Author: Jole Miller

Teach Us to Pray

Posted on by Jole Miller

Prayer is often difficult. It is hard to make time for it, hard to stay focused, and hard to know what to say. When Jesus’ disciples asked him to teach them how to pray, he gave them the Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11:1-4).

Another prayer tool I have learned is called the ACTS model. ACTS stands for:

  • Adoration: What is a characteristic of God that you appreciate?
  • Confession: In what ways are you falling short of God’s standard for you?
  • Thanksgiving: What good has God already done for you?
  • Supplication: What do you want/need God to do for you?

In the following, I will show how the Lord’s Prayer and ACTS prayer can be blended. The process involves meditating on each phrase of the Lord’s Prayer and reflecting on what it means for our lives. In each phrase I will state what is true about God, where I fall short, why I am thankful, and what I want God to do.

“Our Father in Heaven”

  • Adoration: “You have given us the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry ‘Abba! Father!’ You are a great and merciful Father. By your grace you have turned orphans, rebels, and enemies into sons and daughters and co-heirs with Christ.”
  • Confession: “But so often I don’t live like a son. I am the younger son who wants your stuff, but not a relationship with you. I am the older son who believes that I can earn your love if I do enough good things (Luke 15).
  • Thanksgiving: “I thank you for your grace. By your grace I can boldly approach your throne, completely accepted as your child. Thank you that I am yours and you are mine forever.”
  • Supplication: “There are many who do not call on you as Father. They are stuck in their sins and have no concept of your love and compassion. Would you open their eyes to see your goodness and receive you as their true Father?”

“Hallowed Be Your Name”

  • Adoration: “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty. There is no one like you. Let your name be honored as holy.”
  • Confession: “So often I treat you as common. I forget how holy and great you are. I try to make a name for myself rather than glorifying your name.”
  • Thanksgiving: “Thank you that through Jesus you made a way for sinners to be in your presence. You are unapproachable, yet in Christ you made it so we could approach you.”
  • Supplication: “I want to see more people worship you and lifting your name on high. Would you change hearts so they praise your holy name?”

“Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done”

  • Adoration: “Your kingdom is not of this world. It is pure, true, and just. Your kingdom is a priceless pearl. Your will is good, pleasing, and perfect. Your thoughts are not my thoughts and your ways are not my ways. Your plan is so much higher than I could ever comprehend.”
  • Confession: “I often don’t live according to your kingdom. I am selfish. I neglect the needy. I don’t speak the truth in love. I don’t seek your face as I should. I want my own will to be done. I don’t believe that your plans for me are good.”
  • Thanksgiving: “Thank you that you delight to give us the kingdom. Thank you that your will cannot be thwarted.”
  • Supplication: “Would your kingdom of light and love push against the kingdom of sin and darkness both in the world and in my heart? Would you help me to trust that your ways are better than mine? Let your will be done in and through me.”

“Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread”

  • Adoration: “You are a good Father who gives good gifts to your children. The earth is yours and everything in it. All things are dependent on you. You are the Creator of everyone and everything.”
  • Confession: “Forgive me when I live like I don’t need you. When I am ungrateful for the good gifts you provide. When I feel entitled to more than you’ve given. When I envy those with more than me.”
  • Thanksgiving: “Thank you for the good gifts you provide. You have provided jobs. You provided skilled workers to produce and serve food. Every day that I have enough to eat is a miracle, for which I am grateful.”
  • Supplication: “Please provide what I need. I also lift up those who are suffering and don’t know where their next meal is coming from. Give them their daily bread too.”

“Forgive Us, As We Also Have Forgiven Others”

  • Adoration: “You are gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands of generations, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin. You know all things, yet you cast my sins into the sea of forgetfulness.”
  • Confession: “My sins are many and are ever before me. I haven’t loved you with my whole heart or loved my neighbor as myself. I also hold grudges even though love keeps no record of wrongs.”
  • Thanksgiving: “Thank you that because Jesus died on the cross, there is forgiveness of sins. ‘The wages of sin is death,’ and Jesus paid it all. Thank you for your priceless sacrifice.”
  • Supplication: “Bring to mind my sins and how I am falling short. Forgive me, Father. Give me the love and grace to forgive those who have wronged me. Help those who are far from you find forgiveness.”

Lead Us Not into Temptation, but Deliver Us from the Evil One

  • Adoration: “You are the good shepherd. You lead us beside still waters. You protect us in the valley of the shadow of death. You are stronger than evil. You are our shield, our fortress, and our deliverer. Lord, you are a mighty warrior.”
  • Confession: “I confess how often I lead myself into temptation. I get distracted from the path you called me to walk and befriend evil. I forsake your wisdom and the Spirit within me. I don’t live out the freedom you bought for me with Christ’s blood.”
  • Thanksgiving: “Thank you that you have given your Holy Spirit and your Word to lead us and guide us. Thank you that Jesus defeated sin and death when he rose from the dead. Thank you that by trusting in Jesus we share in your victory.”
  • Supplication: “Lead us, guide us, and protect us. Satan is like a roaring lion, seeking to devour. Help us to stand firm and trust in you. May we not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.”

For Yours Is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory Now & Forever. Amen

The Shape of the Gospel

Posted on by Jole Miller

A friend of mine once told me that the Christian life is a series of life, death, and resurrection stories.

Things start off well enough, then get really bad before ending up in a better place than when you started. The shape of life looks something like this:

This theme shows up again and again in Scripture.

Creation

  • Life: God created the world and it was very good (Genesis 1:31).
  • Death: Sin entered the world and now creation groans (Genesis 3:17-19 & Romans 8:18-22).
  • Resurrection: God will restore all things in the new heavens and new earth (Revelation 21:1-4 & 22:1-5).

Abraham

  • Life: Abraham lived in his father’s house until he was 75 (Genesis 11:26-12:4).
  • Death: God called him to leave home, live as a nomad, and wait 25 years until God provided a son (Genesis 15:1-5, 16:1-5, & 17:1-2).
  • Resurrection: Abraham and Sarah rejoice in Isaac’s birth in their old age (Genesis 21:1-6).

Jacob

  • Life: Had a strained relationship with his father and brother Esau, but was favored by his mother (Genesis 25:23-34).
  • Death: Jacob fled from Esau after stealing his blessing, was cheated by his Uncle Laban for 15 years, and dislocated his hip wrestling with God (Genesis 27:1-32:32).
  • Resurrection: Had 12 sons, was renamed Israel, and reconciled with Esau (Genesis 32:27-33:20).

Joseph

  • Life: Was his father’s favorite son and had a beautiful coat (Genesis 37:1-11).
  • Death: Over a period of thirteen years Joseph was beaten by his brothers, thrown into a pit, sold into slavery, falsely accused of sexual misconduct, and was thrown into prison (Genesis 37:12-36, 39:1-41:40).
  • Resurrection: Joseph was freed from prison to be Pharaoh’s advisor. He was given a royal robe and saved his family (and millions more) from starvation (Genesis 41:41-45:28).

Moses

  • Life: Was raised by Pharaoh’s daughter (Exodus 2:1-10 & Acts 7:17-22).
  • Death: Killed a man then lived in the wilderness as a shepherd for 40 years (Exodus 2:11-22 & Acts 7:23-30).
  • Resurrection: Moses returned to Egypt to deliver his people from slavery and speaks face to face with God (Exodus 3-14).

Hebrews

  • Life: Were slaves in Egypt for 400 years.
  • Death: Wandered in the wilderness for 40 years.
  • Resurrection: Entered the promised land.

Job

  • Life: Was a righteous and wealthy man (Job 1:1-5).
  • Death: Job lost all of his children, his wealth, and his health. He was so depressed he cursed the day he was born (Job 1:6-3:26).
  • Resurrection: Job came to a deeper understanding of God’s character and received twice the amount of possessions (Job 42:1-17).

David

  • Life: Was anointed by Samuel to be the next king, won fame through his military exploits (1 Samuel 16-17).
  • Death: David ran from King Saul as the king sought to kill him (1 Samuel 18-31).
  • Resurrection: David became King in Jerusalem and brought peace and stability to the land (2 Samuel 5-6).

Psalm 23

  • Life: Lack nothing, green pastures, quiet waters, refreshed soul (Psalm 23:1-3).
  • Death: Valley of the Shadow of Death (Psalm 23:4).
  • Resurrection: Dwell in the house of the LORD forever (Psalm 23:6).

Jonah

  • Life: The word of the Lord came to Jonah (Jonah 1:1).
  • Death: Jonah ran from God and ended up in the belly of a fish for 3 days (Jonah 1:3-2:9).
  • Resurrection: The fish vomited up Jonah and he preached to the city of Nineveh leading to repentance (Jonah 2:10-3:10).

Jesus (Part 1)

  • Life: Jesus lived a sinless life.
  • Death: He was betrayed and rejected by his friends, was mocked, beaten, and crucified.
  • Resurrection: He rose from the dead on the third day.

Jesus (Part 2)

  • Life: Jesus was one with God in heaven (Philippians 2:6).
  • Death: Jesus was born of Mary, lived, and died on the cross (Philippians 2:7-8).
  • Resurrection: Jesus ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father (Philippians 2:9-11).

Saint Paul

  • Life: Advanced in Judaism beyond his contemporaries, was zealous for the traditions of his ancestors (Galatians 1:13-14).
  • Death: Paul encountered Jesus, fell off his high horse (literally), and was blind for 3 days (Acts 9:1-9).
  • Resurrection: “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:7-8).

God’s Promise to Those in Christ

As we see, almost every hero in the bible experienced a season in the wilderness or in the pit. The wilderness and pit are places of suffering, loneliness, and waiting. There is always a humbling before exaltation. Sometimes we humble ourselves. Other times life humbles us.

If things are going well for you now, praise God! But know that these times don’t last forever.

If you are in the pit, take heart! God promises, not only to bring you out of the pit, but to put you on higher ground. Although, sometimes we have to wait until the next life for God to do that.

Also, I admit that the image above is a bit too simple. It shows the overall trend of life, but fails to capture all of the highs and lows that we will experience. The Christian life looks more like the Dow Jones from the last 100 years:

We see many ups and downs, but the trajectory over the long run is up. Our problem is that we lack the perspective to see what the outcomes will be. In the chart, we see a massive decline from 1966-1983. But from 1983-1999 there was massive growth, ending with more than double the 1966 amount. I can imagine many people being so discouraged in the early 80’s that they took their money out of the stock market. But if they would have held on a little bit longer, they would have quadrupled their investment.

It is the same for us. Sometimes life feels so hard and disappointing that it takes everything in us to not give up. We might even resonate with Job’s wife when she told her husband to “Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9).

I don’t know how long your valley will last, but I promise that it won’t last forever. God also promises that he will never leave you or forsake you. He is with you, grieving and groaning on your behalf.

Because Jesus rose from the dead, those who believe in him will also be raised with him. “Where, oh death is your victory? Where, oh death, is your sting?” If you are in the valley, remember that a resurrection is coming.

A resurrection is coming.

Lent Reflections: Mortality

Posted on by Jole Miller

“Remember you are dust, and to dust you will return.”

This is the phrase that churches all around the world told their parishioners on Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday kicks off the Lenten season, the 40ish days from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. According to a handout from my church, the aim of Lent is threefold:

  1. To meditate on our mortality, sinfulness, and need of a savior.
  2. To renew our commitment to daily repentance, both during Lent and all of life.
  3. To remember with confidence and gratitude that Christ has conquered death and sin.

With that in mind, I want to offer a sobering reflection on mortality.

A Tale of Two Pictures

The photo above shows my great-grandfather Clarence (“Pa”) with his three brothers William, Robert, and Frank. Pa was born on May 27th, 1928 and Frank was born December 29th, 1931. So, this picture must have been taken between 1932-1933. We see children with all their lives ahead of them, brothers who would all grow into adults with careers and loved ones, and experience many joys and disappointments.

The picture below shows the same brothers roughly 30 years later. At this time, Pa would have been married, had two sons, and a grandson either just born or coming soon.

I never knew Uncle Bill or Uncle Bob. They died before I was born. I am grateful that I had a relationship with Pa. I know that there aren’t many people who have met their great-grandparents, let alone remember them. Pa past away December 05, 2006 at the age of 78.

On that day, Frank, the baby from the first picture, became an only child. Uncle Frank buried his three brothers. He too joined them in death in February of 2020.

The Sad Reality

These pictures point to the truth beneath every picture: eventually one person will have lost every other person and be the last one living.

Every school or team picture.

Every wedding photo.

Every family picture at Christmas.

Every selfie with my wife and son.

There will come a day when all but one will remain. And then the one will become zero.

Consider the passage of time in the pictures below.

Pa holding me, next to my dad and grandpa.
My grandpa holding my son. My dad, me, and brother in back.

God willing, one day my dad will be the one holding his great-grandchild.

“As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him. For he knows what we are made of, remembering that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass- he blooms like a flower of the field; when the wind passes over it, it vanishes, and its place is no longer known” (Psalm 103:13-16).

“So remember your Creator in the days of your youth: Before the days of adversity come, and the years approach when you will say, ‘I have no delight in them’ . . . For the mere mortal is headed for his eternal home, and mourners will walk around the street; before the silver cord is snapped, and the gold bowl is broken, and the jar is shattered at the spring, and the wheel is broken into the well; and the dust returns to the earth as it once was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. ‘Absolute futility,’ says the Teacher. ‘Everything is futile.” (Ecclesiastes 12:1-8).

Memento Mori.

Remember that you will die.

You are dust, and you will return to dust.

May we carefully number our days so that our hearts become wise.

How Sam-I-Am Can Transform Your Selling Skills

Posted on by Jole Miller

Within Green Eggs and Ham are lessons that any entrepreneur, salesman, or recruiter should take to heart. If you sell or promote a product, service, or opportunity, you would be wise to pay attention to Sam-I-Am.

Sam-I-Am created a product that was unlike anything the world had ever seen. He knew it had the potential to transform the breakfast game. He identified one man to be an early adopter, and hopefully a life-long customer. But the man was not interested and even hostile towards Sam-I-Am. Sam-I-Am then showed great perseverance and creativity to get the man to try his green eggs and ham.

What follows are four interrelated principles we learn from Sam-I-Am:

  1. Believe in Your Product
  2. Don’t Fear Rejection
  3. Be Willing to Innovate
  4. Love Your Customers

1. Believe in Your Product

I heard someone break “enthusiasm” into two parts; Enthus and IASM. Enthus comes from the Greek “to be inspired by God/possessed by a god.” Enthus is to be captivated by an idea, and IASM is an acronym for “I am sold myself.“

Do you believe in what you are selling? Are you sold yourself?

When I was a barista there were seasons when we tried to sell different promotional bags of coffee. We were supposed to tell every customer about the coffee we were selling. I struggled with this because I didn’t really believe in the product. I didn’t care whether they made our coffee at home or came to the coffee shop. It felt like an obligation when I asked people if they wanted to buy beans. I didn’t have much excitement or a sense of curiosity about what they were looking for in a product. I did the bear minimum to keep my manager happy. As a result, I didn’t sell much coffee.

“Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” We can’t help but talk about things that are important to us and that we really believe in.

Sam-I-Am is sold on green eggs and ham. He was confident that it would make people’s lives better. (I’m going to assume that this is all organic, free-range, with no added hormones or preservatives). We can tell he believes in his product by how he perseveres and remains optimistic in the face of rejection. Which brings us to the second point.

2. Don’t Fear Rejection

Green Eggs and Ham begins with a man asserting that he does not like Sam-I-Am. It is unclear why he has this negative bias. When Sam-I-Am offered green eggs and ham, the man refused. It is unclear if he refused because he disliked Sam-I-Am or because the product was so different.

He said “no” to green eggs and ham more than 70 times before agreeing to take a bite. Sam-I-Am was willing to face rejection because he believed in his product. He wasn’t afraid of being annoying (even though the man found him to be quite annoying).

How often do you get a “no” and never try again? Maybe someone didn’t respond to a text or answer a phone call and we assume that they don’t want anything to do with us or are annoyed by us. What if there is nothing wrong with us or the product? What if we just need to try a different way?

3. Be Willing to Innovate

When the man said he didn’t like green eggs and ham, Sam-I-Am didn’t take no for an answer. He was persistent and offered different situations in which the man could eat green eggs and ham:

  1. Here
  2. There
  3. In a house
  4. With a mouse
  5. In a box
  6. With a fox
  7. In a car
  8. In a tree
  9. On a train
  10. In the dark
  11. In the rain
  12. With a goat
  13. On a boat

Sam-I-Am was willing to change things up and find new ways to make his product appealing. He didn’t “shake the dust off his feet” and move on until he exhausted every reasonable option. He did the hard work of getting to know his customer and adapting to fit the individual.

How about you? What innovations do you need to make to communicate more effectively with your constituents?

4. Love Your Customers

Sam-I-Am loved the man enough to persevere. He believed that green eggs and ham would improve the man’s quality of life, so he creatively attempted to get the man to try them. Jesus said that there is no greater love than laying one’s life down for a friend (John 15:13). Sam-I-Am laid down his comfort, his time, and his respectability. He endured rejection and anger so that the man would have a great meal. (I am assuming that Sam-I-Am has good intentions with the man and isn’t trying to get him addicted to a product that will end killing him. I am also assuming that his primary concern is for the man, and not for the money the man may or may not give him).

If you have something that can improve people’s lives, it is loving to do whatever it takes to encourage them to try it. Whether you are a personal trainer, financial advisor, evangelist, or coach, if you believe in what you are offering and care about the quality of their lives, you will do what it takes to get a ‘yes’.

Do you love them enough to try a new approach?

Do you love them enough to hear “no” multiple times?

Are you sold yourself?

Wicked Theology

Posted on by Jole Miller

I recently saw Wicked in theaters and was impressed. The songs were great, the world was bright and colorful, and the cast had great chemistry. However, I struggle with movies that reimagine a classic villain as misunderstood rather than genuinely evil (Cruella and Maleficent gave me a similar feeling). I will not give a full movie review here. My focus will be on what this film says about the nature of God and morality.

Disclaimer: There are some spoilers in this review. I’d also encourage you to read Brett McCracken’s fuller review here. Brett is who I wish I could be as a writer 🙂

How Wicked Views God

In Wicked the Wizard of Oz is essentially their God. We hear phrases like “Oz bless you,” “Thank Oz!” or “What in the name of Oz!” Everyone puts their hope in the Wizard. They believe that he will deliver them from all their problems. However, Elphaba learns that the Wizard is a fraud. He has no power of his own, but uses smoke and mirrors to deceive the masses.

In the 1939 Wizard of Oz, the Wizard was portrayed as a snake-oil salesman type. He had no power but was generally well-intentioned. In Wicked, the Wizard is analogous to Hitler. He believed that people would only unite around a common enemy, so he used propaganda to turn humans against innocent talking animals.

The theology of Wicked is that God is a fraud. He has no power to save anyone, but uses rituals and deception to prop up the privileged class. He is only concerned with staying in power and maintaining order, even if it means hurting the innocent. A common critique against Christianity is that the Church is a man-made institution that only exists to prop up current power structures. Karl Marx called religion the “opiate of the masses.” Those skeptical of religion don’t see love, joy, peace, and beauty. They see shame, division, and various forms of exploitation.

The audience is left wondering, if the Wizard can’t save us, who can? The answer seems to be Elphaba.

What Makes the Witch Wicked?

Elphaba was dealt a bad hand in life. Her birth was the result of her mother’s adultery, giving her green skin. Her father hated her and children bullied her for how she looked. Despite this, she shows no moral flaws. She carries much guilt for her paraplegic sister and constantly advocates on her behalf. Her two flaws are that she struggles to control her powers and is socially awkward (which is explained by being an outcast all her life). At this end of the movie, Elphaba is clearly the hero. The Wizard is the real villain, along with the ambivalent majority who refuse to care about the oppression of animals.

At the end of Part 1 my main questions are, how/will Elphaba go bad? Will her compassion for the downtrodden slowly turn her bitter and resentful to the rest of the world? Or will she stay the same, showing everyone else to be the real villians? Also, how does her sister become the Wicked Witch of the East? In Wicked she is wheelchair-bound, shows no magical abilities, and has a crush on a boy from Munchkin Land. What will happen to make the munchkins throw a parade when a house falls on her? I’m eager to see how Part 2 will answer these questions!

What Happens when God is Dead?

Elphaba rightly advocates for the dignity of all people (including animals in that world). It is wrong to treat somebody as less than because of their skin color or physical abilities. Most people in the West would agree. One might call these truths self-evident. But why is it true?

The bible says it is because there is a God who made us in his own image. Genesis 1:27 is the basis for all human rights. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” This is why oppression, racism, and sexism is wrong. Without God, these things are relatively immoral, not absolutely immoral (meaning in a different time and place, what we think of as bad might actually be good). If there is no God, all morality ultimately comes down to the preferences of the times. So, if the Axis had won WWII we could be celebrating Hitler as a revolutionary hero, rather than the personification of evil. Wicked shows that God is a fraud, while simultaneously calling people to high moral standards. But these standards are not rooted in anything but intuition.

In the song “Defying Gravity” Elphaba sings, “I’m through with playing by the rules of someone else’s game . . . I’m through accepting limits ’cause someone says they’re so. Some things I cannot change, but ’til I try, I’ll never know . . . And nobody in all of Oz, no wizard that there is or was is ever gonna bring me down.”

This song is a call to push past limits and to self-actualization. The message is essentially, “You are your own authority. You are free to be anything you want to be. Even the law of gravity can’t hold you back.” But everyone has limitations. We are limited by our knowledge, time, and strength. We all need to eat and sleep. It is wise to distinguish between limitations we need to accept for our own good, and arbitrary limitations we need to push beyond. G.K. Chesterton once said, “The more I considered Christianity, the more I found that while it had established a rule and order, the chief aim of of that order was to give room for good things to run wild.” God gives rules and limits no to kill our joy, but to maximize it.

If God is a fraud, like Wicked suggests, then it would make sense to play by our own rules and follow our own moral intuition. But if God is real and he is good, wise, and powerful, if he loved the world so much that he gave his own and only son to die on the cross for our sins, then we are obligated to live our lives according to that reality. Is it possible the the God who created the universe can run it better than us?

My Favorite Christmas Passage

Posted on by Jole Miller

There are a lot of great passages that speak of our Savior’s miraculous birth and the joy and light that he brings. For example, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). Or,

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). Or these from the Gospel of Luke:

 “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). “And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth” (Luke 1:14)

These verses are great, however, I rarely hear people talk about Philippians 2 at this time of year. Paul writes in his letter to the Philippians, “Adopt the same attitude of that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the form of humanity . . .” (Philippians 2:5-7).

Those who have been Christians for a while can become so familiar with the Christmas story that it no longer shocks them. Yet these verses should shock us.

Word Became Flesh

Jesus is God and he became a baby.

The immortal became mortal.

The all-knowing became totally ignorant.

The all-powerful became completely dependent.

The omnipresent occupied a single time and space.

The unchanging God had to grow up and undergo puberty.

The Word of God didn’t know how to talk.

The creator of the universe made tables and chairs.

Death

Not only did Jesus come to earth, he also suffered and died. Paul continues, “And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death- even to death on a cross” (Philippians 2:7-8).

The King of Kings became obedient.

The source of love was hated.

The source of joy was grieved.

The source of peace faced conflict.

The Beloved Son was rejected by the Father and his people.

Eternal life was killed.

Glorification

The great news of Jesus is that death could not defeat him. Because he was obedient to the Father in all things, “God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow . . . and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11). This is the way of Jesus.

A crown of thorns comes before the crown of heaven.

Suffering comes before glory.

Humility comes before exaltation.

Those who lose their lives gain it.

Jesus gave everything for the love of God and mankind. What would your life be like if you had that same mindset? What if you thought more about what you can give before what you could get? How would that impact your work? Your finances? How you spend your free time? Your relationships?

How can your mindset become 1% more Christ-like? What is one step you can take today?

The Telos of Fight Club

Posted on by Jole Miller

Today is the movie Fight Club‘s 25th anniversary. Fight Club is a movies that I never get tired of watching. It’s perspective on masculinity, consumerism, and purpose in life challenges me think more deeply. There are many things about this film that I could write about (and probably will in the future), but today I will consider what this movie shows about telos.

Telos is a Greek word meaning “goal, end, or purpose.” According to James K. A. Smith in the book “You are What You Love”, “Our telos is what we want, what we long for, what we crave. It is less an ideal that we have ideas about and more a vision of ‘the good life’ that we desire. It is a picture of flourishing that we imagine in a visceral, often-unarticulated way—a vague yet attractive sense of where we think true happiness is found.”

All of us have a vision of “the good life” that determines what we do and how we do it. We have an idea of what would make life better for us, and we build our lives around that end (consciously or unconsciously). I turn now to consider the telos of the narrator and Tyler Durden. I am not endorsing either of their views, I am simply using them as examples.

The Narrator’s Telos

After his condo blew up and all of his possessions were destroyed, the narrator (Ed Norton) and Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) went to a bar for drinks. He laments to Tyler, “When you buy furniture you tell yourself, ‘That’s it. That’s the last sofa I’m gonna need. Whatever else happens, I have that sofa problem handled.’ I had it all. I had a stereo that was very decent. A wardrobe that was getting very respectable. I was close to being complete.“

The narrator felt like something was missing in his life. He had lost faith in God. When his parents divorced he lost faith in family. After the bloodshed of the 20th century he also lost faith in people. He had no meaningful relationships. He suffered from insomnia, likely from the existential angst he felt. He only found relief by attending support groups for people with terminal illnesses. While he was there, he used a fake name. He existence was basically anonymous. The only way to make the feeling of emptiness go away was to buy the right things. How did he pay for those things? He worked many hours at a morally ambiguous company. His life was an endless cycle of working and buying.

His telos was having the right possessions, and that dictated how he spent his time. He thought he could work enough to then buy his way into contentment, but it still left him empty. The things he owned, ended up owning him.

Tyler Durden’s Telos

Tyler Durden’s vision of the good life is quite different. He says, “In the world I see – you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You’ll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You’ll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Tower. And when you look down, you’ll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying strips of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway.”

Tyler was “enlightened.” He sensed the meaninglessness and directionlessness of modern society. He saw that society was smothering people’s’ souls. In hunter/gatherer societies, there was a clear challenge of obtaining enough food to survive. Modern man (generally speaking) doesn’t have that problem. Affluence left people feeling empty. What was his solution? Tear it all down.

He began by starting fight club, a place where men can unleash their suppressed aggression. From there he recruited members to join project mayhem. Project mayhem was a terrorist organization that committed many acts of violence and vandalism. All of this culminated in a plan to blow up credit card buildings to erase the debt record so everything would reset to zero.

Tyler wanted chaos. He thought that by tearing down society, individuals would be free. “It is only after we’ve lost everything that we are free to do anything.” For Tyler, society was so bad that going back to a time before modern technology was the only answer. He worked tirelessly to bring about the world’s destruction.

What is Your Telos?

What about you? What is your vision of the good life? What do you believe will make everything better? For some it is being respected, for others it is being loved. Maybe yours is having a great career and status, or looking a certain way, or being at ease. If you are struggling to discern you telos, start by examine your emotions, how you spend your time, and how you spend your money.

According to the Westminster Shorter catechism, “The chief end of man is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” The telos for which God created us was to be in union with him. We were made to know, love, trust, and obey God. Jesus said that the greatest command is to love God and to love your neighbor. Jesus made a way for us to be in union with God by dying on the cross for our sins. Because of the sin that lives in us and the complexity of our world, we will always have mixed desires. A good first step is to name what you want and why. To do so, finish these three sentences: “I want to live in a world where . . .” “so that . . .” “Therefore, I will . . .” This article goes into more depth.

Rethinking Your Narrative: Unlocking Potential

Posted on by Jole Miller

In his book Mind Your Mindset, Michael Hyatt’s main idea is that “[Many] challenges people face— in fact, nearly all of them— are essentially (1) based in the brain and (2) evident in the stories we tell ourselves about reality.”

The stories we tell ourselves inform how we see the world and act within it, including how we pursue our goals. Our narratives determine what goals we set and how successful we are in achieving them. Storytelling is a function of how our brains conceive and represent reality, and our results depend to a large degree on how good our storytelling is.

Hyatt argues that when our stories leave us in a rut, we need to rethink our thinking by adopting a different vantage point. We must examine the stories our brain is telling, and imagine better, more empowering narratives. To do this we must:

First, identify your problem and your story about it. Improvement begins with awareness. Many of the invisible scripts we live are holding us back, and we might not even know it. You might have unexamined stories about money, people of different backgrounds, or what your are capable of achieving. For example, a story someone might tell themselves is, “I can’t get out of debt because I am not good with money.” This will likely turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Second, interrogate the story. Many of the stories we tell ourselves are flawed. We need to separate what’s factual from what’s merely opinion, inference, conjecture, and the like. Take the phrase “I’m not good with money.” You can interrogate that by asking, “Why do you say that? Have you done any research? Read any books or articles? Asked any friends or mentors? Tried anything to improve? If you haven’t taken any steps, how can you say you are bad at money?” In this stage you have to challenge your assumptions to separate what is helpful and what is holding you back.

Third, imagine a more empowering story. Once we’ve exposed our faulty stories, we can use our brain’s natural ability to rewire itself to find new paths and solutions. Continuing with the money example, what if instead of “I’m not good with money” you said, “I have struggled with money in the past, but money is a skill I am committed to master.”

I think Henry Ford’s quote rings true, “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.” Obviously, this isn’t absolutely true. There are plenty of sports teams and businesses who believed that they would succeed but didn’t. However, the belief that they would succeed gave them a fighting chance.

Kairos Circle

Hyatt’s framework of Identify, Interrogate, and Imagine pairs nicely with Mike Breen’s Kairos Circle.

In the image above, the arrow represents time. You are going about your life when a significant moment occurs (the X). The moment could be an emotional response, a tragic event, a meaningful conversation, or reading something profound. When the significant moment arrives, we have a choice. We can ignore it and keep doing what we are doing, or we can enter the learning circle.

The first step is to observe. Gather the facts. What happened? What did you feel? This fits with identifying your current narrative.

The next step is to reflect. This is where you ask “why?” and “how” questions. When you reflect you go under the surface. The purpose is to move from a false narrative to one that is truer. However, we can’t do this alone, we must discuss. We need other people to speak truth, love, and wisdom. Everybody has blind spots, so having a trustworthy person to speak with is crucial. The purpose of observing, reflecting, and discussing is to ultimately move you from a false belief to a true one. The Greek word “repent” means to change one’s mind. We must turn from false mindset about God or the world and turn to what is true.

I will use a scene from the Kung-Fu Panda to illustrate.

Master Shifu tells Master Oogway that notorious kung-fu villian, Tai Lung, escaped from prison (kairos moment). Although it is the Dragon Warrior’s destiny to defeat him, Shifu doesn’t believe that Po the panda is really the Dragon Warrior because he was unlike anyone he ever trained. Po must have been chosen by accident. He tried to control the situation by forcing Po to quit. Oogway tells Shifu that there are no accidents, and that Shifu must give up the illusion of control in order to fulfill his destiny. This is the moment when Oogway gets Shifu to imagine a better story:

Shifu: A peach cannot defeat Tai Lung!

Oogway: Maybe it can. If you are willing to guide it. Nurture it. Believe in it.

Shifu moved from a false narrative to a better narrative and that changed everything. He realized that Po had potential, but he would need to train him differently in order to unlock it. Oogway helped Shifu identify his limiting belief, interrogate its validity, and imagine a better way.

What about you? What stories are you currently living? How are they holding you back from the life God has for you?

Why The Good Place’s Good Place Isn’t That Good

Posted on by Jole Miller

I really like The Good Place. It is smart, funny, and poses interesting questions about morality and the human condition. The premise of the show is that Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell) dies and goes to “the Good Place.” However, she soon finds out that someone made a mistake and she doesn’t belong. She then tries to learn how to be a good person by learning moral philosophy from her soulmate, Chidi (William Jackson Harper). Will she ever be good enough to earn her place in the good place? Are things really what they appear to be? I will skip most of the plot points and focus on the final two episodes. There will be spoilers ahead if you have yet to see this series.

The Problem with the Good Place

When our heroes finally get to the real good place, we see that things aren’t quite what they expected. They quickly learn that because any desire can be met at any moment, they turn into “happiness zombies” who are numb to everything. For example, one man said, “Can I get coke?” (receives it instantly). “No, a water. No, a lamp. No, a cat. No, a spaceship. No, one huge Junior Mint. No, a coke.” Being able to get anything you want whenever you want doesn’t lead to satisfaction. Hypatia of Alexandria (Lisa Kudrow) added, “On paper, this is paradise. All your desires and needs are met. But it is infinite. And when perfection goes on forever, you become this glassy-eyed mush person.”

Another example is from Jason (Manny Jacinto). His ultimate dream was to race monkeys in go-karts, but that got boring quickly. Jason reported, “I mean, monkeys and go-karts was fun for a while. Then I was like, ‘Oh, you know what’d be cool? Hippos and go-karts.’ And I was like, ‘Yo, what about Draculas with jet packs?’ I did, like, fifty combos, and then I just kinda wanted to hang out with you guys again.”

Hypatia responded, “That’s it in a nutshell. ‘Cause you get here and you realize that anything’s possible, so you do everything, and then you’re done. But you still have infinity left. This place kills fun and passion and excitement and love, ’till all you have left are milkshakes.”

The Solution

The apparent problem of the good place is that it goes on for eternity. ” They argue that what makes a vacation special is that it eventually ends. Similarly, they “fix” the afterlife by giving everyone the opportunity to end their existence. They can walk through a magical door and their soul will no longer exist as a single entity, but will be scattered throughout the universe (similar to the Buddhist idea of Nirvana). The only way to make the good place tolerable is to have the option to commit soul suicide.

My Thoughts

The problem with the good place is not that it goes on for eternity, but that there is no God. This show correctly demonstrates that any eternity without a God who can completely satisfy our souls is hell. Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us that God placed eternity in our hearts. We were created for God. Even if you removed all of the bad things from your life (or afterlife) and had access to any pleasure at any time, you still wouldn’t be satisfied.

But the bible describes a God who is all-satisfying. Jesus said, “Whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up in him for eternal life” (John 4:14). Christians get a taste of this on earth, but it will be fully realized in the new heavens and new earth. “Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:3-4).

Jesus offers the life that will never die. Because God is unimaginably great and beautiful, we never have to fear being bored in heaven. There will be a sense of peace, joy, and contentment that we always longed for but could never quite grasp on earth. Our souls will finally be home.