Tag: leadership

Making an Impact: Beyond Achievement and Status

What are we supposed to do with our lives?
That is a question that has pestered men and women for thousands of years.
If you really sit down and think about it the answer should be simple but it’s not.

How we answer the question of purpose shapes how we live. When life becomes only about achievement, status, or control, it often leaves us exhausted, disappointed, and competing with others instead of loving them. If life isn’t just survival and self-interest, then we have to ask who gets to define our purpose?

If you look at life from a totally human perspective, then the answer is quite easy. Conquer and control everything—relationships, business, culture, even the world. That becomes a survival-of-the-fittest mentality. That mindset can leave us exhausted and discouraged because eventually we realize we aren’t the strongest, smartest, most successful, or most admired. Too often, we take that frustration out on ourselves and those around us.
What if there’s another way? What if there’s something deeper than just our own primal desires? Often, we don’t take time to sit down, reflect, and ask what we’re really supposed to be doing.

Because this is just a blog and not a book, let me share with you a different perspective. What I’m talking about is a perspective looking through the lens of God, a creator, the creator of you, the creator of me the creator of everything that we deal with and live with. God the Father didn’t just give us rules to follow—He gave us Jesus to show us what life with Him looks like. Jesus spent a little over 30 years of his life showing us that there’s more to life than just our primal instincts. He shows us a roadmap of life. First, He shows us how to spend eternity in heaven with God versus an eternity without God. Second, He gives us a picture of how life on earth can be lived with purpose, fulfillment, and obedience to God.

The Bible is filled with history and insight when it comes to the life of Jesus. One of the clearest things we see—especially in the final three years of His ministry—is that Jesus invested in people. He mentored. He handpicked 12 ordinary guys—and honestly, if I had been choosing, I probably would’ve picked differently. Yet Jesus changed the world through ordinary people.

I meet with a group of guys early every Wednesday morning at a restaurant around a cup of coffee, a Diet Coke, and even a breakfast sandwich and I want to spend the summer talking about how we invest in the people God has placed directly in our lives.

In the Bible, the book of Matthew chapter 28, as Jesus’ time here in his earthly form was coming to an end he gave us disciples a charge. Jesus didn’t tell us to collect followers, gain influence, or simply live comfortably. He told us to make disciples

So what does this have to do with what we are supposed to do with our lives?
First, as Christ followers, we are called to tell others who Jesus is and what He’s about. Discipleship isn’t just something pastors do—it’s the normal Christian life.
Secondly, we are to live with purpose. That’s what I want to touch on today.

The real question isn’t how we make an impact in our culture and among those around us—it’s how we make the right impact. We will make an impact whether it’s negative or one that is positive. So how do we make the right impact?

Author Regi Campbell wrote “Jesus is one of the most admired figures in all of human history. A majority of Americans admire Jesus, whether they believe that He was God’s Son or not. Almost no one will say anything bad about Jesus. Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists. Everyone thinks well of Jesus. Why?… He lived a somewhat normal life as a child and then became a significant historical and religious figure in the last three years of His life.”

As we go through this summer, I want us to discover that influence isn’t measured by how many people know us—it’s measured by how faithfully we invest in those God has placed around us. I want to highlight 11 things that will impact us not just in our lives, but in our influence as we mentor those around us.

So the questions for this week, then are these…
Who has God already placed in your path?
Do you feel the desire to mentor anyone?
How do you pick someone to mentor?
Are you paying attention for anyone around you that needs mentoring?

I’m looking forward to our discussion Wednesday.

Have a great day!
Bryan

Aligning Heart and Mind with God’s Commands

Jesus sits on a hillside in Matthew 5 and begins speaking to what I imagine are a few thousand people. He starts with what we call the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” And it continues from there.

In the next part of His message, Jesus talks about our Christian life and being salt and light.

Last week we talked about being salt and light to those around us. We need to add value to the people around us. But just as important as adding value is paying attention to how we add that value. Too much salt or too little salt can ruin a meal.

In the next portion of the passage, Jesus begins to break down the deeper meaning behind the blessings He mentioned earlier. He is speaking to people who are very familiar with the Jewish customs and laws God had given them over the previous 2,000 years. And this is where things probably started to feel strange to the crowd. Jesus takes the laws they already know and brings them to the next level. Not by adding more rules, but by moving beyond the outward actions and getting to the heart behind the law.

Take a look at this “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
— Matthew 5:17–20 NIV

By doing this, Jesus begins leading people down a path that not only brings them closer to God, but also disrupts the status quo the religious leaders had become comfortable with. I won’t go too far down that rabbit hole today, but it should make us stop and think about our own lives and leadership.

When we follow Jesus, He wants us to use our minds to understand and follow God’s commands, but He also wants our hearts to fully align with them.

For example, the law says not to murder. Jesus takes it deeper and says that even if we haven’t committed the physical act, hatred toward someone can still become sin within our hearts.

Wow. That’s an entirely different level.

Jesus wasn’t lowering the standard. He was revealing the true standard all along.

Another example is the commandment that says we are to have no other gods before the one true God. In ancient times, that often meant physical idols carved from wood, stone, or metal.

But after Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5, we begin to realize an idol can be anything that gets in the way of our relationship with God.

Work can become an idol.
Money can become an idol.
Pride can become an idol.

Even good things can become idols when they take God’s place in our hearts. Jesus continually points us past outward appearances and into inward transformation.

That’s what makes His teaching both challenging and freeing at the same time. It’s challenging because Jesus cares about more than behavior—He cares about our motives, attitudes, and hearts.

But it’s also freeing because following Jesus is not about pretending to look righteous on the outside while falling apart on the inside. He wants to transform us from the inside out.

A question to ponder today:

As you follow Jesus in your daily life, are there areas where you follow the rules to the letter of the law, but your heart and mind are not fully aligned with God?

Are there places where outward obedience has replaced inward surrender?

Most of the time, this shows up not in whether we are breaking laws, but in how we treat people.

How we speak.
How we forgive.
How we love.
How we respond when we are hurt.

Just something to think about…