We were privileged to hear from Dave Ramsey this week at Westport.  Dave’s humor, mixed with truth, has encouraged and challenged many people to do something about their bondage to debt.
I wish you could read the comments I’ve been reading from you this week!  You have Gazelle Intensity - and I can’t wait to see the results.  I’ve been praying individually for EVERY single comment you made on your connection card this week - praying that God will give you courage and wisdom to find your UPSIDE in the middle of the downside - and learn a new money behavior!

You may be interested in learning more from Dave Ramsey on this subject, so here is a great place to find resources:

www.DaveRamsey.com

Let’s break the bondage of debt so we can be the generous people we really WANT to be!

I came across a Wall Street Journal article that illustrates what we learned and discussed in our CRAVE sermon series. Research in the field of “behaviorial economics” is being used by major corporations to encourage employees to change destructive behaviors like smoking and overeating. The research shows that the companies need to fight desire with desire - offering increasing financial incentives for giving up bad habits. Yep, paying people to lose weight or stop smoking! Here’s the core of the argument:

“Such approaches stem from the field of behavioral economics, which challenges the conventional economic doctrine that consumers always act as informed, rational decision makers. Instead, behavioral researchers have found, people often exhibit irrational, albeit predictable, biases that lead them not to act in their best interests.”

Hmmm…sounds a lot like Paul’s description in Romans 7:15: “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”

Our desires are not neutral. They need to be trained. Remember the CRAVE definition of fasting: “With fasting, we let go of something good, to reach for something great.” We regularly engage in spiritual disciplines like Bible Study, fasting, solitude and confession because we want MORE than this world offers.

May God satisfy you this day with his unfailing love, that you may discover His deeper joy (Ps. 90:14).

Shane

The topic of lament is a hard one to bring up in public…at least in America. We celebrate the successful. We’re a country of winners!!! Aren’t we?

Life just doesn’t always work; God is not bound to our plans and desires; and grief is always a part of life, even during the best of times. In Romans 9, Paul wrestles with his desires and emotions on the one hand (vv. 2-5), and God’s sovereignty on the other hand (see especially vv. 14-21). Maybe we should do the same. If you missed my sermon in our Upside series, listen here as I speak in more detail about worshiping through lament.

We learn to lament, not because we are masochists looking for more pain, but rather as an honest response to the pain that is present in a fallen world (John 16:33). Tremendous portions of Scripture are devoted to people voicing their pain and confusion. We can learn from them, and take heart from their honest cries. Something is available to us in lament that is not available through praise alone.

If you find yourself compelled to go further into this “darker side” of worship, then I recommend a couple good guides. First, from someone you are used to me recommending, Dan Allender, is Cry of the Soul. This book mostly focuses on the darker emotions found in the Psalms - anger, jealousy and fear - and then seeks to guide you to learn more about God in these places, and worship Him.

The second book is from singer-songwriter Michael Card: A Sacred Sorrow. Card combines personal reflection with excellent biblical scholarship in looking at the lives of Job, Jeremiah, David and Jesus, and how each of them practiced lament amidst challenging life circumstances. The book is both reflective and practical. Card also produced a CD called The Hidden Face of God, and a DVD called Journey with Jesus through Hopelessness, each equally well done.

God knows your pain. Jesus suffered partly in order to meet us in our suffering (Hebrews 2). You are not alone.

May you have courage to worship through lament amidst the pain and disappointment in life. And may such tear-full worship lead you on the path to greater joy.

Shane

Dan Allender is one of my favorite author’s and speakers for a number of reasons. One of the top reasons: he tells great stories. I still remember stories I heard him tell over ten years ago. The stories were memorable for their rootedness in real life, and for the deep messages embedded in them. I’m challenged by his intelligence, no doubt, but it is his authenticity in storytelling that keeps bringing me back.

His book To Be Told, encourages us to see our lives as stories that need to be told. This book motivated our sermon series this spring. Read this book. He goes into the topic at far greater depth than we could in a short sermon series. What he has to share is vital to living a meaningful, passion-full life.

Another author I turned to as I prepared to teach was Frederick Buechner. In his autobiographical work, Telling Secrets, he is amazingly forthright and honest as describes a difficult season in his life, wherein he wrestled personally with himself following a daughter’s fight with anorexia. I was deeply moved by this book. I felt like I was across the kitchen table from a wise older man as he shared his story and, through the story, gave me vital nuggets of wisdom.

May we all willingly share some of our secret struggles. May we tell of God’s amazing grace in the midst of the struggles. And, may we proclaim from the rooftops God’s amazing deliverance from the struggles so that the world around us celebrates His renown.

Peace,
Shane