I write this for those that find them in a tough season of life. Particular my friends from Church Online who are going through various trials in life; having to (or learning to) suffer well.
suffer: to undergo, be subjected to, or endure anything unpleasant.
1 Peter 4:13 (NIV) 13 But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
Suffering sucks.
Waiting on God in the midst of a potential divorce. Constantly struggling with health issues. Feeling isolated and alone. Relational heartbreaks. Waking up and realizing your life isn’t what you dreamed of . . .
There’s no denying we all go through seasons of trials which test our endurance and faith in God.
I pray 1 Peter 4:13 plants you squarely in the Word of God and reminds you of the hope you have in Him.
Suffering well promotes and prepares.
It promotes the Gospel and prepares for future glory.
Suffering Well Promotes the Gospel
Christians demonstrate the most Christ-likeness to the world in our sufferings.
The Good News isn’t that our lives are always peachy keen.
The Good News is that our lives on earth are only temporary. That our hope is in Jesus Christ and the life to come. The Good News is that no matter what happens to us externally, we are internally regulated by our faith in Jesus Christ.
He gives us hope when there seems to be none. He gives us strength when we lack it ourselves. He gives us courage when we are scared out of our minds.
This type of Good News is only visible to the world when we suffer well.
Suffering Well Prepares for Future Glory
When we “participate in the sufferings of Christ,” we conform more to the likeness of Christ. As we do that we also get to participate in His glory.
Jesus’ faithful suffering paved the way for his exaltation to the right hand of God.
There’s no telling what glory God wants to reveal on the other end of your suffering. The only way to find out is to suffer well. And be steadfast and obedient, as Jesus did, to the very end.
1 Peter 4:13 uses the word “overjoyed” to describe the feeling you’ll have when God’s glory is revealed.
Look forward to it!
1 Peter 4:29 (NIV) 19 So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.
Commit your situation to God. Believe He is faithful. Continue to suffer well.
God has your back. He sees you. And he is for you every step of the way.
This is going to be an uncharacteristic blog post. Meaning it hasn’t been super thought out and taken me two hours to write. I’m going to go against the norm and pound this thought out in 15 minutes.
Let’s see how I do . . .
I’m chillin’ here trying to sleep, but my ankle hurts like crazy. I’m six months post-surgery on my Achilles tendon and think I’ve been too active too soon on it. Thus why my leg feels like that of an 80 year old man.
One of the things that worries me (slightly) is if I’ll ever be 100% again. I take a lot of joy (and pride?) from being active and good at most anything requiring hand/eye coordination. I’m wondering if I’m getting old (I’m 29) and all physical activity from here will be downhill.
And basically the things I was once good at I will no longer be.
I wonder if my strength is now no longer how well I can do things or how good I can be at sports? How lean and semantically correct of a website I can code.
But who can I teach. Who can I coach to become better at me in those areas?
Really, it comes down to is my focus now less on perfecting my craft but more on helping others perfect their craft? Less what I can do, but who else can do it. And how can I help them do it better than I ever could?
It is the concept of building disciples.
Our mission as Christians is to go and build disciples. To teach them to obey God’s commandments. Matthew 28:19-20.
Have I now become less student and more teacher?
Rather than being about what I used to be able to do or what I can accomplish myself, but what knowledge can I impart to others?
Is this a transition in mindset everyone makes as they get older?
All you wise and experienced readers should chime in here. ;)
Christian guys look at porn. We search for pictures of naked chicks. We lust after attractive women.
Yup, it’s all true.
A main tool used by Christians to help counteract these temptations and sexual desires is an Internet filter. A program that filters what a person does online and blocks anything that seems shady.
But there are a gazillion different Internet filters out there. So which are the best ones?
If you’re looking for a solid Internet filter to use within an accountability relationship, Net Nanny (for Windows) is the hands down winner.
Read on for why.
Please note this review is for the Windows version of Net Nanny. The Mac version is significantly different from the Windows version. Having used both, I can’t recommend the Mac version. Features are either missing from the Mac version or not as good as the Windows equivalent.
An accountability relationship can mean a lot of things. In the context of this post it means Sean is accountable to Alex (that’s me!) for the websites he visits.
So I regularly monitor Sean’s browsing habits and respond accordingly. This helps remove the anonymity of browsing porn or other non-edifying websites.
Big brother Alex is always watching. ;)
Why is Net Nanny the best Internet filter for accountability partners?
Here are the features that specifically make Net Nanny the best Internet filter to use in accountability relationships.
Remote management
Most accountability partners don’t live in the same house. Sean and I definitely don’t. I’m sure his wife is pretty happy about that. ;)
So being able to manage the Internet filter’s settings, view reports, etc. without physical access to the computer is a big win.
For example, Sean is at home trying to check out the resources at XXXchurch (a legitimate site) and the filter blocks it. He can call and ask me to unblock the site.
With remote management, I can do that even though I’m at work and don’t have access to Sean’s computer. Without remote access, he would have to wait until I was able to access his computer physically. This is non-ideal and inconvenient for both of us.
And some accountability partners may not even be in the same city . . .
This makes remote management the most important feature for accountability relationships.
While both Net Nanny and CyberPatrol have this feature, Safe Eyes does not.
I’ll note here CyberPatrol has two products: Online Protection and Parental Controls. This post refers to Online Protection since it does include remote management and email notifications. Parental Controls does not.
Usable, detailed reporting
Guys on a mission to see some skin are extremely resourceful. They know 12 different ways to search for boobs.
Which means occasionally Sean may be able to get past the Internet filter and view an inappropriate site. This is where good, detailed reporting comes into play.
I can periodically look at the websites Sean has visited and see if there are any shady websites he was able to visit that didn’t get blocked. That let’s me manually block them so that he can’t visit them again.
The reporting in CyberPatrol is horrible. The only report it has shows just the number of allowed/blocked websites without details about which sites were allowed or blocked. How am I supposed to know if a site was allowed when it shouldn’t have been if I don’t know which sites were visited?
In contrast, the reporting in Net Nanny and Safe Eyes is detailed and useful. Above is just a small sampling of the reports available within Net Nanny.
Notification of blocked sites
Nothing will make Sean pee in his pants more in embarrassment than getting a phone call from me a few minutes after searching for naked pictures of Pamela Anderson and having the website blocked.
This works because the Internet filter sends me an email or text notification whenever Sean visits a blocked site.
Net Nanny, CyberPatrol and Safe Eyes all provide this feature, however, Net Nanny is by far the most flexible and customizable.
Ability to request an override
Inevitably a legitimate site will get filtered and blocked.
Providing a quick and easy way for Sean to let me know XXXchurch is a legitimate site makes it easy for me to unblock it for him.
I don’t have to manually check for legitimate sites that are blocked and unblock them. And Sean doesn’t have to do any more work than clicking a button saying “I want this site unblocked.”
Net Nanny is the only filter that provides this feature.
Not easy to bypass/disable
Remember how resourceful guys are on a mission? Some of the more tech-savvy guys may try various computer hacks to bypass the filter. A secure Internet filter needs to withstand these types of hacks and continue fighting the good fight even if shot in the arm/leg.
Net Nanny has long had the unusual ability to filter even HTTPS traffic . . . None of Net Nanny’s competitors duplicate this feat, though Safe Eyes 6.0 comes close. The latest version of Net Nanny moves further into the lead because it also prevents the kids from using localhost proxy utilities to evade filtering.
Net Nanny resists a simple command-line instruction that disables some competing products, Safe Eyes and CyberPatrol 7.7 among them.
~Net Nanny 6.5 Review (excerpt from section No Hope for Hackers)
In addition to the review above, I was recently skimming the Net Nanny forum and noticed a post detailing a way to bypass Net Nanny. In the next version this hack was disabled. It’s good to see this type of response to work-arounds . . .
Should ordained pastors/ministers opt out of self employment taxes (i.e. Social Security and Medicare taxes)?
Chances are…no.
Not unless you meet extremely rare requirements. None of which include the following:
Social Security benefits won’t be available when I retire
It’s poor stewardship of God’s money
I can do a better job investing than the government
It’s not the governments job to take care of people
Extra cash in the pocket!
In order to opt out you agree to:
I certify that I am conscientiously opposed to, or because of my religious principles I am opposed to, the acceptance (for services I perform as a minister, member of a religious order not under a vow of poverty, or a Christian Science practitioner) of any public insurance that makes payments in the event of death, disability, old age, or retirement; or that makes payments toward the cost of, or provides services for, medical care. (Public insurance includes insurance systems established by the Social Security Act.)
~IRS Form 4361
That statement is extremely wordy so let’s look at a more simplified version taken from the bold sections above.
I am conscientiously opposed to the acceptance of any public insurance that makes payments in the event of death, disability, old, age or retirement.
If you sign Form 4361, you’re saying you’re conscientiously or religiously opposed to accepting public insurance. In other words, as a pastor, you believe it’s wrong to receive Social Security during retirement or have medical expenses covered under Medicare.
The form is asking if you’re against receiving public insurance.
That’s the key question to keep in mind. Not whether you think Social Security will be available when you retire or if you can do a better job investing. And as tempting as it is, opting out to get a bigger paycheck is not a valid reason to opt out.
So should pastors opt out? Consider this scenario…
Assume you’ve paid into the Social Security system for 50 years and you got your first Social Security check. Would you use the money or would you feel like you’re sinning against God if you did?
Do you see the difference in attitude?
If you have no problems cashing the check, that’s a clear sign you don’t have a religious or conscientious objection against receiving public insurance. A pastor should feel like they’re disobeying God if they have a genuine objection.
The military has a similar exemption for conscientious objectors. Prior to the exemption being available, people would go to jail for refusing military service because they believed war was wrong.
The heart of these exemptions are for those rare cases, not for the typical pastor.
Someone with a genuine objection to receiving public insurance would be willing to go to jail for that belief. They would refuse Medicare payments even if it meant paying for medical expenses out of pocket. Or they would rip up a Social Security check as soon as they got it.
Read Form 4361. Don’t blindly accept the advice of others. Know what you are signing and saying yes to.
I highly recommend reading this article from Russell Moore for a very well argued and biblical response to whether ordained ministers/pastors should opt out.
Be sure whatever your decision, you can stand before Jesus with a clear conscious and a pure heart.
I think a great prayer in this situation is:
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
~Psalm 51:10 (NIV)
I pray we all have pure hearts and a steadfast spirit. Hearts not tempted by money and that strive to live according to God’s moral and ethical standards.
For two years I have met for hundreds of hours on committees. I have never written a poem about it. It is deadening to my soul. I am a thinker. A writer. A preacher. A poet and songwriter. At least these are the avenues of love and service where my heart flourishes. . . .
~John Piper
While the post itself is a great reminder about the fruit of perseverance, it was this section that resonated the most with me.
…these are the avenues of love and service where my heart flourishes…
Some things deaden your soul. Others bring your soul to life.
What are the avenues of love and service that make your heart flourish?
Take a few minutes to ponder that question for yourself.
Here is what I am . . .
I am a researcher
A running joke in college was I wouldn’t buy anything without doing research first. My friends used to say: “You wouldn’t buy a pen without researching first.” To some extent that is true. I’ve spent time researching the best pen for pen spinning before. ;)
I love to research; finding the right tool for the job, the best product for the money.
But it’s more than just tangible products or tools. It’s knowledge as well.
Talk to any expert in a specific field and you’ll learn details and intricacies you never knew existed.
Buying a tennis racquet is more than just choosing one that looks cool.
Several factors come into play. Oversize or midplus? Standard length or longer? Head heavy or head light? Stiffer or more flexible frame? Open or dense string pattern?
I flourish seeking knowledge that leads to expertise in a given topic.
If I’m going to be _____, you better believe I’m trying to be the best _____ there is.
I am an executor
No, I don’t administer the death penalty to people.
My heart/soul is probably most alive when I’m able to execute to the best of my abilities (and knowledge).
Some people are great at delegating tasks and managing people. I am not.
Give me a task/area of responsibility and it will be done better than anyone else. Period.
It goes hand-in-hand with me being a researcher. I research in order to execute.
Nothing gives me more joy than walking away from a project proud of the work I’ve done.
Proud knowing I just didn’t get the job done, but it was done well, efficiently and “the right way,” utilizing best practices.
I am a teacher
While I love to research and execute, it brings me great satisfaction when I can consolidate my research and summarize my experience into a digestible, useful blog post.
It’s no surprise that my threemostviewed blog posts are the ones I’ve shared from my research and experience.
It makes me smile when I can teach others one blog post at a time.
:)
I’m curious. What makes your heart flourish?
Hit me up in the comments the answer to “I am a __________.”
