Axioms…from my perspective

i dedicate thursdays to giving some of my personal life axioms…truth that, from my perspective, is self-evident. sometimes practical. sometimes philosophical. sometimes whimsical. but truth, no less.

“without goals, we end up going nowhere.”

i was doing some housecleaning the other day and found a copy of my personal life goals that i wrote in 1985…almost 25 years ago:

to be a man of faithfulness

to follow the example of christ

to have a lifestyle that reflects kingdom priorities

to defend the faith and persuade others to consider the truth and way of christ

to love, honor, encourage, challenge, submit to the best interests of wanda

to present my boys to the service of christ

to live with joy, be at peace and experience contentment

to grow strong in spirit, endurance and excellence

to avoid law-keeping and live by grace

to live without bitterness and to learn to forgive instantaneously

to attain some measure of self control as lifestyle

to grow deeper, wiser and more patient

to be a man of influence

to live life with sensitivity and obvious commitment to those less fortunate

to possess nothing that cannot be loaned or relinquished freely

for years, i carried that list around in my day-timer notebook.  i looked at the list regularly.  about five years ago, i started using a laptop exclusively (no more office computer).  with that decision, i stopped carrying the notebook…and stopped carrying my goals with me all of the time.  i didn’t realize how much i’ve missed carrying them around with me.  i’m working on a new plan to keep them with me everyday.

looking back, i’ve done pretty well on some of my goals…not so good on others…but i’m still working on all of them.  i will until my time here is over.  it’s just the way i am.

i’m a better man and a deeper follower of christ than i was 25 years ago.  writing goals was an important part of the process.  it still is.

what about you?  do you have character goals that you have identified and make a conscious effort to work on?  if you don’t, why not?

today is good day to start.

Axioms…from my perspective

before i get to my axiom, i’d like to acknowledge the fact that the past couple of days of dialogue about worship has been one of my highest rated blog posts in the three-and-a-half years of doing this…over 115 different “views” and 18 comments.  pretty cool!

normally, i dedicate thursdays to giving some of my personal life axioms…truth that, from my perspective, is self-evident. sometimes practical. sometimes philosophical. sometimes whimsical. but truth, no less.  after a week off, i think i’ll pass on another one.

“know the difference between “going” to church and “being” the church.”

this one is not new.  anybody who has known me for a while…like the past thirty years…knows what i believe about this.  there is probably no one axiom that expresses the answer to the messes that so many people find themselves in on their spiritual journeys.

this might possibly be the issue that creates the turning point between wandering and trust…fate and hope…intellect and faith…law and grace.

no matter how hard we try, we who are raised in church culture (or raise our kids there) have a dividing line we must cross…a passing over, if you will, into the world that god intends for us to live in, and not the one our sunday school teachers would have us believe in (bless their hearts).

those who never make that move are destined to be stuck in a spiritual black hole…a belief in god as the creator, but overwhelmed by all that is wrong with the church and unexplained by theology.

our world is full of people who believe that this “going to church stuff” is the measuring stick of christianity…that somehow we impress god and others by our church attendance and ultimately win their approval and our salvation.  church is not a destination.  church is identity.  it is what I am a part of every moment of every day. to miss this is to miss the whole point of being a follower of christ.  to miss this is to miss the joy and purpose of belonging to the body of christ.

to miss this is tragedy that some never recover from.

mmm…

hurts, doesn’t it?