Wisdom from Harry

A lot of the church world takes great issue with the Harry Potter series. They think that a book with witchcraft can't possibly be compatible with Christian life. While watching one of the Harry Potter movies tonight, there was a great scene that I think contains a great application for us as believers.

The book series, for those who don't know, revolves around the struggle between Harry Potter and the dark wizard Voldemort. Voldemort killed Harry's parents, and in his attempt to kill Harry, was killed himself. As the saga progresses, Voldemort is brought back to life, and Harry is feeling isolated and alone as one of the few who believes he has returned.

In this movie, Harry is having a conversation with another student, and she tells him she believes him. When Harry responds that she is probably the only one, she makes a profound statement.

She looks at Harry and tells him that his feeling of isolation was probably exactly what Voldemort wanted, after all, Harry would be less dangerous alone. I started thinking how much emphasis the enemy of our soul puts into keeping us isolated and I think Harry's friend was on to something.

How often do we isolate ourselves from one another because Satan convinced us we are the only ones who struggle with our certain sin or insecurity? How frequently do we magnify what someone did to us and allow Satan to use that offense as a wedge between us and our brothers and sisters in Christ?

The book of Acts is proof of what can happen when a group of Christ followers unites under a common cause. We are far less dangerous to Hell when we are divided and isolated. Unlike the Rambo movies, renegades are not heroes.

Our unity is our strength. We will never impact the world as in the book of Acts in isolation. Our impact will be limited to our degree of unity. Fortunately, unity is one thing completely within our own control.

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Why Policy Matters in KidMin

As a church, we have recently placed a lot of framework and policies in place in different areas of the church. From requiring parents to have security tags to pick up their children to bottle policies in the nursery, we are creating structure. Some of these things may seem unnecessary or even ridiculous, but they matter. Here's why:

• Policy creates structure for growth. If we operate as a small church, we'll stay small. God will not send people to our door that we can't or won't take care of. As Jim Wideman says, if you'll do when you're small what you'd be forced to do if you got big, you'll get big.
• Policy creates safety. I know I will never have a child have an allergic reaction to peanuts if I don't serve peanut products. I know that I won't let a child be kidnapped from our ministry if every parent has to present a security tag to pick up their child. When little things are done right, consistently, they create safety.
• Policy creates uniformity. If we have a clear policy in place, there is no confusion. There is consistency among the entire staff.
• Policy defines boundaries. With no boundaries, your ministry is a swamp and chaos soon ensues. With the right boundaries, you have a river.
•  Policy limits offense. If this is the policy and it is enforced consistently across the board, then there is no opportunity for offense, because it isn't personal. A few may still be upset by the rules, but when they are reminded frequently and see it enforced with others, hurt feelings are minimized.

Policies aren't something to be hated or feared, they create room for growth and reap benefits in your ministry.

Careful Who You Pre-Judge

First impressions last forever. We've all heard that, and it really is true. What isn't as true is that first impressions are always accurate, fair, or justified. I think back to when I met our associate pastor. I was in youth and I knew he was coming to take over as youth pastor, and in five minutes of conversation I decided I did not like him. I don't remember what it was he said, but something about him just didn't sit well with me.

Like most of us, I automatically assumed my initial judgment was correct. I decided I didn't like him. I drudgingly decided I would have to put up with him until I turned eighteen and got out of youth. I left that first encounter disappointed, and nervous about how we would end up getting along. I had immediately closed the door to him having influence in my life.

Over time, I realized how wrong I was in that first moment. He became a mentor and friend, and one of the people who has most impacted my life. There are very few people of whom I am as appreciative.I wonder how many people God has tried to place in my life that I dismissed because of a bad first impression. Who is God trying to use in my life that I have tried to push away because they don't strike me as a likely candidate?

Sometimes when we pre-judge people by first impressions we may very well be pushing away the very people that God is placing in our lives to impact us, we may be rejecting the people God has chosen to bless our lives. I know I still do it, and that's something I am working on. Hopefully, as we are more aware, we will all give people a fair chance, instead of rejecting their impact because of something as fickle as a first impression.

Litter

All over town you come across litter along the roads. People just discard their waste wherever they decide they want to. Now, I'm not an environmental activist, but really, dispose of your trash properly. That aside, I think people are as careless with their spiritual lives as they are with their natural things.

We discard relationships because something else seems better from a distance. We throw out a church because someone hurt our feelings. We throw away jobs because we decide we don't like it, then complain when we can't find work. We jump ship from our helps roles at the church because we don't feel valued.

It seems like in just about every area of our lives, we get spoiled to this way of thinking that another opportunity is right around the corner, and that we can just throw away what we've worked for and replace it. I guess it comes down to the fact that America is a prosperous nation and a land of opportunity.

While those things may be true, it is a foolish thing to discard what you have for the hope of something better. Whatever little thing you don't like about what you have is most certainly going to be the same in whatever you get to replace it. Or, something even worse.

Value relationships. Value people. Value your God-given assignment. These things are not replaceable. It will only end in pain for you if you throw what God has given you to the side of the road like a piece of garbage under the mistaken guise you could do better.

Keep the right perspective about people and roles in your life. You never know when you might be throwing away the very thing God has placed in your life to build your future.

The Main Thing

There’s a saying that goes around in leadership circles that goes like this: the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. We get the implication in leadership, but I think the sentiment has major implications in our witness to a lost and dying world. I think a lot of times we confuse morality with transformation. We confuse political ideals with spiritual truth.
We sit around and talk about the “moral decay” in America. We look at the scantily clad woman in Wal-Mart or the sexually explicit joke on a TV show and we turn our nose up with some ignorant superiority complex. Morality is good. I applaud networks and organizations that uphold firm values and morals. I support politicians who share my values.
However, let’s get this straight. You can be moral and be lost. You can have the best of principles and still be on a path to split Hell wide open. Beyond that, any morality we claim to have as believers is not the result result of our own efforts, it’s because of Christ’s work and is not something we can boast in.The moment we begin to treat morality as the goal or as the problem or lack of morality as the problem is the moment we elevate the temporal over the eternal and make our fleshly accomplishments higher than Christ’s finished work. Ultimately, focus on morality means we’re neglecting the real condition of man’s soul.
Sinners are going to sin, it’s par for the course and we can’t act like it’ some intentional offense to us. It’s simply the nature of the beast. Until their soul is touched by the compassion of Christ, that will not change. If we would make our attitude more closely resemble that of our Savior and not run because our morality is affronted, but rather love and accept people, maybe we can see their behavior change because we finally made the main thing the main thing.

Are you bleeding?

Very few believers would deny the immeasurable pain and sacrifice Christ endured on the cross. Most will tell you of how brutally He was beaten and how the nails were driven through His hands. They will gladly tell you about the crown of thorns being driven into His skull. They will recount these stories in fairy-tale like fashion as if there is no more power in this sacrifice than in the Cinderella story.
While they acknowledge that the redemption of man required pain, sacrifice, and blood, they seem to think that the Christian life won’t require them to bleed. We look at the first century church and think, “Why did they have such results?” We want to know what differentiated them from us. I think the answer is not what we’d like it to be. The difference is they bled.

In the first century, being a part of a church cost you something. Every day, they lived with the reality it could at any moment cost them their lives. Ask the average American where their faith is costing them something and see what happens. I think the responses you hear will show you why we have the nothing results we have today.
Jesus bled and died for us, He bled from virtually every orifice on His body, but the average Christian today isn’t even sacrificing enough for a paper cut. If your faith isn’t costing you something, if you aren’t sacrificing something, then your comfort is your idol and you by your lack of action are condemning the world to remain in its lost condition.
I am not advocating working so hard you lose your family in the process or some other extremes, but if you aren’t giving the Kingdom as much time as you give the soccer club, then your priorities are seriously out of order. Let’s start bleeding just a little more, sacrificing just a little more comfort, and start making a bigger impact. Where are you bleeding today?