Purpose

Vol. 2 Issue 21

May 27, 2008

The Weekly Newsletter of True Potential Publishing

“And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”(Matthew 16:18)

Is “Church” a Dirty Word? Part II

Last week we started talking about “church.” We brought out our trusty old Webster’s Dictionary to tell us what “church” meant. According to Webster “church” is:

1. “a building for public and especially Christian worship”

2. “the clergy or officialdom of a religious body”

3. “often capitalized : a body or organization of religious believers: as

a) the whole body of Christians

b) DENOMINATION c) CONGREGATION”

4. “a public divine worship ”

5. “the clerical profession ”

According to Webster’s first three definitions (we talked about those last week), “church” is either a building, a bureaucracy, or an organization of religious believers.

Definition four, “a public divine worship ,” still has us going somewhere; like to a church (definition one). Only this going to church sounds more like going to an event, or a happening, than a building. Maybe we’re getting closer.

Definition five has “church” as a “profession” or “career.” I guess that’s where the guys who make up the “clergy or officialdom” come from.

*****

I apologize if all of this sounds a bit confusing or repetitive, or circular … but that’s because it’s confusing, repetitive and circular.

Here’s the point – Webster’s is a dictionary. Its job is to define a word accurately in light of its present meaning. What that means is that today “church” means just what Webster’s says it means. What Webster’s doesn’t tell us is that its definition is what “church” has come to mean. Webster’s is a modern definition. In this century “church” means exactly what Webster’s say’s it does.

Bummer.

You want to know why bummer?

Because what “church” means today isn’t necessarily what it meant twenty centuries ago. That means you’re trying to reconcile a first century idea of “church” with a twenty-first century definition. And most of what “church” means today isn’t what “church” meant back when Jesus first introduced the idea. If you’re a Jesus follower rather of a “church” follower, maybe that’s why you’re so frustrated with “church.” It’s certainly why I am.

If you’re starting to get your feathers fluffed a little, just relax and hear me out. You may have a great church, a wonderful church, a church that meets all your needs. I may not be talking about your church at all … of course, maybe I am.

All we’re really interested in is what the Bible says “church” is. And if your (or Webster’s) definition of “church” doesn’t jibe with what’s in the Word … well, then I guess you have a decision to make, don’t you?

Let’s start with what “church” isn't, according to the Bible. Since Webster’s has given us a pretty good idea of what “church” means in the 21st century, we’ll hold its definitions up ‘to the light of scripture’ to see if they’re light-proof.

Webster’s # 1: “Church” is a building. We all know that. Depending on where you’re from, churches are made out of limestone blocks, red brick, white clapboard, or metal siding and I-beams. Most of the time they’ve got a steeple and a lot of those have a cross on top. One thing we can all agree on - a “church” is a building.

I wonder if Jesus meant “building” when first introduced the idea of “church” to His disciple Peter? “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”(Matthew 16:18)

He says “build my church” maybe He does mean that “church” is supposed to be a building. Seems to make sense reading the verse. It must be a pretty strong building too; “the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”

There’s one teensy-weensy little problem with the verse though, and I’d better bring it up. Jesus didn’t say “church” in this verse; He said “ekklesia.”

Our word “church” comes from the Middle English word “chirche.” “Chirche” comes from the Old English “cirice”; that comes ultimately from Late Greek “kyriakon.” “Kyriakon” or “kyriokos” means “belonging to the Lord (or lord).” “Kyriokos” appears in the New Testament but usually in reference to the “Lord’s Supper” or the “Lord’s Day”; never in relation to what we know as “church.”

So why the Middle English/Old English/Late Greek lesson? Is it really so important to know all this root word history stuff? What’s the problem with just reading the Bible as it is and taking the preacher’s word for what it means?

Here’s where the teensy-weensy problem in Matthew 16:18 becomes a big problem. The King James translators got the word “ekklesia” wrong the first time it appeared – here where Jesus introduced the idea to Peter. Then they went on to get it wrong 114 more times.

But they did get “ekklesia” right three times. The word means literally, “called out ones.” It has the connotation of being “called out” to an “assembly” or an assembled group of people.

The three times the King James translates “ekklesia” correctly, as “assembly” are all lumped together in the back half of Acts 19.

Luke is telling the story of a group of Christians, they were called “the Way” back then, were in a city called Ephesus; telling people about their new faith. So many Ephesians were coming to “the Way” that it began to affect business.

Ephesus was a temple town. And their temple was for the goddess Artemis. The city’s craftsmen made and its merchants sold statuettes, idols, to everyone who came to worship “the great goddess Artemis.” The Ephesians even had their own fight song, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians.” “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians.” What they were saying in effect was “Artemis is great and our Artemis is greater than yours.”

Well, when people started believing in “the Way” they didn’t need Artemis anymore … or the little statuettes that kept the city’s economy humming along. So the merchants and craftsmen started a riot and called the whole city into a great “assembly” at the local stadium. This “assembly” of Ephesians rioting and chanting their Artemis fight song is the only time in the KJV that “ekklesia” is rightfully translated “assembly.”

*****

Back to “church” as a building.

You want to know something else that’s pretty interesting? The only time “church” is referred to as a building (the Greek word “hieron” means “temple”) is in this same story. It was these guys again, the Ephesians, talking about their temple of the goddess Artemis.

So, at this point we know a couple of things:

When the KJV Bible says “church” (115 times total), 114 times the original word is “ekklesia” or “assembly”; one time the original word is “hieron” or “temple.” (By the way, I’m not picking on the KJV. All English translations use “church” to translate “ekklesia” … just not as much.)

The English word “church” comes, ultimately from the Greek word “kyriokos,” which means “belonging to the L(l)ord.” The problem is, when Jesus and the apostles talked about the “church” (114 times) they never said “kyriokos”; they said “ekklesia.”

Any way you shake it, when Jesus and the apostles spoke about the “ekklesia” they weren’t talking about a “hieron” - a temple or building.

But that’s not how it is today. And I’ve still got to agree with Webster's; a “church,” among other things is a building. The problem, as we’ve seen, is that when Jesus told Peter, “upon this rock I will build my church”; he didn’t say “church” he said “assembly.” Jesus wasn’t talking about a building.

Next week we’re talk more about what Jesus wasn’t talking about. Maybe we can get to what He was talking about.

Purpose

Vol. 2 Issue 20
May 19, 2008
The Weekly Newsletter of True Potential Publishing



"Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching." (Hebrews 10:25)

Is “Church” a Dirty Word?

I’ve always felt a little guilty over church. I felt guilty when I didn’t attend; felt guilty when I did attend; felt guilty if I didn’t become a member; felt guilty after I became a member; felt guilty when I stayed at a certain church; and felt guilty when I left that church. Then the cycle would begin all over again.

What is wrong with me? Can’t I just be satisfied with church like other Christians? Isn’t it our duty to go to church; to join the church? Doesn’t the Bible tell us that we must go to church if we are truly Christians?

I’ve had pastors tell me that my salvation was in jeopardy if I didn’t attend church regularly (in my last episode, the pastor was referring to Sunday night and Wednesday services, seeing as I was already there to get yelled at on Sunday morning).

If the Bible and the pastor tell me that attending church is an integral part of my Christianity, that my Christianity isn’t really Christianity at all without regular church attendance, then why do I feel so lousy when I do attend church? Do I possess some basic fault, which apparently doesn’t exist in other Christians, to make me feel this way?

I haven’t developed this aversion to church overnight. And, to be fair, when I do go to church, I enjoy a good bit of it. Of course, I do my best to avoid any church that I may not enjoy a good bit of.

I’m conflicted and here’s the conflict.

I’m a born-again Christian. I write on born-again Christian topics – like telling other born-again Christians how to behave. I publish books by born-again Christian authors who write about how born-again Christians ought to behave. I ought to have come to terms with this whole church thing a long time ago … but I haven’t.

And since I just turned fifty, I figure its time to deal with any basic incongruities still hanging around in my life.

Does this mean I’m going to take my place in the pew, keep my mouth shut and join the ecclesiastically satisfied masses?

Nah.

Does it mean I’m all of a sudden going to start feeling good about going church, Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesdays?

Probably not.

(By the way. If you feel great about church and have no idea what I’m talking about, consider yourself blessed and take a few weeks off. There are a lot of your brothers and sisters in Christ out there, in church and out of church, who are miserable about the whole situation and want an honest answer - just like me.)

I don’t necessarily buy what a lot of church leaders are telling me about how I should feel about church. On the other hand, as Dad would say, “you can’t throw the baby out with the bath water.” Church, whether you like it or not, is a big part of the Christian life and if you call yourself a Christian and want Him to believe it, you’d better deal with church.

*****

A little personal history.

My father was in full-time ministry since before I was born. I was raised in the church and Dad represented the leadership of the church. As a pastor and a minister, I considered my dad head and shoulders above his peers. Some of that admiration may have been prejudiced by the fact he was my dad, but looking back on his life from my current perspective I’ll stick with my story. He really was head and shoulders above a lot of his peers.

The point is that my problem with church doesn’t stem from some latent hostility toward my father as an authority figure. I liked and admired the guy when I was a kid and I admire and empathize with him more now that I’ve had the opportunity to walk a few more miles in his moccasins.

And I don’t believe my general dissatisfaction with church comes my from lack of trying. Dad was saved, educated and ordained a Baptist. His search for a more complete relationship with God, led him into baptism of the Holy Spirit (more “Pentecost” than “Pentecostalism”). Where he went, we followed. As a result, I have experienced a wide swath of churches, denominations and doctrines; most of them spending more time and effort assailing each other than winning the world.

Again, my point is that I don’t believe the answer to my dissatisfaction with church is that I just haven’t tried the “right one.”

I don’t want to be too hard on churches though. The world’s a better place with churches than without them.
The problem, I believe, is in what we think church is, the definition it has become, as opposed to what God’s desire for what the church ought to be.

The word “church” according to Webster is defined as:

1. “a building for public and especially Christian worship”

2. “the clergy or officialdom of a religious body”

3. “often capitalized : a body or organization of religious believers: as

a) the whole body of Christians

b) DENOMINATION

c) CONGREGATION”

4. “a public divine worship ”

5. “the clerical profession ”

According to Webster the primary definition of “church” is a building; a place where people, especially Christians, come to worship. It’s on every street corner, in every city or town. It can be a magnificent edifice with soaring spires that reach into the heavens or a metal building with a neon sign. The church, according to Webster is primarily a structure, sometimes magnificent, sometimes humble; built by men from wood and stone.

Secondly, Webster defines “church” as “the clergy or officialdom” - the guys in charge. If we search beyond the bricks and mortar of the structure that is the church to a deeper, other meaning we discover that the “church” is not built just of wood and stone, but also of men; a hierarchy, a government, an elite leadership that represents the “officialdom” of the structure. Be it sticks and stones or flesh and bone, that, according to Webster 1 and 2, is the “church.”

To understand the “church” according to Webster’s second meaning, I had to return to the dictionary for a definition of “officialdom”. Webster’s answer was short and sweet – “officials as a class.” A class of what? The definition seemed a little lacking, so I dug deeper; this time into the Encarta English Dictionary of North America. According to Encarta “officialdom” is a word which encompasses bureaucrats and bureaucracy; specifically, “bureaucracy and those who work within it, especially when viewed as inefficient or pompous.”

Youch!

Studying “church” was really beginning to depress me. I was discovering that I had spent my whole life, as my father had spent his, serving and supporting either a building or a bureaucracy; or perhaps some combination of the two. No wonder I felt so guilty and dissatisfied.


I had to push on. Maybe there was some light at the end of this. Surely there was more to church than bricks and bureaucrats. I continued my study.

Webster’s third definition capitalized “Church” and divided its meaning into three sub-categories: “a) the whole body of Christians; b) DENOMINATION; c) CONGREGATION.” I wasn’t sure why Webster’s listed DENOMINATION and CONGREGATION in capital letters. Maybe “DENOMINATION” and “CONGREGATION” took some sort of precedence over “Christian”.

Despite my confusion of capitals I was encouraged. At least we were talking about people! Not just the “officialdom” but those who occupied the pews.

That was me! If church could be defined as people like me I might find a solution to my problem. If the church was me and people like me, how could I feel guilty and dissatisfied? If I was part of the definition, couldn’t I be part of the solution? I may have found a bit of the light for which I was searching.

Encouraged as I was with this third definition, I still had to deal with why Webster divided its meaning into three distinct sub-categories.

a) “the whole body of Christians” - This definition I could understand. I was part of “the whole body of Christians.” I took this to mean people who belonged to - gave their hearts to - Christ. That was me! People who, just like me, recognized Jesus as the Son of God and personal savior and put the trust of their eternal future in His hands.

b) “DENOMINATION” Or as Dad used to say – abominations. Personally, I figure that any label beyond Christian (literally “slave of Christ”) puts me one step further away from the One I serve. I’ve got no use for DENOMINATIONS … probably never will.

c) “CONGREGATION” – It’s still in caps … that bothers me. Like “CONGREGATION” still outranks “the whole body of Christians.” We’ll have to deal with that one … next week.

The Bible talks about church. The New Testament mentions the word 108 times, so you know we’ve got to deal with it, conflicted or not. Here’s a little hope though, you may be surprised about what the Bible actually does say about “church”. It’s probably not what you’re thinking.

Next week we’ll get into a little etymology. That’s word study (not bug study).

Until then.

In Christ,

Steve Spillman

Purpose

May 12, 2008
The Weekly Newsletter of True Potential Publishing


"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:27)

The Road Not Taken

Hate my father and mother? Brothers and sisters? Sounds a bit harsh doesn’t it? Not much of a Mothers Days weekend topic, Steve. Any other cheerful aphorisms you want to lay on us while we plan our special day with mom?

That verse and its twin, Matthew 10:37 are what’s known as red letter verses. Some Bibles have all the words Jesus actually said Himself printed in red ink. That way you know Jesus’ actual words from the rest of the Bible.

Want to know what else is in red letters? "… unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you." (John 6:53) That’s a tough one to explain to a third grade Sunday school class. I’ll bet they don’t make flannelgraphs for that verse.

Jesus said a lot of disturbing things.

Do you really think He wanted folks to hate their mothers and eat His flesh and drink His blood?

Probably not.

But, for a lot of us, He was saying something equally radical. Unless you’re willing to walk away from everything you know and everything you value, everything that’s secure and meaningful in your life, you’re not worthy to become my follower. To people who put their families ahead of everything else, that meant mom and dad and brother and sister. To a young rich ruler, it meant selling everything he had and following Jesus. To the crowds who couldn’t see past Jesus’ miraculous bread and fish dinners, it meant forgetting about food and feasting on Who He really was.

Jesus was a radical. He told His followers, unless you’re prepared to be a radical too, don’t bother coming along. This disciple thing ain’t no hobby. Unless you’re willing to despise everything this world has given you, family, friends, wealth, security, sustenance, even your own life, for the sake of following Him, don’t bother coming along.

It still sounds harsh.

There’s got to be a happy medium …doesn’t there?

Sorry, there’s not. You’re in or out, that’s the deal. By the way, Jesus lost a lot of ‘disciples’ every time he said something like this. Only the radicals stayed around.

I’ve got some good news for you though. Jesus loves you. The One who wants you to give up what’s dearest to you, gave up His life so you could live forever.

Another piece of good news? He’s not interested in you hating your mom and dad and He doesn’t necessarily want to you to go through life penniless or hungry. That wasn’t the point.

This is what He meant - If you’re going to follow me, someday you’re going to get hit with a choice. It may be: follow what mom and dad have planned for you of follow what God has planned for you. It may be: keep the money and possessions you’ve worked all your life to acquire or give it all away and embark on a mission only you know is true. It may be: remain in your daily grub for sustenance because it’s a known quantity or give up your loaves and fishes and feast on food that will wake up your soul.

If you want to follow Him, the day will come when you have to decide what’s important. It always does. If you’re not willing to let go of everything you’ve got, don’t follow along.

*****

I learned a poem in high school. The only poem I’ve ever memorized. As a high school kid I thought it was pretty impressive to know any poem that didn’t start with "Jack be nimble."

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them both about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost wrote that. I rewrote it from memory … after all these years. I’m still impressed.

I’ll be fifty next week.

My high school wrestling coach, Gary Bowden, was inducted into the California Wrestling Hall of Fame last weekend. I’m proud of him, he deserves the honor. I couldn’t be there to see it. The east coast is a long way from the west coast.

I’ll call Mom on Sunday. I’ll wish her a happy Mother’s Day and she’ll wish me a happy birthday. We’re due a visit. And we’ll do it when we can, we always do. But the east coast is a long way from the west coast.

You never give up your life without getting back much more in return.

Funny thing, you get back the stuff you gave up too … only better. In the last couple of weeks I’ve spoken with high school team mates I hadn’t heard from in thirty years. Each of us recognized the other’s voice in an instant and three decades faded away like wisps of smoke.

When we do make a trip to visit family out west, it’s a real reunion. Brothers and sisters all show up; all with their own families. We get to meet the newbies, born in and married in, since our last visit. Mom’s always tickled at all the bodies and commotion. And it always ends happy/sad and much too soon, but always wonderful.

But the life I got by giving up the life I had is far beyond anything I could have created on my own. It is the one I was meant to have. I have a family and a mission and a relationship with my Master. And they are the ones I was meant to have.

It took a long time to really understand the poem. Frost was right - it has made all the difference.

"Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." (Matthew 10:39) Another one of those red letter verses.

Until next week.

Telling this with a sigh,

Steve Spillman

Purpose
Vol. 2 Issue 18
May 2, 2008
The Weekly Newsletter of True Potential Publishing

Courage Part 3

“In those days Israel had no king; every one did as he saw fit.” (Judges 17:6)

“We have met the enemy, and he is us” - Pogo

We’re going to hang with the Judges for one more week. From last week’s letter you could tell that things were beginning to go astray in Samson’s time, but after he died life in Israel really started going south.

After Samson’s story there are five chapters left in Judges. Taken as a whole the last five chapters are an unholy, depressing, disturbing mishmash. Kind of like HBO.

The theme for the whole section is, “In those days Israel had no king; every one did as he saw fit.” Whoever wrote the book just keeps repeating, “In those days Israel had no king.” It was like everybody did their own thing, no matter how screwed up, and everybody else just stood by scratching their heads wondering what was going on. Kind of like the current presidential campaign.

Let me share a little so you know I’m not kidding. Chapter 17 starts out with a guy who steals a pile of money from his mother. She throws a curse on whoever stole the money. So he gets nervous about the curse and says to mom, “Hey mom, it was just me who took your money, but here it back again. No hard feelings, right?”

Well, mom’s tickled about getting the money back. She pronounces an anti-curse and dedicates the money to God by having a silversmith mold some of the stash into idols for her son. I’m sure God appreciated that little gesture.

Son steals from mom. Mom curses son. Son returns money. Mom blesses son and makes idols with the money. Sure, I know that kind of stuff happens all the time nowadays, but back them that kind of behavior was pretty screwed up.

It just gets better from here.

Now that Micah (the son) has the idols he needs a priest. He installs one of his sons as priest … might as well keep it in the family. Between the idols and the priest Micah figures he’s got God in his corner. I can’t figure out how Micah could have mistaken a homemade priest and idols made of silver for the presence and approval of God. Boy, people sure were ignorant back then.

Then Micah cuts a better deal. A genuine bona-fide priest, a Levite, comes strolling into town. Seems he didn’t like where he came from and was looking for a better deal himself. Micah makes the deal, upgrades to a genuine bona-fide priest and sonny boy returns to civilian life. That’s much better.

“In those days Israel had no king; every one did as he saw fit.”

Enter the guys from Dan. Remember back to the children of Israel entering the Promised Land? Each tribe was given it own land by God. Everything was mapped out in advance; they just had to go claim it. Well, the tribe of Dan was having a bit of trouble convincing the current residents to vacate so they could move in. They were wandering around homeless, looking for place where the indigenous residents weren’t quite so belligerent about leaving their homes.

Way up north there was a peaceful happy little place called Laish. The Bible describes the place and its residents. “… [T]he people were living in safety … unsuspecting and secure. And since their land lacked nothing, they were prosperous. Also they lived a long way from the Sidonians and had no relationship with anyone else.” (Judges 18:7) It was a lot like Vermont.

The guys from Dan, figuring Laish was much easier pickins than the land they were supposed to occupy go up to evict the peaceniks occupying the place. On the way they stop by Micah’s house to ‘liberate’ his idols and make the priest an even better deal. “Instead of being God’s stand-in for just one family, why not be one for a whole tribe?” The priest, always looking for a better deal, took them up on it. Micah, figuring losing his idols and his priest was better than losing his head, had no choice but to let them go.

The brave Danites (guys from Dan) marched on. “They took what Micah had made, and his priest, and went on to Laish, against a peaceful and unsuspecting people. They attacked them with the sword and burned down their city. There was no one to rescue them because they lived a long way from Sidon and had no relationship with anyone else.” (Judges 18:27-28) Such a proud day for Israel.

We’re not done yet. Next story.

A Levite (the guys who were supposed to be God’s representatives) acquires a concubine. That’s a girl who provides all the privileges of a wife without the hassle of a legal commitment. The concubine is unfaithful (gee, funny that?) and goes home to daddy. Levite guy chases after her, spends some time with dad, and begins his journey home, concubine in tow.

Levite, manservant and concubine stop for the night in Gibeah. The manservant wanted to stay in Jebus (that’s Jerusalem) because it was closer, but Levite refuses because Jebus was full of Jebusites … “not our kind of people.” Gibeah was occupied by Benjamites … “our kind of people.”
They should have stayed in Jebus.
A man from Gibeah invites the travelers into his house and they’re just getting settled in for the night when there’s a pounding on the front door. The local chamber of commerce demands that their host turn over the Levite, “so we can have sex with him.” Nice.
The host, the epitome of hospitality, offers his virgin daughter to the mob of men, trying to spare his guest from being raped by the local menfolk. Of course the men don’t want to rape a girl.

They want to rape a man. Nice

The Levite, not wanting to put his host to any trouble, tosses his concubine to the mob. Well, a concubine is better than nothing.

The proud and noble Benjamites rape and abuse the girl throughout the night. At dawn she stumbles to the front stoop of her master’s host and falls over dead. Nice.

The Levite (remember, he’s the guy that tossed his concubine to the mob in the first place) is extremely ticked over the loss of his female property. He cuts the dead girl into twelve pieces and ships a piece to each of the tribes of Israel. Nice.

Everyone is just shocked! How could such a thing happen here!? People assemble from all over Israel to address this tragedy. The Levite tells everybody his story and off they go to teach the Benjamites of Gibeah a lesson. The rest of the Benjamites wouldn’t have that so they go to join their brothers in the defense of Gibea.

Israel sent four hundred thousand soldiers to take care of business in Gibea. That’s a lot of soldiers. The Benjamites gathered to defend Gibea were only twenty-six thousand seven hundred; but they were pretty good fighters.

Battle of Gibea - Day 1: Four hundred thousand Israelites attack the city. The Benjamites rush out to meet them, kill twenty-two thousand Israelites and go back inside the city. Well, that plan didn’t work.

Battle of Gibea – Day 2: Three hundred and seventy eight thousand Israelites attack the city. The Benjamites rush out to meet them, kill eighteen thousand Israelites and go back inside the city. Dang! We need a new plan.

Battle of Gibea – Day 3: Israelites get a new plan. Most (but not all) of the Israelites attack the city. The Benjamites rush out to meet them, the Israelites run away and the Benjamites give chase. The rest of the Israelites come out of their hiding place and run into the city while the Benjamites are gone. Plan works, twenty-five thousand Benjamites are killed, six hundred run away and the Israelites burn Gibea.

Here’s where the plan gets screwed up.

The Israelites start to feel bad that they killed all but six hundred Benjamites (Now, they feel bad). To make it up to the Benjamites, they hatch a plan to find new wives for the six hundred survivors. They burn down one of their own cities, kill everybody except for the virgin girls and give them to the left-over Benjamites.

But it wasn’t enough girls. There were still two hundred Benjamites without new wives. All the other Israelites said, “You’re not going to give our girls to the Benjamites.” So they told the two hundred wifeless guys, “Look, there’s a party in Shiloh (another one of their own cities) next week. When the girls come out of the city dancing, each of you grab one and run away” (these were their own girls!).

“In those days Israel had no king; every one did as he saw fit.”

Well, that’s how Judges ends. Pretty depressing isn’t it?

*****

It’s been an interesting week in South Carolina. An eighteen year old boy was arrested for planning to blow up his high school. Mom and dad called the police when they took delivery of ten pounds of ammonium nitrate the boy wanted delivered to the house.

Another eighteen year old boy killed his dad, step mom, little brother and step sister, and then went four-wheeling. Not a big deal, apparently.

A man drove over from Alabama and raped a fourteen year old girl he met on Myspace. That’s social networking at its finest.

You want to know the screwed up thing? This stuff is all pretty common. Doesn’t even raise an eyebrow anymore. And its not just in South Carolina; it’s in California and Indiana and everywhere else.

“In those days Israel had no king; every one did as he saw fit.”

Sounds kind of like us doesn’t it?

Any good news Steve?

Yeah there is. We live here but we’re not citizens. There’s another country we belong to where this kind of thing doesn’t happen. The country I’m talking about does have a King. And everybody does what He sees fit. Things work out better that way.

People as far back as Abraham knew about this other country and they looked forward to finally settling down there. “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” (Hebrews 11:13 – 16).

Keep looking up. You might catch a glimpse of it.

Until next week.

Committed to King and country,

Steve Spillman

“Let me die with the Philistines!” (Judges16:30)

Purpose
Vol. 2 Issue 17
The Weekly Newsletter of True Potential Publishing

Courage Part II

What Makes a Hero?

Remember last week? Gideon fought the bad guys, the Midianites, and won. He was a Judge, remember? There was another Judge in old Israel, a few Judges down from Gideon; his name was Samson.

In the eyes of most folks Samson was a hero; the kind of stuff Sunday school stories are made of. He was bad to the bone, strong as an ox and a real ladies man. Samson was the kind of hero Israel was looking for. And they needed one. This time the bad guys were the Philistines; they had been the bad guys for about forty years. It was time for God to send Israel a new Judge, a deliverer, a hero. God had Samson in mind. You can read about him in the Old Testament book of Judges (of course); his story runs through chapters 13 to 16.

Gideon was minding his own business, just trying to stay out of the way, when the angel of God showed up to make him a Judge and a hero.

Samson's story wasn't like that. He was custom made for the job. The angel of God showed up to the lady who was to become Samson's mother. She didn't have any kids, she was sterile. God likes to prove a point. So the angel tells Samson's mom-to-be that she's going to have a very special son; he's going to be a Nazerite, and he would deliver Israel from the Philistines.

A Nazarite was someone who was set aside for a special purpose. Sometimes that meant just for a certain period of time, sometimes it was for a lifetime. Samson was supposed to be a lifetime Nazerite.

Being a Nazerite required certain behavior. For instance, Nazerites weren't allowed to touch wine or any sort of alcohol. This particular rule was so radical that Nazerites weren't even allowed to be around grapes. That's pretty radical.

If you were a Nazerite, you couldn't touch any unclean or dead thing and you couldn't cut your hair. There were a lot of restrictions.

Samson had his own way of doing things. He wasn't into restrictions.

God has His own way of doing things too. When He says something's going to happen, you'd better count on it. And how some folks think He should make His plans go down isn't necessarily the way they do.

Samson broke about every Nazerite rule there was. He liked wine, didn't mind dead things, and didn't much care for rules of any kind. He was a guy who pretty much took what he wanted ... and he wanted a lot.

Taking what he wanted got him into a lot of trouble. His strength got him out of trouble. It seems that breaking all the wine drinking, dead thing touching Nazerite rules didn't have much of an effect on Samson's strength. In the end it was getting a hair cut that did him in.

Remember the story from Sunday school? Samson goes to see his new flame, Delilah. Delilah's a bad girl in more ways than one; she's friends with the bad guys. Delilah gets him drunk, gets his attention, gets his secret, and gets him fast asleep. Then she calls in the bad guys to give Samson a haircut. Samson wakes up, jumps up and takes on the bad guys. Whoops! No more super powers. Samson finds out he's just a regular joe. The bad guys poke out his eyes and make him their slave.

The Philistines throw a huge party and Samson's the main event. They're going to celebrate by making a mockery of the guy who had made a mockery of them. By now Samson has pretty much realized he's screwed up his life. He has one last chance at destiny; one last opportunity to be what and who he was made to be. He asks the kid holding his chain to put him between the two pillars that hold the roof up. The kid, not knowing any better, does what Samson asks.

One last time, maybe the first time, Samson asks God to restore his super-strength. 3,000 bad guys got together that day to see Samson put on a show. They had no idea of the kind of show they were about to see. Samson put his left hand on the left pillar and his right hand on the right pillar. He bowed his back and pushed ... and pushed. Then something remarkable happened. There was a crack, and then a pop, and then a little dust and grit fell from the ceiling. And then the roof came down. 3,000 Philistines and one Jew were killed that day.

Samson fulfilled his purpose; he delivered his people from the bad guys.

*****

Kind of a different story from Gideon's, wasn't it? Gideon was like Barney Fife. Samson was like the Terminator. Gideon was a pip-squeak and certainly no warrior. But he did what he knew he had to do, even though it scared the ba-hookey out him. And he delivered Israel.

Samson, super dude, ate bad guys for breakfast. He never did anything he was supposed to do and the only thing that scared him was an empty wineskin. And he delivered Israel.

So what's the moral of the story?

God's going to do what He's going to do. Sometimes ... most times .... it doesn't make sense to us. The guys who are supposed to be losers turn out to be heroes. The guys who are supposed to be super-stars turn out to be royal disappointments.

Maybe it's not about the guys. Maybe it's not about how we think things are supposed to go.

Maybe it's about Him. About what He wants done and how He wants to work. Maybe we're just supposed to show up and play our part.

Gideon didn't ask to be picked for the hero job. He listened and did what he knew he had to do; even though he didn't think he was up to it, even though the idea of being a hero terrified him. In the end God kept His promise, Gideon thrashed the bad guys and Israel lived in peace and freedom for forty years. Gideon retired and lived a long and happy life. The Bible says he sired seventy sons and had many wives (things were different back then). He died old and happy.

Samson was born for the hero job. He loved being superman. He'd kill Philistines at the slightest provocation (I think he liked it). Outside of looking like a hero, acting like a hero, and liking to do hero stuff, Samson just couldn't get his head around why he was a hero and Who made him one.

The Bible says that Samson was a Judge in Israel for twenty years; that was before the Delilah thing. In that time, as far as we know, he never did anything good for the people of Israel, never kept any of his Nazerite rules and never listened to anything God might have said to him. He got himself into plenty of peccadilloes by fraternizing with the bad guys and got himself out by killing or generally hassling same. He suffered total failure and public embarrassment as a result of his final little faux pas with Delilah, ending up in chains with his eyes poked out.

Samson pretty much blew his life and the chances (minus one) of fulfilling his destiny.

My personal opinion? This was not the way God planned it. Samson was going to be Israel's hero; that part was decided. But there was an option A and an option B.

Option A: You were born for the job, dedicated at birth for the job and given unique capabilities (super strength) for job. Everybody knows you're Israel's next hero because God said you were. Seriously, look at those biceps, you're the guy. Take your job seriously, listen for the plan and execute. Gideon figured that much out - and he was a runt! God's been with you since birth. He'll be with you in battle - show up on the field and get the job done. When God is finished with you and you've fulfilled your purpose, you may get lucky like Gideon, have seventy kids and live the rest of your days in peace.

Option B: You were born for the job, dedicated at birth for the job and given unique capabilities (super strength) for job. Everybody knows you're Israel's next hero because God said you were. Seriously, look at those biceps, you're the guy. Take your own wants and desires seriously, don't deny yourself anything. You've got it all, live the good life; there'll be time to fulfill your purpose later. Take what you want, live how you want. Who's going to stop you? You're Samson. Get into a little trouble? Power your way out of it. Use your gifts to your advantage.

Every day you wake up, do what you want and ignore your purpose. The days add up. One day you wake up with no hair, no strength and no options. You had it all and now you don't. With zero options you'll have plenty of time to figure out just what went wrong. Then you get lucky; an option pops up. Just one option. It's a suicide mission, but hey, by now it's finally dawned on you that you're here to fulfill a destiny. You could have done it the easy way, but those days are gone. Now it's the hard way. One last chance to do what you were born to do. And then you're dead.

You fulfilled your destiny. Like I said, that part was decided in advance. You're the one who gets to decide if it's option A or option B.

*****

Folks, each of us have a destiny, a purpose; that part has already been decided. The part we decide is option A or option B.

If you're the Gideon type, do what you know you've got to do - he did fine, you will too.

If you're Samson in a suit, don't get cocky. It's not about you. God's gifts to you aren't your gifts to mankind. They're His gifts to mankind; you're just the carrier. You've got a job to do, take it seriously.

Courage isn't about doing what you know you can do because nobody will stop you. Courage is doing what you know you have to do even though you think you can't. That's what makes a hero.
There are a lot of heroes in the Bible. If I get the choice, I'd like my last day to be like Gideon's, not Samson's.

Until next week.

In the service of Him who makes us heroes,

Steve Spillman

Purpose
Vol. 2 Issue 16
April 17, 2008
The Weekly Newsletter of True Potential Publishing

Courage

Fear is a part of life. I don’t believe people who say they’re not afraid of anything. Everybody’s afraid of something.

I used to be afraid of eighth graders. They terrified me, bullied me, threatened me and laughed at me. Of course, I was a seventh grader at the time. I’ve gotten over that particular fear.

I don’t like roller coasters. It’s not that I’m afraid of them. I can walk up to any roller coaster on the planet and look it right in the eye. No fear.

Riding on them? That’s another matter. I don’t like riding on roller coasters. I could probably lose my distaste (did I say fear?) of riding roller coasters if I put my mind to it, but what’s the point? Is my life really missing roller coaster rides?

I guess fear is either dealt with or it’s not. I dealt with my fear of eighth graders; I grew up, I moved on. I haven’t really dealt with the riding roller coasters thing, but why bother? My not getting over that particular fear isn’t going to change my life much unless I’m considering the lucrative theme park ride tester profession.

This is point in the letter, when you’re supposed to say, "Okay Steve, what’s your point?"

Here it is. Ready?

Courage isn’t the lack of fear. It’s doing what you know you have to do in spite of your fear.

*****

I read about Gideon this morning (Judges 6 – 8). Gideon was a Judge. Not a black robe, sit on the bench, listen to court cases judge. A Judge back in old Israel was a natural leader/hero that rose up to rule the people of Israel, kind of by default. It wasn’t really by default; God picked them to be judges, it’s just that not everybody knew about God picking them at the time, including the judges themselves.

Gideon was like that. He certainly didn’t see himself as any kind of epic hero. When God went to talk to him, Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress. What that really means is that Gideon was doing his chores in a place he wouldn’t normally being doing his chores because he was hiding from the bad guys.

The bad guys were the Midianites. They would sweep into Israeli territory, trample the crops, eat the sheep, steal the donkeys and do all the other things bad guys do.

This had been going on for seven years and Gideon was just trying to stay out of the way. That’s when the angel of the Lord sat down under an oak tree next to the winepress to have a talk with him. The angel said to Gideon, "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior."

Mighty warrior? Not Gideon. Mighty warriors don’t do their chores in a winepress because they’re afraid of bad guys.

The story gets a little sketchy here. The angel, it turns out, either spoke for God to the extent he felt free to use first person pronouns or God Himself was doing the talking. Any way you shake it, God was having a personal powwow with Gideon. "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?"

Well, I don’t think Gideon knew who was talking to him. Gideon answered, "Look, I’m the scrawniest kid of the scrawniest family of the scrawniest tribe in Israel. You must be looking for someone else."

The Lord wasn’t easily put off and He knew that it wouldn’t be Gideon doing the heavy lifting on this job. "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together."

At this point Gideon suspected that he may not be talking to an ordinary stranger and it just might be You-Know-Who or one of His representatives. Oh boy. "Look," he said, "If it’s really You, wait right here and I’ll go get an offering and bring it back."

The Lord waited.

Gideon came back with a basket full of goat meat, a pot of broth and some bread. The angel, or the Lord, or Whoever, instructed Gideon to put the meat and the bread on a rock. Then he touched the meat and bread with the tip of his staff and WHOOFF! The whole thing went up in a ball of fire (what happened to the pot of broth is one of those Bible mysteries we’ll probably find out on the other side) and Whoever disappeared.

Gideon figured out Who he was dealing with. "Oh man." "Oh man." "I saw an angel of the Lord face to face and now I’m gonna die." "Oh man. Oh man. Oh man."

Not quite the response of an epic hero.

The Lord had to reassure him (I know, the story said He disappeared, but He’s still talking. I hope it wasn’t in an audible voice; otherwise folks would Gideon was nuts). "Relax," The Lord tells him. "Don’t be afraid. You’re not going to die."

So now Gideon knows God spoke to him and he isn’t going to die as a result. His brave-o-meter goes up one point.

Later that night God tells Gideon to take bull number two from his father’s herd, tear down his father’s Baal altar and cut down his father’s Asherah pole. Then he’s supposed to build a real altar and use the wood from the Asherah pole to burn up the bull as a sacrifice to God.

Courage is a funny thing. Sometimes you do something you fear because you fear the consequences of not doing it even more.

Gideon’s dad and the men of the town are going to be royally ticked off if he kills the bull, cuts down the pole, busts up the altar and sets fire to the whole kit and caboodle. On the other hand, this is God talking. Do you really not want to do what He commands?

Let’s see what the brave-o-meter does on this one.

Captain courageous waits until nightfall to do the deed; figuring nobody will catch him. The next morning comes. He’s right about one thing; the men of the town are ticked. Gideon’s lying low; no sense taking credit for this one.

The men of the town find out who did it and come for Gideon’s hide. Gideon’s dad, Joash (it’s nice that he wasn’t upset over the bull), comes out the house and says to the men of the town, "Are you fighting Baal’s battles now?" "Anyone touches my son and he’ll be dead by morning" "Go away and let Baal fight his own battles."

That backed the townsfolk down and Gideon’s brave-o-meter goes up another two points.

After all this happens the bad guys, the Midianites, join forces and invade Israel again. Gideon, who’s had some pretty good courage boosters lately, is filled with the Spirit and calls his tribe and the neighboring Israeli tribes together to go attack the bad guys.

Not being ridiculously brave, he double checks with God. Gideon puts out a sheep’s fleece one night and asks that if God really wants him to go after the bad guys, to make the fleece wet with dew but everything around it bone dry. That happens.

Attacking bad guys is serious business and Gideon want to be sure he’s got his signals straight. He pushes his luck with God by throwing the fleece out one more night. This time he asks for the fleece to be dry and everything else sopping wet. That happens.

Okie Dokie. Time to go after the bad guys.

But wait! There’s more!

The Lord wants to teach Gideon one last lesson about courage. It seems that 32,000 Israelis is really way too many for an attack on a valley full of Midianites too numerous to count. Gideon say’s to the troops, "Look if you’re so scared about this operation that you’re shaking, go on home; we won’t be needing you." The announcement didn’t go over well. 22,000 men left that day.

Apparently 10,000 Israelis is way too many to attack countless Midianites. God has Gideon dismiss 9,700 more.

Great. Now he’s got 300 men to attack a sea of bad guys. God’s right on one point, He is going to have to do the heavy lifting on this one.

You know the rest of the story. Each man gets a horn and a torch and a clay jar. They surround the Midianites in the middle of the night, break their jars, blow their horns and raised their torches … all at the same time.

The Midianites were completely freaked out by the noise and the torches. They had no clue if they were being attacked by 300 men or 300,000 men. Those who didn’t turn on each other in the confusion ran out into the desert in terror. All the bad guys were caught and killed.

Gideon was a hero.

*****

The moral of the story?

Courage isn’t fearlessness. It’s doing what you know you’ve got to do, even if you’re afraid.

Here’s the good part: God knows what you’re supposed to do and He makes sure it’s not more than you can handle. He doesn’t mind showing Himself, just so you know it’s really Him that’s talking. And most times He’ll give you something to do that’s scary, but not overly scary – like cutting down an Asherah pole. He knows that overcoming a little scary thing helps to prepare you for the big scary thing.

And when the big scary thing comes?

Hey. He told you to do it. He said He’d be right there doing the heavy lifting. And you know it was Him because He showed Himself to you. Also, you’ve got a track record; He’s given you some little scary things to conquer so you know the system works.

And after the battle? When you’re the hero and the thing that terrified you is lying at your feet? What have you learned?

The same thing Gideon learned. The battle is the Lord’s. You just showed up for the fight.

*****

We’ll stay on Courage for another week. There’s more to be said.

Until then, let Him fight your battles; but remember to show up.

In Him,

Steve Spillman

Purpose

Vol. 2 Issue 15 April 13, 2008
The Weekly Newsletter of True Potential Publishing

Money Part 3

"Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey." (Matthew 25: 14–15)

Remember the parable of the Talents? You can read about it in Matthew 25: 14 – 30. Jesus told this and a few other parables to explain what the "kingdom of heaven" would be like "at the end of the age." Interesting.

Here’s the story in a nut shell:

A man calls his three servants together before he leaves on a journey. To the first servant he gives "five talents of money."

A "talent" is a measurement of weight. In the old days money, being made out of precious metals like silver or gold, was weighed out to confirm its value. Whoever made the coins could just stamp the value on the coin along with a likeness of his boss’s head, but who’s going to take his word for it? It was safer just to weigh out the coins.

The weight of a "talent" varied over time, but when Jesus told this parable a talent of silver was about seventy-five pounds; worth a little over $20,000 in today’s money.

So, before going on his journey, this man entrusts five talents ($100,000) to one servant, two talents ($40,000) to another and one talent ($20,000) to a third servant. The expectation being that these three servants were to manage their master’s money while he was gone and give an accounting when he returned.

Well, that’s just what happened. The first servant doubled the money his master had given him. The second servant did likewise. The third servant broke even. He didn’t turn a profit, but he didn’t lose any of his master’s original capital either.

Investing money inherently involves some risk. There’s a chance you won’t make a profit and there’s a chance you could lose your entire investment. The first two servants took some risk. They could have lost their master’s money. Then there would have been hell to pay.

At least that’s what the third servant thought. He knew his master wasn’t an easy man. He expected his people to perform and he expected to profit from their work. The third servant just couldn’t bear the consequences of losing his master’s money. It was a risk he wasn’t willing to take. He dug a hole and buried the money.

By burying the money in the ground, he knew it wouldn’t earn any interest, but at least he wouldn’t risk losing his master’s original capital. His plan was safe; just bury the money and dig it up when his master returned. Nobody wins and nobody loses; can’t get any safer than that.

But that wasn’t the point. The master entrusted his money to his servants for a reason; to make a profit. By playing it safe, the third servant not only failed at his task, he disobeyed his master’s instructions. And he suffered the consequences. According to the story he was thrown "outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Bummer.

The first two servants put their master’s capital at risk, they had to; it’s part of the nature of investing. But the possibility of turning a profit is also in the nature of investing. These two succeeded at their task and enjoyed the reward. "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share in your master’s happiness."

*****

So what’s the point Jesus was trying to get across? That we’re supposed to turn a profit? Well … yeah. I think that’s exactly what he meant.

Now you can allegorize or spiritualize this whole thing by saying investing "talents" in the parable means investing the talents God has given each of us. You know, talents, like singing, or speaking, or teaching, or managing a business, or raising kids. Whatever your talents are, use them for God’s glory. That’s nice.

But for today’s discussion, let’s just keep it simple. Jesus said "talents of money" in the parable. Let’s leave the allegory for another day and just talk about money. The parable fits; everybody gets a different amount of money, "each according to his ability."

Some people get a lot of money. Some get less. Some get even less. Each according to his own ability. That’s not a very popular concept.

Doesn’t everybody deserve to get the same amount? That would be fair. Of course it’s only fair if we all get a lot. The fairness idea loses its attractiveness if everybody getting the same amount means we get less than we think we deserve.

And we deserve a lot, don’t we? We deserve whatever we want. More money, a bigger house, a newer car, a more important job; we deserve it all. At least that’s what we’ve been told. Just watch the commercials; that’s what they’re all about, making us believe we deserve what we want.

It’s not just the commercials. We hear it all the time from guys who claim to be God’s spokesmen. Want to know how you can get your best life now? Just listen to the guy behind the pulpit. As a matter of fact you can measure how much God likes you by how much stuff you have. By the way, don’t’ forget to send in your monthly support check to the ministry.

Maybe they’re just commercials too (I know I beat this horse a lot, but it needs beating).

If you listen to Jesus, when it comes to money, we get what we get, "each according to his own ability." The important thing isn’t how much we get; it’s what we do with what we’ve got. And I don’t recommend burying it in the ground. We’re supposed to turn a profit.

That brings up another point I believe I’ve mentioned before. It’s not our money. We’re just managing it for our master. It’s His money. He’s given it to us to turn a profit while he’s gone. We he comes back, there’s going to be an accounting.

So let’s boil down the parable into a few points we can put to use.

1. Jesus was trying to explain what the "kingdom of heaven" at the "end of the age" is going to be like. So we know he was talking about then and not now.

2. The man who was going on the journey was the one who owned everything. He entrusted his property to his servants (they stayed behind) to manage (turn a profit) while he was gone.

3. Each servant got the amount of money he could handle, not the amount he thought he deserved. How much each servant could handle wasn’t up for a vote; it was up to the master – it was his money.

4. Only the servants who actually invested their money made a profit. Investing is risky, they could have lost what they had been given, but they invested it anyway. No guarantees. The guy who buried his money in the ground had two guarantees; his capital wouldn’t be at risk and he wouldn’t make a profit.

5. There was an accounting when the master returned. And his focus was on how well his servants did with the money they were given, not the money itself. If they managed risk and turned a profit they were given more, a lot more. If one was risk averse, fearing the consequences of making a bad investment so much that he hid his master’s capital in a hole in the ground until he returned, the master wasn’t satisfied to receive back his original capital. The servant screwed up, and the consequences were worse than he ever imagined.

*****

Money is a funny thing. We think it’s worth a lot, but it turns out that it really doesn’t have any value at all. We think that more money will let us do more stuff, but is only what we do with the money we already have that matters.

Money isn’t something you own, it’s something you use. It’s been given to you to use by the One who ultimately owns everything. How you use matters more than how much you’ve got to use.

Risk is inherent in everything. That’s why you’ve got to manage the money you’ve been given. If you invest it in stupid stuff, you’re going to lose it; and there’s a price to pay for that. If you bury it in the ground … well, we know from the story that there’s a price to be paid for that.

And, by the way, if you give your money to somebody that claims to be God’s spokesman but really isn’t, he’s not the only one facing consequences. You were given that money to manage; the accounting is going to come home to roost on your doorstep. If you’re going to give money to folks who say they’re God’s representatives, you’d better make sure they really are.

The most important thing I can say about money is that it’s not about the here and now. It’s about the then and there. What you do with it here and now only counts then and there.

Invest wisely.

Next week we’ll tackle a new subject - courage.

In Him,

Steve Spillman

Purpose

Vol. 2 Issue 14 April 7, 2008
The weekly newsletter of True Potential Publishing

Money Part 2

Thanks for your patience while I was away.

Elaine and I were out all of last week at an “equipping the saints” conference. It wasn’t really named “equipping the saints,” but you know what I mean. It was a conference for Christians by Christians, with subject matter focused on a particular facet of the faith. This one was about “prophecy.” Not “exhort-your-brother” prophecy; “end-of-the-world” prophecy.

As a book publisher, I’m supposed to go to things like this; we were invited, we went and we sold some books. So it worked out.

That was the business side of it. Usually there’s another reason I go … one I don’t know about in advance. I find out after I arrive or after it’s over and say, “oh, that’s why I was supposed to go.” This trip wasn’t any different; there was an object lesson (or two) waiting for me.

*****

Before I go any further, let me just say for the record – I’m not the kind of guy who likes to over-spiritualize things. I’d rather not. The problem is, spiritual stuff keeps happening and the only way I know how to tell you about it is with words that sound kind of … well … spiritual.

I don’t like using “spiritual” vocabulary when regular vocabulary will do. If I’m thinking something or read something in the Bible, I’d rather say, “This is what I think,” or “I read this in the Bible,” than say “God told me.”

But if God tells me or shows me something or I’d rather just be honest about it.

One last thing. When God talks to me I don’t hear an audible voice; so you don’t have to worry about that one. I wonder why people always worry about that one? It’s like if you say God speaks to you and you can’t actually hear His voice, you’re a spiritual guy. But if you do actually hear His voice, you’re a nut.

Some people think it’s a little off to think God speaks to His followers. I think it’s a little off to follow a God who doesn’t speak.

*****

Anyway, back to my trip.

This was a prophecy conference. At prophecy conferences people talk about what hasn’t happened yet, but what they believe will happen based on what they think the Bible says about what will happen, held up to the light of what’s happening now. It’s fairly confusing.

Since it hasn’t actually happened yet, not everybody agrees with everybody else. Even the people who agree with each other don’t always agree; it depends on how detailed you want to get about things that haven’t happened yet.

And there are charts. Lots of charts. My favorite chart was an illustrated timeline of every important event from the creation of the world to 2005. As you can imagine, it was a really long chart. What I liked about it was that everything had already happened. That was a chart I could follow. The chart was for sale. I should have bought it. Elaine told me to, but I didn’t. Maybe I can get it at the next conference.

The lesson I was supposed to learn last week wasn’t about prophecy; it was about people.

When I was six I had a poster of the Peanuts character, Snoopy, on my bedroom wall. He was in his classic pose, lying prone on the roof of his dog house. Inside Snoopy’s thought balloon was, “I love humanity; it’s people I can’t stand.” The saying stuck with me.

Too often, people can be jerks or nuts and their leaders can be self-aggrandizing, self-serving demagogues. It’s just human nature and, like Snoopy, I shouldn’t be too surprised when I see it.

I’m especially sensitive to it in the Christian world because we’re supposed to represent just the opposite. We’re supposed to be light and salt to the world, giving it sight and flavor. Our leaders should be servants; patterned after their leader, God who became man to be our example.

So already you know I have a low tolerance level of human frailty and have my own issues with plank-in-eye disease (see Matthew 7:3).

I show up at a prophecy conference, where everybody’s focused on lining up things that haven’t happened yet and everybody’s got their own opinion of what hasn’t happened yet, so I know I’m not going to agree with at least some of what’s being said.

I really had mixed feelings about being there … before I showed up.

After we got there, everything I was worried about evaporated like mist and things I never thought about, like the fact that I might actually enjoy being around these people, began to materialize.

Sure, there were varying opinions floating around about the nuts and bolts of the apocalypse; but that didn’t define the conference. At least not for me.

It was the people, their spirit and their attitude that affected me. It was something that I knew I was a part of; something I wanted to be a part of. The people listened, talked, shared, laughed and prayed together.

Like I said, I don’t like to overuse "church words," but if I had to name what I saw, “fellowship” would be a good word.

Oh yeah. The leaders led by serving. It was in their attitudes; you could hear it in their words and see it in their actions. Elitism and hierarchy to the greater glory of man didn’t show up at this conference. It was nice.

*****

I know. I know. This week’s letter is supposed to be about money. What’s the prophecy conference got to do with money?

Not much.

That was one of the nice things. There weren’t any tickets. The conference was free; it has been for fourteen years. They take up some offerings and sell some books and CD’s. They pay for the conference center and cover expenses. Not much more than that.

The hotel gives the guy who runs the conference their presidential suite … for free. He lets some of the guys whose ministries can’t pay for rooms share the suite and he takes a regular room. He never said anything about it; I heard about it through the grapevine. Nice.

While I was there I saw an ad for another prophecy conference that’s coming up. Different city different bunch of folks. Tickets are fifty bucks … unless you want VIP seating, that’s seventy-five. There are some big names on the marquee at the upcoming conference; real superstars.

I believe I’ll pass.

In Him,

Steve Spillman

Purpose

Vol. 2 Issue 13 March 21, 2008
The weekly newsletter of True Potential Publishing

Money Part 1


"I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor and believe me, rich is better." My dad told me that. I’ve mentioned it before. He was just kidding around when he said it and he sure wasn’t rich, but the saying stuck with me.

Funny how some things stick, isn’t it?

Everybody’s got an opinion about money. Religious people always have an opinion about money. I wonder if the opinion they give you is really the opinion they keep way down inside, away from prying eyes? I guess that’s why you got to watch what they do and not pay so much attention to what they say.

*****

Jesus told a parable about money I never could quite figure out. Like I said last week; I was getting mixed signals. It’s in Luke chapter 16. Here’s the short version:

A rich guy finds out that his accountant is crooked. He goes to the accountant and says, "I’ve heard you’re wasting my money. Put my accounts in order and turn in your ledger – you’re fired."

Well, the accountant, realizing he’s been caught, cooks up a scheme. He calls in the people who owe his boss to settle accounts. He changes the first guy’s balance from eight hundred gallons of olive oil to four hundred and second guy’s balance of a thousand bushels of wheat to eight-hundred. The accountant figures that since he’s getting fired anyway and his chances of finding another job are pretty bleak, that he’d better make friends with his boss’s debtors by cooking the books to reduce their debt. Maybe they’ll show him some financial consideration on the back end.

The accountant’s boss is no dummy. He finds out what the guy has done and in spite of being cheated out of a considerable amount of oil and wheat, he thinks the accountant is pretty shrewd.

To me, this didn’t sound like parable material. I knew Jesus was trying to make a point, but it sounds like he was giving an atta-boy to the dishonest accountant.

Right after the story Jesus said, "the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light." I picked up that he was making a difference between two groups of people – people of the world and people of light.

Jesus was telling this and some other stories to a big crowd of people who had been following him around. The crowd was filled with all kinds of people - commoners, tax-collectors and "sinners."

It’s funny; Luke is telling this story and when he describes the crowd he puts "sinners" in parentheses. Like whether or not they were really "sinners" compared to those who considered themselves "not-sinners" was up for debate.

On this particular occasion, another group showed up; kinda standing off to the side with their arms folded. They were the Pharisees and teachers of the law - the religious leaders. They liked to be in charge of telling people what to do and what to think. Jesus had been screwing that up lately.

I’m pretty sure Jesus started in on this particular set of stories just because they showed up. His words embarrassed them and people who regard themselves as important don’t like being embarrassed. But they needed embarrassing; so Jesus fired away.

You’d think that, knowing who-all was present, the religious leaders would be the "people of the light" and the tax collectors and "sinners" would be the "people of the world." I don’t think Jesus meant it that way.

He tells the crowd, "… use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings." That was a head-scratcher. I didn’t get how using "worldly wealth" (money) to make friends now would get me "welcomed into eternal dwellings" later.

Jesus followed up with: "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?"

Finally, the light in my head clicked on. Money is something you’re entrusted with - like the crooked accountant in the story. It’s not yours; you’re just managing it for someone else. As manager, your job is to turn a profit for the One to whom the money belongs. Treating it like your own leads to trouble.

None of the money is yours; that’s the point. And in light of what’s coming, it’s not even all that valuable. What you do with your money (not really your money) on earth is kind of a test for what you’ll do with really valuable stuff later.

Like every other money manager, you’ve been entrusted with a certain amount. It may be just a little or it may be a whole lot. The One who owns it decided your share to manage for His own reasons.

By the way, if you’re one of the managers with just a little bit to manage, don’t envy the guy who has tons of it. He’s got his own row to hoe. "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." (Luke 12:48)

Back to the story:

Then Jesus got right to the root of what he was trying to say. "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."

Money’s a pretty useful tool. You can do so much stuff with it. You can buy food; you can buy a house or a car. You can send your kids to college and play golf on the weekends. You can give money to someone in need. You can give it to a church so they can spread the gospel, or feed the hungry, or build a new sanctuary, or buy a really cool chandelier for the foyer. You can even try to buy love or prestige or a little peace with it - but that has a way of backfiring.

The point is, money being so handy for doing almost anything, people kind of loose sight of the fact that it doesn’t really have any value; not in this life and for sure, not in the life to come.

When people loose sight and begin to think money is valuable, the relationship begins to change. Instead of thinking like a money manager, responsible for Somebody else’s money, you start to think that maybe the money’s there for your own uses. You know – like you own it.

When that happens things get topsy-turvy. Now the cart is pulling the horse. The servant is the master. The thing you’re supposed to be watching over for the One who owns is starts to own you. Like I said, because of all the stuff it can do, money is an excellent servant. But it’s a lousy master. And God says that there’s only room for one Master in your life. You can’t get away with trying to serve both. It doesn’t work.

As Jesus was wrapping up his parables about money and he saw the "... Pharisees, who loved money …" over in the corner sneering at him. The crowd knew how self-righteous and money-grubbing the Pharisees were, but they were the religious mucky-mucks - who were tax collectors and "sinners" to question their righteousness?

Jesus handled it. "He said to them, ‘You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.’"

Wow. The stuff we value is detestable in God’s sight. That includes money. But if we’re God’s money managers and we’re supposed to turn a profit and money is detestable in God’s sight, what are we supposed to invest our money in?

We’ll cover that next week when we talk about making a profit, when to invest, when to hold on to your money and when to give it away.

We’ll wrap up this week with a few assumptions and high points from Jesus’ story:

1. If we say we belong to God, then everything we have belongs to Him too. That makes sense.

2. That means he owns everything in our possession, including our money; and we’re just managing it for him (by the way, if this is true, then He really owns everything; your kids, your spouse, your house, your job, your plans … everything. Money’s the least valuable thing on the list).

3. If you’re managing somebody else’s money, you’d better turn a profit (that’s in the Bible too). But a profit to God doesn’t mean just making more money for Him. Money’s not very valuable to God … what’s He going to buy? He wants something that’ll last … into eternity … like your family members, your neighbor, the homeless guy under the bridge or maybe even a whole bunch of little children in a dying country that, once their stomachs are full, will listen to somebody tell them about Jesus and about another life not too far away where stomachs are never empty and where disease and civil war don’t kill their parents.

4. Everybody gets their share of money to manage. Don’t worry about how little or how much you have. He knows what you can handle. Handle it wisely and He’ll trust you with more. Good money managers are hard to find.

5. Be warned. Money’s a tricky thing. If you forget that you’re the manager and it’s the servant, it’ll poke its nose in the door. Before you know it, you’re the servant and it’s the manager … and that doesn’t work.

6. Do your job right, manage His money diligently here and now (not a very long time really) and you’ll be rewarded beyond what you can imagine later. He pays in tender He considers valuable, and that lasts for a long, long time.

Until next week,

Steve Spillman

Purpose

Vol. 2 Issue 12 March 20, 2008
The Weekly newsletter of True Potential Publishing

Money

Ooh boy. We could spend a while on this one. We will, as a matter of fact. We’ll be on this for a few weeks.

Money isn’t a comfortable subject for Christians. Privately, we don’t have much of a problem with it at all. Who doesn’t like money? But publicly, we traverse the subject like we’re walking on a new froze-over pond. We’re not sure if our next step will be on solid ice or if we’ll fall through.

It’s because we’re getting mixed signals.

"The wealth of the rich is their fortress; the poverty of the poor is their destruction." (Proverbs 10:15 NLT)

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal." (Matthew 6:19)

"With me are riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity." (Proverbs 8:18)

"How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!" (Mark 10:23)

"A good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children …" (Proverbs 13:22)

"… Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven …." (Mark 10:21)

Wealth is a fortress … Do not store up treasure on earth. Riches, honor, wealth and prosperity come with wisdom …It’s hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. A good man leaves an inheritance to his children … Sell everything you have and give to the poor.

Sheesh! The Bible applauds good stewardship and promises blessings to the faithful; at the same time it says that the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil.

What’s a guy to do? It takes money to live and the harder I work the more I’m supposed to make, right? Success is a good thing, right? What’s the answer?

It’s not like we’re getting the straight scoop from those in charge either. When you go to church, you hear that it’s more blessed to give than to receive and to reinforce the point, they take up an offering.

Listen to Christian TV and radio. Whatever the message, one message is clear; you need to send in your money to keep the message on the air.

So if your money isn’t supposed to be important to you, why is it so important to everyone else?

*****

That’s why we’re going to explore what the Bible says about money … and maybe un-mix the message a little. We’ll start the Hebrew and Greek languages (like usual) to find out what the original words really meant.

"Money" is used 116 times in the KJV translation of the Old Testament. All 116 times it’s the same Hebrew word: "keceph." That’s "silver"; the currency of the day. Whether it was silver coins, bars, earrings, nose rings, bracelets, or some other precious or semi-precious metal that traded like silver; "keceph" was cash.

Sure, people could buy, sell and barter with a lot of stuff other than "keceph"; gold, cattle, goats, wheat, wine and oil were used at times. But when the Hebrews talked money, they thought "keceph." At least they weren’t confused.

For two thousand years a single Hebrew word was sufficient to describe money. It’s a different story in the New Testament. Christ was born in Bethlehem around 6 BC and John penned the last words of his Revelation around 95 AD; about 101 years, start to finish. One twentieth of the Old Testament time period. In that short time the New Testament writers couldn’t describe "money" in less than eight different Greek words.

Is confusion about money a New Testament thing? Let’s see.

"Stater" after the Greek word for "standard" described a coin or a unit of money. There were actual coins called "staters" usually of silver, but sometimes in gold. A silver "stater" in Jesus time was worth four drachma. When Jesus and Peter showed up in Capernaum the tax collectors wanted them to pay a temple tax; two drachma each. Jesus told Peter to go to the lake and throw in a hook; the first fish he caught would have a "stater" in its mouth – four drachma – tax for two (Matthew 17:24). Funny how things work out.

"Argurion" is Greek for money too. Like the Hebrew "keceph," it means "silver"; not a specific amount, but cash in general. Remember the parable of the talents? A master gives his three servants five, two and one talents of money respectively (a talent is a certain weight; they weighed out money back then to make sure they weren’t getting short changed). The servants with five and two talents took the money and made a profit. The servant with one talent buried his in the ground to avoid risk … bad idea. When the master returned he rewarded the two who made a profit and threw the risk-averse servant into the "darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 25:14-30)

"Nomisma" is money that’s paid for a tax or required by law. It refers to money that’s not given up voluntarily; some things don’t change. Jesus used "nomisma" to turn the tables on those who tried to trap him by painting him as a rebel against the oppressive Roman government. "Is it right to pay taxes to the Romans?" they asked. Jesus knew what they were up to. "Show me a coin," he replied. "Whose portrait and inscription is on the coin?" "Caesar’s," they answered. "Then give Caesar what’s his and give God what belongs to Him" (Matthew 22:19). That shut ‘em up.

"Chalkos" means "copper"; small change, walking around money. When Jesus sent his disciples out to preach repentance among the villages of Judea, he told them not to bring along any food, luggage, or "chalkos"; walking around money. He wanted them to be totally dependant for their needs on those who heard the gospel.

"Kerma" means literally "clipping" or "shearing." "Kerma" referred to money from money-changers. Back when the idea of using coins for money was new, an easy way to make change was to clip or shear a coin in half or in fourths. If a loaf of bread cost one fourth of the local coinage, the dealer could simply whack the customer’s coin into fourths with a cleaver and give him three-fourths back as change.

Whacking up coins and making change eventually became the job of the guys who traded local coins for foreign coins in the market place. These guys weren’t the most honest of folks; they knew how much the foreign and local coins were worth and often their customers didn’t. They were called, you guessed it, "money-changers." Jesus had an issue with money-changers setting up shop in his Father’s house. He still does.

"Chrema" means literally "a thing that one uses or needs." It was a term for money used in business transactions or big purchases; which implies a substantial sum. More than walking around money. In the book of Acts, Barnabas sold a field and gave the money (chrema) to apostles of the nascent Christian church to help cover expenses. Remember Ananias and Sapphira? They tried the same thing, but skimmed off some of the "chrema" for themselves. That was a bad idea (Acts 5).

Now we’re getting to the touchy stuff.

"Philarguria" means "love of money." "Phileo" is the Greek word for "affection." "Argurion" (above) is the Greek word for "silver." "Philarguria" is loving money for itself and dreading the idea of parting with it. Remember "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils …." (1 Timothy 6:10)? That’s "philarguria." It’s a nasty habit. Common, but nasty.

There’s another word for money, the KJV calls it by its old Greek name "mammon." It’s one step further out than "philarguria." "Mammon" is confidence in or the personification of money. That means your hope and trust are tied up in money. Money has become a personal thing for you, you know, like a god. "No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." (Luke 16:13) God doesn’t appreciate the competition.

******

That was a lovely history lesson Steve, but what’s it got to do with me?

More than you think. When it comes to money, we’re like the New Testament Greeks. We can’t think about money with just a single word or idea coming to mind. We can’t even describe it without a half dozen synonyms trailing behind. Cash, dollars, dinero, moolah, greenbacks, paycheck, bills, taxes, tithes offerings, savings, credit, debt.

Money isn’t a single idea to us. That’s why we have so many words for it. That’s why the Bible has different words for it. In reality, money is what it is. It doesn’t have any value or meaning on its own. You put value and meaning behind it by how you think about it and what you do with it.

That’s where the mixed signals are coming from. And that’s what we’re going to get to the bottom of.

Next week.

Until then, don’t worry; "saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." (Matthew 6:31-34).

In Him,

Steve Spillman

Purpose



Vol. 2 Issue 11March 14, 2008

The weekly newsletter of True Potential Publishing


Integrity



Integrity is an interesting word.



Everybody wants it. A lot of folks claim to have it. And a lot of folks that claim to have it, turns out, don’t really have so much of it as they led us to believe.



All you’ve got to do is watch the evening news. Preachers, politicians, business leaders; all folks you’d expect to be full of integrity, we find out maybe didn’t have so much after all.



Like I said, integrity is an interesting word. We all use it, we look for it in others and, oh yeah, in ourselves. And we all know exactly what it means to have integrity.



Integrity means … well, it means … when somebody has integrity, he … well … umm ….Integrity is an interesting word. We expect it in others. We think we’ve got it, but secretly know we don’t have as much of it as we let on. But we can’t say exactly what it means when we’re put on the spot.



That’s why I figured I’d dig into it a little. I didn’t want to preach to others about integrity without really having a handle on it myself.



I thought about asking the folks who talked about integrity the most, you know, the movers and shakers. I thought about going to our government leaders … but who would I ask? Maybe getting a politician’s advice regarding integrity isn’t such a good idea right now. I thought about asking religious leaders, but that could get a little dicey too. Maybe we’d better stick with folks we don’t know too personally.

*****

I was a businessman in a former life. I’m a businessman now, I guess, but back then I was a real businessman, if you know what I mean. I’ve always liked books and since I was in the business world for so many years I collected a lot of books about business, leadership, personal effectiveness, success - that kind of stuff. I still have the books so I looked up what the best-of-the-best had to say about “integrity.”



This is what I found out:



Personal effectiveness guru Stephen Covey has a reserved seat at the top of the human empowerment pyramid so I thought I’d hit him first. Covey, in his modern classic, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People has this to say:

• Integrity is the opposite of being “inwardly duplicitous.”

• “Integrity includes but goes beyond honesty. Honesty is telling the truth – in other words, conforming our words to reality. Integrity is conforming reality to our words – in other words, keeping promises and fulfilling expectations.”

• “… if we have integrity, our intent cannot be to deceive.”

• “… if we can’t make and keep commitments to ourselves as well as others, our commitments become meaningless.”



Corporate leadership gurus James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner weigh in on personal integrity in their business textbook, The Leadership Challenge.



“You cannot lead others until you have first led yourself through a struggle with opposing values …. personal integrity is essential to believability. A leader with integrity has one self, at home and at work, with family and colleagues. He or she has a unifying set of values that guide choices of action regardless of the situation. This does not mean that leaders are one-dimensional people who only focus narrowly on their work …. We are not suggesting that the ideal leader is a saint. However, we are suggesting that leaders who cannot personally adhere to a firm set of values cannot convince others of the worthiness of those values. Leaders without integrity are only putting on an act. The believability and credibility so essential for leadership are earned when your behavior is consistent with your beliefs.”



Lastly, management gurus, Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus, in their book, Leaders, contribute: “In order for an organization to have integrity, it must have an identity – that is, a sense of who it is and what it is to do.”



Okie-dokie. The gurus of personal effectiveness, business leadership and management have all weighed in. Let’s try to boil it down into something we can use.



Covey seems to be good at telling us what integrity isn’t. According to Covey integrity isn’t “inwardly duplicitous,” “deceptive,” or “meaningless.”



If I look up the opposite of all that, I get that he’s saying integrity is similar to honesty; but he also say’s it’s more than honesty. This is about the best I can get from Covey regarding what integrity is: “keeping promises and fulfilling expectations.” No wonder Covey’s so popular in the business world; he’s turned integrity into a McDonald’s slogan.

Kouzes, Posner, Bennis and Nanus are a little more practical. According to them integrity has to do with knowing who you are and allowing your values to guide your actions. That sounds pretty good. You have integrity “when your behavior is consistent with your beliefs.”

Of course … if your beliefs are all screwed up and your behavior is consistent with them, are you still to be considered a person of integrity?

Growing up, I knew a girl who thought she was a horse. She whinnied and neighed and pranced around. She loved oatmeal. Her behavior was consistent too. I never saw her when she wasn’t acting like a horse. Her behavior was in line with her beliefs, but I’m not sure I’d call what she was doing “integrity.”

The business gurus have taken a shot at defining “integrity”; but I believe I’ll keep looking.

Webster (I’ve always liked him) defines integrity as: “moral soundness, probity (scrupulous honesty) // wholeness, completeness // the quality or state of being unimpaired. From the Latin integritas – wholeness.”

I like the part about “moral soundness,” “completeness,” and “being unimpaired.” I’m beginning to feel like I may be getting a grip on the meaning of “integrity.”

The Old Testament (ESV) mentions “integrity” twenty-four times. It’s the Hebrew word “tom” or “tam.” It means “complete,” “blameless,” “upright,” “sound,” “wholesome.” The word and its derivatives come from the Hebrew “tamam”; meaning “to be complete, be finished, be at an end.”

The New Testament (ESV) only mentions “integrity” once. It’s the Greek word, “adiaphthoria”; meaning “incorruptibility.” The KJV uses the word, “uncorruptness.”

Incorruptible means “incapable of being corrupted” (so much for the politicians). Incorruptible also means “not subject to decomposition,” “imperishable,” “living forever.” One of my favorite mentions in the Bible is when Peter is comparing our old flesh to grass that withers and goes away, but our new flesh to the word of the Lord which lives forever. “… having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever ….” (I Peter 1:23)

So, according to the Bible, integrity means “to be complete” and “to be finished.” It also alludes to “incorruptibility” or “imperishability.”

*****

It’s funny how the experts can stumble around with a word like “integrity.” They’ll give a whack at telling us what it isn’t, and they’ll formulate answers that sound pretty good, but don’t really work - but they just don’t seem to have a purchase on the meaning themselves.

Webster does a pretty good job, but my guess is that he was leaning a little on biblical interpretation anyway.

The Bible, like always, cuts right to the chase and give the big picture at the same time. Living with integrity means showing signs that we’re being completed. Not complete, but being completed. Completed means finished, that restoration or “putting back together.” It’s the work Christ does in everyone who takes advantage of it.

Someday we’ll experience the full meaning of integrity. We’ll be fully integrated, fully complete, fully finished, and fully alive.

“For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’” (I Corinthians 15:52-54)

Until next week. Walk in integrity.

Steve Spillman