Look for character

How to make this year different

I am coming to the end of my week of reflection on the year ahead and there is certainly a theme emerging.

One of the things I will be doing differently this year is going back to school.. well kind of.. I have been selected to participate in the Arrow leadership training course.

The Arrow website says:

Arrow is Australia’s peak body for Christian leadership development. Strategic in its approach, Arrow identifies the nation’s foremost emerging leaders to invest with solid evangelical teaching, tailored mentoring and a cutting-edge curriculum, including the renowned Leader360™. The Arrow program is delivered by highly respected leaders in a safe space, interwoven within the broader networks of the church. Lasting connections are made that continue throughout ministry life, networking senior and young leaders. Arrow gets results: courageous leaders working towards a growing, vibrant Australian church that impacts the wider community.

I’m not exactly sure what to expect, but my sense is the whole experience could be valuable, particularly as I keep orientating to my role in leadership.

One of the first benefits I have already received from Arrow is the parcel that arrived by mail a few weeks ago. Inside was a letter welcoming me to the course and a journal.

I have already told you that starting a new journal is one of the things I enjoy doing every year, kind of like making a fresh start.

So this year I didn’t need to go shopping for the journal, it turned up in the mail!

Inside the journal is a bible reading plan.

What I haven’t told you is that each year I approach the bible and my quiet time a bit differently. Last year I read through from start to finish, reading two sections of the old testament and one of the new. I also read a daily thought from Philip Yancey (which you may have noticed appearing in my blogs from time to time).

So this year I am using the Arrow bible reading plan, and today I was reading Genesis 7 and Matthew 7.

I noticed for the first time how much of a theme is contained in Matthew 7, and it’s basically about not putting on the act of being a Christian but actually doing the work to allow God to impact your life

Consider the following lines from Matthew 7:

It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part.

“Don’t be flip with the sacred. Banter and silliness give no honor to God. Don’t reduce holy mysteries to slogans. In trying to be relevant, you’re only being cute and inviting sacrilege.

Don’t bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need.

Ask yourself what you want people to do for you, then grab the initiative and do it for them.

“Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention.

Don’t be impressed with charisma; look for character. Who preachers are is the main thing, not what they say.

“Knowing the correct password—saying ‘Master, Master,’ for instance— isn’t going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obedience—doing what my Father wills.

“But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards.

As I prepare for 2011, my sense is that God is asking me to make the choices that go against the part of me that wants things to be easy.

It seems as though discipline is needing to be a bit of a focus for the coming year. It’s interesting how there is part of me that doesn’t even want to write that down. Discipline is not a fun word.

How does 2011 need to be different for you?