theologer

"And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’" - Matthew 25:40

Today I had an experience with the least of these. On my drive home from a run to the grocery store just to buy donuts (yes, I do this regularly) I passed a car on the way home with a flat tire. I dropped my wife of at home just a few blocks away and went back to see if everything was okay.

The guy on the side of the street was a sweet guy although probably not quite all there mentally. But the Lord showed up in some cool ways and during our time together we were able to talk pretty closely about the Lord, and his relationship with Him. I was able to pray with him and generally, I think, be a blessing.

I love doing ministry like this, but I think today I was surprised at just how easy it was. Typically the things or people the Lord tugs me to talk to or pray for are very difficult for me. I want to be a blessing to them, I want to lay hands on them and pray, but its awkward or they're dirty or something.

But today was a new experience and I don't know what made it so. I do hope if he calls back because he needs more help in some way that I'll be willing and joyful to be helpful. I don't want it to ever be inconvenient to help someone out. I don't ever want to have "something better" to do. We'll see how that plays out in real life. For now I'm thankful for this experience. Thankful the Lord can still use me when I don't expect and that I'm useful for something.

I hope it was a blessing to the King.

"But he said, 'Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!'" - Luke 11:28

One of my brothers in law is here staying with us for the weekend. He'll be heading home today but he's an interesting guy to talk with as he's in the last semester of his seminary education. He's also lived overseas for a couple of years doing ministry and will likely go back.

I was talking with Him this morning about some of the blogs I read and how many people I read who are educated in the original languages or carry seriously interpretive Bibles to church on Sunday mornings and scrutinize everything the pastors say. I don't mean this in a bad way, being educated and not taking everything your pastor says at face value is not a bad thing. My comment was how I wasn't sure I would want to preach to these people feeling like they would pick apart my every argument.

His response was something along the lines of how it doesn't matter if you can preach to those people or not. There are people out there who are much more interested in the academia than they are in being able to preach and relate Christ. You need to worry yourself with the latter.

I thought this an interesting argument. The field in which I work is filled with several seminary educated people but our discussions are never about theology or scripture or these things at all. Rather we're always discussing what so and so needs to hear before they'll likely turn to the Lord, or about broken relationships, or disfunction in our churches and how we address such issues.

Then I get on a plane and I go to seminary in the summer for a few weeks at a time and I'm surrounded by people who care much more about a specific interpretation of one verse, or how great of professors they've had etc...

The field is just a different world than the academic campus. I guess I'm glad I get the best of both worlds. I just want to make sure I'm hearing the word of the Lord and spending my time keeping it rather than scrutinizing it. Seeking the Lord and loving Him and following His commands needs to have precedence in my life over my head knowledge. Both are important, but the Love and obedience need to come first.

"The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,
And he who is wise wins souls." - Proverbs 11:30 (NASB)

In discussing the Proverbs we looked at the meaning of wisdom as it is the main topic throughout the book. After looking at several verses this one came up. "He who is wise wins souls." Has this ever occurred to you? My reaction was, "Yea that sounds about right because a wise person would understand the situation and share a gospel more relevant to the hearer than an unwise person."

But this is a mistake because I'm understanding the modern "American Heritage" dictionary definition which says, "The quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment."
This is how we would understand wisdom today, whereas a more fitting Biblical definition seems to be (my prof. would argue) "skill in life." Wisdom is often translated skill in our text.

So read this as "He who has skill in life wins souls."
Or as Napoleon Dynamite might say "He wouldn't convert 'cause I don't have any skills, like nun-chuck skills, or drawing skills, or life.... skills."

I have to re-evaluate the role wisdom plays in my evangelism. And re-think seeking wisdom in relation to seeking salvation for friends.

"As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." - 2 Timothy 4:5

Sober-minded is the first struggle for me. I have to work out six days a week to keep even mildly sober-minded, and if I don't for just a few days I go a little nutty. I start freaking out over little things and getting carried away in my head, its pretty weird. Its almost like I'm chemically unbalanced without exercise, that or I'm addicted to endorphins.

I know for a fact that I poorly endure suffering. My favorite things in the world are soft carpet, big couches, and hot tubs, because they spell out comfort. My freezing cold floors and the lack of ever seeing a sun is often suffering enough for me, and frequently more than I can handle.

Next, doing the work of an evangelist is one of my favorite things in the whole world and also one of the most unnatural for me. I don't understand why either. I'm extremely outgoing and have zero problem striking up conversation or talking with people about the Lord, but when it comes to getting to the gospel I have yet to make it natural. I try, and I'm a firm believer that everyone should do evangelism because I find I really realize the weight of my salvation when I'm sharing with someone else.

Fulfilling my ministry is hard simply because it's hard to know what exactly you're called to. This blog is actually one of those things. I feel like I'm supposed to teach someday and so I'm using this as a medium to sort out the things I'm interested in teaching, and to keep up my writing.

Paul's challenge to Timothy was a big one. Could you have lived up?