Page 1978 – Christianity Today (2024)

The New York Times recently reported that the West is exporting its ideals of beauty and body size to developing nations, including our stigma against overweight people. We are, it is said, globalizing the “fat stigma.” It appears that our prejudices have so proliferated that they’re even infecting those societies that traditionally preferred larger bodies, such as Puerto Rico and Samoa. And our notions aren’t just affecting women; increasingly more and more men are suffering from a negative body image or what some have called “body image distress.” The term manorexia has arrived in our vocabulary.

These reports turn my thoughts toward Sandra,* one of our family’s dearest friends. Together, she and her husband Matthew* were hospitality incarnate. Their home was open to myriads of people. From kids in our youth group to church folk, from grad student jazz musicians who endlessly wailed on the piano and other instruments through ungodly hours of the night, to their peers, to neighborhood kids and folk—anyone looking for a heart-warming, welcoming place to call home found it with them. Shawn and I were, like others, invited to walk in anytime, whether day or night, without knocking or needing to unlock the door.

Hesitant to take them up on the too-good-to-be-true offer, at first Shawn and I balked, but Sandra insisted. She meant it. And since she and Matthew, like Jesus, were so magnetic because of their love, we happily spent much of our time with them. Christmas Day was the only day reserved for their immediate family members. It’s no exaggeration to say that from her home, Sandra directly influenced thousands of people in the name of Jesus—and plenty more indirectly.

Sandra was morbidly obese.

She spoke freely to us about the dirty looks and the under-the-breath mutters of “disgusting” that she heard while out and about. She knew first-hand the biases against fat people. Yet we found her to be one of the most gorgeous persons alive and an engaging disciple. Six months after our job relocation, she died in her sleep. It has been nearly four years, and we still miss her like crazy.

We are made to believe, through advertising and entertainment, that a youthful, well-endowed size 0 is the ideal for women, and that a chiseled David Beckham-like body is the archetypal man. (Never mind that the glossy magazines we consume are air-brushed, or that many of our celebrities are nipped and tucked or enhanced so that even our ideals are illusions.) Accordingly, the further away on the spectrum of the ideal we find ourselves—the more we look like a Sandra or her male counterpart—the less worth we are implicitly thought to have. As Father Greg Boyle notes in his book, Tattoos on the Heart, “The wrong idea has taken root in the world. And the idea is this: there just might be lives out there that matter less than other lives.” Hopefully our churches are welcoming communities where our looks and body mass index don’t rule the day, a refuge for those who struggle with their weight or body image. In my experience, it has been. Then again, I have never been in Sandra’s shoes.

Of course, we cannot divorce our bodies from discipleship (see Dallas Willard’s Renovation of the Heart). God has made us stewards of our bodies. We dare not resort to Gnosticism. But I wonder if there is a way for us to dismantle the “fat stigma” along with other corrupted notions of beauty and body image—notions that communicate that some people matter less than others. Is there a way to be “culture makers” in the arenas of beauty and body image? I think so.

We do well by listening to artist-theologians like Bruce Herman. In a brilliant essay entitled “Wounded Beauty” (in The Beauty of God: Theology and the Arts, edited by Daniel Treier, Mark Husbands, and Roger Lundin), Herman posits that

Beauty is inextricably intertwined with eros, and … the best expression of both (beauty and eros) is seen in the face of the earthly beloved—not an idealized and unattainable one …. Redeemed marriage … is the best image of human beauty we have. The face of an earthly beloved transfigured by lifelong committed fidelity is likely someday to be full of wrinkles and loss of muscle tone. But trust me, as a seasoned artist and one who has been married for over thirty years to the same woman, that aging face will be a beautiful face …. Only eyes trained by gazing continually toward the cross—only eyes cleansed by that second innocence, childlike habitual charity—can see true beauty, true goodness.

Singles need not feel excluded. Herman explains that true beauty and love are found in other forms of covenantal relationships where there are mutuality and reciprocity. And that is what the church is when we are at our best. That is what the church was for Sandra. Instead of spreading the fat stigma, in our words and attitudes, may we overcome evil with good in the name of Jesus by incarnating the best expression of beauty in our Christian communities.

*Names changed to protect the family’s identity.

Read Part 1 of “Redefining Radical.”

Consider who is celebrated in most churches. Typically it is the person who is engaged in “full time Christian work”–the pastor or missionary, or people who pursue social causes that result in a big and measurable impact. (Who isn’t talking about William Wilberforce these days?) Similarly, those who behave like pastors or missionaries periodically in their workplace, neighborhood, or perhaps on a short-term trip overseas are praised for these actions. But a church will rarely, if ever, celebrate a person’s “ordinary” life and work.

For example, Andy Crouch tells about a pastor he met in Boston. The pastor recounted the story of a woman in his congregation who was a lawyer for the Environmental Protection Agency. She played a vital role in the clean up of Boston Harbor–one of the most polluted waterways in the country. But the pastor said, “The only time we have ever recognized her in church was for her role in teaching second grade Sunday school. And of course we absolutely should celebrate Sunday school teachers, but why did we never celebrate her incredible contribution to our whole city as a Christian, taking care of God’s creation?”

Here’s the problem–when we call people to radical Christian activism, we tend to define what qualifies as “radical” very narrowly. Radical is moving overseas to rescue orphans. Radical is not being an attorney for the EPA. Radical is leaving your medical practice to vaccinate refugees in Sudan. Radical is not taking care of young children at home in the suburbs. Radical is planting a church in Detroit. Radical is not working on an assembly line.

What we communicate, either explicitly or implicitly, by this call to radical activism is that experiencing the fullness of the Christian life depends upon one’s circ*mstances and actions. Sure, the man working on an assembly line for 50 years can be a faithful Christian, but he’s not going to experience the same sense of fulfillment and significance as the one who does something extreme–who cashes in his 401k and relocates to Madagascar to rescue slaves.

What I had neglected for too long, and what I feel is absent in many parts of the church today, is Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 7. The believers in Corinth wanted to know what kind of life most honored God; what conditions and circ*mstances made a Christian life significant. Was it best to be married or unmarried? Circumcised or uncircumcised? Paul’s answer, which he calls his “rule in all the churches” and repeats three times, is for everyone to remain where they are “with God” (1 Cor. 7:24). That’s a message we don’t hear often at missions (or missional) conferences.

Paul wanted to draw the Corinthians’ attention away from their circ*mstances and emphasize that the full Christian life could be lived anywhere by anyone if lived in deep communion with God. Do we really believe that? Really? Os Guinness reminds us that, “First and foremost we are called to Someone, not to something or to somewhere.” We should remember that the word radical is from Latin meaning “root.” If our lives are rooted in a continual communion with God, then every person’s life, no matter how mundane, is elevated to sacred heights–including a suburban mom’s, the office worker’s, and the EPA attorney’s. And it’s not just radical when they behave like a missionary or social activist in their free time. Even working the assembly line becomes a holy activity when done “with God.”

Of course Paul was not against changing one’s circ*mstances, strictly speaking, if called by God to do so. That was his experience, after all. But this takes us into another neglected teaching–the cherished Reformation theology of calling and vocation. If a person is living in deep communion with God as Paul encouraged, then he or she was expected to respond to the Holy Spirit’s calling–the literal meaning of the word vocation.

In ages past this meant the butcher’s calling was respected as a work given, ordained, and blessed by God for the benefit of others and fluorishing of the whole community. And, if God called the butcher to hang up his cleaver to be a pastor or missionary, he would obey. But one vocation was no more radical or holy than another. This was a significant corrective to the Roman Catholic hierarchy at the time that exalted clergy and demeaned the laity. But in some ways we have returned to a hierarchical view by labeling certain activities and circ*mstances “radical” and others “ordinary.” (This is no doubt the result of a very narrow eschatology that believes nothing in this world will endure, and therefore only rescuing souls off this sinking ship really matters. But that’s a discussion for another day.)

A byproduct of this return to vocational hierarchy has been that some people may be attracted to ministry roles for reasons other than God’s calling. They may be unknowingly searching for significance, applause, or affirmation. On the flip side, those not participating in celebrated vocations, like the suburban mom I mentioned in Part 1, feel that their life and work ultimately carries no significance and value unless they can somehow squeeze more missionally-meaningful activities into their spare time. This explains the exhaustion she felt.

But perhaps even more disturbing than our implicit ranking of vocations is how we have pushed the Holy Spirit out of the picture and instead taken it upon ourselves to tell people what they should be doing for God, or at the very least what they ought to do if they want their lives to really matter. Have you ever wondered why Paul did not universalize his apostolic calling? Or how he could have instructed the Thessalonians to “aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands”? (1 Thess 4:11). Is it possible that he didn’t take upon himself the work of calling that belonged rightly to the Holy Spirit?

Paul, like the later leaders of the Reformation, did not measure maturity or commitment to Christ based on how “radical” a life appeared on the outside, or the visible impact a person made either missionally or socially. These activities are good and important, don’t misunderstand me, but they are not the center of the Christian life. Rather maturity was seen by the depth of a person’s union with Christ. The truly radical life is the one intimately rooted in communion with God, through Christ, in the Spirit, and that responds obediently to his call–whatever it may be.

So I’ve come to embrace the reality that my place as a church leader is not to get people to do more for God. Rather, I believe my responsibility is to give others a ravishing vision, rooted in Scripture and modeled by my own example, of a life lived it communion with God. And there, as they abide in him, calling will happen. The Lord of the harvest will call and send workers. And he will call others to live quietly and work with their hands. Some may be butchers, and others lawyers, and some he will even call to be suburban moms. And all of their work will be holy, good, and, if rooted in communion with God, truly radical.

Yes, if Joyfully

Douglas LeBlanc

John Densmore, longtime drummer for the Doors, took up tithing after John Lennon praised it in a Playboy interview. Years later, Densmore mentioned in an essay for The Nation that tithing helped him resist greed. He wrote, "During the Oliver Stone film on our band, the record royalties tripled, and as I wrote those 10 percent checks, my hand was shaking."

My left hand did not shake in 2008 when I tithed on an advance check for my book about tithing, but my soul quaked a bit. I was going through one of the most barren periods of my life as a journalist. I was filled with shame about not bringing more money into our household. I was unsure I could deliver the book.

Who was I to continue tithing? What, apart from a distaste for brazen hypocrisy in myself, moved me past this hesitation? Mostly this: I could not see in the voluntary discipline of tithing the same escape clauses that I would expect in a prenuptial agreement.

There are some reasons for jobless people—or anyone, for that matter—not to tithe. Do not tithe out of joyless obligation to law. Do not tithe if your soul requires nothing short of a New Testament demand to tithe (there is none). Do not tithe under the assumption that God will owe you anything. Do not tithe if you expect to default on a debt. Do not tithe if you will resent God for asking sacrifices of you—unless you intend the tithe, in the spirit of "I believe; help my unbelief," as your invitation for God to purge your resentment.

Do you see a pattern in those reasons not to tithe? If we live in ways that lead to double mortgages on our homes or leave us routinely treating mercurial desires as needs, something more than whether we tithe is at stake. Tithing is not a luxurious option achievable only by those whose financial security is assured. It is the ancient spiritual practice that God uses to begin setting our priorities right, to heal our hearts of greed and fear, and to draw us ever closer into his own boundless generosity.

My prayer for jobless brothers and sisters grows from my vocational desert experience of only a few years ago. May times of insecurity or fear draw you closer to God as your provider and shepherd. May unimportant objects in your life fall away and leave you feeling liberated. May you know, both through worship and through your giving to others, that God will see you through this wilderness. May you discover, in season and out of season, that God has a deeper purpose for all the blessings in your life than making ends meet. May you sense God's presence of comfort, encouragement, and redemption.

Yes, with Generosity

Jim Sheppard

Perhaps the greatest tragedy of the recent economic meltdown is long-term unemployment, a reality in which many thought they would never find themselves. For the first time, hardworking, well-intentioned individuals are paying their bills with the income they receive from government checks instead of their profession or trade.

During these tough times, it is easy for churchgoing, typically responsible Christians to fall off the radar as they deal with the shame of being unable to provide for themselves or their families. In these times, it is more important than ever that Christians seek out pastors, leaders, and friends who can provide loving community and accountability to be faithful stewards in times of hardship.

Scripture does not speak directly to the topic of tithing on an income that is not your own, so I am reluctant to say firmly, "Yes, give this much." But the Bible has much to say on the subject of generosity and gratitude. There are four questions church leaders and others can ask to help someone struggling with tithing on their unemployment benefits:

• Do you see unemployment benefits as part of God's provision for your life?
• Are you continuing to practice generosity in every area: time, talent, and treasure?
• How does giving a portion of your unemployment benefits differ from giving a portion of your "employed" benefits?
• Would giving a portion of your unemployment benefits demonstrate gratitude that God is providing for you in this season of your life?

Generosity is a condition of the heart. As resources come into the hands of a generous person, he or she can't help giving them away. It's second nature. A lifestyle of generosity should not stop when times are hard. If anything, tithing when income is low reinforces gratitude and trust, as it reminds the giver that God can use even the smallest gift to accomplish his will. It also reminds me that I am always dependent on God for my sustenance, whether I have savings in the bank and a regular paycheck or not. This is where Christian community should be most apparent, in encouraging and supporting each other to live out generosity in tough times.

I'm not going to argue that a specific percentage be given, just as I wouldn't in responding to an employed individual. That is between the individual and God. Living a generous lifestyle is not an obligation but rather an opportunity. It is something I get to do for God's kingdom, not something I have to do.

As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 9:7-8, "Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work."

Probably Not

Gary Moore

Since I began studying and writing about stewardship 30 years ago, the first person I look forward to chatting with in heaven, after Jesus and my father, is the widow who gave her last mites at the temple.

Yet I'm going to surprise and perhaps disappoint many church leaders (particularly televangelists) by suggesting that I do not believe the financially needy who receive unemployment benefits or welfare payments "should" tithe, even though that is undoubtedly a great act of faith.

The simple reason, to begin biblically and to paraphrase the Great Steward, is that the tithe was created for people; people were not created for the tithe. Moses taught that the tithe was a celebration for the affluent and a gift to the less fortunate, including priests (Deut. 14:22-29). The tithe was created in part to help those on the biblical equivalent of unemployment; requiring them to contribute to the offering when they should be receiving is an unhealthy inversion of the biblical mandate to give to the poor.

When Malachi gave his challenge to "bring the whole tithe," God was not telling people to fund the temple's institutional needs as much as to make plenty of food available for those in need. Taxes were levied for temple needs, but this tithe was for something more.

Yet studies from empty tomb, inc. and other Christian financial advisers have long indicated that little giving to churches goes beyond institutional support. We've grown comfortable with the modern church abdicating, largely to governments, the extrinsic work for which the tithe was intended in biblical times. Most churches should therefore not expect the full biblical tithe, particularly if it's to support a comfortable lifestyle for the church's leaders.

Church history suggests our leaders should be careful adding to the simple assurance of Christ. Martin Luther helped launch the Reformation after hearing a creative stewardship officer, Johann Tetzel, raise funds for the construction of St. Peter's Basilica. Tetzel confused that "need" with the needs of the blessed ones with whom God most closely identifies: the poor. Luther minced few words in his 95 Theses when attacking the church's selfishness.

The neighbors we call poor are, in fact, blessed, since Christ more closely identifies with them than with generous givers. By choosing to allocate resources to, rather than expect resources from, those blessed people, the church is relevant and enriching to both the poor and the affluent.

Requiring the poor and unemployed to tithe is an overly legalistic and harsh—and unbiblical—interpretation of Scripture. Still, there is nothing to suggest the poor should never be generous if they feel so led. Should those blessed ones choose to allocate resources (even if those resources come from a government check) to the work of the church, they have God's assurance that they are so special, the rest of us will seek them out in heaven after we squeeze through the needle's eye.

Copyright © 2011 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Related Elsewhere:

Douglas LeBlanc is editor at large for The Living Church magazine, is the author of Tithing: Test Me in This .

Jim Sheppard is the CEO of Generis, a consulting firm devoted to expanding the generosity of churches and ministries.

Gary Moore is founder of the Financial Seminary and author of Faithful Finances 101 .

Previous Village Green sections have discussed future Christian films, illegal immigrants in the church, whether to give to street people, the best Christmas stories, laws that ban Islamic veils, the Tea Party, Afghanistan, Bible smuggling, creation care, intelligent design, preaching, immigration, Lent, premarital abstinence, aid to foreign nations, technology, and abortion.

Edward Lengel’s Inventing George Washington could easily have been a boring, whiny book. Lengel, senior editor of Washington’s papers at the University of Virginia, offers a history, not of Washington, but of Washington’s myth-makers. A less creative author might simply have complained about how no one understands the real Washington but the current caretakers of his papers—and that concern certainly is implied. But mostly, Lengel spins a rollicking tale of the opportunists and outright deceivers who have profited from Washington’s memory. In the process, Lengel accomplishes a rare feat: he makes historiography fun.

From the outset of the War of Independence, many realized that America’s Founding would become a source of endless fascination and opportunities for profit. As Lengel says, “Americans saw the dollar bill on Washington long before Washington appeared on the dollar bill.” Christians engaged in spiritual myth-making, too. The sources revealing an openly devout, river-baptized Washington have ranged from wishful recollections to outright forgeries. For a time, almost every biographer produced another story of how someone once stumbled across Washington praying in the woods. But the precise nature of Washington’s faith remains shrouded, just as he apparently intended.

Washington would have been horrified by the myth-making and indiscriminate distribution of his papers after his death. Jared Sparks, the “arch-plunderer” of Washington’s manuscripts and editor of the first published edition of his papers, drastically revised letters, loaned out and cut up original documents, and generally wreaked havoc on our written connection to the man. Thankfully, the staff at the Washington papers project have made public as many surviving documents as possible, both in printed volumes and in a new digital edition. Washington’s memory is still big business, but with the authoritative edition of his papers and books like Ron Chernow’s magisterial Washington: A Life, we have more hope than ever of distinguishing the man from the myth.

Thomas S. Kidd is Senior Fellow at the Institute for Studies of Religion, Baylor University, and the author of God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution.

Copyright © 2011 Books & Culture. Click for reprint information.

A largely Christian community of Native North Americans in Quebec has banned a spiritual practice traditional to their people, the Cree. The decision has disappointed some ministers in native communities in the United States and Canada.

The Band Council of Oujé-Bougoumou, a village of about 600 James Bay Cree, voted in October to dismantle a sweat lodge some residents had constructed. The council decided that Oujé-Bougoumou’s Christian founding elders had not intended the community to partake in “native spirituality or practices.”

“The practice of the sweat lodge and its rituals are not restricted to merely medical [pursuit] of healing, but [are] in essence a way to contact and communicate with the spirit world through shamanism,” the resolution declared.

Jerry Yellowhawk, a Lakota Wesleyan minister from South Dakota, sees Oujé-Bougoumou’s choice as “a backwards step.”

“It’s been very hard to try to bring the love of Christ … to the Native American people,” Yellowhawk says. “Things like this, when they happen it just makes it that much more difficult.”

Only about 5 percent of Native Americans are born-again believers, experts say. Many, notes Yellowhawk, still think of Christianity as a “white man’s religion.”

Today, Christians in Native American and Canadian First Nations communities sometimes use traditional practices. For Cree Christian Reformed Church pastor Harold Roscher, the sweat lodge remains sacred space.

“It’s four rounds of prayer,” says Roscher, “an opportunity to pray to Jesus, to God. So I find it invaluable, especially working amongst my Cree people … it’s a good way to make a good connection.”

Some native Christians object to this. “Where in the Bible can you go where sacred objects used by nations were ever redeemed and used to worship God?” asks Ojibwe evangelist Craig Smith, whose ministry is affiliated with the Christian and Missionary Alliance. “In the Old Testament, that didn’t bring God into the sanctuary. That drove him away.”

Emerson Falls, who leads the Fellowship of Native American Christians, says it depends on individual conscience and discernment. “There are some practices that may, in a particular location, convey a syncretistic message,” he says. “You have to know the culture and use discretion.”

Copyright © 2011 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Related Elsewhere:

Previous articles from Christianity Today and sister publications on Christianity among Native Americans and First Nations peoples include:

The People and the Black Book| One church’s attempt to do justly. (Leadership Journal, July 19, 2010)

The West That Wasn’t Won | Protestant missions to Native Americans had few shining moments. (Christian History, April 1, 2000)

Graham Crusade: Caught Between Cultures | Recovery evangelism is used to spread the gospel to Native Americans at a joint Graham festival. (June 15, 1998)

How Did Native Americans Respond to Christianity? | A collection of eyewitness accounts. (Christian History, July 1, 1992)

Prayer is one of those disciplines we often approach like going to the gym: either do it big, time-wise, or not at all. But with “prayer time” often looking like prolonged concentration and bodily stillness, it can be difficult to do faithfully. Limbs get stiff, the phone rings, it seems boring.

As I wrote about last week, a trip to California several years ago played a significant role in reviving my prayer life through the practice of short but regular prayers for a block in my neighborhood. But those proved to be baby steps preceding far longer, more intense walks, which changed me in ways I never expected.

A year or so into my prayers for the block, my church organized a two-day prayer conference. In addition to various short times of praying with others, we wrote a goal for our prayer lives on an index card. Because I was working on the manuscript for my first book, a memoir of reluctant chastity due within months, I said I wanted to pray about my writing more.

I didn’t know how that could happen, so, as with many things, it was easy to be pessimistic that I could change this part of my life. Then, mid-summer, relational drama ensued. Under normal circ*mstances, this could have easily consumed all emotional energy, leaving me useless to do much else. But my writing was already behind schedule. I couldn’t not try to cope, but I also couldn’t fall further behind on the manuscript.

Overwhelmed by the strain one night, I decided to go for a walk. Once out amid the decades-old brownstones and well-established trees of Sixth Avenue—the route I’d been accustomed to walking down from 10th Street—it seemed natural to address God.

As I walked up the warm, quiet street, with the cover of dark and sweet smell of flowering trees in the air, I dove into all the details of my anxiety: the situation I was unsure how to handle, the stuck part in my writing, the small disappointments of the day. Before I knew it, a mile had passed; two, by the time I came home. A 40-minute walk, and I had spent the whole time praying. It somehow hadn’t been hard at all, compared with what 40 minutes of kneeling would have been like.

When my worry returned the next night, I set out for another mile up and back down Sixth Avenue, then another night and another night. Before long, I was walking to pray almost every night and sometimes even twice a night when I was in the worst shape (needless to say, I did not have a typical sleep schedule then). It was not as if prayer ever fixed the prevailing problem that night, but every time, something good happened, even if what changed was hard to describe.

Some nights when I didn’t feel like praying, I would start by going through my day and thanking God for everything I could be grateful for, like tying up loose ends with little spiritual thank-you notes. And, increasingly, that 40-minute stretch allowed time for the intercession I’d wanted to do for others but struggled to carry out as I wanted to.

And the more I took the snags and stuck spots in my writing to God, the more I found solutions and made progress. I started to think of the Lord as a kind of editor, a co-laborer in the project to a degree I had not imagined. My standards for the work got higher, and lazy, self-indulgent passages kept getting cut and re-written.

Then one night, about three weeks into my writing prayer walks, I was startled by a burst of admiration and gratitude. The feeling was not unfamiliar, but had always been inspired by my current object of romantic interest. Not once had such true worship been extended to God.

I’d always known there was something “off” and broken in the way I got attached to men, but the fact was that I worshiped them. As much as I might have tried to love God, I always believed, deep down, that there were much deeper reserves of love and affection that would be tapped only by a husband and lover. I’d never thought that was possible with God. But now, after three weeks of nightly walks in which I processed my day and poured out my heart, God had finally drawn truer worship from me.

The summer ended, I finished the book and moved away from Brooklyn to a job and routine on the West Coast where it was been harder to maintain a prayer life like that. But that time forever changed me. And every time I do succeed in getting out for a prayer walk, something deeply good takes place. What routines have or could become your place for meeting God?

A recent survey from the National Association of Evangelicals finds that a majority of pastors do not believe the Bible requires tithing. In this report from CNN, Leith Anderson and Brian Kluth discuss the survey and the theological basis for the tithe.

Anderson explains that while most evangelical pastors don’t believe the tithe is required, most report that they give at least 10 percent and that the Bible encourages us to give far more. But Kluth reminds us that giving in the US has been declining for years, and therefore continued teaching on the tithe is helpful.

What do you think? Does emphasizing tithing actually limit Christian giving? And what do you read behind the survey’s findings? Are pastors not taking the issue as seriously as in the past, or are they merely taking the New Testament’s words about giving as more weighty than the Old Testament’s? How should giving be taught today?

I finally did it. After two years of mowing my lawn with dull blades, I loaded up that lawnmower and took it to my local hardware store to have the blades sharpened. And, when I got it home…wow! What a difference it made to the amount of time it took to mow my yard!

Why did it take me two years to do it? Why did I constantly have to mow portions of my lawn twice–burning extra gas–in order to have an evenly-cut yard? Why did I experience restarting my mower numerous times after it would get bogged down in tall grass? Why did I spend hours raking and bagging my grass when I had a mulching lawnmower? Why did I almost lose my sanctification over that mower?!

Why? Because I was not willing to take the time to sharpen the blades.

Let’s think about it. First, I would have to call my local hardware store to find out if they did such work. Then I would have to load up my mower, breaking down the handles so it would fit in my car. I would have to unload it, roll it into the store, return to pick it up, and unload it at home. Obviously, this entire process would probably require about forty minutes of my time.

Amazing! Forty minutes compared to hours of frustration over two mowing seasons. How crazy is that?!

As I reflected on this experience, I could not help but think of how often many of us fail to take the time to sharpen the blades in our own lives. We get so caught up in the routine, the stress, and the busyness of ministry that we fail to make the necessary adjustments needed in order to be better stewards of what the Lord has entrusted to our care. And such failure eventually results in problems in our lives and ministries.

I want to encourage you to consider the following four areas in your life that may need some sharpening at the moment. Take a moment to pray about these areas. Are there some small adjustments that you need to make today that will lead to significant results in the future?

Professional

How are things going in your professional life as a minister? Do you need additional education? More accountability? Maybe to take a course this summer? Is there an upcoming seminar or conference you should attend but feel that your ministry would suffer if you took the time off to participate? Do you need to begin writing a blog or a book? What about reading a book that is outside of your usual realm of expertise? I am reading some books that I normally don’t read–one in the field of innovation and one on how to give better presentations.

Health

Are there things that you need to do to improve your physical health? Do you need to get a physical examination? Take up regular exercise? Get more sleep? Several months ago, I purchased a treadmill, and it has proven to be the tool that I needed to get into a daily exercise routine. I started to enjoy it so much that when I travel I will often take advantage of the treadmills in my hotels.

Family

Are you neglecting your family on a regular and intentional basis in the name of “my ministry”? What are some things you need to do with your spouse? Do you need to begin a family movie and pizza night? Take a vacation? Weekend getaway? Take up a sport with your spouse or kids? Learn how to play bowling on your kid’s Wii so you can beat him next time?

Spiritual

Are you guarding your daily devotion time with the Lord? How is your prayer life? Are you intentionally sharing the gospel with others? A couple of times each year I will read and pray verse-by-verse through Proverbs. Right now, I have been slowly reading and meditating through the book of Deuteronomy. Make certain that you are not substituting your sermon preparation time for your personal devotion time in God’s word.

But I’m Crazy-Busy

When I was pastoring, I remember that this time of the year was a busy time.

With Easter approaching, there are many things to do. However, a little effort and time committed to personal development will be beneficial to you, your family, and your church. Such time for personal development taken away from the time you could be “doing ministry” is time well invested in the ministry to which you are called.

A failure to sharpen the blades today will guarantee frustration, discouragement, disappointment, and problems tomorrow.

Take the time now to make the necessary adjustments in your life. You are likely to become more refreshed and able to better steward that which has been entrusted to your care.

The writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us, “If the iron is blunt, and one does not sharpen the edge, he must use more strength, but wisdom helps one to succeed” (Ecc 10:10, ESV). What is your God-given wisdom revealing to you today?

And now, my yard is calling again. In fact, I think I am ready to mow the entire neighborhood!

Thomas Nelson has announced that Michael Hyatt has stepped down as CEO but will continue to serve as chairman of the board. Mark Schoenwald, who is president and COO, will take Hyatt’s place as CEO.

Before he joined the publishing company in 2005, Schoenwald has served as as president of home décor, garden, and gift companies including New Creative Enterprises, One Coast Network, and Kennedy Group, according to Publisher’s Weekly. Hyatt wrote on his blog that he plans to spend more time in other areas.

The reason for this transition is that I want to spend more time externally focused: writing, speaking, and pursuing other business interests. This is not a big surprise to my family or closest friends—perhaps not even to you. I love the creative life, and I was finding it increasingly difficult to give expression to my gifts while running a company the size of Thomas Nelson.

I feel that this is the perfect time to make this transition. We finished our fiscal year on March 31st with very strong momentum. We currently have several books on the bestseller lists, including Heaven Is for Real, which has been #1 on the New York Times list for 10 straight weeks. The company is healthy, vibrant, and poised for growth. We have a talented and proven successor in Mark, who can lead the company forward.

Heaven is For Real is about a boy who says he died and went to heaven, a book that has sold quite well for Thomas Nelson. In 2008, the company cut about 10 percent of its workforce. Last year, the private equity firm Kolberg & Co. led a group of investors to acquire a majority stake in the company.

The budget compromise approved by Congressional leaders last Friday made few evangelical leaders happy. The deal dropped the ban on funding to Planned Parenthood sought by social conservatives. Cuts to foreign aid and hunger programs remained despite outcries from relief organizations. Also dropped was an attempt backed by the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) to curtail efforts by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate green house gases.

The fight against the EPA began last summer when the agency announced that it would begin regulating CO-2 emissions despite failed efforts in Congress to pass so-called “cap and trade” legislation. The Senate voted last year to stop the EPA, and despite lobbying by the ERLC, the American Family Association, and business groups, the effort failed.

With more Republicans in the Senate this year, the GOP leaders in the House and Senate tried again with a two-prong approach: stand-alone legislation to block the EPA and provisions in the budget negotiations that would strip the EPA of funds needed for the new regulations.

When the Senate voted on the stand-alone legislation last week, the ERLC sent an “Action Alert” urging people to ask their Senators to vote for legislation that would stop the EPA’s plan to regulate greenhouse gases. The ERLC said that the regulations would unnecessarily hurt the economy.

“The poor would be hit especially hard,” the ERLC action alert said. “Making this worse, the whole basis for the policy—catastrophic, human-induced global warming—is not even settled among scientists, who are growing increasingly skeptical of such human impact.”

The ERLC’s Doug Carlson said, “Caring for God’s creation is a biblical mandate. So is caring for the poor. But taking nonsensical regulatory steps that promise little if any environmental gain yet would adversely affect every man, woman and child through job losses and higher costs for energy and everyday commodities is foolhardy. It is all the more reckless for a government agency to do so when Congress has rejected the idea.”

The Senate voted, and the stand-alone legislation garnered only 50 votes (60 were necessary for passage). According to Politico, the lack of a simple majority emboldened Democratic leaders who used the outcome to show the lack of Senate support for efforts to cut the EPA’s budget.

The Evangelical Environmental Network’s (EEN) Jim Ball said that despite the outcome, the U.S. needed more leaders who support environmental causes. “Having more evangelical Christians who are actively engaged in the fight to overcome global warming will go a long way to creating such support,” Ball said.

According to a survey last September by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, a vast majority of all Americans (81 percent) and of evangelicals (73 percent) favor tougher environmental laws. However, only one-in-ten evangelicals said that their faith was the biggest reason for their position on the environment, compared to a majority who said religion was the most important reason for their position on same-sex marriage (62 percent) or abortion (53 percent).

Many evangelicals are hearing messages from their pastors on the environment. About 40 percent of evangelicals said their clergy had spoken on the environment. In comparison, 89 percent of clergy spoke on hunger or poverty and a majority (52 percent) made statements on same-sex marriage.