When Moses died, Joshua (his trained successor) stepped into his role.  Upon assuming his new position, the Lord talks to him to prepare him for the tasks that lay ahead of him.  One of the first things that Joshua is told is not to be afraid.  “Have not I commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

If there is one piece of advice that occurs over and over again in scripture it is to not be fearful or afraid. The word fear or is derivative occurs 260 times in the Bible and in many cases it is an encouragement to not fear. The propensity to fear is one of the experiences we all share in common. 

At the moment I have good reason to let fear grab a hold of me.  On Tuesday, Jan 8th I received a phone call from my urologist telling me that I have prostate cancer. As I put down the receiver, fear was lurking in the shadow of my mind. I very quickly went to a favorite verse of mine; Psalm 112:7 in the old Living Bible, “He does not fear bad news, nor live in dread of what may happen, for he is settled in his mind that Jehovah will take care of him.”

My experience has led me to conclude that I have fears/regrets about the past or live in fear of the future. As it relates to the past, I wish I hadn’t said this or done that and now I’m living in fear of what may result from past folly, sin or mistakes. Or I borrow from the future playing the “what if” game in my mind. What if this happens?  What if that happens? What will I do? How will I cope? Someone remarked, “what do you mean it doesn’t pay to worry. Most of the things I worry about never happen.”

For me, the temptation is to play the “what if” game.  What will I do if the cancer has spread to other parts of my body? What will I do if I get really sick and can’t function normally anymore?  What if they tell me it is really advanced and I have 6 months to live?  What if?  What if? What if? It is so easy to live in the past or borrow from the future and have no energy left to live in the present; in the moment.

A few years ago I came across Matthew 6:34 in The Message. Most people know Matthew 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” In fact Matthew 6: 25-34 is, in my thinking, the best passage in the New Testament on not fearing, worrying or be anxious. But Verse 34 is often overlooked, “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes” (The Message). This challenge to live in the moment has been a great help to me in and will be now as I face the unknown.

Through the years I have feared:

1. Rejection
2. Not being successful
3. Not making it financially
4. People’s opinion of me
5. Failure

As I begin my cancer journey, I want to replace potential paralyzing fear with faith in the character and promises of God.

While we’re on the subject of fear, what type of fear is currently gripping your heart and life?  Don’t go to God and tell him how big your problems are, but go to your problems and tell them how big your God is.

I recently read through the book of Deuteronomy.  It is a book of remembering.  It reviews Israel’s history with a strong admonition to not forget. In fact, every time the Lord did something awesome for them, He encouraged them to declare it a holiday reminding themselves to never forget the occasion.  Passover is a great case in point. There are a lot of Jewish holidays on the calendar.

 A couple of examples from Deuteronomy are chapter four verse 9, “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children.” and verse 23, “Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you.”

In my journal I wrote the following: “Lord, help me never forget who you are and who I am in you. To never forget what you are all about in my life; never forget your holiness and your expectations for me; never forget your love and power. I don’t want to forget anything about you; your plans, your purpose for me. I don’t want to forget that it’s all about you and not me.” 

I often find myself remembering things I should forget and forgetting things I should remember.

When things are not going well for me, either at home, in my personal life or in my work, I tend to forget God’s promises, his power and his faithfulness.  I remember my inadequacy and forget his adequacy. I remember my finiteness and forget his infiniteness.  I remember what I’m doing and forget what He’s doing. I remember the stupid and sinful things I do and forget his forgiveness and mercy. It causes me to be discouraged and lose hope.  It’s so hard to see when my eyes are on my.  One of the devil’s main jobs is to get me to take my eyes off Jesus and put them on myself. He tempts me to forget all that He is and remember all that I’m not!

Paul makes an interesting statement in Philippians 3 where he says in verse 13, “brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do; forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.” Sometime it is flat out hard to forget the things that should be forgotten and remember the things that should be remembered.  I should forget the sinful things that have been confessed and forgiven and not let the devil rub my nose in it; constantly remind me of what is under the blood of Christ.  He has been and will forever be the accuser of the brothers.who accuses us day and night before our God.”-Revelation 12:10. A friend once told me that when the devil knocks at the door send Jesus to answer it.  I go to the door by myself way too often and mostly get defeated.

Are you experiencing the enemy reminders of things you should be forgetting; things from your past that he keeps bringing up? Do you, like me, easily forget God’s gracious promises to you? Peter refers to them as precious and very great (II Peter 1:4).  Jump into the middle of these thoughts and share with me, and others who respond, your experiences in remembering and forgetting.  What has enabled you to live more in victory and less in defeat?

One of my great joys in life is thinking.  I love to think about possibilities, about problems, about people and about dreams.  I always have (close at hand) paper or a digital device to record my various thinking trips.

I was recently thinking about what it means to be content as a Christian leader.  Should I be content with where I am in the scheme of things, or should I be ambitious to do more and have greater responsibility?  Should I be content with the amount of fruit I am seeing in my work with, and for, Jesus, or should I be asking for more and higher quality fruit?

When does contentment spiral downward and become complacency, sloth or mediocrity? And when does the desire for greater responsibility degenerate into selfish ambition which Paul clearly warns against “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit (”Philippians 2:3 -NIV).  Paul seems to encourage “ambition” in I Timothy 3:1 where he says, “The saying is trustworthy. If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. (ESV) ”

I personally want to find a healthy balance between going for broke, experiencing everything Jesus wants for me, reaching my full potential in Jesus and doing it all for the right reasons.  I neither want to be lazy in the name of contentment or greedy in the name of aspiration.

I know that The Message Bible is not a translation but a combination of translation, paraphrase  and commentary all rolled into one.  Having said that I still very much enjoy reading it and find that it resonates with me in fresh and creative ways.

 I was recently impressed with I Timothy 6: 6-9 (The Message) “A devout life does bring wealth, but it’s the rich simplicity of being yourself before God. Since we entered the world penniless and will leave it penniless, if we have bread on the table and shoes on our feet that’s enough. But if it’s only money these leaders are after, they’ll self-destruct in no time.” I was captured by the phrase, “but if it’s only money these leaders are after.” I prayerfully asked myself some questions along the lines of contentment and greed. What am I really after? Is it money? Is it position? Is it popularity, respect or results?  Is it to build God’s kingdom or to build my own kingdom?  Is it to really care for other people, or to use people to care for myself? What are my true motives? What am I Really after.really?

As you see, I have lots of questions. Maybe you can furnish some answers for me and others by offering your comments.

I don’t speak Latin. I chickened out in high school and took Spanish when the high brows took Latin or French. But I do know that a lot of our English words have Latin roots and I want to share two of those words with you.

Humus
Hubris 

The words human and humble share a common Latin origin, the word humus.  The word literally means earth.  Can I stay down to earth; in touch with the ordinary, the every day.

The word hubris means pride. My old friend Merriam Webster calls it exaggerated pride.  Paul in Romans 12:3 warns us not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think.  It’s a matter of not being full of yourself; your ideas, your opinions, your preferences, your.whatever.  A person wrapped up in himself/herself makes a very small package. If there was one thing that inflamed Jesus it was the flagrant pride of religious people; especially religious leaders-self-righteous leaders.  The kind that pray, I thank you I’m not like other men, meaning I am better than other men; I am especially not like that bum of a tax collector over there who is asking You to be merciful to him.

Hubris is often the cause of a leader’s downfall.  It is not sexual sin or financial miss-appropriation of funds (two biggies) but hubris that leads to the sexual and financial decisions.

“God opposes the hubris and gives grace to the humus. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you.” 1st Peter 5:5-6 I am not saying that the Greek (another language I don’t speak) uses the word hubris and humus in these verses, but the concept is inherent in the language.

Since this is a blog, and not supposed to be a full blown dissertation on the subject, I’m not going to thoroughly research this  or blather on but just get the ball in the air and  hopefully kick off a discussion.  Here’s my conclusion: an abundance of Hubris and a lack of Humus is the Achilles heal of most leadership falls.  It’s what caused Lucifer to fall from heaven and has tripped up thousands, if not millions of leaders through the ages.

I have four things I pray for myself every single day and Pride is one the four. I’m asking Jesus to keep me humble and dependent, since everything I have, everything I know, everything I can do and everything I am by way of gifting and capacity are sheer gifts from God.

Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. aFor in these things I delight, declares the Lord.” Jeremiah 9:23-24 (ESV)

So, what do I have to be proud of? Nothing but the Lord Jesus Christ!