Aug 31, 2020
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Al Mohler’s 8/27 Briefing
episode on Boredom vs Depression, psychologist talking about the
fact that it's being said that there's a big problem of depression
resulting from the Covid-19 situation, and that perhaps what's
going on is more boredom than depression. In the article they
discussed the difference between boredom and depression and that
boredom is a lack of excitement or pleasure vs exptectations
whereas depression is a medical condiition (I'm
paraphrasing). I heard this podcast after meditating two
other devotions relating to this topic. I want to read both
of them to you and then share my thoughts on how all three of these
great pieces relate to our work. First light-7/29/20-The Go spel of Jimmy
Buffet-"Where there is no ox a stall is clean, but if you ever
accomplish anything it is because you had an ox." Proverbs
14:4-As much as I love the Parrot head nation I am convinced that
their theology is misguided! Buffet built a rabid following around
not just his music, but around a philosophy of life that basically
says that the purpose of life is all about comfort. The
mindset that I was created to live a life of ease has permeated our
nation's soul. Anything that gets in the way of my pleasure is seen
as the enemy of my happiness. Hard work, sacrifice, delayed
gratification, enduring the tough times are all seen as plagues
to avoid rather than the paths to true long-term
satisfaction and purpose. The Bible nails it in one of my
favorite verses in Proverbs 14. In the "ox" verse we find
the universal truth that success and shoveling always go hand in
hand. Obviously, you can only accomplish if you own an ox to plow
with. But, owning an ox also means shoveling the stuff that all
oxen leave laying around. Simple parable describing what the
WW2 generation built a great nation on. I must be willing
to endure the hard stuff to get the good stuff. If I
want great kids, I must be willing to pay the price. Anybody that
has raised teens knows you had better keep your shovel handy!
This current fascination with a life of all ease while I waste away
in Margaritaville makes for great music, but it builds a pretty
pathetic life and nation. "There ain't no free lunch" is a time
worn saying from days gone by that needs to be dusted off again!
God created our souls to thrive on accomplishment and achievement.
There are few things more gratifying than success after great
sacrifice. "A desire accomplished is sweet to the soul" is another
great Proverb to heed. So, rather than living to see
how relaxed we can be while trying to avoid stepping on
another pop top, let’s roll up our sleeves, set great big God sized
goals and get to shoveling toward the finish line! Surely there has
to be more to life than having nothing but an empty glass to show
for my time here!
Men are drawn toward extremes. We’re wired to want to explore the
edges of things. Going to extremes can be good, of course. In most
situations, though, it’s a hazardous practice. Prevailing culture
tells us, “work longer hours;” “sleep less;” “spend more money and
stretch to a better lifestyle.” Such messages are harmful and
aren’t from God. He didn’t design us to live (for sustained
periods, at least) with extreme calendars, extreme finances,
extreme approaches to work or physical health, or extreme
pastimes/interests. God designed us to have margin.
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Margin is the amount of time, money, whatever, we
hold back—in
order to maintain productivity, stability, integrity. “Calendar
margin” means reserving time for rest, for solitude, for other
people. “Financial margin” means living within our means, even
changing our lifestyles, if necessary. “Work margin” means focusing
on what we’re made to do, and excluding the things we
aren’t.
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Margin is a gift. While we can convince ourselves that there are
valuable things in extremes (more status, more comfort), there are
things much
more valuable in
margin: relationships, restoration, joy, peace. These are vital
inputs to healthy, productive lives, and things we must have in
sufficient quantities if we’re going to overflow love and provide
protection to others. We care for others by caring of ourselves.
That’s true masculinity—not some put-on, fear-driven, self-centered
counterfeit.
My thoughts- Our work is truly a
gift from God, and He knew exactly what He was doing when he gave
us work right after He created the world, in the garden of
Eden. Boredom is not a part of God's plan any more than
depression is and I believe work is a big part of God's plan for us
to avoid these two states of mind while we are acting as stewards,
tending to and caring for His Creation, and along the way doing
some mini-creating of our own with our creativity and living a life
of purpose and joy working with our hands and our minds and serving
others. If you doubt this, just look at the 4th commandment
in Exodus 20:8-11. It's worth noting none of the other
commandments have as many verses devoted to them so it says
something to me about the importance of this
commandment. 8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep
it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your
work, 10 but the seventh
day is the Sabbath of the Lord your
God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your
son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female
servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger
who is within your
gates. 11 For in six days
the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all
that is in them, and rested the seventh day.
Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed
it." Note that there are actually 2 commandments within this
commandment, one is to work for 6 days, the other is to rest on the
7th, by doing so we follow God's example in creation.
Personally I’ve been purposing to be obedient to the 4th
commandment by trying to give God my best through my work 6
days a week, and to truly set apart the 7th day to make
it Holy, meaning not just ceasing work but by dedicating it to Him
in my activities throughout that day. My wife and I have
attempting to honor the 7th day namely Saturday as Saabath as well
as honoring the Lords Feasts and following Gods calendar rather
than the Pagan traditions that are part of the church today and
have begun attending a messianic congregation. I realize that most,
maybe all of you listening, aren't going to agree with that.
I don’t bring this up to judge others but I did want to be
transparent with you about aspectys of my faith journey and I
didn’t want to mention the Saabath without brining that up.
Back to the 3 pieces I shared earlier. We already talked
about boredom not being pat of God's plan. Margaritaville, or
living a life focused on our own personal pleasure, is also not
part of God's plan. You can see that in the Parable of the
Prodigal Son as well as many verses in the book of Proverbs.
I suspect that most of you listening don't have a problem with the
Margaritaville lifestyle but may share my struggle of going to the
opposite extreme which is to work too hard, to work without healthy
boundaries, and to do so at the expense of other people and
responsibilities God wants us to priortize in our lives. I
think the Wire devotional does
a good job of describing the right place to be in this
regard. We've addresseed this issue of Margin many times on
this podcast, often in the context of finding a work-life balance.
I still believe the best way to have this margin is to keep God at
the center of every part of our life rather than attempting to rank
or prioritize differnt part of our life, by doing so the Holy
Spirit will show us whether we're putting the right amount of time
and energy into different activities.
E
Congressman and civil rights
leader John Lewis was laid to rest in Atlanta, Georgia on Thursday.
Inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the early 1960s, Lewis
became a leader in the fight to end segregation in the American
South. He was a Freedom
Rider, he spoke at the now
famous 1963 March on
Washington, and he courageously
led the “Bloody Sunday”
march in Alabama. But more
than anything, it was Lewis’ faith in a loving God that motivated
him to work for racial reconciliation.
In confronting the evils of systemic
racism, he once
wrote, “Get in good trouble,
necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America.” And though
his courage and determination to end injustice led to his
arrest 45
times, he was also known for his
mercy as he publicly forgave and even became friends with
a former KKK
member who had beaten Lewis
nearly to death in 1961. As former president Bill
Clinton said at his
funeral, “When he could have
been angry and determined to cancel his adversaries, he tried to
get converts instead. He thought the open hand was better than the
clenched fist.” And we needn’t agree with everything Lewis stood
for to appreciate his lasting legacy.
Cain
served as an associate minister at the
Antioch Baptist Church
North in Atlanta, which he joined at the age of 10 and
from what I've read John Lewis was a Christian. These
prominent Christian African-Americans had very different ideas
about a number of issues and I think we can and should,
regardless our political persuasion, honor both of them for being
an example of men living out their faith through their work.
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Neh
2:1b-2a "I had not been sad in his presence before, 2 so
the king asked me, “Why does your face look so sad when you are not
ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.”-lesson for us all
to be happy and joyful at our work. Nehemiah was the King's
cupbearer, and if he generally had a sour attitude while at work,
the King would not haven taken notice that day when he seemed
sad.
A
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H
Be brief - state the
main point you want to get across right wait and then briefly
elaborate, say what's needed and no more, if your email
is more than what someone can easily read in 2 minutes or less,
it's too long, let it marinate (sleep on it) then chisel off what’s
not needed. When a plant is pruned by getting rid of
unnecessary parts the plant flourishes. I heard recently that
an axioum for being conservative politically is if it’s not
necessary to change it’s necessary to not change. I would
draw from that quote and say that when it comes to drafting an
email, if it’s not necessary to say it’s necessary to NOT
say, Proverbs 17:28 NKJV says "Even a fool is
counted wise when he holds his peace; When he
shuts his lips, he is considered perceptive." I
believe that applies just as well to the use of email. I have
to be transparent hear and say that I'm the absolute last person to
speak with authority on today's tip, this is definitely a case of
do what I say and not what I do. I have struggled my whole
career with being too long winded when it comes to the use of
e-mail, always afraid to leave something out. I have come to
the conclusion that is a cop-out for not doing the hard work being
concise and honoring the time of the receiver. The effort it
takes to be concise is illustrated well by a quote I've heard
attributed to Abraham Lincoln which is "“If it is a
ten-minute speech it takes me
all of two weeks to prepare it; if it is
a half-hour speech it takes me a week;
if I
can talk as long as
I want to it requires no preparation at all. I am ready
now.”"