Coffee With The Lord

I don’t know what challenges and pressure you may be facing today, but let me give you this benediction/blessing that Apostle Paul gave the believers in Thessalonica when they were facing similar challenges…

“May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through His grace, comfort your heart and establish you in every good work and word!” (from 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17)

AMEN! (So be it Lord!)  Someone needed that today!!!

Young emerging leaders are often discovered and formed in the most unexpected places!  They often do not possess the “advantages” of power, prestige and privilege that others enjoy.  Their incubation often takes place in poverty, small towns, the “wrong side of the tracks” and the farm.  Many great leaders got their education in one room schoolhouses, little colleges or possessed no formal education at all!

Wise seasoned leaders recognize this and are continually on the lookout for young emerging leaders with promise.  Identifying young people with leadership potential and gifting, for these seasoned leaders is a life quest.

For those with Christian values, God’s calling and gifting, are key components in identifying and developing young emerging leaders.  They view this critical issue as non-negotiable.

This morning my Bible reading included a case study in the identification of young emerging leaders… David in 1 Samuel 16…

Saul, the first king in Israel, had disqualified himself through pride and disobedience.  The Bible says, “The Lord said to Samuel, ‘How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel?  Fill your horn with oil and go.  I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.’”

So Samuel obeyed and went to Bethlehem.  He arranged for a sacrifice and invited Jesse and his sons to attend.  Eliab, the eldest – the natural choice, appeared.  Samuel thought this was probably the one.  God spoke however and said, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature because I have rejected him.  For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart!” (verse 7)  …Abinadab appeared… then Shammah… then the seven other sons of Jesse passed by.  In each case God told Samuel, “The Lord has not chosen this one.”  Finally, Samuel asked, “Are all your sons here?” And Jesse admitted, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.”  So young David (a human afterthought) was brought.  When Samuel saw him, the Lord spoke… “Arise, anoint him, for this is the one!”  The least likely in Jesse’s and Samuel’s view was chosen by God!  The Bible says, “Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers.  And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward.” (verse 13)

Over the years it has been my privilege and responsibility to identify, encourage and help the development of young emerging leaders.  I CAN TELL YOU, SOME OF THE VERY BEST AND MOST EFFECTIVE HAVE COME FROM THE MOST UNEXPECTED BACKGROUNDS!  Several years ago I read Carl Sandburg’s ABRAHAM LINCOLN: The Prairie Years and the War Years.  From a purely natural perspective, who would have chosen Abraham Lincoln as one of the most effective presidents the United States has known?  LISTEN, I NEVER WANT TO FORGET THIS FACT; “THE LORD SEES NOT AS MAN SEES: MAN LOOKS ON THE OUTWARD APPEARANCE, BUT THE LORD LOOKS ON THE HEART!”

An interesting (and significant) feature of Biblical interpretation to remember is the importance of examining the relationship of passages that are adjacent to one another.  Often that relationship is purposeful and clearly the Biblical writer, inspired by the Holy Spirit, had a reason for placing the passages adjacent to one another.  Significant truths are often taught by this and significant insights gained.

There are many examples of this that could be cited.  Today in my Bible reading I encountered one, that in the past I have overlooked (probably because it bridges a chapter boundary) …

I think all of us are impressed by a person we’d call “THE REAL DEAL” – a person who expresses authenticity, consistency, character, and integrity.  They practice what they preach.  Their Christianity is genuine!  There is not a fiber of hypocrisy in their personhood!

So here’s what I read yesterday… “And in the hearing of all the people he said to his disciples,  ‘BEWARE of [those] who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.” (Luke 20:45–47 ESV)

I wrote this in the margin of my Bible yesterday… “Beware of these kinds of people!  They are NOT ‘the real deal!’” (And it became the focus of my “Coffee with the Lord” post yesterday!)

Then in the very next passage (at the beginning of the next chapter – an unfortunate chapter boundary marker, I must say) I read these words today… “Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, ‘Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them.  For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.’” (Luke 21:1–4 ESV)

What a contrast!  What a powerful truth!  The ostentatious, the self-righteous, the proud, the attention seeking, the spiritual bigots are NOT ‘THE REAL DEAL’!  They are the hypocritical – and they will be the condemned!  On the other hand, the sincere, the simple believer, the humble, the generous, the consistently righteous (and often the unnoticed and overlooked), ARE ‘THE REAL DEAL!”

Don’t know about you… but I WANT TO BE “THE REAL DEAL!”