When we think of philosophers or theologians, productivity and efficiency do not immediately spring to mind. They’re thinkers, dreamers, meditators; not doers. But a couple of recent posts on Ligonier’s website reveal R C Sproul to be one of those rare birds –  a theologian and philosopher who is also concerned with maximizing return on his time and talents.

Productivity: Redeeming The Time

Productivity: Simple Tricks

A few other recent posts on productivity from James Clear:

The Eisenhower Box:  Do, Decide, Delegate, or Delete?

The Two-Minute Rule: See especially how Clear applies it to learning new habits.

Warren Buffet’s 2-List Strategy: “The most dangerous distractions are the ones you love but don’t love you back.”

And here are three videos on productivity from Eben Pagan.

The more we read and study the Bible, the more painful it becomes when we hear a verse quoted out of context and even used to advocate for the exact opposite of the verse in its context.

In reading through Joel Osteen’s book, Your Best Life Now, this pain is fairly constant. But the worst context-ripping and heart-rending example is Osteen’s use of Colossians 3:2 in Part 1: Enlarge Your Vision. Verses 1-2 read:

“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.”

If this verse is teaching anything, it’s calling the believer to seek satisfaction and enjoyment in the spiritual realm not the material, in the eternal not in time, in heavenly pleasures not earthly pleasures, in spiritual wealth not in financial wealth, in Christ not in self.

Which, of course, is the exact opposite of what Osteen teaches.

So, how does he solve that “problem”?

Easy, just butcher the verse.

Osteen’s (per)version is, “Set your mind and keep it set on the higher things.”

Osteen manipulates and distorts this verse in three ways in order to make it fit his carnal agenda in total opposition to the Apostle Paul’s intent.

• “Things above” has been changed to “higher things.”
• “Where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God” has been conveniently chopped off.
• “Not on things on the earth” has also been eliminated.

With these three swift and not-so-subtle slashes of the knife, Osteen carves out the words he needs to justify equating “higher things” with greater money, possessions, power, popularity, promotions, and so on.

If we were in any doubt as to what Osteen is trying to do here, the remainder of Part 1 dispels them by his praise for example after example of rampant discontent, greed, and materialism.

The audacity of using a verse in God’s Word to promote exactly the opposite of what God intended that verse to teach is shockingly breathtaking. You’d think Osteen could find a verse or two that would be less obviously perverted and manipulated to support his deceit. But no, he takes one of the most “spiritual” verses in the Bible and mutates it into the most carnal agenda imaginable.

Perhaps it’s little wonder that verse one begins, “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things that are above.”

In this case, it’s a big “if.”

This is the fourth post in a series on Joel Osteen’s book, “Your Best Life Now.” Previous posts were A Book That Begins With A Lie, Positive Negativity, and Your Average Life Now.

If you don’t want to cry, don’t read After They Are Yours: The Grace And Grit of Adoption. What a powerfully moving, deeply personal, and transparently realistic story about the challenges of adoption.

With the permission of his now 18-year-old adopted son, Alex, Pastor Brian Borgman narrates the struggles and successes of adopting Alex as a young child with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.

The beautiful glory and grace of adoption is present throughout; but so is the grit and grime that the devil often throws in and stirs up in adoptive families. It reveals “the other side of adoption” that some adoption advocates and some adoption books ignore, minimize, or gloss over.

But this book is not just for families considering adoption or those struggling with adopted children, it’s also useful for pastors and Christians to better understand the needs of adoptive families in our congregations. Indeed, any parent who struggles with unruly children would find this a helpful book as Brian so honestly describes both his painful parenting failures, but also how God led him to wiser and more skillful approaches to disciplining his children.

This book will move you to prayer, not just for Brian, his wife Ariel, and Alex, but also for all adoptive parents and adopted children everywhere. Above all, it will move you to praise for the God who adopts children with far worse conditions than Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, and who so patiently and perfectly disciplines us every day of our rebellious lives.

This statue of Dr Thomas Guthrie was unveiled in 1910 and gives him a fitting legacy ‘a friend of the poor and the oppressed.’

The 18th century Scottish pastor, Dr. Thomas Guthrie, was a man of brilliant mind and staunch biblical orthodoxy. But he was also known as the “Apostle of the Ragged Schools” which were instrumental in rescuing thousands of destitute Scottish children from lives of poverty and abuse in the great cities of the nation.

His life and ministry have now been summarized in a new Kindle booklet published by Andrew Murray (no relation!), who has a passion to see the church return to both biblical orthodoxy and orthopraxy.

In the introduction to A Mission Of Mercy: The Life And Legacy Of Dr. Thomas Guthrie, Andrew writes:

“While holding to the doctrine of the Westminster Confession of Faith in the tradition of the Reformers and Covenanters, Guthrie believed in cultivating the ‘outfield’ – the part of society that were ignorant of the gospel and were often trapped in a cycle of poverty. Thomas Guthrie spent most of his time amongst the hopeless and the destitute. It was not some special calling for him, it was the outworking of his beliefs. He was doing what his Savior had done before him – a friend of tax collectors and sinners. Guthrie did not seek to withdraw from the world but sought to win it and transform it by the power of the Gospel.”

“It is my hope that as more of Guthrie’s life and ministry is rediscovered that many will share his vision and zeal. The Church today desperately needs to rediscover its mission to preach that profound yet winsome gospel that Guthrie preached to the whole of society. We need once again to take this good news into the dark and hopeless corners of our communities and become, as Guthrie’s statue in Edinburgh states, ‘a friend of the poor and the oppressed.’”

You can find out more about Thomas Guthrie at ThomasGuthrie.org or at Andrew’s blog, Ragged Theology.

If we grossly underestimate our God-given talents and abilities, then it’s unlikely that we will fulfill our potential.

If we grossly underestimate God’s power and love, then it’s unlikely that we will pray much, expect much, or do much for the Lord.

In chapter 1 of “Your Best Life Now,” Joel Osteen latches on to these two truths and then twists them so far that they become falsehoods.

He begins with a story about a modestly successful man who saw a large mansion while vacationing in Hawaii and said to himself, “I’ll never live in a great place like that.” Osteen comments:

“As long as you can’t imagine it, as long as you can’t see it, then it is not going to happen for you. The man correctly realized that his own thoughts and attitudes were condemning him to mediocrity. He determined then and there to start believing better of himself, and believing better of God.” (p. 3)

Do you see the grains of truth in there? The need to fairly evaluate one’s talents and abilities and the need to believe in the goodness and power of God?

But from these truths, Osteen makes the massive leap to “Imagine whatever you want about yourself or God and it will happen.” He calls us to “enlarge our vision” of self and of God:

“See your business taking off. See your marriage restored. See your family prospering. See your dreams coming to pass. You must conceive it and believe it is possible if you ever hope to experience it. To conceive it, you must have an image on the inside of the life you want to live on the outside. This image has to become a part of you, in your thoughts, your conversation, deep down in your subconscious mind, in your actions, in every part of your being.” (p. 4)

You don’t need to read much of Osteen to identify this recurring habit of starting with a truth – which builds our confidence – before sliding off into a falsehood

Look at some of his true-then-false statements

“What you keep before your eyes will affect you. You will produce what you’re continually seeing in your mind.” (p. 5)

True: “What you keep before your eyes will affect you.” (True because Jesus taught that the light of the body is the eye and what we let in the eye-gate will determine if we are full of light or full of darkness)

False: “You will produce what you’re continually seeing in your mind.” (False because no matter how much I imagine myself looking like Mr. Universe I cannot produce even a two-pack never mind a six-pack).

“But God wants us to constantly be increasing, to be rising to new heights. He wants to increase you in His wisdom and help you to make better decisions. God wants to increase you financially, by giving you promotions, fresh ideas, and creativity.” (p. 5)

True: “God wants us to constantly be increasing, to be rising to new heights.” (True because God calls us to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ).

False: “He wants to increase you in His wisdom and help you to make better decisions. God wants to increase you financially, by giving you promotions, fresh ideas, and creativity.” (False because nowhere are we told that God wants us to be richer, more successful, and more innovative).

“You must stop dwelling on negative, destructive thoughts that keep you in a rut. Your life is not going to change until you first change your thinking.” (p. 7)

True: “You must stop dwelling on negative, destructive thoughts that keep you in a rut.” (Obviously true and consistent with Philippians 4:8. Although as we saw yesterday, some negativity is good for us.)

False: “Your life is not going to change until you first change your thinking.” (False because, thankfully, God often mercifully changes our lives before we change our thinking).

Conclusions
First, false teachers never ever teach 100% falsehood. There’s always just enough truth in their message to deceive a sufficient number of people. And, sadly, many people seem to be of the view that if there’s any truth in a message, it’s worth hearing.

Second, throughout these pages we look in vain for anyone asking God, “What do you want for me?” or “What’s your vision for my life?” God knows far better than I do what’s best for me and I’d much rather leave the envisioning to Him.

Third, even if my view of God is less than it should be, and it is, my Bible reassures me that God is not limited by my vision. He does exceedingly abundantly above what we ask or think (Eph. 3:20).

Fourth, the worldliness of it all is appalling. The beatitudes speak of hungering and thirsting after righteousness. In this chapter, all Osteen seems concerned with is hungering and thirsting after money, houses, Miss America crowns (though not for himself), and other secular promotions.

If we want to enlarge our vision, how about “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” God blesses holy hearts with the largest and most satisfying vision of all.

Finally, where does “You shall not covet” fit into all this? Osteen says:

“You need to make a decision that you are not going to live an average, mediocre life.” (p. 8)

What happened to contentment (Heb. 13:5)? What’s so bad about an average, middle-of-the-road kind of life if it’s the life God wants us to live? There are lots of average Christians earning average salaries with average families. They are not to be despised, but encouraged, prayed for, and even admired as they serve God faithfully in their ordinary everyday obscurity.

This is the third post in a series on Joel Osteen’s book, “Your Best Life Now.” Previous posts were A Book That Begins With A Lie, and Positive Negativity.

Women’s Center Volunteers

The mission of Alpha Women’s Center of Grand Rapids is to share the hope of Christ to women facing unplanned pregnancies by affirming and promoting the sanctity of human life and strengthening the family through biblical principles.

Due to lack of Mentors and funding, Alpha House has to turn away clients every day. Here’s more information on service opportunities and the free training that’s available.

Live-In Adult Foster Care

A Christian family that runs a small foster home in Grand Rapids area is looking to employ someone to care for six residents, some with special needs. “This position offers a nice private room and bathroom in lower level of home. We are looking for a qualified individual or couple with up to two children to take care of 6 enjoyable residents in our home.” More details here.