Proverbs 27:5 - "A public rebuke is better than unspoken gratitude."
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Here's a PDF of the talk.
Have you ever known a way you were supposed to go? A decision you were supposed to make? Have you ever stood at a crossroads and looked two directions (or three or four), like you were looking into possible futures?
Sure you have. We all have.
And haven't there ever been moments, at that crossroads, when you just knew THAT was the right path? That down THAT road was a better future, a place you should be? When you just knew that the other road, the easier road, didn't lead anywhere good?
We've all stood there. We've all faced that choice. And a lot of us have said No to the adventure. To the hard road, the good road. The way we were supposed to go. Frankly, a lot of us just don't have the courage to step out on that good road. Why is that?
Well, according to Proverbs, it's because we're lazy.
Here's a PDF of the talk.
Our lives are full of moments like Graduation that make us pause and step back from the world of the everyday for a minute or two. In these moments, we tend to look at the whole of our lives, what's brought us to this place, and then ask, What next?
Where do we go from here? What does the future hold? What's around the next corner?
Our obsession with the future isn't confined to the mystical. More and more of us are being challenged to develop 'life plans'. And while anxiety over what career we're going to choose is especially common among twenty-somethings, all of us wonder if we're really doing the right thing with our lives.
What's next? What am I supposed to do with my life? What does the future hold? Where is all this going? Am I wasting my time and my life?
Put Away the Flaming Arrows!
Talk: Breathe Deep!
Talk: Don't Be Lazy... Be Brave!
Here's a PDF of the talk.
Have you ever known a way you were supposed to go? A decision you were supposed to make? Have you ever stood at a crossroads and looked two directions (or three or four), like you were looking into possible futures?
Sure you have. We all have.
And haven't there ever been moments, at that crossroads, when you just knew THAT was the right path? That down THAT road was a better future, a place you should be? When you just knew that the other road, the easier road, didn't lead anywhere good?
We've all stood there. We've all faced that choice. And a lot of us have said No to the adventure. To the hard road, the good road. The way we were supposed to go. Frankly, a lot of us just don't have the courage to step out on that good road. Why is that?
Well, according to Proverbs, it's because we're lazy.
The lazy person says, "There is a lion in the road! There is a lion in the streets!" -- Proverbs 26:13 (NRS)I know what you're thinking - lazy? I'm not lazy!
No one wants to be lazy. It's a word that has some pretty negative connotations. When you hear it what do you think of?
Worthless? Good-for-nothing? A shiftless-layabout? Did someone specific pop into your brain? We think of lazy people as selfish. A drain on the rest of us hard-working contributors to society. So when Proverbs suggests that we might be lazy, we take offense. But that's because we focus on the first part.Let's let Proverbs define laziness for us. And then take a good hard look at whether we fit the bill.
Podcast: Download (0.0KB)
Talk: Quit Eating Vomit!
Fire Finale: Pentecost
Talk: Fire Part 5 - Good Fruit
Talk: Fire Part 4 - In the Father's House
Here's a PDF of the talk.
Our lives are full of moments like Graduation that make us pause and step back from the world of the everyday for a minute or two. In these moments, we tend to look at the whole of our lives, what's brought us to this place, and then ask, What next?
Where do we go from here? What does the future hold? What's around the next corner?
It's a good question. A human question - for as long as humans have been worshiping, we've wanted to know what the future holds. What the gods want from us.
The most ancient religions had many tools to divine the will of the gods. (some sort of good, memorable photo of a crystal ball or something we can bring back at the end) Even the ancient Israelites used urim and thummim to figure out what God wanted. The Greeks and Romans consulted oracles. Astrology has been around practically forever, and many people today still place a lot of stock in what their Horoscopes tell them or call a psychic hotline.
Our obsession with the future isn't confined to the mystical. More and more of us are being challenged to develop 'life plans'. And while anxiety over what career we're going to choose is especially common among twenty-somethings, all of us wonder if we're really doing the right thing with our lives.
What's next? What am I supposed to do with my life? What does the future hold? Where is all this going? Am I wasting my time and my life?
These moments pull us out of our ordinary, mundane everyday lives and lead us to ask about the future. To wonder what lies in store.
And in the Church, these questions get wrapped up in one big question: What's God's will for my life? In that, we ask the same question people have been asking since forever. What does the future hold? And how can I get God to tell me? The right prayer? The right Bible verse? We spend a lot of time and energy trying to figure out the future and learn what God wants…But what if those aren't the right questions? What if by asking these questions the way we ask them, by stepping out of the present to wonder about the future, we are missing something key?
Podcast: Download (0.0KB)
Talk: Fire Part 3 - The Shepherd's Voice
Talk: Fire Part 1 - Doubting Thomas
