Author: Dave Dishman (Page 264 of 458)

I participated in the termination of an employee on a handful of occasions. In other words, we fired some folks over the years. I work for a campus ministry where we never have enough people, so firing one is our last choice. A number of reviews and hard conversations precede the final cut. I’ve noticed this proverb play out each time:

Whoever remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy.

The employees who received pink slips ignored multiple warnings about their behavior at work, and they expressed shock and anger at what they perceived as a rash decision. They never saw it coming, although everyone around them saw it quite clearly.

I hated each situation, as necessary as each proved. I’ll admit that most dismissals brought relief—to those of us left, not necessarily to the dismissed.

After few of these I started to observe a pattern. The stiff-necked—those who blocked feedback, who shrugged off evaluations, who bristled at criticism—left their leaders with no other recourse than to let them go. Game over.

I’ve seen this behavior enough to know I’d better listen to thoughts expressed on my reviews. If someone’s taken the time to write it, or even tell me personally, then I should pay attention. No one benefits from my stiff-neck, especially not me.

Proverbs 29:1 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Sigmund

Who makes you better? As you look around, or look back, who are the people that challenge you to grow? I remember graduating from a small high school where I was a good student, then enrolling in a large university where I swam in a sea of good students. It was both intimidating and exhilarating. Going to class and studying with other driven undergrads sharpened my academic skills.

As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.

I need iron on iron relationships to check my bad impulses and encourage the good. I need those who will call me out when I’m wrong, and make me better than I could be on my own. I don’t need more friends on social media, but I do need living, breathing human beings across my table.

Many good work colleagues sharpened me professionally throughout my career. I’m grateful for each one. Good friends continue to sharpen me spiritually and socially. And my good spouse sharpens me in many ways (or at least she tries—what’s so wrong with drinking milk right from the carton?).

When iron sharpens iron sparks fly. Dross and rust flake off. The loud and dirty process takes effort and humility. But the result? I’m much better off, and so are those around me.

Recognize and nurture such relationships when they come along—they arrive as a gift from the hand of the Lord.

Proverbs 27:17 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by C D-X

I took my nephews to a trampoline park this week, a huge warehouse lined with trampolines and ninja courses. They played dodgeball on trampolines, basketball on trampolines, and wrestled on trampolines (unsanctioned by the management, of course). What an amazing innovation—wish it came 50 years earlier.

While there I ran into a guy chasing his toddler across the lobby. I mentioned the boy’s excitement and his father replied, Yea, he’s a real go-getter. Pride infused his tone. The kid was his father’s glory and joy.

Paul thought the same way of the believers he led to faith in Thessalonica, expressing his heart in this way: For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? It it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy.

Paul stands as one of the greatest influencers in history. He wrote much of what we read in our Bibles. But does he refer to his writings as his glory and joy? Not once, and neither his writings or his education or his travels or his conversations with kings. Paul found his glory and joy in a small group of suffering people trying to follow Jesus.

Which of course leads me to my glory and joy. Symbols of glory and joy draw my attention, from cathedrals to careers to money to Fortune 500 companies. Even multi-billionaires joyously ride their own rockets into space (which does seem pretty glorious).

But the words of Paul lift my eyes away from myself. My glory and joy lives in the people I intentionally go out of my way to build into and help grow. These include my kids, family members, friends, neighbors and co-workers. Who might make your list?

Another sobering way to consider this is to ask the question—who will mourn you when you gone? Not your lovely home or your bulging bank account. Not even your rocket ship if you own one.

Your mourners will be those you’ve invested in, who you’ve helped along the way, who see the love of Jesus in you. Those of your tribe who are your glory and joy.

1 Thessalonians 2 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Tim Wildsmith

One of the reasons I dislike camping is that it’s so uncomfortable. Sleeping on the ground, lots of bug spray with no shower—I suffer all day for a few minutes of bliss around the campfire. I ease toward the cheap comforts of a motel and miss a night under a million stars.

While my whiny camping experiences in no way compares in either severity or consequence, I’m impressed with the way the believers in Thessalonica responded to the good news Paul delivered. They welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.

The gospel, the good news of the coming of the kingdom of God, Jesus the Messiah now in our midst, lifts the eyes of those in need. From the start of his ministry Jesus healed chronic, debilitating illness. This kind of power and conviction, with the reversal fear and alienation, arrived with Paul in Thessalonica. To the new believers the arrival of the kingdom of God make the suffering worthwhile.

I’ve heard it said, Jesus came to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Sounds reasonable to me. When I rest in on my couch, sated from a big Mexican dinner with remote in hand, my need for a savior fades. Much of our lifestyles focus on comfort and don’t get me wrong—I love comfort. But comfort draws my eyes away from the kingdom of God.

Here’s a weird thing to say, but fortunately life brings challenges and suffering. Difficulties lift my thoughts beyond myself, all the way to the Lord above. It’s through adversity that I begin to experience the joy given by the Holy Spirit. Not under my blanket binging Seinfeld.

I Thessalonians 1 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters