What’s Your QBR?
David M. Schmaltz
During my sabbatical, I have taken time to soul search, which of course cannot be done without the Holy Spirit's presence. Having decided long ago to allow the Spirit to speak to me as often as He deems necessary, I gain great insight into what makes me tick. The path to self-awareness can be a scary one. Why? Because we are not always going to like what we see. But isn't that the point? Looking into the mirror is inevitable. Avoiding that daily visit is a gradual path to self-deception as James points out in his first chapter.
The challenge is this. Most of us, if not all, have no real clue as to why we do what we do, other than the influence of our sinful nature, or our Spirit-led new nature. Everything else is a mysterious cacophony of thoughts, choices, and instinctive reactions that we often look back on and say, "What was I thinking?" Or, "The devil made me do it!"
History shows us that human beings are self-destructive, but there have been moments along the way, where man has sought enlightenment or perfection through various means. Transcendentalism, a popular movement in the mid-1800s, was an attempt to improve the human condition through a sort of perfectionism attained through better thinking, not necessarily better choices. In other words, we can think ourselves out of this mess if we learn more about who we are. The icing on the cake is this. Man, is basically good, and we just need to discover the good in ourselves. If you are thinking that something is wrong with this or that it "smells" familiar, you would be right.
Transcendentalism, and its many variations, cuts across the grain of Biblical truth. Paul teaches us the exact opposite in the book of Romans. See 3:23. So, is there any hope? If we have no goodness, man is only fooling himself to think he is inherently good. The truth is we are made righteous by the blood of Christ. I am redeemed or made useful because He has made me so. The reason I mention this movement is because it seems to rise from the dead again and again in just a different form. It is rediscovered by a new generation of people who are trying to figure out how to be happy without taking responsibility for the consequences of bad choices. Once again, the thought is, "Hey, we are not that bad. Let's fix all of this by saying what is bad is now good. There! Fixed it." Only it doesn't. Sad thing is, that it usually takes a generation to figure out that they were wrong. Dead wrong. But, alas there is always a remnant who refuse to embrace reality and keep teaching this ancient pagan lie. This slow decline is drawn upon the background of progressive human improvement. They say, "We are much, much better than we used to be!" Except once again, we seem to be as confused as we ever were.
Is it wrong to want to improve our lives? Not at all. It is just finding the solutions that truly make us whole. I taught a group of over 100 pastors several years ago on this topic of self-awareness. And, what I discovered was that it comes down to our willingness to see ourselves in sober judgement. Paul tells us in Romans 12 to not think of ourselves more highly than we ought to. Our measure is based on faith and gifting. Both are given by God. It is then up to us to develop and use these gifts. It is also important that we understand our limitations. Trying to be something we are not, is not only damaging to us, but also to those around us.
The word I have received lately is "simplify." It is looking at our lives and determining what is most important toward achieving the goals that God has given us. We may call this focus. But, it is much more than that. It is decluttering our life. It may also mean getting out of the way of those who are better gifted at something, so that we can find what best fits us. Stop! I am not saying that we should no longer serve or do anything, on the contrary. I am saying that life is better lived when we take a sober look at who we are, and what we are created to be and do. This will make us the happiest people on earth. I have a few personal testimonies illustrating this, but I won't bore you.
To wrap this up, I wanted to convey in this post that we should all want to improve our lives. But, we have to be honest with ourselves. Confidently knowing what we are called by God to do is critical, but our measure plays out as we do it. Sports analogy alert: A pro-football quarterback has a rating that measures their overall skill. To simplify, touchdown to interception ratio is important. What makes an elite QB is one who throws plenty of touchdowns but does not throw very many interceptions. Too many interceptions can really bring him down a tier, not to mention lose games.
My point is this: Self-awareness means you will never have to be asked to take a different position. OR, you will focus on those weaknesses to get it right. You may also know, and politely move to a place on the field where your gifts are better suited. Also, the Bible says that a person's gifts make room for them. Meaning, we won't have to make such a fuss over what we should do because key people will know we should do it. They will see your skill, your greatness. You will also discover what I call your "superpower." Sometimes we need help finding that superpower. Well, then, that comes down to trust, doesn't it? That will be my next post.
Pastor David
