Press the arrow to listen to Michael Card and Phil Keaggy sing “The Poem of Your Life”

Scripture
“Naomi took the baby and cuddled him to her breast. And she cared for him as if he were her own. The neighbor women said, ‘Now at last Naomi has a son again!’ And they named him Obed. He became the father of Jesse and the grandfather of David.” (Ruth 4:16-17).

Observation

God is the author of each life story. That clear from the first biography God ever wrote – the book of Ruth.

Ruth as a book is perfectly balanced.

The introduction and the conclusion have the exact same number of words. The novel starts bitter but ends better.

There are four main sections that pull the reader along.
Each section has an introductory sentence that introduces segment.
Each chapter starts with a problem that is answered and leads to the next problem.

There is balance between selfless Ruth and selfish Orpah and between selfless Boaz and the selfish relative.

The story starts with a picture of Naomi an empty a widow with two dead sons.
The fairy-tale ends with a picture of Naomi now filled with a baby in her arms.

And in the first biography in the Bible everyone lives happily ever after in the end.

Why is the book of Ruth so perfect? Ruth is not beautiful just because the writer spun a good tale but because the Lord was the author of her life. The book of Ruth is beautiful because Naomi had a God-written life. The book is a masterpiece because there was a master-plot planned by the Master Himself. Remember, God is the best selling author of all time.

Every human life is like a story. Some are tragedies. However, lives given to God are stories authored by the Almighty Himself. If my life is in Jesus then my life is a story written by God. No matter the character, the plot, the scenery, every life-tale under God’s control ends better than it began.

Some like Naomi want to stop reading the story of their lives too soon. At the start of the book Naomi tried to stop the story of her life. When her husband and sons died she thought her story had come to an end. But it was really the beginning of a brand new story.

Application

My life is like a book, being written by God every day. It all takes longer than I think it should sometimes. Writers are notoriously slow. I heard James Mitchner wrote just 3 pages a day. God takes his time working out the plot of our lives.

Our lives are like a book, a plot written day by day. Many pages are senseless. Some seem to have temporary purpose only to be lost in the next chapter. But Jesus is the author skilled at turning bad beginnings into better endings.

In all of the Bible, any human life participating with the Lord has ended better than it began. Jesus wants to dip his pen into my life to inscribe his eternal purposes. My choice is, will I scrawl an autobiography, with each chapter written by me, struggling to find meaning. Or will I let Jesus story blend with my own story so that I can inscribe eternal purposes?

Prayer

Father, here’s a pen, here’s my life, please write your story all over me. Amen.

Postponed! All decisions postponed!

Scripture

They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. Acts 15:39-41

Observation

The church is a family and not a business. Bonds are close so when decisions are made in church life we tip toe through exposed nerves. We should be considerate.

When the tough calls come here’s the question: should we go with the heart or the head?

Barnabas went heart first. He thought of his home state and his cousin first before the mission of the church. In time Barnabas’ choice proved to be right. Cyprus was won to Christ. Johnny Mark matured into Mark the author of a Bible book. Heart decisions work.

Paul went head first. He thought of the corporate mission left by Jesus to go into all the world. He was not willing to jeopardize that for one immature young man or to stay cooped up on an island in the ocean. So he chose a seasoned veteran to journey with him and went where no apostle had gone before. In time Paul was proven to be correct. Before his life was over the gospel had made it to Gibraltar and back. Head decisions work too.

The accent of this story is on Paul and his bold decision to move ahead head first. There are times when the family bonds of church life must be bruised as we move forward with the gospel.

Paul’s home church didn’t criticize him for it, they prayed for him. What a healthy response!

When we sit on the outside of a business meeting or on the edge of a large organization, leaders can make choices that cause tongues to wag. Often it is because we who live on the edges are thinking emotionally and personally rather than strategically.

Leaders, like the captain of a ship, sit in the helm where all things are visible from the boiler room to the horizon. There are many things to be considered. When leaders make choices they cannot afford to be enslaved by one particular need. All things must be considered. So the church prayed, as we should as well.

Application

Are the decisions that I make about life direction based on serving a small, narrow view of life attached to deep feelings of love or am I sitting in the control tower with the Lord seeing life from his point of view? Sometimes we must navigate misunderstanding to move forward into what the Lord has for us.

Prayer

Father, I like to make people happy, but I need even more today to please you. Help me to see your direction.

Christmas 2004 with the core leaders of New Hope Brisbane. What an amazing group of volunteers they were…and are.

Scripture
One day soon afterward Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night. At daybreak he called together all of his disciples and chose twelve of them to be apostles. Luke 6:12-13

Application
Next to dying, the choice a leader’s makes of those who come close to him is the most important decision he will make in his life. That’s why Jesus spent all night praying only three times in his ministry. Once all nighter was after the feeding of the 5,000 when the people wanted to make him king. Jesus prayed all night so he could walk the plank to Jerusalem. The next time was in Gethsemane when he asked to die in a way that would please God. And finally there is this time, when Jesus had to make the choice of who would lead beside him.

The choice of core leaders was the most important choice Christ made next to Calvary. It’s the most important choice any other leader will make as well. How did Christ do it?

1.  Jesus did not hesitate to be a leader. He did not apologize for his role, he initiated it. It was his role to discern strengths and weaknesses and to position leaders where they would succeed. Only a leader can do that.
   

2. Jesus did not hesitate to include some as leaders and to exclude others. This action separates the pastor from the leader every time. The nature of a pastor is the heart that everyone gets there together. But as leader Jesus had to risk offending some to move the kingdom forward.
   

3. Jesus separated himself from human voices and put himself in a place where God alone could speak with him. He trusted God to give him direction and placed the rabbit ears of his discernment in the best position for the clearest perspective.
   

4. Jesus went to a mountain to give perspective above the details of the valley below. A good view is important to for a leader’s mind. Plus the effort of mountain climbing gives time for the mind and heart to thrash things out with the Lord. Like Moses learned, leaders must make themselves inaccessible at times to be of any use when they are accessible.
   

5. Jesus made his decisions public. There were not backroom deals for power sharing. Jesus just made a public announcement. There would be no second guessing his motives and intentions.
   

6. Jesus left those who were not selected to process their hearts with the Lord. We’re not told this directly, but his process of making the decision and then moving on says just about the same. Those not chosen still had a work to do for the Lord. Their rejection from apostleship would open their eyes maybe through some tears to see more clearly what God had chosen them to do. A leader cannot explain everything. Some things must be processed through alone with the Lord.
   

7. Jesus chose leaders who could do one thing well: catch the ball and run. An apostle is one who is “sent with a commission” as I remember from my first Greek course. These leaders were like empty containers to receive from Christ and then responsible to get moving to disseminate that gift far and wide. What qualified these leaders for service was their emptiness

Application
In my own leadership I think I struggle most with numbers 1, 2 and 6. I am a pastor so I care for people. If 1, 2 and 6 didn’t bother me then I wouldn’t be a pastor. But there is another call on my life as well, and that is to be a leader. My charge is to bring the best out of people for the glory of God. So 1, 2 and 6 are part of the deal.

Prayer
Father, help me as I lead to lean on the character of Jesus who led so expertly. Help me to bring the best out of others as he did and so take your work forward again just like him. Amen.