceeds to identify the many ways we artificially substitute religious activities for the genuine marks of one who has a personal relationship with God. Jesus calls this well intentioned effort “hypocrisy.”

Then, Chapter 7 deals with our relationships with other people. As I’ve been studying Matthew 7:7-12 I was amazed at how easily I have taken a passage that deals with relationships and simply made it another passage on prayer. What a difference the passage on “asking…seeking…knocking” makes when it’s application has to do with our relationships with others…especially with Difficult People.

Without going into a lot of detail about tomorrow’s message (you can listen online) here’s a couple important biblical tips on dealing with difficult people that I’ll go into much more detail in my message.

1. It requires God’s grace to deal graciously with difficult people. John put it this way, “If we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us.” (1 John 4:12) You and I don’t have what it takes to love someone unconditionally without first allowing unconditional love to dwell within us.

2. It requires a denial of self to put up with and deal proactively, and redemptively, with difficult people. Matthew put it this way, “Therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them-this is the Law and the Prophets.” (Matt 7:12) Let me put it to you this way, “How do you want others to treat you when you are being difficult?” We tend to treat people the way they deserve to be treated, not the way we’d want to be treated when we are being difficult.

Apparently everybody is dealing with difficult people. Is it possible that we are the difficult people that others are complaining about? Sounds like the “log in your eye” and “speck in their eye” principle again. Ouch!

More later.