Easter and COVID-19:
God Works in All Things for Good
Things and circumstances aren’t magic. The broken world isn’t set up so that good always prevails in this age. But God is at work in and through all things. And God is able to work in them for his ultimate good. The same God who was able to work through the horrors of the crucifixion, the same God who defeated death through the resurrection of Jesus, this God can and will work in all things for good.
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Easter and COVID-19:
God’s Help and God’s Groaning
As the world suffers from the impact of the coronavirus, creation groans. And so do the millions whose lives are imperiled by the virus. We groan in fear, pain, and loss. We groan in frustration, loneliness, and anger. A dear friend of mine recently lost one of his close friends to COVID-19. When he learned of his friend’s passing, my friend groaned, filled with mourning. Yes—in his note to me he actually said he “groaned.” Yet, he did not groan alone. God was with him, helping him by groaning with him, through him, and for him.
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Easter and COVID-19:
Glorious Hope
Our hope is not based on our ability to foresee the future. It’s not based on us at all. Rather, it is based on who God is and what God has done through Jesus Christ. It rests on the solid foundation of the resurrection of Jesus.
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Easter and COVID-19:
A World of Groaning
This pandemic reminds us vividly of the fact that our world is not what it should be. As the novel coronavirus stalks our planet, creation is groaning. And we are groaning along with it (Romans 8:25).
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Easter and COVID-19:
The Life-Giving Spirit
How does this verse speak to us in the midst of the coronavirus crisis? First, it offers the promise of life beyond this life. In a time when we are more aware than usual of our mortality, when we are reminded of the fact that we will die, it’s reassuring to know that physical death is not the end for us. We will be raised into the life of the age to come, when disease and death are no more.
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I Thank God for All of You!
Today, April 1, 2020, is the fifth anniversary of the first edition of Life for Leaders, the daily digital devotional produced by Fuller’s Max De Pree Center for Leadership.
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Transformational Leadership Starts with Self Transformation
Regeneration—a word we don’t use often enough. It describes salvation and the realities of our new lives in Christ. This word suggests that salvation necessarily comes with changes in the way we act, speak, and think. In other words, regeneration speaks of being transformed. Although this may feel like a farfetched notion to some people, even to believers, it is a Biblical guarantee. 2 Corinthians 5:17 assures us that for those of us in Christ, “the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here!”
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It’s Not Mine.
We’ve all made that same mistake at some point in our lives. I know I have. I’ve forgotten that every good and perfect gift is from God. My work, my friendships, my community, my church, my future, my home, my health, and all the rest. All of it is God’s.
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Leadership Vows: Energy
Perhaps I’m stating the obvious, but all work demands effort. Foundational to the promises we make as leaders is that we will give the energy our work requires, even when we feel outmatched and outnumbered. For that reason, I am grateful that the leadership vow from my Presbyterian tradition begins with the question, “Will you seek to serve the people with energy?” While I took that vow as a church leader, the question is equally applicable to other leadership contexts, including, by the way, that of being grandparents!
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Peace With Everyone?
As we sat together on the couch, my husband turned to me and said, “Instead of wars, let’s just figure everything out with basketball. If your team wins, your country gets the land. If our team wins, our country gets the land.”
I know it’s an oversimplification, but doesn’t it sound nice?
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Devotions for Christmas, Part 1: Offer Your Body to God
Christmas has a lot to do with bodies, if you stop to think about it. The nativity narrative in Luke begins with the news that the aged body of Elizabeth will soon bear a son. Then, a virgin named Mary learns that her body will soon contain the very Son of God. When God’s Son is born, he has a real body, one that starts out life in weakness and dependency. If you take away the bodies, you really don’t have Christmas at all.
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Transformational Leadership Conclusion
My hope is that this series on transformational leadership has inspired you to take your leadership to the next level and to the next generation… My prayer is that you would leave the indelible mark of Christ on every work that you touch, and that God’s work through you would transform the systems of this world throughout the ages.
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Stubborn Roots and Overflowing Bounty
I step through the doorway onto the deck, down the stairs, and out onto the driveway, which is concrete, gritty and warm—almost hot—beneath my feet. It is the thick of summer now, and our tomatoes hang heavy on the vine, laughing at our inability to accurately predict how many tomatoes one plant will bear… On lazy days like these, when no deadlines or meetings or other commitments call, I am most assuredly drawn outside—always barefoot, a dog or two sauntering or bouncing at my heels.
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Transformational Leadership Introduction
Our nation and the world are asking for transformational leadership. It has always been the domain of Christ’s body to rise to the occasion every time direction is needed. This series on transformational leadership will explore ways that we can gracefully and confidently step into the role that God has called us to hold.
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The Science of Compassion
Jesus knew the power of compassion. He knew that desiring good for those we have named “enemy” retrains our brains and transforms us, through the literal renewing of our minds. Practicing loving-kindness and compassion makes it possible for us to de-escalate divisiveness and point people toward something more.
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