30. December 2010 by BruceSmith.

A New Pursuit of New

“Behold, all things shall become new” 2 Corinthians 5:17

Its here again!  The end of one year.  The beginning of another.  We’ve crossed this rubicon before, some of us many many many times.  Not much looks different this time around.  The same calls for big resolutions, new images, fresh focuses, bright futures, slimmer tummies, more passionate love, more money, new approaches to our problems and opportunities, an invigorating start to a whole new life…  On and on the refrains go…it happens every year.  So, how will this time around be different and actually lead to new things?  Can it?

The problem with really getting to “new” is the old.  The old has a way of clawing its way into our experience of new.  Just as our journey seems to be offering the freshness we so desired, the old seems to find its way back into our future, all too ready and willing to drag us into a renewed future of strangling patterns.  The old, indeed, is the enemy of the new.  Old approaches to conflict impact our desire for new peace and depth.  Old patterns of insecurity inflict devastating realities upon those we interact with even as we long to bring rest and emotional stability to those we love.  Old personality traits dim the light of bright hope when we fail to be aware of how our interaction with people is affected by our countenance and bent.  Old uninvolved ways of learning affect whether or not we will grow intellectually and in leadership.  We long to present better, think better, lead better, but the old way of ease and lack of intentionality with regard to our thought life and intellect lead us only to continued stagnation and ignorance in the truest sense.  Old manners of parenting hinder deeper relationships with our children.  Old habits of speaking hinder our leadership, impact, and influence as we accept crudeness, shallowness, common slang, and a lack of articulation rather than embrace the gift and beauty of language, one of God’s most precious offerings to human beings.  Was it not said, in fact, that the “Word became flesh and dwelt among us”?  Jesus, the living Word, as He lived and moved and spoke, pointed others to the impact of language and being.  The two are deeply connected.  From the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, the scriptures instruct us.  Is your heart new?  Listen to what comes from your mouth and you will know.

The old, always there, always lurking, always lusting to keep hungry people malnourished. The old says, “No!” to those who would get off the couch and run to the gym in order to care for the body, the temple, God gave them.  The old says, “No!” to those who would long to live with a hunger for righteousness rather than a life lived for self-gain, self-preservation, self-protection.  The old says, “No!” to any and all who would hope to turn a new leaf and live a new life in keeping with the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control…).  The old attempts to imprison all who would turn from a crass and calloused and hardened approach to life as they seek a new sweetness, purity, beauty, and hopefulness.  The old.  It must be dealt with.  Its our only hope for NEW.

So, here is the deal.  If you really want to find a new start this year, you have to deal, mercilessly, with the old.  The old that hinders you must be dealt a death blow.  It will not do to relax and just hope that new will settle in some time this year.  It will not.  The old must be seen for what it is, and the dirt must be piled on that grave and packed hard.

Where is it that you desire to be new?  Whatever outward goals for newness you may have, I would challenge you to make the inward quest for newness supreme.  If your life, externally, is to be new, a lasting new, your inner world must be renewed.  Inward embrace of excellence leads to an outworking and pursuit of excellence in real life.  And remember, excellence honors God and draws people.  If the patterns of laziness and a lack of accomplishment are besetting you, you must bring an axe to the inner compulsion for inactivity.  Make a spiritual, psychological, and physical shift with your mind and body, your whole person, right now.  Recognize that you will be better as you enter the game with full vigor and energy, and get after it.  Sever the emotional tie to settling for mediocrity and see the advantage of pursuing your life with abandon and zeal.  Even if you fail to hit all your goals, you win inwardly, knowing you were actively pursuing a future.  Do something, one thing, new, this year.  Embrace a hobby, ministry, something to get your juices flowing for more activity.

If a new career or calling is the new you want to pursue, break out, get after it, do something starting today, that points you in that direction.  You do not have to get it all at once, but you do have to begin.  New must have a tangible start.  Give it one real honest try, now.  Pick up the paint brush, and make it take you somewhere.  Send out the resume.  Begin to work on your presentation skills.  Read more starting now.  If your leadership and interaction with others could be invigorated by a more precise way of articulating yourself, then begin, today, speaking in a new manner.  Take a speech course, eliminate crass talk from your verbal diet, get around people who support and model your goal.

If your goal is for a stronger marriage, get around Godly people and/or counseling that can help get you there.  If you are aware of old patterns that keep you from having a fuller experience of marriage, then kill them off.  The patterns, not your spouse!! 

Is your goal a more passionate pursuit of service?  Here is how you get there…start serving immediately, even in small ways.  Don’t allow the old to let you wait.  Get your feet moving toward your goal of new service and away from the old place of idleness.  Remember all lasting newness begins within, so, start by recalibrating your spiritual, psychological, emotional, and intellectual view of service.  Serve those closest to you more intentionally, notice the difference in makes in them, and branch out from there.  

Do you want more peace in your relationships this year?  Start, now, by undoing the cords of reactive living and see the grace and sweetness of gently turning away from wrath and matching blows.  Again, this starts within.  In order to truly have rest we must come to the One who gives our souls rest.  This means regularly, incident my incident, submitting our hearts, minds, emotions, and mouths, to Him.  As Augustine suggested, “Our souls shall have no rest until we rest in thee oh Lord”.  Only God, through Christ, by the unmerited extension of grace, is able to put a soul at ease amidst relational strife.  Because one knows they deserve only God’s wrath, but have been given the gift of love, they are able to love others in all things.  We extend a presence of grace to others only when we have found the rest that comes from being forgiven by God.  If we think we have earned any favor from Him we miss it.  Humility and ease come from basking in the undeserved love of God.  If He extends that to us, failures and sinners, what right have we to exalt ourselves over others in our relationships?  Newness sees this and walks in it.

New.  Finding it is not easy.  Living in it, even harder.  Making it an ongoing character reality, tougher still.  But the pursuit and experience of it is unlike anything else we have ever experienced.  The scriptures promise us that for a heart turned to Him in passionate purity and devotion, newness WILL come.  The extent to which we experience a lasting and defining newness is derived from our desire and commitment to turn from the old at all costs.  Any lack of newness within us is not because God withholds it, rather, it results from something inside us, most often a lack of trust in the new and what it offers, and a fear of letting the old go for good.  The stronger the hold of the old, the fiercer our fight and resolve must be to kill it off.  Newness is both a gift and a battle.  Its one worth fighting for.  

Do you want newness this year?  Look for it in all things.  Pursue it in all things.  Commit to it at all times.  Each time we walk in new ways we add a little more dirt on the grave of the old demons that seek to dominate our lives.  Let’s do new.  Let’s offer new grace to those around us.  Let’s extend new love to those in need.  Let’s bring new to every situation we encounter.  Let’s bring new to our families, friends, foes, and futures.  In action, word (s), deeds, responses, reactions, desires, decisions, devotions, pursuits, practices, …all of it, let’s do NEW.

Get your new on.  Start now!

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

30. December 2010 by BruceSmith.

A New Pursuit of New

“Behold, all things shall become new” 2 Corinthians 5:17

Its here again!  The end of one year.  The beginning of another.  We’ve crossed this rubicon before, some of us many many many times.  Not much looks different this time around.  The same calls for big resolutions, new images, fresh focuses, bright futures, slimmer tummies, more passionate love, more money, new approaches to our problems and opportunities, an invigorating start to a whole new life…  On and on the refrains go…it happens every year.  So, how will this time around be different and actually lead to new things?  Can it?

The problem with really getting to “new” is the old.  The old has a way of clawing its way into our experience of new.  Just as our journey seems to be offering the freshness we so desired, the old seems to find its way back into our future, all too ready and willing to drag us into a renewed future of strangling patterns.  The old, indeed, is the enemy of the new.  Old approaches to conflict impact our desire for new peace and depth.  Old patterns of insecurity inflict devastating realities upon those we interact with even as we long to bring rest and emotional stability to those we love.  Old personality traits dim the light of bright hope when we fail to be aware of how our interaction with people is affected by our countenance and bent.  Old uninvolved ways of learning affect whether or not we will grow intellectually and in leadership.  We long to present better, think better, lead better, but the old way of ease and lack of intentionality with regard to our thought life and intellect lead us only to continued stagnation and ignorance in the truest sense.  Old manners of parenting hinder deeper relationships with our children.  Old habits of speaking hinder our leadership, impact, and influence as we accept crudeness, shallowness, common slang, and a lack of articulation rather than embrace the gift and beauty of language, one of God’s most precious offerings to human beings.  Was it not said, in fact, that the “Word became flesh and dwelt among us”?  Jesus, the living Word, as He lived and moved and spoke, pointed others to the impact of language and being.  The two are deeply connected.  From the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, the scriptures instruct us.  Is your heart new?  Listen to what comes from your mouth and you will know.

The old, always there, always lurking, always lusting to keep hungry people malnourished. The old says, “No!” to those who would get off the couch and run to the gym in order to care for the body, the temple, God gave them.  The old says, “No!” to those who would long to live with a hunger for righteousness rather than a life lived for self-gain, self-preservation, self-protection.  The old says, “No!” to any and all who would hope to turn a new leaf and live a new life in keeping with the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control…).  The old attempts to imprison all who would turn from a crass and calloused and hardened approach to life as they seek a new sweetness, purity, beauty, and hopefulness.  The old.  It must be dealt with.  Its our only hope for NEW.

So, here is the deal.  If you really want to find a new start this year, you have to deal, mercilessly, with the old.  The old that hinders you must be dealt a death blow.  It will not do to relax and just hope that new will settle in some time this year.  It will not.  The old must be seen for what it is, and the dirt must be piled on that grave and packed hard.

Where is it that you desire to be new?  Whatever outward goals for newness you may have, I would challenge you to make the inward quest for newness supreme.  If your life, externally, is to be new, a lasting new, your inner world must be renewed.  Inward embrace of excellence leads to an outworking and pursuit of excellence in real life.  And remember, excellence honors God and draws people.  If the patterns of laziness and a lack of accomplishment are besetting you, you must bring an axe to the inner compulsion for inactivity.  Make a spiritual, psychological, and physical shift with your mind and body, your whole person, right now.  Recognize that you will be better as you enter the game with full vigor and energy, and get after it.  Sever the emotional tie to settling for mediocrity and see the advantage of pursuing your life with abandon and zeal.  Even if you fail to hit all your goals, you win inwardly, knowing you were actively pursuing a future.  Do something, one thing, new, this year.  Embrace a hobby, ministry, something to get your juices flowing for more activity.

If a new career or calling is the new you want to pursue, break out, get after it, do something starting today, that points you in that direction.  You do not have to get it all at once, but you do have to begin.  New must have a tangible start.  Give it one real honest try, now.  Pick up the paint brush, and make it take you somewhere.  Send out the resume.  Begin to work on your presentation skills.  Read more starting now.  If your leadership and interaction with others could be invigorated by a more precise way of articulating yourself, then begin, today, speaking in a new manner.  Take a speech course, eliminate crass talk from your verbal diet, get around people who support and model your goal.

If your goal is for a stronger marriage, get around Godly people and/or counseling that can help get you there.  If you are aware of old patterns that keep you from having a fuller experience of marriage, then kill them off.  The patterns, not your spouse!! 

Is your goal a more passionate pursuit of service?  Here is how you get there…start serving immediately, even in small ways.  Don’t allow the old to let you wait.  Get your feet moving toward your goal of new service and away from the old place of idleness.  Remember all lasting newness begins within, so, start by recalibrating your spiritual, psychological, emotional, and intellectual view of service.  Serve those closest to you more intentionally, notice the difference in makes in them, and branch out from there.  

Do you want more peace in your relationships this year?  Start, now, by undoing the cords of reactive living and see the grace and sweetness of gently turning away from wrath and matching blows.  Again, this starts within.  In order to truly have rest we must come to the One who gives our souls rest.  This means regularly, incident my incident, submitting our hearts, minds, emotions, and mouths, to Him.  As Augustine suggested, “Our souls shall have no rest until we rest in thee oh Lord”.  Only God, through Christ, by the unmerited extension of grace, is able to put a soul at ease amidst relational strife.  Because one knows they deserve only God’s wrath, but have been given the gift of love, they are able to love others in all things.  We extend a presence of grace to others only when we have found the rest that comes from being forgiven by God.  If we think we have earned any favor from Him we miss it.  Humility and ease come from basking in the undeserved love of God.  If He extends that to us, failures and sinners, what right have we to exalt ourselves over others in our relationships?  Newness sees this and walks in it.

New.  Finding it is not easy.  Living in it, even harder.  Making it an ongoing character reality, tougher still.  But the pursuit and experience of it is unlike anything else we have ever experienced.  The scriptures promise us that for a heart turned to Him in passionate purity and devotion, newness WILL come.  The extent to which we experience a lasting and defining newness is derived from our desire and commitment to turn from the old at all costs.  Any lack of newness within us is not because God withholds it, rather, it results from something inside us, most often a lack of trust in the new and what it offers, and a fear of letting the old go for good.  The stronger the hold of the old, the fiercer our fight and resolve must be to kill it off.  Newness is both a gift and a battle.  Its one worth fighting for.  

Do you want newness this year?  Look for it in all things.  Pursue it in all things.  Commit to it at all times.  Each time we walk in new ways we add a little more dirt on the grave of the old demons that seek to dominate our lives.  Let’s do new.  Let’s offer new grace to those around us.  Let’s extend new love to those in need.  Let’s bring new to every situation we encounter.  Let’s bring new to our families, friends, foes, and futures.  In action, word (s), deeds, responses, reactions, desires, decisions, devotions, pursuits, practices, …all of it, let’s do NEW.

Get your new on.  Start now!

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

6. December 2010 by BruceSmith.

link:  http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/12/06/marriage.trouble.report/index.html?hpt=C1

The study, covered by CNN today, has many interesting findings, albeit, nothing terribly new or unexpected by those with any form of biblical perspective.  The report, it turns out, is yet another encouragement to engage both the heart and the mind when it comes to building a life worth living.

Many studies have shown for decades that a vigorous faith, an active biblical faith, impacts the viewing of  and longevity of marriage significantly.  This new study affirms those former findings and also demonstrates the power of an educated and active mind in the marriage equation.  In keeping with biblical wisdom, to pursue God with our hearts, minds, and strength, the “scientific” evidence seems to support what passionate people of faith have known for a long time.  God defines what marriage is and looks like, how it works, and where its strength lies.  Anything else is a fragile substitute at best.

The report, quite expectedly, also reaffirms what the bible has taught for thousands of years, the normative one man, one woman, one biological family, is the best way to set up kids for success.  The report demonstrates what all such reports have demonstrated, that kids are more likely to thrive where their parents stay committed and married the whole way.  Demographers of all stripes and psychologists of all persuasions know this to be the case empirically.  As the level of brokenness in family structures heightens so does the level of mental, emotional, and psychological pain.

What does the data mean, what is the message for us?

First, the biblical perspective, though suppressed in our culture, always finds a way to emphasize its truth in pragmatic ways.  We are told in scripture that our lives will give us what we put into them.  We reap what we sow.  A biblical worldview is the foremost factor in mental, spiritual, and familial health.  God’s model is always the model of choice if we want a life worth living.  Nowhere, perhaps, is this more true than in family and marriage particularly.  He created the institution, He gives life to it.  It can only function properly in His plan.  Believers know this and walk in it.  And it makes a world of difference.  This is why the New Testament is so intent to offer us a clear plan for the institution of marriage and family, and calls us to a pristine view of pursuing others with similar commitment and faith in God’s plan.

Second, the mind, as the scriptures teach, is a sacred thing.  If we choose to neglect it, constantly entertain it, and ignore its growth, it impacts us severely.  We should always be learning.  Leaders are readers.  It appears, strong families and strong marriages are helped by thriving minds as well.  Use your mind.  Don’t settle for the common cultural approach of passivity and couch potato vegetation.  Back away from the television and get into a classroom, a book, an educational journey.  Engage your mind and strengthen your marriage-ability, and marriage-longevitiy.  Another practical reality the study clearly demonstrates is that the mind is an attractive thing.  People tend to respect, appreciate, and desire to be around engaging minds.  One reason marriages are more common for the educated and more likely to survive is that a common bond of intellectual respect and engagement sets the plate for long-term enjoyment.  If two people are learning and pursuing life together vitally, the boredom factor in marriage diminishes.  Bright and interesting and engaging people want to do life with bright and interesting and engaging people.  That’s not rocket science.

Third, whether we have taken this route prior or not, the door remains open.  Grace is sufficient to get us back on track.  Where we have failed, grace abounds.  Where others have crushed our dream, hope can be renewed.  The roadmap still applies amidst our detours.  God can bring His plan to fruition even amidst our mis-starts.  As we commit our hearts to the plan of God for life and relationships, tangible change takes place in us and around us.  We can get on His plan at any time.

Let’s be clear on the data, education alone does not do it.  The combination of an engaged mind and a biblical view is what makes the difference.  The education must, if we are to have a life worth living, finds its moorings in the truth of God.  We can indeed pursue our interests in art, finance, law, medicine, building, cuisine, biology, psychology or anything else.  However, we must recognize we live in a cultural setting where many seek to abandon God in the educational process.  Its God’s way forward in the academy or we are lost.  Its God’s mind and it must be engaged accordingly.  Certainly, a mind awake to Him, as was the case for Pascal, Luther, Paul, and so many others, is the most attractive and thriving mind possible.  May we pursue Him, may we engage others, may we stay in it for the long haul…His way.

Heart.  Mind.  Soul. Strength.

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

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3. December 2010 by BruceSmith.

The Best Night, …Ever.

“I had the best night, ever!”  “Oh, what a night!”  “Last night, …wow!”  “I could not have had a better night!”  You’ve heard these or uttered these, and similar expressions, no doubt.  Sometimes they hold meaning and significance.  Most often, they are hyperbolic statements with little reality attached.  But we all love the highlights, and enjoy hearing the high moments of others.  We crave a bigger, fuller, more ecstatic experience.  

Think it through.  What was, in reality, your “best night ever”?  Alternatively, what was your worst night ever?  Can you remember?  Do you want to remember?  For many, what began as that long anticipated night to remember actually ended in something far less attractive.  Occasionally, for some, what began as a night with little potential, wound up being a defining moment.  

Many look forward to the big night with a hope that true love may be found.  Others, living largely for self-gratification and pleasure, look forward to a night of party mania that will leave them with memories and stories for the future.  Too often, the hunger for fun and intimacy leads to a night that remains seared in the mind far too long.  The unexpected pregnancy, the abuse, the deception, the empty promise of a fleeting touch, the taste of fun that leads to a life of addiction, the breaking of promises once held dear in the passion of a moment.  Some nights we wish we could forget.  

There are also those nights, dark, ominous, and demonic, where the twisted abuse of a loved one, cloaking itself as some form of “love”, engulfs hearts and lives and marks them forever.  Those battling the shrapnel of sexual abuse know this too well.  Those who feared the nights when a mom or dad would come home drunk and angry, fists and mouths furious, have experienced the biting pain of nights they would rather forget and spend lifetimes running from that dark night of the soul.  

And there are those, who having found a night altogether different, have been defined, enlightened, healed, and set free from the tyranny of all the less adequate nights of their lives.  This night, a night rooted in history some 2,000 years ago, and spoken of in hymns and Christmas carols, is indeed, literally, the night of all nights, the best night, the night never to be forgotten.  O Holy Night!  O Night Divine!

The scene was, as you have heard before perhaps, one filled with both drama, and yet an apparent lack of fanfare.  On this night, far from the days of media, web browsing, and satellites, a king was being born, and a world being changed forever.  Some, aware of the drama foretold, were looking for the story to unfold.  Most, as is always the case, were either hostile to the advent of some new reality or were too wrapped up in their own lives to pay attention to anything new, regardless of the significance.

The moral, political, and even the spiritual gatekeepers of the day were not merely disinterested, they were radically opposed to a new king with new ideas and radical implications for a people, a city, a state, a government.  The rumors of this new child-king had those in power mad with rage.  They were on an all out murderous hunt to end such change before it even began.  This remains the case today does it not?  Have you noticed the fervor with which our world system attempts to debunk, refute, persecute, and rage against the Christian ideal?  

Yet, at just the right moment historically, into this hotbed of political and spiritual turmoil, the Child-King would be born despite all the strategies of a world opposed.  Quietly, without great announcement publicly, being turned away too often from a place of warmth and comfort befitting a typical birth, this little life sprung into and onto a world not yet recognizing the depth of its need nor the impact of this new promise. In a dirty, smelly, animal occupied birthing room, the King of Kings and Lord of all Lords would be born, and would begin His earthy fleshly pursuit of radical life change, world change.  The drama, began so long before, was now seeing the plot thicken.  The defining moment, the night divine, was here and now, then, and yet to come.  That night of nights, that moment in time, the most radical and important birth in the history of the world stands today as the defining episode for our planet and our universe.  

The implications of this night, seen properly and embraced fully, stand to revolutionize individuals, cultures, kingdoms, and planets.  There has never been a social movement more far reaching.  There will never be a political reign so powerful.  There will never be a life-change idea or teaching so effective.  There will never be a night like this again.  Thankfully, by God’s design, this night was a night for the ages.  It was a night whose reality was hinted at for generations, experienced even, at least in part, for thousands of years prior.   And it was and is a night that transformed its immediate culture and world, and continues to do so today.  This story, this birth, this life, this drama, still the best-selling plot on paper every year, was, and is forever to be, the best night ever.  There is no other experience, no other person, no other philosophy, no other teaching, no chemical, no pleasure, no hope, no hype, no nothing…that can measure up to this singular event.  O night divine!

Are you aware?  Have you considered this hinge point of history?  Is your embrace beyond an intellectual acceptance?  Have you taken this story in as your own?  Is His story the story you live by?  Is it your life or just a part of your life you bring out when you need it?  The ecstatic reality of this one night is so profound it cannot be ignored.  If this night is what it is told to be in scripture, who would be silly enough to ignore it?  Who would long do any less than live, eat, breath, and be in this story every day in every way?  

There is a night, an experience, an encounter bigger than anything we ever hoped for.  All of our longings are met in this birth.  All of our guilt finds its healing in this manger.  All of our inconsistency finds its grace here.  The pain of our pasts gets the tenderness it craves here.  Our madness and rage finds its peace and rest here.  Our compulsions find a compass here.  The worry dissolves amidst the providence offered here.  The unconquerable fears are assuaged here.  Our hopes are enlivened here.  Our dreams are given life here.  Our brokenness is pieced back together here.  Our self-deception finds sight in this story.  Our own wickedness finds awareness, confession, a turning, and forgiveness here.  Our personalities can be remade here.  Our lives, our very nature, on this night, in this story, within the reign of this King, are defined here.  This is the story we all long to be a part of.  It is here, now.  

Run to the manger.  See what divine love looks like.  Learn of the story in its fullness.  Worship with the shepherds, the wise men, and the angels.  Offer the gift of your heart to this King who offers you a restored heart in return.  Experience the best night of your life!  The best night ever!

Merry Christmas,

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

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