Discipleship Archives - Page 3 of 11

When it’s better to receive than to give

February 28, 2016 by brianmichaelsteck Leave a Comment

I believe that there is a time and position of the soul when it’s better to receive than to give.

Sincere pursuit of selflessness can turn into a kind altruism that is detrimental to our identity. In the effort of serving, loving and giving of ourselves, it’s so easy to get attached to the insatiable desire to please everyone and every thing. Our good intentions move us down a dangerous path of earning and striving, which is ultimately rooted in fear and not love.

Each time we bless others out of this good but tainted source, we deposit a little bit more of our worth and value in our actions.

What I’ve found to be true is that God’s love was never prompted from our actions. Instead, it is our very identity as His sons and daughters that induces this great love. It is relationship, not effort. And ultimately, it is identity — God’s identity, as the eternal source of love, reflected in us.

When Humility Is Really Pride

Ever been complimented and immediately denied the encouragement by listing a barrage of reasons why that could not possibly be true?

Ever give a compliment and get rejected like I would if I tried to dunk against an NBA player? Yeah. No fun. What’s up with that?

It’s false humility. And it can fool the best of us. Usually it’s because we don’t actually believe the compliment; either because of low self-esteem or being conditioned to reject compliments out of fear of being thought arrogant and thus unloveable.

This was me too. But I learned that the very response I thought was humility was actually pride. Giving off the aura of humility, my dejection of truth was actually a method of drawing more attention to myself. Don’t we all love it when, after rejecting encouragement, they come back with an extra heaping of it to help convince us?

I’ve found that true humility is grounded in God-centered identity and it allows us to accept compliments with a simple, “Thank you!”

Try it sometime. You’ll be amazed and what kinds of emotions and thoughts bubble up to the surface of your mind when you do; and once you get over the awkwardness of simply accepting encouragement, you can bring it before the Lord and let God heal you of the lies you believe about yourself.

Learning To Receive

I believe that the reason we’ve developed this “compliment-shield” is that, at our core, we don’t believe we are lovable. We believe we must earn love and that we couldn’t possibly be worthy of love simply because of who we are.

But this is what Jesus came to earth to prove to us:

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

God’s desire has always been for unity with His people. You were worthy of His love and sacrifice, even before you breathed your first breath.

Just try to say that: “I am worthy of love. God made me worthy of love.”

It’s not sin. It’s not arrogance. It’s not pride. It’s truth. And it brings God glory.

Let God love you.

When we acknowledge God’s love for us and our worthiness of God’s love, simply on the basis of being His, He is glorified. So stop fearing love. Step into it. When you do, you will experience the completeness that He intended for His children and you will understand that there is a time when it is better to receive than to give.

Everything Belongs – A Review

December 25, 2015 by brianmichaelsteck Leave a Comment

Everything Belongs by Richard Rohr is more difficult to sum up than books I typically read. Like most things that are right, but irritating, this book didn’t come boxed up in “3 steps to solve your problems” — a convenience that, while we knock it as a cliché, we all secretly appreciate — instead, it meandered in the way that would undermine the problem-solving, action-oriented, “small brain” person like myself. This is one of the reasons I loved it.

In a typical mystic style, Everything Belongs: the gift of contemplative prayer led me down a meandering path, exploring the edges of my comfort; all the while knowing this was for my greater good. Making statements like “God is to be found in all things”, referring to “levels of consciousness” or citing Mohammad and Ghandi; these pushed me out of my comfort zone, describing concepts primarily familiar in religions foreign to me. Yet, over and over, Rohr comes back to the center. He returns to the cross and the Christ crucified. As I start wondering, “where is he leading me?” I’m returned to absolute surrender to Jesus; a place equally discomforting, but central to my faith.

While I don’t know much of Fr. Rohr, a priest, author and speaker who runs the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico, I believe he is exploring and unveiling a level of awareness that our Western heritage has not pointed it’s light on, perhaps since it’s inception.

Rohr explores the gift of contemplative prayer, highlighting the beauty of simply being and allowing room for dichotomies. For example, whereas the western church in particular prefers to button things up or present difficult topics like death, pain and loss in the cheeriest perspective (if acknowledged at all), the gift of contemplative prayer allows us to sit with the grief and all the while experience the nurturing peace of God. So God is not separate from these things, but present in them. Try that on for size — it’s easier said than done.

The book doesn’t try to incite a revolutionary war against western culture. In fact, in the opposite sentiment entirely, it’s actually trying to unify both western and eastern thinking, seeing the beauty and mutual dependency in both.

If I were to summarize what I received from the book, I would say this: Learn the art of simply being. Christ-centered contemplative self-knowledge only points to a greater revelation of God. Our identity is transformed when we sit with Him and — through surrendered humility — let go of our ego, allowing us to love fully, as Christ loved us. A Christ-centered identity frees us from the insatiable need to do more, be more and put everything into tidy little boxes we can wrap our minds around. An “Everything Belongs” mentality says “here I am Lord, your servant is listening.”

Thank you, Mr. Rohr, for the years of heart work and soul care needed to arrive at some of the revelations shared in this book. Your effort is helping a Type-3 Achiever like me become more like Jesus.

Gleaning from the soil

July 22, 2015 by brianmichaelsteck Leave a Comment

Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time in the dirt. And it’s been really good for me. I’m discovering many deep truths of discipleship while digging away at the earth.

Truth #1. Discipleship is not for the impatient.

We recently attempted to seed a section of our backyard with grass. In our impatience, we neglected to thoroughly root out all of the existing weeds that were thriving in this section of long-neglected soil.

Those who would prefer to take shortcuts are mistaken. There are no shortcuts with regard to the redemptive work of the Gospel in people’s lives. It requires hard work; tilling at the soil of their soul to prepare it for the seeds of life.

I will not spend time arguing the case for or against “low-cost” methods of tract-peddling or street-preaching. Some have come to know the Lord this way, but I believe the track record for those methods compared to life-on-life discipleship can speak for itself.

And this is my point. Casting seed onto hard soil from a distance may result in blades of grass, but most of the seed will be burned away by the sun. In order for the seed to take root, it must be planted into fertile soil. You’re gonna get dirty.

Truth #2. Not all weeds are weeds. But most are.

Allow me first clarify that I’m not a gardener. At best, I’m a “weeder”. That’s someone who knows nothing about gardening, flowers or plants; someone whose knowledge is capped at knowing what grass looks like and thus is capable of removing everything else.

Now, from what I’m told, a “weed” is technically anything that is out of place or has not been intentionally planted. So if I were to grab a bunch of dandelion seeds and carefully place them in my garden, they could be classified as non-weeds.

The “non-weed” is dangerous though, because though it may be planted intentionally, it has the potential for growing wildly out of hand. I compare this to wine or craft beer, two things that are very good and beautiful on their own. But if planted into one’s life frivolously and without intentionality, these have devastating potential. Like a weed amongst grass, it can quickly overtake the area and squelch any good growth.

Your backyard is ideally composed of healthy, growing grass. Similarly, the body of Christ is composed of holy, surrendered people. We must be tenacious about removing the weeds from our lives, so the soil of our lives may produce bountiful and beautiful blades of grass.

About this post
Part 1 of a multi-part series called “Gleaning from the soil” about pulling spiritual lessons on discipleship from the menial task of weeding a yard.

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