Realizing Your Value

 

When one hears the word "realize" one usually associates it with discovery.  For instance, "She finally realized how blessed she is."  Another use of the word "realize" speaks of accomplishment.  By example, "He finally realized his dream by starting a business."  The true realization of anything requires both discovery and accomplishment.  The Bible teaches in Matthew 12 and again in Luke 6 the principle that man is known by his fruit.  That which is accomplished brings greater revelation to the value.

Years ago one of my relatives had an apple tree in her yard.  Every year this tree would be absolutely full of apples.  You would think that this tree held great value to the family because of the apples it produced.  However, if you ever bit into one of those apples you would quickly change your mind.  They were the toughest, most bitter apples one could ever imagine.  We used them as baseballs.  Even its value for shade or aesthetic beauty lost out over the fruit that it produced. In fact, the tree is no longer in the yard.  For, while the amount of fruit is important, the quality of fruit is more important.  The value of that tree was ultimately measured by the quality of its fruit.

People enter God's kingdom without really understanding the value God has placed in their life.   

They begin to recognize that value through the teaching of God's word.  This sometimes proves to have a positive and a negative effect on people for this reason:  People discover that they have value in God's kingdom.  Once they realize that, they understand that that value must be put into practice.  They become excited and full of hope that their value is about to be put to use.  Those hopes are quickly dashed because the release of their value into the world around them does not materialize.  At this point, many develop one of two beliefs - either that they actually had no value after all, or, no one cares enough about them to recognize the value that is obviously there.  The usual next step is to become complacent in their Christian walk.

   The truth of the matter is, their 

value has not been realized.

  

It is there and in place, but it has not been brought forth in action.  Those who are around you will only discover your true value by the fruit you produce.  But the key to that discovery lies is in what you are willing to produce.  How you choose to relate to people realizes your value.  How you share your life with others realizes your value.  How you perform on your job realizes your value to the company for which you work.  How you raise and instruct your children realizes the value you hold as a parent.   

How you relate and function among your brothers and sisters in Christ realizes your value in God's kingdom.

Many declare that they are simply waiting for an opportunity to have their value recognized so that they can have room to function.  In reality, the value of an individual is usually recognized because of how they have chosen to function.  I have a friend who is a street musician.  He and his friend can be found almost every evening on a particular spot along Savannah's River Street.  He constantly has a barrage of gifted but frustrated musicians who are waiting to be discovered.  My friend is not simply waiting to be discovered.  He determined that he would use his gift in a place where people would be.  He did not wait for an invitation to perform.  He picked up his instrument, asked the city for a permit and started playing.  The longer he plays, the more people come to appreciate his gift.  Now on any summer evening, you will likely find 10 to 50 people sitting in the square, listening to his music.  His value has been realized to the community.  When he is not there, he is missed.  Even further, as a trained musician, I became intrigued at his chord structure, which is one of his own invention.  As he released his gift into the atmosphere, I realized (i.e. discovered) a value that is missed by most.  I actually paid this street musician to teach me his chord structure so that I could enhance the music God placed within me. His willingness to pursue an action has brought to realization his value.  One thing, though.  He is out there playing when it is hot, when it is cold, when there is a crowd or when the square is empty of passersby.  He plays when he is sick, tired, or sick and tired.  When I asked him why, his reply was profound.  "If I am not here playing, I will lose my spot."

If you are not willing to exercise

the value God placed within you

 in time, you will lose your way. 

 

Your place in life will become unsure and rather than living to thrive, you will begin living just to exist.  I challenge you this week to consider your value.  Consider to whom you extend yourself.  What relationships are you willing to build and nurture?  Where are you demonstrating your value in the body of Christ?  Where are you relating in order to recognize the value of others around you?  

What are you doing to realize your value?

What Do You Believe?

What do you believe?  This is such a simple question, yet it is one of the most important questions you can ever ask yourself.  Most people live their life everyday without stopping to consider exactly what they believe.  I wonder if they would do that if they stopped to consider how much their belief system affects their life?

I actually hesitated writing about this topic because it reminds me of the catch phrase,  "What you believe is what you receive."  For years, ministers of faith, gurus, life coaches, multi-level marketers, and hosts of others have taught it in a variety of forms.  It seems that most of these teachings focus on the message "you can have it" and "you can do it."  This teaching generates a very positive outlook on life -- something that is truly needed.  However, there is something deeper that many people seem to miss.

What you believe does, in fact, determine what you receive.  The reason for this is that 

your belief sets the standard for your life.  

 It directly affects how you interpret life.  Every news article you read is interpreted by your belief system.  Every story you hear and every scripture you quote is measured by what you believe.  Every situation you encounter will be colored by your belief.  Every relationship will be defined by your belief system.  What you believe does not simply determine what you will receive.  It determines how you will live.

Consider.  What you believe about someone determines how you interpret what they say and what he does.  It also determines your response to his words and actions.  If you believe he does not like you, all he has to do is glance your way and he is "giving you a look." 

Even a compliment 

can be received as 

"back-handed" or 

"judgmental". 

Even a compliment can be received as "back-handed" or "judgmental".  If you believe that someone is a manipulator, any gift or gesture of kindness that person offers is immediately suspect.  You will question in your mind, "What is he up to?"  In the same manner, what you believe also determines your response to that person.  You will work to avoid someone who you believe does not like you.  You will take a defensive posture the moment such a person speaks to you.  In so doing, you eliminate much of the possibility for any sort of real relationship to be established.

I recognize that you will encounter people that are mean spirited or manipulative.  Or perhaps they have taken such a posture as a result of measuring people by their belief system.  If you consider that possibility, it establishes for you a means of reaching into their world -- not by violating what they believe, but by giving them the ability to develop a different belief about you.  Over the years I have put this into practice and in so doing, gained access into the lives of people who would normally not give a preacher the time of day.  I often hear the words, "You are not what I expected."  By embracing people without judging them, it is usually not long before I have the opportunity to build a friendship or, as a pastor, help them with their own belief system.

In the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13 tells us: 

"Love never gives up.  Love cares more for others than for self.  Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.  Love doesn't strut, doesn't have a swelled head, doesn't force itself on others, isn't always 'me first,' doesn't fly off the handle, doesn't keep score of the sins of others, doesn't revel when others grovel, takes pleasure in the flowering of the truth, puts up with anything, trusts God always, always looks for the best, never looks back, but keeps going to the end.  Love never dies." 

(From 1 Corinthians 13 The Message)

Is what you believe keeping you from receiving the best from the people that God has placed around you?  God is interested in the complete and total prosperity of your life.  That prosperity is determined by what you give of your life to others.  What you truly give to others is directly affected by what you believe about them.  In short, what you believe determines what you are able to receive.

Take time to assess the different areas of your life.  Consider your everyday situations and the people you encounter.  Ponder the relationships you have with people and with God.  Make a determination to daily look in the mirror and ask the question, "What Do You Believe?"

My Dad - A True Warrior

January 2, 2012 marked a milestone in the life of my father, Dr. Philip R.Byler. It serves as the 40^th anniversary of his ordination into ministry.  My dad is the sixth generation of ministers in our family, which makes me the seventh.  There is something very special and unique about such a heritage.  Many things can be said about it but words cannot truly express the sense of honor and duty that comes with that heritage.   

Ministry is not a family tradition. It is a calling.  The wisdom of our fathers prevailed in that they did not allow us to be “Momma called” or “Daddy called”.  Nepotism was the enemy.  My father encouraged both my sister and me throughout our childhood and through our young adult life to be involved in ministry.  He granted opportunity for us, just as he did with others.  Yet, he also was seemingly a strong advocate against my entering full time ministry, though I did not fully comprehend why.  In time I discovered that his actions were forged in a simple understanding. He later explained, “If I can talk you out of it, you have no business being in it.  The decision to enter ministry has to be between you and God and NOT based on being the next in line for a family tradition.”  It took great courage for my father to lay the legacy on the line and release it into the hands of a young and impetuous son.

As I grow older and look to my own children (also young and impetuous) I have a much greater respect for the strength, courage and faith my father exemplified during those years.  It was seemingly just the introductory decision into my life of ministry, yet that decision was the pivotal one.  It was the one that enforced the need to have my own relationship and sense of calling with God.  It preserved me and protected me.  While I carry on the tradition, I am not bound to carry it solely as my father and grandfather did.  Instead, he released in me the freedom to carry it as God leads in my heart and direction. It made me a better minister.  I am thankful for his wisdom and the love he demonstrated into the launching of my ministry life.

 I am also thankful that he is a pioneer at heart.  Had he been an explorer, he would have been a Christopher Columbus, or a Lewis and Clark.  He pioneered and built from the ground up a number of churches.  I have relationships with people from every era of his ministry, who are not only still serving God but function in a leadership capacity in the churches they now attend.  It is a testimony of his leadership by example and his ability to stir a passion for God and His Kingdom into the lives of others.   

Often times throughout the years, we encountered people who did not understand my father.  He always seemed to “buck” the “status-quo".  The church at large would be going in a direction and for him the winds would change and he was moving in a different direction; in his own terms, often armed with a compass rather than a road map.  Ironically, the direction he was going would always later prove to become a movement within the church in America.  He embraced Charismatic faith and led his congregation into it at the beginning of that movement.  He embedded into every disciple his life verse, Matthew 6:33, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you.”  He was teaching the benefits of the Kingdom when many around us were not embracing Kingdom lifestyle.  He saw great healings.  In the early seventies, He developed what I believe is one of the first worship orchestras in Charismatic circles.  It consisted of pianos, guitars, bass, drums, trumpets, trombones, French horns, saxophones, clarinets, recorders, an accordion, an opera singer and a sixty-seven year old Mennonite woman who played a four string banjo. Yet somehow, it not only worked, it worked so well that people came distances to experience the worship offered by that ministry.

He led his churches through the head waters of the discipleship movement.  He taught them the values it brought and was astute enough to recognize the pitfalls and protect those in his care from damage that many others encountered.  He led congregations into a great awareness of the need for true missions effort and helped people discover a passion for sharing the gospel to those in need.  He took the lessons learned from all of these experiences, authored several books, and became a defining voice in the development of what is now considered the New Apostolic Reformation.

For four decades my father has taken up his cross and followed Christ.  He, like the Apostle Paul, has demonstrated how to be abased and to abound.  He taught me that those are not opposite aspects of life, but rather, they usually happen simultaneously in life.  In other words, we learned that in seasons when we were abased, we were still abounding because of our relationship with Christ and our pursuit of His Kingdom.

My dad is a veteran.  When a veteran passes, it is customary to drape his coffin with an American flag.  When my grandfather passed, my father draped my grandfather’s coffin with a Christian flag in tribute to the fact that his father was indeed a soldier of the cross. I pray that it is a VERY LONG time before such a decision has to be made, but when that day comes, I believe that I will strive to repeat the same action, for my father is a warrior of the King – he is a soldier of the cross.

In the past forty years, he has poured out his life as a “libation of love” – a drink offering to those who would taste the waters that would allow them to never be thirsty again.  He taught us the benefit of preferring others and he taught us that the true blessing of life is found in the living of it.  His longevity and tenacity in pursuing the Kingdom and the knowledge of the Holy is not merely an inspiration, but a great testimony of faith.  I am thankful for his pursuit, His love for God, His passion for the Kingdom, the love and guidance he as shown to me and to so many others, and for the wisdom of his years.  Far from finishing, he is on the path to finishing well, and I hope that when I reach his milestone, my testimony will reflect his.

Thanks for all of it Dad!  I love you.

Son,

Timothy  

Be Of Good Courage

Be of good courage.  This statement is rehearsed many times throughout scripture.  In its most consistent context, it is found when God communicated to Moses, to Joshua, and to the children of Israel at specific moments where He invited them to embrace their destiny.

I often consider that life was easier in days of old.  Sure, we have modern conveniences.  We have a vast amount of improvements in our lives.  We even have improvements over our improvements.  We have tractors to work the fields, where we once had oxen.  Now we have air conditioned tractors.  I don’t care what you say: it is easier to plow a field in an air conditioned tractor than it is to plow behind a team of oxen.

So what was easier in early times?  The decision to move on with one’s destiny – to reach into the unknown – had to be easier.  I am not discrediting the courageous decisions of our forefathers, but hear me out.  How difficult was it for Seth (the son of Adam) to move out into his own dwelling? 

“Yesterday, I lived in my dad’s tent.  I ate food that we killed or grew. Today I live in a tent next door.  In killed something and ate it. Oh, and I planted something I can eat later.” 

It is a drastic overstatement, but with the intention of pointing out that the more complex life has become, the more difficult it has become to break free of that life to embrace any new direction to which you are called.

Generations after Adam, Jesus pointed this out.  To the rich, young ruler He instructed, “Sell all that you have and give to the poor.” He was communicating a need for the willingness to lay aside all that seems secure in favor securing your future and your destiny.  Sometimes you simply have to do that.

I live in America.  It is a nation that was birthed with exactly that sentiment in mind.  It is a nation birthed through the courage of men and women who were willing today all on the line to carve out a future and a destiny.

"With nothing more than the clothes on their backs, they came to seek a better life, where they could live as they believe".  

 That took courage.

Be of good courage.  It takes courage to step beyond the status quo.  It takes courage to reach beyond what is known.  It takes courage to build on your faith and belief system, especially when it means challenging things you have always known in the context that you currently know them. Yet, the Gospel and history itself have proven that such measure is often the necessary ingredient in fulfilling your purpose.

Paul the Apostle offered great challenge to both Jews and Greeks.  He challenged early believers who, in short order, fell into the status quo of Christian life and became lukewarm and irrelevant. Like Jesus, he challenged people to lay it all on the line and pursue with great passion that which God was placing before them, not allowing anything – life or death – to hinder them from pressing on to fulfill their life’s purpose in God.

Consider some of the courageous leaders of modern times. Their ability to succeed and do extraordinary things started with the ability to step beyond the status quo and reach beyond the limits of their current state in order to function in a greater capacity.  They were willing to reconsider how man interprets certain ideas.  They were willing to think outside the box. They refused to step away from truth, but instead were willing to let truth expand their thoughts, their faith and their walk in life.  They learned hard lessons and suffered failures among their successes, but they passionately blazed a path which changed the course of history.  Each one attributed to their success the attribute of courage.

Theodore Roosevelt said, “It is only through labor and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to better things.” Eleanor Roosevelt stated, “We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face... we must do that which we think we cannot.”

Steve Jobs, the entrepreneur who gave us Apple and negotiated Pixar into the Disney family taught, “Time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”

Each of these spoke of the courage necessary to be victorious.  But they also demonstrated that victory requires action as well as faith.  Dale Carnegie once said that “Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.”

All this to say –  

Be of good courage.   

Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 

Do not allow another day to occur in your life that is less than full of passion for God and His Kingdom.  Each day carries with it a battle - sometimes against a principle that works in opposition with God.  Sometimes it is a personal challenge.  Sometimes it is simply a battle against mediocrity. In each case, there will be aspects of learned behavior and the current status quo of your life that can hinder you rather than help you.  Be willing to look beyond it to see more. In so doing, you will become one who does more than you ever dreamed possible…and…you will step into YOUR destiny.