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”Pride goes before a fall”. You ever heard that phrase? It’s actually taken straight out of the bible, from Proverbs 15 verse 18 and it’s another nugget of eternally rich wisdom that reminds us not to think too much of ourselves.

Pride is one of things that blinds us to the obvious truth - much like the fable of the emperor’s clothes. So proud was that king of wearing the finest clothes in his kingdom, only to miss the obvious – he’d been tricked into wearing nothing at all, by his pride.

I knew two men who both nearly lost their loves either climbing a ladder, or fixing a shower. What was it that drove them to try? Well, perhaps saving money might have been a factor, But, ultimately, pride goes before a fall and it goes before falling from a great height and electrocuting ourselves too when you don’t take appropriate precautions like setting the ladder on a flat surface at the correct angle, or turning the power off first.

What is the opposite? Humility.

And you can’t ‘do’ humble, you can only ‘be’ humble.

I’m pretty sure that that ladder climbing or shower fixing friends of mine were humbled as equally as the intelligent physicist I knew who put the hot ashes from their BBQ straight into the bin. Which caught fire. Which they threw water on, causing an explosion from the glass bottles they’d also just put in the bin.

Just because we can doesn’t mean we should. And intelligence doesn’t equate to living longer!!

So have a care, and pursue humility, so it doesn’t end up becoming the final master of your life.

Just a thought…

Andy B

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Goodness is a good thing. And it’s only natural to say that God is good. And, yet, describing God as good actually – on it’s own – devalues God, because He is so much more than just good! Yes God is good, but God is more than good and our word “good” can not describe enough of God’s goodness. It can only paint something of God. It is not the complete answer.

Likewise, all that is good is not necessarily of God. There is plenty of ‘good’ around us, but sometimes, that good, is not of God. Which means, in turn, that we sometimes perceive as good, actually is not.

Well meaning might be a better phrase, but we can all think of people who are well meaning who create more issues than they solve.

Let’s not limit God to [only being] good. Because God is so much more than good.

Just a thought…

Andy B

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I’ve worked alongside, or under, some great leaders in churches and in businesses, and voluntary organisations. And, sadly, I’ve also served around people who love to use their position to bully others and, the most successful approach I’ve seen to achieve this, is through creating grey areas of information and knowledge.

Think about the last half dozen big names in the Christian world who ended up failing either morally or criminally and you’ll encounter people who were allowed to create grey areas around them: grey areas allow us to operate without accountability and that always ends badly. Because grey areas, ultimately, simply allow us to manipulate others in to doing what we want.

Put simply, grey areas are not healthy for anybody, and for churches least of all, because they can never promote healthy and righteous flexibility!

A classic grey area I’ve come up against is when someone asks when children should return to the adult church service. The response is, invariably, we’ll let you know when we’re ready. That’s a grey areas right there, and I can state that it does not need to be. God is big enough to coordinate the reconnection of His people, when they have gathered to worship Him.

Let us never allow ourselves – or others – to create grey areas that deny the opportunity for either accountability or transparency. 

Just a thought…

Andy B

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Nobody likes being put down. In fact, being put down as a child is so traumatic it can have terrible life-long consequences. As adults we don’t like that level of criticism either because, if you’re constantly criticised in your job, you won’t try harder. You’ll simply give up trying altogether.

The bible makes it clear that we need to be accountable to others, and that does include being willing to listen to criticism. We may not like it, but there is a strong warning when we don’t listen to criticism.

It doesn’t mean we accept abuse or act on everything we hear. It doesn’t mean we allow our time to be taken up listening to criticism. And it also doesn’t mean we pretend to listen to criticism only to disregard it.

As ever we need to act with wisdom, and pursue the peace of God that transcends all understanding. 

Why should we listen to people who are critical? Well the bible states that if we always ignore criticism and rebukes that we will find ourselves, with no warning, broken beyond repair.

And that is not a place I ever want to find myself in!

So, act wisely, make yourself accountable and be wiling to hear criticism. 

Just a thought…

Andy B

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Being busy can be a great feeling. It can make us think we’re doing better than others we may meet in our life. But, the problem with being busy is that busyness can soon become just the next thing on a to do list. And that is never good when it comes to the relationships that matter most to us.

One of the most important words in the English language is the word “No”. It’s a word I actively encourage people I meet to use in their own lives because – before too long – we’ve not said no enough and our brains can be overwhelmed just failing to keep up with all our responsibilities and activities.

The idea of setting priorities in our place of work might seem fairly obvious. But, how good are you at protecting that which matters most? Your marriage, your friendships, your time and relationship with God, your children?

If you’re struggling to make decisions it might be nothing more than the fact you’re so utterly overwhelmed that you can’t actually process the thoughts needed.

So, for your sake, and the people in your life, keep checking in on the things you’re involved with, that aren’t essential, and ask yourself if you need to keep doing them.

And don’t forget that saying no means someone else gets the chance to say yes.

Just a thought…

Andy B

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The bible tells us that God has a plan for our lives. It demonstrates how God’s plans are always best for us to be able to live our lives to the full. The big issue is that what we think that means only sometimes ties up with what God’s plans actually are.

It isn’t that God is tricking us. By no means! That is against His entire nature, for God will never trick or tempt us. But, He will test us!

The issue, unsurprisingly, is with us. It isn’t with God’s methods of communication – seriously, the Holy Spirit is an amazing comforter and guide for each one of us in our daily lives! It’s just that God has, well, God sized plans and reams and we humans, well we tend to place God’s dreams and plans for us against what we can see and understand.

The bible also tells us that God is so much greater than anything we can imagine. So it is no wonder that we would reduce His plans for us into what we consider probable or logical, reasonable or easily attainable.

But God has the better view, so we need to test what we think He is asking us to do by measuring it against scripture for God will never ask us to do something contrary to scripture. We need to measure it against the peace that comes from an ongoing relationship with God, through His Son Jesus Christ. We need to measure it against the wisdom of the wise people God has put in our lives.

In short, we need to stop looking at God sized dreams through our small eyes, and start seeing what God is asking us to do through His eyes.

Just a thought…

Andy B

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It’s been said that you can form a habit by repeating something just 6 times. And yet it can take 6 weeks of repeatedly not doing that thing to break that habit. Such is the power of addiction and habits. So be very slow to point the finger at someone who is trying to break a habit, no matter what it may be!

Coming off medication that I had been on for more than a year and a half took my body 6 weeks to be fully clear of. While I was repeatedly told that the medication would not remain in my system for more than 24 hours, my body would suggest otherwise.

It took me 6 weeks of pretty awful side effects to adjust to starting those tablets. It took me 6 weeks to adjust to a 50% reduction in that medication. And it took me a further 6 weeks of, albeit milder, side effects when I finally came off those tablets.

I’m neither a doctor nor a scientist, but I know it took me 6 weeks to adjust to starting, reducing and stopping that medication.

It can often seem like we can’t shake off something we’re doing that we don’t want to do. Even when we REALLY don’t want to do it, it can still take time – Rome wasn’t built in a day, and changes are rarely to fully enjoy and appreciate.

So if you’re trying to stop doing something, go to the one who hand made you and ask Him for help! He is always there and, unlike some emergency call centres for Police, Fire and Ambulance services across the UK recently, you’ll never get a busy tone or error message.

Just a thought.

Andy B

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Beta mode. It’s a term you might have spotted, but have little knowledge about. Essentially, when it comes to software, it speaks of the next generation of that software. It’s a way of testing new features – it’ll probably look similar to what you’re used to, but may do new things, in new ways. And Beta mode gives developers an opportunity to see where the problems are; it lets you test new versions of software.

Some people may well enjoy working software that is in beta mode. It gives them to see what will be coming to a wider audience and allows for them to find mistakes and problems. It also enables to try next generation software before others, and that can be exciting.

I think it is really easy for us to operate in beta mode in our churches – we discard the old and try new ways of doing things. But we should always be cautious to remember that those new things aren’t just new ideas. Those new ways of working, even if they are just a trial, can be very upsetting to the people who are being experimented on.

One specific encouragement on this idea is to ensure we care for the people in our church family who have been there longer than us and I’m not just talking about people who are older than us.

Those older family members are the ones most likely to hold up advances in change to the church. However, don’t immediately assume they’re out to spoil your creativity! Sometimes, wisdom has travelled the road that you think is new and exciting…and they know the pain that awaits the end of that particular path.

Just a thought…

Andy B

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Titles can be the source of much contention and confusion. Show me a confused organisation and titles, probably, are part of the problem, because we can allow titles to define and focus the energy of people. Or, we can use ambiguous titles that cause confusion and delay.

In Thomas the Tank Engine we see exactly this as the various engines think they’re more important than the others around them. Frequently we’ll hear the Fat Controller tell one of them off and state that they’ve been causing confusion and delay.

In life it’s good to know what it is that somebody does!

But they only help while the people assigned any given title realise that any assigned title is merely a means to describe the function of any one individual.

When ego gets in the way, titles become unhelpful.

Titles matter, but don’t let your ego get in the way of the function of what you are because, ultimately – as Christians – we are all equal before God, with various functions to fulfil.

Just a thought…

Andy B

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I wonder if you’ve ever bought something that wasn’t cut what you wanted. Do we take it back, live with it, or bin it. I guess what we do will be somewhat dependent on what we bought and how expensive it was. We also might consider that the cost of returning it could outweigh the cost of having bought it.

I’ve been there more than once. I’ve also taken something back on principle, and lost money in the process.

We have to make decisions all the time and it can seem somewhat harsh to cutting our loss with people. Instinctively we feel that that is not a Christian thing to do.

And yet Jesus did it. And, what we see Jesus live out are life lessons we would be nothing short of arrogant to ignore. And He didn’t stop for everyone, sometimes to the surprise of His own disciples.

And, so, it is a very biblical principle to cut our losses.

Where do you need to cut your losses? Which relationships is God asking you to invest in, even when it costs you dearly? And which relationships is God asking you to walk away from.

Sometimes the answer can be super easy – having an affair? Walking away is what you must do without hesitation! But it isn’t always quite so clear cut.

If you’re struggling to know which way is up with the people in your life, go to God and ask Him, and His Holy Spirit will show you what to do.

Because, sometimes, making a loss is really not making a loss at all.

Just a thought…

Andy B

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