Discipleship Archives - Page 4 of 11

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.

Fear Lost – Thoughts on the Fear of God and Man

February 3, 2015 by brianmichaelsteck Leave a Comment

I’ve rappelled off of 100-foot ledges, jumped into scalding hot springs, spoken in front of crowds in the thousands, leapt out of a plane, trekked deep into the mountainous wilderness and helped free a demon-possessed man. Fear lost.

I’ve changed blowout diapers, started a business from scratch, backpacked across Europe, carried a close friend’s casket and lived in a foreign country without knowing the language. Fear lost.

So why is it that there is one arena where fear still tries to stand it’s ground? What is it about the fear of man that still grips me and tries to make me forget who I am, what I’m about and that I serve an Almighty, Alpha and Omega kind of God?

My Fear Snapshot

Just in case the fear of man sounds like an elusive idea to you, or a distant concept that you are convinced doesn’t apply to you, I wanted to give you a sneak peek at what this fear looks like in my life.

The fear of man shows up when I’m at work and I have a deadline to meet, a meeting that I’m almost or already late for, a loving wife who needs me home by 5pm and a growing inbox of emails from clients wondering why it’s Tuesday and I haven’t responded to their messages from the weekend.

The fear of man focuses his efforts on those conversations where someone is communicating that I’ve let them down. His expectations of me are always a little higher than my actual capabilities. He reminds me that I don’t have what it takes and points out that no one is impressed and everyone is counting on me.

That’s a snapshot of what my fear of man looks like. He’s a jerk and a liar.

Not Alone

In my life, I’ve set my vision on Christ. He is my goal and my example. So, while I don’t pompously try to compare my silly daily trials with His ultimate sacrifice, I do find solace in the fact that Christ encountered a moment in the Garden of Gethsemane that required a knock-down, drag-out fight with fear.

As Jesus was wrestling with the impending decision to offer himself up freely as a sacrifice for the sin of mankind, it may not have been the fear of man alone that was waging battle, but I can imagine that He felt a similar feeling as we do when fear attacks. It’s the feeling that dark and ominous walls are closing in all around us and our imminent demise is awaiting, just moments away.

Servant of Christ

Knowing that Jesus faced fear head on and was victorious gives me hope of my own victory against the fear of man. Christ’s own words to his disciples where:

“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28

Paul tells the churches of Galatia that if he “were still trying to please men, [he] would not be a servant of Christ.” (Galatians 1:10) A dear brother of mine just preached on the fear of God and made the strong argument in line with this; the fear of God is freedom from any other fears we might have, be it death, heights, sickness, rejection or inadequacy.

At the Core

The core lie of the fear of man is an attack on our identity. It says, “You’re not enough and soon enough, everyone around you is going to find and and be disappointed.”

The first step to answer an identity lie is to look at the One whose image we bear: God our maker. When our view of God is correct, and Christ is the image of God in the form of man, we’re in a position to have right perspective.

The next step is to believe what God says about us. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. No heights nor depths can separate us from His love. He is the only one that is worth pleasing.

Finally, I allow myself to mentally fail. I role play what it would look like to let everyone down. Standing there in my mind, as a failure in the eyes of all around me, I recognize that in the end only God’s opinion of me matters. I can’t please everyone. The only approval that matters is God’s.

As I am reminded of who God is, who He thinks I am and that my worth and value does not come from what others think of me… I win. Fear lost.

In the end, fear lost

In the end, death loses, sin loses and pain loses, because Christ won. Love won. He won in the Garden of Gethsemane. He won on Calvary. He wins every time in my heart. And Fear? Fear has nothing on you — fear has nothing on me. Jesus won. Fear lost.

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