4 Ingredients of a Good Reputation

John Wooden, the great coach of the UCLA Bruins and greater man of character, would spend countless minutes in his practice sessions building his player’s character rather than working on basketball skills.  He would teach them and pour into the character of the individual by teaching his ‘pyramid of success’.  John Wooden felt that if he could build the man’s character, then basketball would take care of itself.  It worked…his teams won 10 National Championships in 12 years and in those 10 championships, they won 7 in a row.  He was the National Coach of the Year 6 times.

His teams always had a reputation for playing hard the entire game.  They had a reputation for winning.  Their reputation, or what others believed to be truth about them, was an outflow of the character traits that Coach Wooden spent countless hours instilling into their lives.  Coach Wooden said it best when he said,

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.

Character and reputation go hand in hand.  In fact, your reputation is forged by your character.  You can spend 20 years building your reputation and lose what you built with one misstep.  Now that may seem like a lot of pressure that one is putting on themselves to constantly live a life that lives up to their standards they have set for themselves.  I would argue that if you are the one that set your standard bar, then there is no pressure to live up to it.  I also believe that a person will try to achieve their expectations no matter how high they may set them.  In this day and age, I believe that the greatest tragedy and disservice that we can do for the younger generation is to allow their standards to be set too low.  Without lofty expectations, the results experienced are low.  It has been said that the greatest enemy of great is good.

As a parent, it is my responsibility to instill in my children the necessary character traits that will help them to succeed in life.  I don’t want them to have the necessary skills to ‘just get by’.  I want them to excel.  I want them to set their standards high.  I want to inspire them to greatness!  I want them to dream and have the character to reach for their dreams.  I also want them to have a good reputation.  Your reputation is important!  In fact, Luke the Physician wrote in the Acts of the Apostles concerning Timothy, in Acts 16:2-3,

2 Timothy was well thought of by the believers in Lystra and Iconium, 3 so Paul wanted him to join them on their journey. In deference to the Jews of the area, he arranged for Timothy to be circumcised before they left, for everyone knew that his father was a Greek.

This stemmed from his character that was handed down from his parents.  I believe that there are 4 ingredients of a Good Reputation.  This is what I hope to instill into my children and I want to share them with you today.

• Love– Love God with all your heart and your neighbor as your self.
• Truth– Always be truthful even and especially if you are wrong.  When you tell the truth, you never have to remember what you said that was a lie.
• Honor– Live a life that will honor God and make His name known.  Live a life that brings honor to God, your parents, grandparents, your family and your children.  You represent more than just yourself when you are alone or in a crowd, you represent all of the above.
• Serve– Dedicate your life to serving God and always listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit.  Serve at places like your church, community, family, neighbors and friends.  Take the initiative and serve others when you see something that needs to be done, do it without being asked.

When these ingredients are thrown into the mix of a person’s life, your character will become the strong foundation that your reputation is built upon. With this recipe, I leave you with this statement and 3 questions.  Some people change jobs, mates and friends, but never think of changing themselves.

• What are the ingredients that you are putting into the character mix of your life?  Your Family?  Your Children?
• What are your goals and dreams as an individual?  A family?  
• Are you striving for great or settling for good?

The Plan for Success

Ah yes…the ever elusive word that drives millions of people to rise from their sleep every day and try to attain goals that are somewhat out of reach at the moment, but then find themselves only moving those goals to take them to higher places than were previously desired and thought of as the pinnacle of life…that word…SUCCESS!

Let’s face it…no one wants to be labeled a failure or loser.  That is evident in our Youth Sports Programs where everyone gets a medal.  I mean, when I was a kid, I was S-L-O-W!  In fact, my coaches didn’t use a stopwatch to time me, they used a calendar!  I remember field day at school…I always seemed to come home with a 1st place ribbon for tug of war, but I hated races!  Why?  I wasn’t successful at them.  It almost seemed like our field days had one strength related event vs. 10 speed events.  Don’t feel sorry for me, for the first 10 yards I was as fast as anyone else, but it always seemed that me and at least one girl would always duke it out for…ummm…last. That was usually the one who recovered from the trampling of the speedy kids.  I get a picture in my mind like this…

So, what did I come home with?  A handful of “Thanks for participating” ribbons.  You know, the dreaded purple ribbon.

I had been force-fed a definition of success that gave value to me as a human being through a piece of nylon with a rope!  I bought in to it too!  While competition and athletics have been a part of my life since I was a kid, as I have grown, I have seen those ribbons replaced with many different things.  Titles, positions, promotions, raises, corner offices, you name it.  There are ways that people today find value in themselves through the awards they attain or credentials bestowed upon them.  They mistakenly cheapen success by defining it by getting to do what THEY want, when THEY want, how THEY want.  In fact, it sounds a lot like a bad infomercial like this…

I am sure that Tony Robbins has helped a lot of people get back on track, but I am more confident in God from whom all blessings come from.  I am not knocking those things, I am simply pointing out that what took place on field day certainly prepared us for later on in life…except…there are no more participation ribbons!  Thank you Jesus!!

One of the wisest men that ever lived was King Solomon.  He wrote a book of Wisdom for his son.  It is found as one of 66 books found in the Bible called Proverbs.  There are 31 chapters in Proverbs.  I like to use them one chapter for each day of the month.  I want to show you how one of the wisest men that ever lived viewed success.  He spelled out the plan for success for his son and ultimately each of us.  In Proverbs 16:2-3, Solomon’s plan reads like this,

“2People may be pure in their own eyes, but the Lord examines their motives.  3Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.”

Most of the time, people feel their motives are pure.  However, God knows the motives of our heart.  When personal plans are made committing them to God leads to a successful fulfillment of those plans.  Motives of the heart are understood by God even though we may think ourselves pure and right before Him.  The physical, mental, emotional and spiritual act of committing all we do to the Lord will determine your success or failure.

I had to come to the realization that I can do nothing apart from God.  My plans need to be committed to Him to ensure success.  Success is not for me, per se.  Although I get to experience the fruit of success and the blessings of success, my true success is for God’s glory through my plans being committed to Him.  He is the one that gets the 1st Place Ribbon…I get the blessing of being His son.  He gets the glory, I get the earthly benefit of blessings.

Who or what has 1st Place in your life?

What drives you in your pursuit of success?

How do you define success?

Have you committed your plans to God?

What are the motives of your heart?

The Will of the Cow

I know what you are thinking.  What in the world is he thinking and how is this going to apply to my life?  And now, you are thinking, what in the world am I doing reading about a Cow’s will?  Do cows even have a will?  I mean, really…they eat grass, chew cud and make huge patties that when dried make great inexpensive frisbees.  On the other hand…please use extreme caution and a stick before picking one up to throw.  Now, on to the story…

My brother and I used to argue all the time.  We would always try to get out of doing our chores and try to get the other one to do our chores for us.  Growing up in Louisiana, neither of us liked to mow the grass during the summer.  It was HOT!  It was HUMID!  In fact, in our town, they discovered these Indian ruins that had hieroglyphics that when translated, they read, “Its hot in Louisiana in the Summer!”  Okay, I can’t back that up!  Either way, we would devise different contests to determine if we could shirk out duties on to the other one.  We would shoot baskets, we would throw baseballs for distance, we would chip golf balls from one end of the yard to the other trying to get them into a tire and the closest one would win.  If we couldn’t settle the chore duties through these games of skill, we would leave it to chance by flipping a coin…of course, 2 out of 3.  There would be statements made like, “If I make this shot, even though I lost at HORSE, you get to do the mowing.”  One shot…determined our next couple of hours and how dehydrated we would become.

 

 

A lot of times people who are followers of Christ, will leave their relationship with Him to chance just like I did with my brother in trying to decide who was going to do the yard work.  Take this account found in 1 Samuel 6:9,

9 If they cross the border of our land and go to Beth-shemesh, we will know it was the Lord who brought this great disaster upon us. If they don’t, we will know it was not his hand that caused the plague. It came simply by chance.”

This verse comes after the decision to find out if God was the one who sent the plague to the Philistines or not.  You see, the Philistines had stolen the Ark of the Covenant from Israel.  God sent a plague and they were really tired of it.  So, in verse 9, this is what they resorted to determine if God sent the plagues or if they were coincidence.  I am not a big believer in coincidence.   God does nothing by chance.  God does things according to His will, His plan.

Here, the priests of Dagon in Philistia, made that discovery that the Lord is a God of planning.  They made the comment that if two cows would cross a border carrying the Ark of the Covenant, then it would be a sign that God was the one that brought the plagues upon the Philistines.  If not, then it was just a coincidence. The cows went straight back to the land of Israel without deviating from the path.  What is flawed in the thinking of coincidence is that whatever object you use to determine what is destiny or coincidence can always be deemed coincidence by that object’s outcome.

I am not sure that I would want this…

to determine the Will of God for my life.

I believe that  God has a perfect plan for your life.  He cares for you. Even when you aren’t sure of the path He has you on, trust in Him!  Nothing happens by coincidence.  It is happening for His purpose and His plan in your life.  Remain righteous and let God order your steps.

Are you leaving your relationship with God to chance?

Are you making deals with God like I did with my brother?  If I could just make this shot God, I will…

Will you allow God to lead you where He wants you to go?

Body Shop

Today I as I sit down to write, I am still thinking about yesterday.  I was the guest speaker at Whitehouse First Assembly in Whitehouse, TX.  My friends, Michael and Angie Fleming are the pastors there and have a great staff that works with them.  One thing I love about the church is that there are no strangers there.  The moment you walk in, its like you have just been gone for a while and made your way back even though it may be your first time to ever visit.  On Saturday, this church hosted a 5k and 1K fun run to raise money for a missions work they titled Hope for Haiti.  Now don’t get me wrong, this was just a part of the focus of the weekend.  You see, the pastor has been conducting a series of messages that he called Back to the Future.  The whole premise is based on what your future self would come back and tell your present self.

This particular weekend, they were focusing on “body ministry”.  This is a topic that you don’t normally hear about in church unless it deals with the entire church body as a whole.  However, Sunday was going to be a little different.  It was dealing with the individual’s personal body.  I have grown up in church and admit that I have never heard a message on the individual’s responsibility in taking care of their bodies.  This honors God! I want to share with you some thoughts on this topic today and give you a challenge.

Jesus, when asked about the greatest commandment, replied in Matthew 22:37 this way,

37Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’

In this passage, he gave 3 areas to love God with…heart (body), soul, and spirit (mind).  When I saw this, I asked, “How in the world do I love God with my body?”  I immediately began to think of sacrifices, diets, exercise, the silver sweatsuit…I wanted no part of those.  You see, I love donuts.  I have never met a donut I didn’t like!  Those donuts are also what helped me to get to an all time high weight of 420 pounds!  My body was not loving God!  I tried to use Scripture, being a pastor of a church, to justify my obesity.  In fact, I used 1 Timothy 4:7-9 as a justification, look what it says…

7Do not waste time arguing over godless ideas and old wives’ tales. Instead, train yourself to be godly. 8“Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.” 9This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it.

My rationale was found in verse 8 to get out of the discipline of training my body.  However, I quickly found myself flashing back to this image…

I wanted no part of this!!!  That was when I re-read Romans 12:1,

1And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.

Honoring God with my body was not a diet, exercise regimen or even wearing some crazy looking sauna suit.  It was a holy sacrifice of me GIVING my body to Him as an act of worship.  He finds that acceptable.  Now the part of me finding that acceptable was the issue.  I had to come to grips with making time to offer my body to God.  I had to make a change.  I weighed 420 pounds and was miserable.  Through a variety of measures, I was able to lose over 200 pounds.  Check out my before and after photo…

I began to think, I am putting up a wooden fence at my house, about to paint my house, have put new flooring in my house and spent all kinds of money on my house yet not done one thing for my body.  I had neglected my body for too long.  1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says this,

19Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.

That is when I realized, I have spent more on my earthly home, than the Temple of the Holy Spirit.  God bought me with a price…His Son!  I have no other choice than to honor Him with my body.  What good am I to God on this earth if I am dead?  NONE!  My thinking then changed, If I try to make my home have the best appearance it possibly can, why should I do anything less for God’s temple?

As I shared this at Whitehouse First Assembly yesterday, the Pastor and I asked them to make physical fitness commitments.  His goal was for his church to get healthy and corporately commit to lose 1000 pounds in the next 6 months.  They took pledge cards and collected them…the final tally…2345 pounds total as a goal to make their bodies a living sacrifice which is holy and acceptable to God.

WOW!!!  That is over 1 ton of weight they want to lose as a church!

My question for you…

Will you begin today to make your body the best temple that it can possibly be for God?

Will you commit for the next 6 months to a healthy lifestyle and take off some unwanted weight?

Will you honor God with your body since He bought you with a price?

5 Things God Requires of You

I am a big believer in planning. I utilize ‘to do’ lists throughout my month, week and day. One of my mottos that I have adopted, I heard at a John Maxwell Leadership conference. It simply says,

“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”

 

Since then, I have become more determined to live a more planned out life with plenty of wiggle room for those things that seem to spring on me without any notice. You know…life. Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t PLAN to “interact with kids” or “dinner with my wife”…those things take precedent over any and everything on my schedule. Appointments get bumped, moved or cancelled when it comes to my family. If I am in a meeting and my wife calls, the meeting is on hold. Why? Because I also tend to be a worrier. I immediately start playing out worst case scenarios. It is just how I am wired. I am a problem solver. That can be good or bad.

I came across a passage of Scripture that gave the Children of Israel a “checklist” of what God expected from them. Now, before you start thinking, “That was the Old Testament, we live under the New Testament.” These truths given to the Israelites were reinforced all throughout the New Testament. So…get rid of your excuses… Look at what Deuteronomy 10:12-13 says,

Scripture:

Deuteronomy 10:12-13

12“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? He requires only that you fear the Lord your God, and live in a way that pleases him, and love him and serve him with all your heart and soul.13And you must always obey the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good.

Observations:

Here the Lord lists what He expects from His people.

• Fear the Lord
• Live to please Him
• Love Him
• Serve Him with your whole heart
• Obey His commands

Why does he require this from His people? It is for their own good.

Application:

If I want my best interests to be at the forefront of God’s mind, then I need to live to fulfill what He wants as my Lord and Savior. Living these 5 things out leads to a life of righteousness and ultimately reveals our devotion to God.

Make no mistake about it, living out these 5 things is much more than a checklist that you can go down and mark as completed. God wants to be more than a ‘to do’ list, He wants a relationship with YOU! In fact, these things won’t be completed until we are with Him in heaven. Checklists make my day simpler…God makes it simple for His people. Accept His grace and mercy and continue to live a righteous life in His sight.

How are you focusing on the 5 Things?
Are you living a “checklist” with God or a relationship?

 

Prayer:

God, I thank you for your love, your mercy and your grace. I pray that you would bless my work today and help me reach my goals. I pray that you would help me to be a light in a dark world. Bless my family and keep them safe throughout their day. All these things I ask according to Your Word and Your Will. Amen!

Seek the Seeds

I love American History!  This love of American History came from the passion that my 7th grade American History teacher possessed and infused in my life at Greenacres Junior High School in Bossier City, LA.  Mrs. Ray, had an unusual teaching style that ignited the passion of remembering otherwise tedious dates in history and actually making me want to know those dates and be able to put them on my tests correctly.  The last thing I wanted to do was disappoint her by forgetting or not knowing.  Mrs. Ray taught me ways to memorize all of our President’s in order by using the “Who Are Jolly Mighty Men…” memorization technique.  The first letter in every word was the first letter of the President’s last name.  Thank You…I did make a 100% on that test…thank you!  She had a remarkable style of presentation of history.  One time, she climbed her stool and with one foot atop her desk and the other on the stool, re-enacted George Washington crossing the Delaware River.  I can remember thinking, “She is crazy…she is fun…I like history…this is cool!” She always had a smile that lit up the room!  See for yourself…

I can remember that same passion when she covered the different wars, the different legislation, the things that make this country what it is today.  She is one of my favorite teachers to this very day!  Why?  Because I find myself teaching my kids some of the same things she taught me.  I can see her passion light up my kid’s eyes when I talk about the things she taught me.  They don’t even know her!  But they do know her passion for American History.

Like Mrs. Ray, Solomon was one of the wisest men in history and had a passion for passing down his wisdom to the next generation.  In fact, he wrote the Proverbs for his son to pass down the wisdom God had given him.  One of the Proverbs that he penned reminded me of Mrs. Ray’s history class.  It is found in Proverbs 8:10-11 and it reads,

Choose my instruction rather than silver and knowledge rather than pure gold.  For wisdom is more valuable than rubies.  Nothing you desire can compare with it.

Instruction, knowledge and wisdom are directly compared as more valuable than what the free market deems as valuable.  Silver, gold and rubies are monetarily valuable and typically signify great wealth.  However, Solomon says that nothing compares to having attributes in one’s character that can be passed down from generation to generation versus something that is as fleeting as wealth.

In today’s society, people have bought into the false belief that their value is attached to their pay stub.  God says that true value lies in one’s character and knowledge.  Those building blocks are what produces the monetary value that will enable you to take care of your financial obligations. In today’s world, people want the easy way out and to only have the fruit minus the labor.  All they want is the fruit…not the hassle.   It seems as though people have forgotten to seek those things that will continue to produce fruit rather than the fruit itself.  We need to seek the seeds that will produce for a lifetime. Seek the way to get fruit for a lifetime and even for your kid’s lifetime.  Long term planning should be further out than your nose is long.

The old adage lies true today…

In what ways are you seeking knowledge, instruction and wisdom?

Do you have someone who has invested in you and planted seeds that are still producing today?  If so, thank them.  Write them a letter, give them a phone call, let them know of the deposit they have put into your life.

Challenge:  Ask someone close to you to describe your character to you…evaluate their thoughts and make additions or subtractions.

Omnipotent Boss

I love the CBS television show, Undercover Boss!  In fact, while I was in Richardson, TX, I found myself eating at a local restaurant just across the street from an immigrant to the United States from Russia.  He was on Undercover Boss working for 7-Eleven as a delivery driver with the hopes of one day owning his own convenience store.  As the show progressed and he took his “trainee” out for deliveries, he corrected, taught, instilled trust between the workers in order to do the best job for the company he could possibly do.  Little did he know that this “trainee” was the CEO of 7-Eleven.  You can read the Dallas Morning News article about Igor Finkler and his experience on Undercover Boss here.

I love this story!  In fact, when I walked across the street to the store to see if I could meet Igor, the worker’s said, “Go ahead, he is around the corner in the office…he would love to meet you.”  That day, I met the man who is living his dream.  One thing that Igor said that stuck with me that day was this, “I am a nobody that worked hard.  My work somehow got noticed and now I am living my dream.”  He then said, “I would rather push a broom sweeping up the worst filth in the United States of America than be a dignitary in my former country.”  Wow!  What a powerful set of statements he shared!  The CEO of 7-Eleven changed Igor’s life!  Igor was given his own franchise in one of the busiest areas of Richardson, TX.  I guess it does pay to sweat the small stuff!

Luke, the physician/disciple of Jesus, describes Igor’s journey this way in Luke 16:10,

If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones.  But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater things.

I love this!  Why?  Because faithful, trustworthy handling of small things builds trust with the person that is asking you to take responsibility for them and handle the issues they want completed.  It is character building.  It creates an ethic of dependability in and individual.  Once trust is gained and dependability built, larger assignments can be given and trusted to be completed.  However, the converse is also true.  If dishonesty, unfaithfulness and being undependable are evident, then greater assignments will not come.

I remember when I first went to a bank to get my first loan.  I went with my grandfather and my dad.  We walked in to the bank and I asked for my first loan of $1000.  There was one piece of paper that I filled out.  What was interesting about this paper was it just had my name and the amount.  It was and IOU!  I didn’t even have a place to sign it.  The deal was sealed with a question from the banker about repaying the amount and a handshake.  That was it!

People need to return to a lifestyle of honor and being people of their word.  Faithfulness is being true to your word and following through with what you say you will do.  When I am trusted to do the small things and have proven myself trustworthy, then larger responsibilities come my way.  I paid back the loan in full, early!  What was the beginning of my credit history, with the $1000 loan, now has helped me to buy cars, houses and even start my own business.  These things come from God.  These larger things may show up on your job, community, family or other unseen ways.  But, they are the result of being found faithful by the Omnipotent Boss.  Now for the bad news…the opposite of this is true as well.  If I would have been found to be untrue to my word with that $1000 loan, then I would have had a different path to redemption to take.  Trust would have been abated and I would have been stuck in my own consequences of dishonesty.

My prayer is the God continues to find me faithful and keeps his hand on my life…what about you?

What are some of the little things that God entrusted you with?

How did you handle those things…faithfully or dishonestly?

What larger things are you currently handling now?  

Is the ethic of dependability on display or are you being caught in the trap of dishonesty?

Shake it Off!

Sometimes when I think back on my illustrious career in sports…all the way through High School…I can recall many games, situations, wins, losses and things my coaches or parents would say to me.  I had a flood of memories come rushing back in this weekend when my daughter asked me how old I was when I broke my first bone.  Amazingly, I have never broken a bone in my body!  (Knock on wood).  I can remember getting hurt or injured.  I remember one of my best friends hitting me during a drill at football practice at an odd angle and separating my shoulder.  I can remember being in a baseball game and being drilled in the back by a fastball that had to be coming at the speed of light or 55 mph…I have heard it both ways.  In both instances, the words came from my coaches and parents in the stands that I will never forget…SHAKE IT OFF!  Sure, that was easy for them to say…it wasn’t their arm dangling by a ligament or a nice welt and throbbing pain that I was also told “don’t rub it” as I struggled for breath as I gingerly walked to first base as a ‘reward’ for ‘taking one for the team.’

 

There are times when these words have rang true, but in a very different sense.  In life, there have been times when I have had those words come back into my memory at just the right time.  Situations arise, things happen and things that may sting for the moment or cause discomfort can be experienced.  Many times, I have had to shake it off and go on.  I had to get past it and look to the future task at hand just like heading to first or getting back up when knocked down.  Luke 9:5 reads this way,

And if a town refuses to welcome you, shake its dust from your feet as you leave to show that you have abandoned those people to their fate.

Jesus was speaking to his disciples.  He was letting them know that they would be rejected.  Maybe for their message, maybe for who they were.  However, Jesus tells them not to worry about it.  He in reality says, Shake It Off, let those people deal with the consequences of their choices.  What is interesting is that in this passage, Jesus is referencing and entire town.  A WHOLE COMMUNITY of people!  To me, this reference infers a group of people uniting in opposition to your message or work ethic…to the point of wanting you gone!

This can be a crushing blow to a person.  Acceptance is one thing all humans crave.  When someone doesn’t accept you, it hurts you emotionally, mentally and physically.  Not everyone is going to accept you or what you stand for but that doesn’t mean you compromise what you believe.  STAND!  Shake it off!  If there is one thing I have learned, it is this.

It is better to be rejected by man for your beliefs than to be rejected by God for your unbelief.

Shake it off!

What are some things that have been ‘getting to you’ that you need to shake off?

In what areas of your life do you need to have faith in God?

 

Beyond the Bark

Ah, yes!  Spring is finally in the air.  I can tell because my nose is running furiously!  Before I go any further, here is a stock tip for you investors out there…BUY Claritin stock NOW!  It seems that the groundhog has now been put on a 24 hour suicide watch after its infamous prediction and we can all go on with life.  I love Spring!  I love seeing the newness of plants and trees coming to life.  I also love the 2 weeks of milder weather we get here in Texas before it is officially Summer!  But one thing I love most about the Spring is my peach tree in my back yard!  It is starting to come to life and will be producing some of the best peaches.  I love a good, cold, juicy Texas peach in the Summer time.

 

I planted that tree in my back yard about 7 years ago.  It has produced peaches for 5 years.  I look forward to it each year.  I prune the tree in the winter, I fertilize, water, spray and take care of the tree so I will have great peaches in the Summer.  I would be confused if it didn’t produce good peaches.  Good peaches!

Luke 6:43-45 says it this way,

A good tree can’t produce bad fruit and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit.  A tree is identified by its fruit.  Figs are never gathered from thorn bushes and grapes are not picked from bramble bushes.  A good person produces things from the treasury of a good heart and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart.  What you say flows from what is in your heart.

So, good trees produce good fruit!  Like I crave my good peaches in the Summer, God craves us as individuals to produce good fruit too.  It is what the owner of the tree desires.  It is what brings the owner of the tree the most increase or return on investment.  On the contrary, bad trees produce bad fruit.  Bad trees cost time, money and effort.  More attention is given to the bad tree trying to make the bad tree produce good fruit than to the good tree to increase its production of good fruit.  In reality, the bad tree should probably be cut down and more attention re-focused to the good tree to produce a greater yield.  This is just good, solid business practice.  It can be applied to many facets of our lives when we look at ourselves and what is producing versus what is not.  It’s the pruning we don’t enjoy.  It hurts…for a moment…then the good, the better comes from it.

This parable of Jesus goes directly to the heart.  Both good and bad trees look the same just as one person looks like they are okay on the outside like the next.  However, like a tree that produces good or bad fruit, a person can be good of bad and identified by listening to the words they speak.  Those words are the fruit of what lies beyond their outer “bark”…it comes from their heart.

John Mason, author of An Enemy Called Average, said this…

The measure of a man is not who he appears to be on Sunday in church, rather who he is Monday through Saturday.

We have to look beyond the bark to see the tree or person for what and who they really are.

 

Constant pruning and tilling of the soil of our heart needs to be continually at the forefront of our lives.  We need to continue to add to our soil to produce the fruit that God intended us to produce.  Our words and attitudes need to match our fruit.  God wants us to produce good fruit.  He wants us to produce high yields.  After all, He invested His only son into our soil…its what is beyond His bark…

What is beyond the bark in your life?

What is the fruit of your life?

Are you a good tree?  What can you do either produce more good fruit?

Are you a bad tree?  What do you need to cut down in order produce new life?

Humility > Pride

I am not a fan of the term “swagger”.  To me, it implies an attitude of pride.  Pride is never a good thing.  Oh, don’t get me wrong, growing up, when I played sports competitively, I would walk in with my team like we owned the whole world.  We went in with the mindset of total world domination.  Our goal:  Destroy all who are in our path!  Take no prisoners!  I remember one time while playing a basketball tournament, we were physically outmatched on stature alone.  We were shorter as a whole team than our opponent, we were playing on their court, in their neighborhood, in their tournament.  It was a back and forth game and it was going to come down to the wire.  We were down by 2 points and coming back on to the court after a timeout.  I remember it like it was yesterday.  The guy guarding this 6’2 writer whose only organized basketball experience is church league basketball, was 6’4 and fairly athletic.  He asked me when I came back to the free throw line to set up our play, “Whatchu boys got planned for winning this game?”  With all the “swagger” and cockiness I could muster, I replied without hesitation, “I am going to come off a pick at the top of the key, get the pass and drain a 3 right in your face for the win.”

He started laughing and told one of his teammates what I said.  Sure enough, I was telling him the truth, knowing he wouldn’t believe it.  I came across the pick, got the pass at the top of the key and, wait for it…wait for it…drained the 3 right in his face over his outstretched hand trying to block my shot.  We win at the buzzer by 1 point and all I could do was hold up both my hands and stare at my dejected defender as he hung his head and the realization that they had lost to an opponent that was physically inferior.  Just like we drew it up!  That is my March Madness moment of glory and I am sticking to it!

I was so full of pride!  Our team had the contrived “swagger”.  However, we fell…and fell hard in the next game.    I really didn’t know how we lost, but boy, did we ever lose.  There is something to humility.  Pride can’t win games, swagger can only take you so far.  Proverbs 11:2-3 says it this way,

Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.  Honesty guides good people, dishonesty destroys treacherous people.

Pride is believing and projecting a false image that is greater than reality.  When the prideful person’s claims are found to be false, those very claims become a disgrace and embarrassment to that individual.  When a person is humble, on the other hand, others find out about their talents and abilities through their integrity.  Whether it is on the court or on the job, they take no credit for what they have been given.  It comes from God. THAT is true wisdom.  Honesty is a natural outflow of a person whose heart is right before God.  Those who practices include things that go against God will ultimately be destroyed by their own illusions and practices.  That is an outflow of who they are.

What, then, can we learn?  Walking in humility not just before God, but before your fellow man is a must.  Let God reveal the gifts He has given to you while you work in front of other people.  Remain truthful at all times regardless of the situation and the destruction of your words will always elude you.  Your honesty will stand the tests that will come.  Truth will always be revealed and will always win.  Let God be the One with Swagger! Don’t take His swagger…

 

In what areas of your life are you projecting pride in yourself that really belongs to God?

What are some ways that you can remain humble?