Facial Paralysis and Offering Teach

This Sunday I was due to give an offering teach at church.

You know - the bit just before the Church takes up the tithes and offerings. The "collection" - if you are from an Anglican persuasion.

Anyway in some churches this is perhaps the time when you hold on tight to your wallet as someone comes up to the front to "pump up the offering" - expound very persuasively as to why you should part with loadsa money!!!

I need to be careful here because I am digressing slightly and I genuinely do believe in teaching why Christians should give generously in Church and that God liberally blesses cheerful givers.

So back to my story.

I had a passage from the bible which I felt God had laid on my heart and I was getting ready to put on my finishing touches when I came down with facial paralysis on one side of my face. (Bells Palsy)

Bells Palsy is believed to be a viral induced condition causing a swelling of the nerve from the brain to the face leading to loss of control of the expression and movement of that part of the face. Sounds very serious but thankfully it is not and 90% of people make a full recovery after 3 - 6 months.

My kids are typically non "PC" (politically correct) about this. One said I look freaky! The other is amused because I can only smile from one side of my face and I guess to her it makes me look a bit like a pirate.

So what does this have to do with my offering teach? I didn't give the offering teach after all but the passage I was going to share is from Romans 15 in the Message Translation.

Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each of us needs to look after the good of the people around us. asking ourselves, "How can I help?"

My offering teach message was going to hone in on ... Strength is for service not status. God has blessed us and given us strength in many areas of our lives.

Physical strength....Financial Strength.....Spiritual Strength....Academic Strength ...etc.

Whatever area of strength God has given us it is for the good of other people around us.

If he has blessed us with financial strength then it is for us to use to bless other people.

Even if it is strength to smile then that strength is not just to make you look good - it is for you to give a smile to someone else. To be an encouragement. To be a blessing.

Strength is for service - not status.

It's a love thing!

I know I said I would move on to leadership in love but I'm not ready yet.

You see it is a love thing......

The fact about love is that sometimes you just can't explain it - it just comes out of intimacy.

You've just got to respond to it to experience it.

Intimacy with God is called worship.

Worship is your personal response to a loving God - and you know what - we were created for worship.

The meaning of life finds itself in worshipping God.

You've just got to experience God to know him.

To help you see what I mean and what it means for some people - I thought I would feature a few clips I found on you tube.

Have you responded to God?

Enjoy

What's love got to do with it?

So what's love got to do with the meaning of life?

Question: What is the most important thing in life?

Love!

What causes a man to lose his sanity and give up his credit card? Love!

What causes a woman to put up with a crabby man that everyone says what did she see in him? Love!

What makes you know that it is a bad idea to mess with a mother's kids. Love! A mother's love for her child.

So almost as complex as the question - what is the meaning of life - is the question what is love?

Ok everyone knows you have different kinds of love and men see things very different from women.

What do blokes know about love anyway?

The Greeks those master philosphers and thinkers on love broke it down with different words for love - which kinda helps as blokes tend to confuse things in English when they say I love my food- I love my car, I love football and I love my wife.

(Perhaps in that order too! )

Pehaps the Greeks can throw some light on this;

A Greek guide to love

• Eros from which we get erotica - self explanatory.
• Philia - the love for a friend - brotherly love
• Storge - needy love - child to parent love
• Agape -love without conditions - God's personal love for me and you.
  

Agape -

• God's love -
• I love you the way you are.
• You don't need to change for me to love you anymore.
• I cherish you.
• You matter to me.
• You matter so much too me that I would give my life for you.
• In fact I already have.

So what has this got to do with the price of fish in the 21st century?

Everything! We were created to love God and to love people.

The meaning of life comes from discovering God's real and practical love for me and in turn discovering his love for other people and my part in sharing his love.

• I was created to love God
• I was created to love people

Next post: Becoming a leader in love

MOL = L3 = L L L

So what is this fancy formula and what makes me think I've cracked it!

Well I am sure I haven't cracked it - at least not in its entirety.

However during a time of private reflection at Spring Harvest this year it suddenly dawned on me.

Three L's!

Love Leadership and Legacy

Love -

• The compelling driver
• The reason for living
• The reason we live -
• The reason we are here on earth spiritually and physically.

Leadership

• Growing up and becoming a lover.
• Leading out of love
• Leading because of love
• Serving out of love.
• Loving the unloved
• Sharing the love of God
• Bringing the love and will of God to every area of my life and the people in my life.

Legacy

• Fulfiling my destiny.
• Impacting this generation and touching future generations
• Making an impact so when I am dead and gone - the world - my country - my city -my family - my children - my friends - my neighbours - my colleagues are better off for knowing me.

Next post: Taking a closer look at love.