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Crushed by Comparison

February 16, 2017 1 Comment

Everyday our comparison reflex is being trained so comparison becomes automatic. Our internal insecurities lend themselves easily to the economy of a comparison culture. It’s killing us. It’s crushing our souls. Even when our friends post a happy moment the comparison reflex kicks in and leads us to filter the photo so we cannot celebrate with them. Instead we covet their applause and their good fortune.

 

I know. I’m a pastor. Positions and responsibilities in the work of the Gospel do not create immunity to the comparison culture. Pastors can be exhausted by an insatiable desire to be liked, to be successful. Its miserable. Comparison creates misery! So Saul’s story is scary.

 

It’s possible to believe that success will heal us of such misery. But no, many a king has lain awake at night spinning in the tale of lost affection, applause, and attention. Israel’s first king was so taken by the comparison reflex that he quit listening to God, turned his back on God, and even came to actively oppose the activity of God. King Saul was driven by insecurities that he believed could only be sated by the applause of people.

 

Early in his kingship, when the stakes seemed high, Saul rejected God’s instructions and overreached his authority. He told the prophet Samuel, “When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come… I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal and I have not sought the favour of the Lord.’ So, I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.” (1 Samuel 13:11-12) Saul lost the kingdom. But ultimately he lost his soul.

 

Saul’s concern for the affections, applause and attention of people created a cascade of jealousy in his life. When the people celebrated victories in battle, the refrain, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands,” galled Saul. Saul’s displeasure fuelled his premonition that David would be the next king. As a reader of 1 Samuel we become observers of tragic lost potential as Saul is hollowed out and crushed by comparison. He is filled with insecurity, overreaching, idolatry, lack of peace, progressive rage, and active resistance to what God is doing in the world. No doubt, the companion culture creates vulnerabilities within each of us that can be taken full advantage of by Satan.

 

In the New Testament, James would write to people being formed by Jesus Christ, “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbour bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such ‘wisdom’ does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.” (James 3:13-16) Jesus is the true wisdom that came down from Heaven — He shows us the good life and invites us into it: humility and godly  ambition in the love of God.

 

The Gospel of Jesus Christ creates perspective for us to observe our own hearts and ask, “am I giving safe harbour to envy and selfish ambition? In the great letter of identity in Christ called Galatians, the Apostle Paul declares “If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” (Galatians 1:10) So it is: if we are living loved through the declaration of God’s love for us shown through the Cross of Christ, then we are released internally from the oppressive consuming power of comparison. Even if others insist on comparing us to another person, we can be free internally. I am loved by God. My heart does not have to remain a safe harbour for envy. Living loved in the grace of Christ means we have a place at the foot of the Cross where we can stand and calmly confess, “I’m comparing myself to others. I’m becoming driven to outdo another. I can’t celebrate their success or God’s grace in their lives. Help, Jesus. I need You!”

 

Mortification of the comparison reflex requires grace, otherwise we will resist the movement of God. When his disciples were going over to Jesus, John the Baptist declared of Jesus, “He must become greater; I must become less.” (John 3:30) And the Apostle Paul who was ministering in a hyper-comparison culture declares, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

Psalm 131
A Song of Ascents. Of David

O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high.
I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvellous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.
O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and forevermore.

Discipleship

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Can’t say “That’s wrong.”

February 4, 2017 1 Comment

Photo credit: Netaly Reshef

Over the last seven years I have listened to a lot of students. In conversation through five big ideas of the Gospel and the Christian worldview, I ask the question “How do we know our relationships are broken? What have you seen and observed about relationships with people, the stuff of earth, and self that indicate these relationships are infected with brokenness?”

More often than not these days, people are struggling to answer the question. From my perspective it seems  they are struggling more than they did seven years ago. I wait out the struggle and make a few suggestions and  by and by we make some progress with the topic. But I’m troubled.

 

While there may be several sources for the general reluctance of my companions to identify what’s wrong with the world, at the end of the day, I think its a general reluctance to go on the record as saying, “That’s wrong.” “That’s wrong” or “That’s broken” sounds so sure and confident. Our global-traveling, urban-living, culture-crossing people, are not sure they’ve got the corner truth on what’s wrong in the world. And that’s ok, because if the only authoritative source for what is wrong is yourself, you’ve got to be pretty confident.

 

But what is not alright is the lack of access to any moral authority beyond themselves. I’m not even hearing my companions call upon the rule of law, the graceful creative vision of a society to implement rules, as a nod toward something outside of themselves.

 

From the Christian worldview, the Law, revealed in the Scripture, is a gift from God. Not only does it stimulate for us a vision of what life with God could look like, it creates a vision of what a people incarnating God’s love looks like. The Law is a companion bringing us to the Cross of Christ. For without the Law as revealed in Scripture, the Cross of Christ would lack meaning. The Law can bring us outside the oppression of self and gift us with a cognitive capacity to say, “That’s wrong.”

 

However, the Law is powerless to invoke complete righteousness and grant perfect justice. Its through the Law that we learn God’s grace is required. Its through the Gospel that grace is applied to us.

 

While my companions in Gospel conversations are reluctant to go on the record as saying, “That’s wrong,” I’m noticing as well that all kinds of people are struggling to recognize elements of our brokenness: lying, theft and adultery; abuse, torture and murder; neglect and contempt. Perhaps that’s a symptom of not really knowing God.

Discipleship

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If Jesus doesn’t show up.

February 3, 2017 0 Comments

Photo Credit: Todd Diemer

Reluctance to lead can infect any of us at sudden notice causing us to loose our nerve. Crossing the threshold into leadership by showing up, speaking up, remaining warm but firm and pursuing righteousness and the Kingdom of God, takes us outside the comfort of our couch and screen. Jesus has called His disciples to be salt and light. We are on the King’s Mission in all our circles of influence. We are called to participate in a mission of grace and truth for the redemption of people. Impossible situations abound and God calls leaders into them.

 

Deborah, the prophet and judge in Judges 4 and 5, issued God’s call to Barak to summon an army from the tribes of Israel so they could throw off the oppressive regime of King Jaban and his army commander, Sisera. The odds were against them. Israel was living scared, avoiding the roads for fear. They had no standing unified army. They did not have sufficient defence against 900 chariots. If they showed up by the Kishon river in front of Sisera’s army, surly they would be routed. Unless… the Lord showed up.

 

Barak said he would go if Deborah came with him. We are like that sometimes so find someone to go with you if you are loosing your nerve. Some in Israel stayed away without a second thought. Some had much searching of heart, but stayed away too. Others volunteered willingly and joined Barak and Deborah in their stand against Jaban.

 

It rained. God sent the rain and the chariots sank and slowed in the mire and muck. The situation changed because God showed up.

 

What are you doing that won’t get done unless God shows? What are you aiming at that requires grace? What are you trusting Jesus for? Into what relationships, what circles of influence will you bring hope, forgiveness, kindness, conscientious and quality work, and the Gospel? Are you trusting Jesus to do something there, at work, in your neighbourhood, in your family, in a friend, that can’t be done without Him?

 

“Our Father in heaven, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Discipleship, Leadership

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You thought it was irreducible

February 2, 2017 0 Comments

Complexity.

Once upon a time you came to the point where you were sure a matter could not be reduced or simplified any further. But then a child showed up with a question and you had to explain it to them —

God

Taxes

Government

Race

Death —

and then you were at a loss for words.

Good news. Explanation does not have to abandon mystery. But explanation and teaching must lay a foundation for complexity that grants the reader and interpreter certain sophistication. Those foundations are often simple — complexity is reduced. But the building and the living of life on that foundation creates complexity. An archway built on a foundation is both simple and complex. For learners, the ability to hold what seem to be opposite or opposing thoughts in tension requires maturity. Not just maturity of age, but maturity of thought and emotion in relationship to the subject.

For example, Christians, explaining how they handle the Old Testament have to negotiate many complexities. However, we can take hold of explanations that allow us to synthesize the history, the prayers, and sometimes terrible beauties of the text even as we move toward the revelation of Jesus Christ. These simplified pictures (like the one below) create a framework for theological work and for adding other disciplines such as archeology, history, textual analysis and sociology to our readings of the text. The task of building on foundations is taken up not as an end in and of itself, but as a step in the process of becoming like Christ and participating in His mission.

 

Change

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Reframe your work and make the most of it today.

June 3, 2016 0 Comments

photo credit - Nafina Putra

Reframing starts with the difference between “I have to” and “I get to.”  If you’ve ever met a person with an “I get to”  attitude you will remember them. You will remember them not just for what they do but for how they make you feel. One of my favourite check-out technicians at the Marine Drive Super Store in Vancouver gets it. Her attitude and joy is infectious. She greets every weary customer and makes the checkout experience fun or funny. She makes a difference in the stupor that so easily takes over the heart from the madness of grocery shopping.

 

“Get to” and “have to” — its a difference of attitude. You may be reluctant to tackle it, but as soon as you hear yourself saying, “I have to” its time for an attitude check. For some odd reason we all have moments when we love being in a crappy mood. In moments like that we are taking strange solace in treating ourselves as objects cast about on the sea of life. Fate has beset us and we live as if we are subject only to the constraints and hardships of our responsibilities. Like all emotional postures the “I have to” attitude can become dreadfully habitual.

 

It’s a terrible way to live! However, I’ve discovered a little shift in attitude can start the difference in my happiness, my relational trajectory, and the fruit of my labours.

 

It seems like the grind of routine can easily take over my life. That’s when I find myself muttering…

I have to…

  • get up.
  • go to work.  (Perhaps your story right now is different: I have to go to school.)
  • take this test.
  • make a lunch.
  • clean up and wash these dishes.


But I keep reminding myself, a shift is available to me!


I get to…

  • experience a new day. Its a gift!
  • make a difference in someone’s life.
  • grow through an artificial or a real-life challenge.
  • create order out of the chaos – at least for the moment.


“I get to” is built on hope and purpose. The internal shift in language to “I get to” brings about an external shift in how we approach the work and treat the people who are with us now. Reframing starts with “I get to.”

 

Author, David Sturt, explores the power of reframing work in the book, “Great Work: How to make a difference people love.” Great work exceeds expectations and makes a difference people love. It can happen in any domain of life, but truly great work shares something in common; it begins with the internal mindset of the person doing the work.

 

As you will see, an “I get to” approach refuses to settle for a pragmatic definition of ourselves or our work. For example when another Sunday rolls around I could wake up muttering, “I have to go deliver another talk today.” (If you didn’t know, I pastor a church in the UBC campus community.) Or I could wake up declaring, “Wow! Today I get to go connect with some amazing  people and explore what matters most in life!” Are you starting to get the picture? You can reframe your own life and work.

 

Sturt’s book is a quick read with helpful and inspiring stories. Below are two videos exploring his ideas. The first video tells the story of Moses and the extraordinary difference he makes in the lives of children and families. And then the second is from David Sturt, the author, laying out his organization’s research and findings.

 

Career, Change, Work

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