Character

I want to be different in the days ahead. I want to break free from some encrusted attitudes. I want to set old fears aside and know victory over behaviors that have become unhealthy habits. I want to see God “create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me.” And mostly, I want to experience the Holy Spirit’s work of “restoring in me the joy of my salvation.”

We all complain far more than we should and far more than we probably think we do. If it’s authenticity that we seek ‒ the reality is that we who are in Christ have far better lives than we deserve.

We all need to cry out for God to transform our hearts and give us hearts like His, hearts of genuine love for others and deep respect for each individual as a unique creation of God. Servant-leaders acknowledge daily that their hearts need God’s transformative power.

Because all of us are prone to idolatry, we are likely more prone to one expression of sin than the other. If you are prone to laziness, you likely enjoy comfort and leisure more than accomplishment and the grind. As I have offered four ways to fight being a ministry workaholic, here are four ways to fight being lazy in ministry.

Here are ten tactics used to avoid accountability for mistakes, poor practice, dysfunction, and outright deviance.

Just a little rain transforms an arid desert into a magnificent blooming garden. That rain changes the arid environment and draws life from dormant seeds. The same can happen when we face changes in our lives. Sam experienced not one, but four painful organizational changes in his 24 years with World Vision. He said, “I was laid off once, resigned once and ‘stormed out’ once.” Sam outlines some growing lessons from Psalm 37.

Here’s the problem ‒ at least in my own life. The log is so hard to see. No one should miss a log hanging out of their eye, much less be able to notice the meager speck in someone else’s. But we do it all the time. Why? Why is the log of my own sin so hard to see?

Organizations and communities offer tremendous opportunities to share and give of our talents, time, financial and other resources with each other. We know that the sharing begins with love. The Bible exhorts us to share generously and give cheerfully. Each of us has so much to give.

What do we do when our gratitude decreases, when our honest grading of our gratitude is pretty low? The solution is not to give ourselves a pep talk to be less of a worrier or grumbler. The solution is to look to Jesus.

How do we stay the course, when we encounter that first stretch of choppy waters, that initial rough weather; those challenges that accompany setting sail towards achieving our personal or organizational purpose?

The issue of a leader’s personal character is crucial, especially considering followers of Jesus Christ should be outstanding examples of trustworthiness. Yet there seems to be a lethargy and complacency concerning integrity among some Christians, which is out of sync with so many of the teachings in Scripture.

So how do we learn patience? Patience is about love and value. The more we love others, the easier it is to be patient with them. The more we value and respect someone, the longer it takes them to get on our nerves.