Be good!

Faith + goodness + knowledge + self-control + perseverance + godliness + kindness + love = Effective & Efficient Living!

We’ve been told all our lives to be good. When my mom told us to be good at church, it meant sit still, be quiet and listen. When she told us to be good at school it meant, obey the rules, listen to the teacher and be nice to the other kids. When she told me to be good when I went on a date, it meant … well I’ll let you fill in the blanks on that one. Today, when I leave for work and my husband says, be good, it means be quiet, listen and be nice to the other kids! Just kidding, it means do the right things today.

So what does it mean when Peter says, to add goodness to our faith. I think it means more than sit still, be quiet and play nice.

Over the last few weeks, we’ve discussed our need and hopefully kindled our desire to live E² lives. Lives seeking to achieve a purpose, which we’ve analyzed to be participating in the divine and avoiding the corrupt. Last week we calculated that faith is a sufficient source for the life we desire. With our eye on that source, let’s begin our discussion of goodness.

“You are … God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of darkness (corrupt) and into his wonderful light (divine).” 1 Peter 2:9 (Parenthetical words are mine, not Peter’s.)

Logic requires that if we are going to show his goodness to others, we need to understand his goodness. One definition offered by Webster for goodness is the best part of anything, the essence. As in the essence of my job is the people. The essence of anything is that which defines its. Look at these verses with me and let’s see what we can learn about the goodness of God.

In the story of the Israelites, God’s people and God Himself often refer to God’s goodness. In Exodus, chapter 33 Moses asked God to show him his ways so that he might understand him more fully, to go with them and to show him His glorious presence. The Lord replied, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, …. For I will show mercy to anyone I choose and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.” God was choosing to show mercy and compassion despite the sin of the people. He would go with them as Moses had asked.

Generations later, in Nehemiah, chapter 9, the people are recounting the history of their ancestors. Again and again, they rehearse the mercy and compassion shown by their God. In verse 35, they make this statement, “Even while they had their own kingdom, they did not serve you, though you showered your goodness on them.”

In Acts, chapter 14, Paul and Barnabas were sharing the Good News about the living God and they said, “In the past he permitted all the nations to go their own ways, but he never left them without evidence of his goodness.”

The Psalmist was confident he would see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living. (Psalm 27:13) He was confident goodness and mercy would follow him all the days of his life. (Psalm 23:6)

Over and over in the story of God and his people, his goodness is connected to his mercy and compassion. In the passage in Exodus, one of Moses’ requests was that God show him his ways so that he might understand him better. God responded by showing his mercy and compassion. This strongly suggest that the essence or goodness of God is his mercy and compassion. Indeed, we would have no good news without his mercy and compassion!

Think of some of the good people in your life. Are mercy and compassion on the list of things that define them? I would venture the majority of you would say, yes. We know goodness when we experience it. So do the people you interact with every day.

Add to your faith, goodness …

Thanks for listening,

See you next Sunday

Ronda

Several weeks ago we talked about a Sunday school teacher who would have us put our name in every time we Israel in a verse, try this one that way! It will motivate you to be good!

“I will tell of the Lord’s unfailing love.
I will praise the Lord for all he has done.
I will rejoice in his great goodness to Israel,
which he has granted according to his mercy and love.”
Isaiah 63:7 NLT

Is it Possible?

Is it possible? We ended last week with this question. Am I crazy to believe that it is possible to actually avoid quarrelling, outburst of anger, selfish ambition, arrogance and greed - just to name a few corrupt behaviors. Seriously, in my world these are frequently touted as how you get things done, keep people in line and protect your interest.

Is a life lived with honest words, honorable plans, right decisions, pure motives, lovely thoughts, admirable actions, excellent and praise worthy work a doable thing?

Before we start breaking down the formula, let's make sure we’re on the same page. Participating in the divine and avoiding the corrupt is not about avoiding people and things we have judged to be corrupt - actually that judging thing needs to go. Nor is it about only hanging out at church or with our church buddies 24/7. Nope, not at all. E² living is a life fully engaged with everyone and every responsibility God has placed in our life. The participation and the avoidance is about our hearts and our actions. As for me, this raises the question, is this possible to another level!

When I was little kid, my mother was the youth leader at our home church which meant I attended youth rallies and parties long before I was a teenager. Shortly after my dad had become a Christian we attended a youth rally at a church in a neighboring town. The special music guests that night were a group led by a man my dad had worked with years before at a plant in Texas. My dad had been a foreman with a reputation for making life difficult for the bible school students that worked under him. So much so that they referred to him as a bible character, a “donkey” from a particular story.

That night when we walked in the church was the first time this man had seen my dad since those days. He literally feel to his knees in shock when my dad walked in the church. Based on his experience, he must have thought it impossible, at best highly unlikely that he would ever see my dad at a church youth rally. But then he didn’t know about my mother’s faith. Faith that knelt each night to pray for her husband’s salvation. And he didn’t know the faith and perseverance of Walter Helms, who prayed, visited and loved my father all the way to the altar.

Is it possible? The answer lies in the first component of our formula, faith! It is more than interesting that the first component is not self-control, knowledge or perseverance. The first component has nothing to do with effort and everything to do with confidence. “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.” (Hebrews 11:1)

To complete any assignment, effectively and efficiently, we first must understand the purpose and second we must believe it is possible. This is a true principal in our homes, our churches and our offices. The moment we lose confidence in a person, a company, or a process we become ineffective. We may complete tasks, but we will not fully achieve the desired result.

So how do we find this assurance of things we can not yet see? I suggest that understanding our source is what gives us faith that a desired result is possible.

In credit analysis, second to understanding the purpose of a loan request is understanding the source of repayment. You can’t have confidence that a loan will be repaid if you can’t accurately identify the source repayment. Where will the borrower get the cash to repay the loan? Has it been sufficient in the past? Is it likely to continue?

So, what is our source for an E² life? Has it been sufficient in the past? Is it likely to continue?

“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” (2 Peter 1:3-4)

Yes, it has been sufficient in the past and it’s the only thing we can know will continue to be sufficient in the future!

“It was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger. He kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27 NLT) I have often heard the term “blind faith”. I propose that faith is not blind, it is keeping our eyes wide open and focused on our source. We may not see what lies ahead, but we see the source that is sufficient for whatever, whenever, where ever!

A debt service coverage ratio states the number of times the available source covers the required debt payments. A DSCR of 2x simply means a borrower has $2 available for $1 in required payments.

So let’s set up a coverage ratio for E² living:

Available Source = Faith in the One who has given us great and precious promises

Requirements of E² living = goodness, knowledge, self control, perseverance, godliness, kindness and love

Source / Requirements = A zillion, billion, million:1

It is sufficient! As one of my friends says, eyes on Jesus, Ronda, eyes on Jesus!

Thanks for listening

See you next Sunday,

Ronda

Why do we do what we do?

Why? An important question that we seem to instinctively ask from birth. Why is the sky blue? Why does snow melt? Why do I have to go to bed? Or my only child’s favorite, why do I have to sleep by myself!? Or this astounding one she strolled in the kitchen one Saturday afternoon to ask; “Mom, I know why Daddy does what he does but why do you do what you do?” Wow, big question for a 7 year old, bigger question for the 30 year old mom!

Why do we do what we do? What is the purpose or desired result of our life, our job, our day? Have you ever tried to learn something new from someone who could not answer the “whys”? That drives me crazy!

When I first began to learn credit analysis, everyone seemed only interested in teaching me how to calculate ratios, payments and interest yields. I struggled to understand all of numbers and formulas being thrown at me. Then, I had an opportunity to attend Commercial Lending school and the instructor made the statement that the numbers tell the story. “You have to get them to talk to you.” That I could relate to. I much prefer a story to a bunch of numbers. What I learned that week was the purpose of the numbers, formulas, ratios and calculations was to tell the story. From that day forward, I’ve loved working with numbers.

So back to our question from last week; what is the desired result of his divine power, glory and goodness in our lives?

In the verse that proceeds the formula we discussed last week for effective and efficient living, two words get my attention; so that. “So that” sounds to me like a prelude to an answer to a why question. Why do I go to work everyday? so that I can pay my bills. Why do I calculate a debt service coverage ratio for a loan applicant? so that, I know they can pay their bills.

“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” (2 Peter 1:3-4)

Here’s my proposed answer; the desired result of effective and efficient living is participating in the divine and escaping the corrupt.

Participating in the divine. The formal definition for divine is “godlike”. The informal definition is extremely good or unusually lovely, as in chocolate is divine! (Isn’t it?) Participating in extremely good and unusually lovely things sounds like a good way to live to me. It also reminds of a scripture in Philippians, Chapter 4 that provides an excellent list of divine things to participate in; honest words, honorable plans, right decisions, pure motives, lovely thoughts, admirable actions, excellent and praise worthy work. The adjectives are directly from the scripture. I added the nouns to help us think about things we participate in; our words, our plans, our decisions, our motives, our thoughts, our actions and work.

Avoiding the corrupt. Galatians 5:19 tells us the results of corruption are very clear. Judging by the behaviors listed there I would say the results are not E²; quarreling, outburst of anger, and selfish ambition. I’ve never seen any of those result in the divine!

2 Peter, Chapter 2, discusses more corrupt behavior and the results. It starts with the "big ones", like sexual immorality and false spiritual teachers. But notice a few of the others included in this passage: they make up clever lies, they despise authority, they are proud and arrogant, they brag about themselves, they are well-trained in greed. My friends and I have names for people like this! 2 Peter calls them useless, which is an antonym of effective.

No one ever acts like this at my house or office. Oops, I just typed something about honesty, didn’t I.

I don’t know about you but the longer I write, the more I ask; “is this desired result possible?” Let’s pick up there next week.

Thanks for listening,

See you next Sunday,

Ronda

One more thing for your “to ponder” list, does he demand this result from us or does he desire this result for us?

Effective and Efficient

E Squared

Effective - accomplishing a purpose, producing the desired result

Efficient - producing the desired result without waste

Synonyms - productive, capable

Antonyms - fruitless, useless, wasteful, unproductive

One of my favorite pieces of jewelry is a simple charm bracelet given to me by some of the members of my staff at Home National Bank. The charm is what makes it special - and the people who gave it to me. Engraved on the charm is this little emblem E^2.

During my tenure at HNB in the credit department this was our motto. With every task, we asked the question is this effective and efficient? Are our processes designed to accomplish the desired results in the best possible manner? Often in my professional world this question means are we striking the right balance between cost and results or are we properly balancing risk and return.

Recently, I was reading in 2 Peter and discovered this question is scriptural! And better yet there is a formula for living effective, efficient lives! Formulas appeal to the analyst in me!

“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ”(2 Peter 1:3 - 9)

Did you catch the formula? Faith + goodness + knowledge + self-control + perseverance + godliness + kindness + love = Effective & Efficient Living!

In a drawer in my desk I keep a few cards and notes from former bosses and employees expressing appreciation for a job well done, which I equate to effective, efficient work. Occasionally, I read them for encouragement when a task or situation has me frustrated and remember all that was necessary to achieve whatever it was I was working on at that time.

My heart longs to be willing to do all that is necessary to hear Jesus express, job well done. I want my entire life, not just my professional life to be E². This formula provides insight into how we do that and my heart tells me the formula is applicable to all areas of our lives.

In analysis it is important to understand each element in a formula to accurately interpret the result. In measuring the effectiveness & efficiency of a process, each step must be considered. Over the next several weeks I plan to analyze the 2 Peter formula by studying each element. I’ll let you know what I find each week and I would love to hear from any and all how you measure effectiveness and efficiency in your life.

When reviewing a work flow process or analyzing a loan request, the first step is have a clear picture of the desired result or purpose. Maybe that’s a good place to start our analysis, what is the desired result of his divine power, glory and goodness in our lives? Ponder that with me this week.

　

Thanks for listening

See you next Sunday,

Ronda

The Spirit of Ought

One of the perks of pastoring has been hanging out with senior citizens. Some of my favorite New Year’s Eve nights were spent partying with the senior citizens at Hugoton Baptist Church. “Unhanging” the greens and then playing cards and dominos was a great way to ring in a New Year. Of course, there was the year one of my favorite ladies threatened to become Methodist if the pastor didn’t behave! Ironically, a few years later she married a retired Methodist minister! He was a wonderful man and he taught her pastor and I some beautiful lessons about ministry. One of the truths he shared with our adult Sunday school one morning that I will never forget was what he titled “The Spirit of Ought“.

The following were the key verses in our lesson that morning.

“So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires.” (Galatians 5:16 & 17 NLT)

“Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.”

Here was his simple explanation of listening to the Spirit. He said it’s the voice in your head that says “you ought to do this and you ought not to do that”. He went on to say how many times in his ministry he had heard the Spirit of Ought say go see this one or witness to that one, give money to this one or pray for that one. I love that because I know that voice. It often speaks to me and says things like you ought not say that!

Sometimes I fear we like the Galatians make things of the Spirit too complicated. Like them we try to make ourselves right by keeping a set of rules of Christian behavior. Don’t get me wrong, I understand there are rules of behavior. In the same chapter of Galatians, there are two list, a list of “oughts” and list of “ought nots“. We ought not be quarrelsome, lustful, selfish or jealous, just to name a few. We ought to be patience, kind, faithful, gentle and self-controlled, just to name a few. But we can’t live this way absence of the counsel of the Spirit.

Other times I fear we only listen for the voice of the Spirit in special times and places; a powerful worship service, a quiet place of prayer or in the words of a friend or minister. I love those times. They are special places along our way, but often in the midst of fulfilling the responsibilities of any given day, I love that I can hear the practical voice of the Spirit counsel me on what I ought and ought not do.

In 2011, I want to do a better job responding to the Spirit of Ought. “Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.” (James 4:17 NLT) As my Dad often says, God help us!

Thanks for listening,

See you next Sunday,

Ronda

Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. (I John 4:11 NLT)