Next Article - Embracing Conflict - Just Posted on SpiritualLead.com
This article was over a year in writing and editing. Conflict is uncomfortable in any situation and most particularly in Christian community. That's why Paul had to address it so frequently in his letters.

At the heart of this article is an insight inventory, The Engagement (Conflict) Styles test. The test is based on behaviors having their root in Godly virtue. Character is what others see. Virtue drives character and is the pure heart and mind of Christ within us desiring to get expressed. In no human activity does our character get tested more than in times of conflict. Take the test and see if virtue is shining through.

The beginning paragraph sets the foundation for discussion.

If you think it’s hard being a leader when all is going well, try leading in the midst of conflict. In times of tension and dissension, when the core qualities of leadership are plumbed, when disagreements surface and interpersonal friction threatens division, the characteristic that distinguishes a truly effective leader from a good leader emerges: relationship with God. It’s the spiritual leader—the leader in secure relationship with God—who can not only tolerate tension but can actually embrace it. It’s the spiritual leader who is able to take people of common purposes and achieve uncommon results.

The concluding paragraph caps the thought.

How to be a Christian in the 21st century is becoming more controversial in the marketplace. How do we maintain the truth of our beliefs, yet engage a community who increasingly does not share those truths? Christians living in Europe and North America have had it easier in the last 200 years of our faith, and I believe the easy times—times not filled with tension because of who you are—are coming to a close. Yet, if the cause of Christ is to change the world, then those who call themselves Christians must be known for the peace they influence rather than the battles and wars they have caused or even won. To paraphrase John 13:34, the world will know we are Christians not by how we wage our war, but how we live our love.

Let me know what you think of the article. Go to SpiritualLead.com. It is the sixth in a series for spiritual leaders and is one of five articles in the Unit on Empowering Leaders. You can access the article through the Handbook tab on the home page or by going through My Training Record after logging on. When you log in you can take notes and have them saved for future reference.

Charam and Romans 12:1
Four Frames of Trust

I have been writing about trusting God, trusting others and being a trustworthy person. One of the concepts that has emerged is if you contrast Trust and Distrust on a vertical axis with Factual/Rational and Subjective/Belief on a horizontal axis you get a matrix made up of the following trust characteristics.

In the lower left quadrant is a person who distrusts and that distrust is subjective or based on feelings. This person or an attitude within a person could be labeled as Cynical. Moving over to the lower left frame you still have a distrustful person or attitude but now it is based on a factual/rational basis. This still distrust but now the person can give you specific reasons to not trust God, others or perhaps even themselves. This is the Skeptical.

Moving up one frame you have a person who is now trusting or trustful or has an attitude of trust but it is based on factual/rational; only those thing they can touch and experience. This person only trusts what they know or understand. This is the Cautious frame.

Finally moving over to the right is the fourth frame. This is the person who trusts and trusts with all their mind and soul. This is person who trusts as much from the subjective and feelings base as from the unknowing. This is the Devoted frame of trust and is the one, I believe, God desires that we all enter in to in our relationship with him. If we Cautiously trust God for only those dimensions we know and can understand then we can only trust a God who is no bigger in capacity than our comprehension and imagination. That's a pretty small God. But, if can plunge into the Devoted frame of trust, I believe God has more available for us than we could ever imagine or understand.

Devoted For Destruction When you look up the Hebrew for devoted it is charam meaning devoted to or for destruction. Charam refers to those things in the Old Testament that were given as an offering to God. It means those things given to God cannot be taken back and literally means a gift given for, given to or given up for destruction.

If we then go to Rom 12:1, where the Apostle Paul speaks about being a living sacrifice, then what we see is intended for our lives is that it is charam that we must offer. We don’t offer our human life as a sacrifice that can crawl off the altar. If we offer our imperfect human body as a gift for utter destruction (charam) then we cannot not take it back. It is a permanent irrevocable offering resulting in utter and complete destruction. In that light then it is impossible for there to be the slightest chance that neos, a refreshed old part is the action. It is now, kainos, a wholly new creation is what must occur because of Lev. 27:29.

Here’s the additional kicker for me. The vision statement for Evergreen Christian Community, my home church is, Evergreen Christian Community is committed to transforming spiritual hunger into devotion to God. When you then look at that vision statement in context to charam, what we are saying is that ECC is committed to helping people experience spiritual hunger and through that hunger the Holy Spirit will cause an entirely new creation to form as an expression of the complete and utter destruction of our carnal life which is our reasonable act of worship.

Don’t you love it when you see the incredible interconnected labyrinth of concept God has laid out in His word. I love it!

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