Setting captives free

Are you helping the people around you to be set free from the hurts, habits and hang-ups of their past?
Last week I heard the same message from 3 different sources that are totally unaware of the other two.
1. I reconnected over Facebook with a former classmate. She shared with me a testimony about a godly man whose personal perspective caused her to lose the joy that God intends. She learned through that process that for her own benefit she needed to intentionally forgive him in order to get beyond it.
2. Another friend posted a little story about the "little red wagon" that we all carry behind us where we store all the emotional baggage of what people do to us.
3. I watched a movie on Lifetime Movie Network (I usually avoid this channel which I have nicknamed "the man bashing channel") about the incomprehensible grace that the Amish community in Pennsylvania showed toward the family of the man who invaded their school and shot several of their children.

All of these reminded me that FORGIVENESS affects the person choosing to forgive as much (more?) than the person receiving forgiveness.

In small groups and classes that you lead, are you helping your participants to experience that blessing or do you subtly allow them to hold on to their victim status?

If Jesus was able to choose to forgive those who crucified him (including you and me whose sins put him on that cross), isn't it reasonable to expect us to let go of the hurtful things people have done to us?

Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Lk 23:34.)

Is your small group/class a place where you spray air freshner to cover-up the stench of negativity or is it a place where the attitudes that cause the stench are dealt with and removed?

Expectations and Assumptions

What do you expect from those you lead?

I have been in some groups where it is evident that the leader does not expect much from the group. Many support groups fit this context when the leader views the participants as VICTIMS who need to be comforted and be assured that their experiences are "normal"

I have been in other groups that are truly inspiring when the leader believes that the current situation does not doom the future outcomes.

"The Ron Clark Story," "The Great Debaters," "October Sky," and "Freedom Writers" (language warning!) are just a few secular movies that I could recommend that will instill hope and motivation to what you do as a teacher/leader. If these students could accomplish human goals, HOW MUCH MORE are your students capable of great spiritual depth with the limitless power of God working in them?

lessons from other learners

Last week I participated in a class as a student. The subject material was new to the whole class and it very easily could have been overwhelming. As the students were standing around during a break toward the end of the class I overheard a common theme in the comments--"the teacher never makes us appear stupid".

Early in the week the professor intentionally created an environment where students were encouraged to participate and it was safe to give the wrong answer. Wrong answers were not acceptable as a final conclusion, but were viewed as an opportunity to go back and think through the process that led to a wrong conclusion. Mistakes were considered learning opportunities, not failures!

Each of us were more competent at the end of the class than we were at the beginning. Largely because we all admitted we were learners and did NOT presume to have more knowledge than we actually had acquired.

This made me consider my teaching. Do I give the impression to my students that I only want to hear right answers? Do I so value the right answer that students are unwilling to speak up if they are still in the learning cycle for fear of humiliation? Are wrong answers treated as failures or learning opportunities?

How about you? Who is the best example you know of somebody who created an environment where it was safe to be wrong as an opportunity to become right?

Winter is coming to an end!

Just as the scene in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the long winter here in Wisconsin appears to be coming to an end. While every square foot (except where we shoveled) of the property where our home stands is still snow-covered, the Daffodils are beginning to pop up THROUGH THE SNOW!

I mentioned this fact to a stranger in a medical office yesterday and told him I had never seen this before. He said it is a common occurrence on one side of his home where the sun reflects off the white siding and warms the ground.

This made me think of your role as a teacher or small group leader. While we cannot cause a bulb to bloom or a disciple to imitate Christ, we can "warm the soil" so that growth is likely to happen. In Jesus' parable of the Sower, there is equally good seed that goes onto the 4 soils but growth to maturity was dependent upon good soil. While I pastored in Oklahoma I learned that the months between harvest and sowing were filled with much work to prepare the soil for the next year's crop. Besides quality seed and God's provision of helpful weather, soil preparation was the greatest determinant of a good harvest.

The "soil" of your students/participants lives can be warmed by your reflection of the love and grace of God. Are you allowing God's light to reflect off (or shine through is more accurate) you?

The bulbs on the North side of our home have not started to bloom because the soil has not been properly warmed, but the same variety of plants are beginning to show signs of growth on the South side where light and warmth are more prevalent.

In the last 2 days on Facebook I have found that 2 of my male friends are expressing frustration over the circumstances of their lives. (You know it is bad when a GUY talks about his feelings without being asked!!) I am going to make an attempt to reflect a little of God's warmth onto their lives so that seeds of God's truth can produce good fruit. Would you join with me in making a new commitment to reflect warmth to those around you? Let's Hasten the THAW!