Tag: Paul Nordman

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Cutting Problems in Half

Coming clean, being open and honest—this was our focus in a recent Bible study (centered on Psalm 51). At some point in our discussion, a friend shared this bit of wisdom, a pithy adage from Alcoholics Anonymous: “Telling someone cuts it in half.” Be it a challenge, irritation, or temptation, just telling someone about it significantly reduces the size of our problem. Articulating our burden clarifies heretofore nebulous feelings, and confession aligns us with the truth of the matter, a vital step on the path to victory. Moreover, “telling someone” removes the added weight of a load carried silently alone. Though none of the rest of us were in AA, we all “got it,” for overwhelming challenges are part of the human experience, and we need help.

Solomon observed, “Two are better than one . . . For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!”1 The king’s wisdom is worth pondering, yet it is actionable, as well, and Paul calls us to it. “Bear one another’s burdens,” he exhorted, “and so fulfill the law of Christ,”2 which is to say, love practically and give sacrificially—something Jesus lived out to the ultimate. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends,”3 He told His disciples, and less than 24 hours later, Jesus did exactly that: He laid down His unblemished life to take upon Himself the otherwise irradicable burden of our sin. May we never balk at mere inconvenience again.

My friend described alcoholism as “above all else, a disease of isolation,” yet insobriety is not its only affliction—whether as a root or a symptom, isolation affects us in ways too many to mention in this space. This is not the way we are called to live, rather as Paul wrote, “we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”4 Adds Solomon, “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.”5 So let us live into our oneness in Christ—a place where burdens are shared, loads are lightened, and Christ is glorified.

There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.—Proverbs 18:24

Father, it is easy to regard other people’s struggles from a distance, and it is easy to distance ourselves from others. Forgive us. Lead us in unity and wisdom, that we would live and love as one in Christ. In His name we pray. Amen.

1 Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
2 Galatians 6:2
3 John 15:13
4 Romans 12:5
5 Proverbs 17:17 NIV

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Out of Many, One

Tomorrow night, forty-five men will begin to prepare for a Kairos Prison Ministry Weekend at Marion Correctional Institution (MCI). We will meet for several hours on eight consecutive Thursday nights to learn from each other, understand our individually assigned roles, tend to logistics, pray and worship together, and to draw near to each other in the Spirit. Along the way, there will grow a shared singularity of purpose among us and a mutual trust, and on the last weekend of October, we will enter the prison—forty-five individuals, united. It is but one manifestation of God’s grace in Christ Jesus, and a microcosm of His church on Earth: “Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people . . .”1 In Christ, believers are the “E Pluribus Unum” of His Kingdom—out of many, we are one.

To the church in Rome, Paul taught, “As in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”2 So it is that, on the Kairos Weekend, table servants will minister attentively, filling empty coffee cups and replenishing cookie trays, while others toil in the kitchen unnoticed. Some will give talks and share relatable testimonies, after which others will engage in participant discussions. Our timekeeper will quietly keep things moving as close to schedule as the environment allows, while our coordinator liaises with the administration as needed. And the musicians will lead us to the throne of God in worship and praise.

Over the years, I have intently listened to many MCI residents as they witnessed to the personal impact of their Kairos Weekend. Conspicuously absent from their individual testimonies is this: the tendency to credit any single Kairos volunteer for their powerful weekend experience. A given speaker may have said something especially resonating, perhaps, and maybe a one-on-one conversation was particularly helpful. But what the participants see is the body of Christ, led by Christ, deeply bonded and acting as one—grown up “to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”3 Out of many, we are one. So prayerfully seek to unite with others in ministry, for together in Christ we will do and see great things. It’s awesome!

“Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.”—1 Corinthians 12:27

Father, You do wonderous things through us, Your people, the body of Christ. Inspire us to live and serve as one, each of us doing as we are called and gifted to do. The glory will be Yours. In Christ, we pray. Amen.

1 Peter 2:10
2 Romans 12:4-5
3 Ephesians 4:15-16 NIV

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Other People’s Priorities

“I didn’t accomplish a single thing I set out to do today.” How many times have we bemoaned it? We start the day energized at the thought of conquering our to-do lists, and then like wrong-way traffic careening toward us in our lane, here they come—other people’s priorities. Though we swerve and dodge and start and stop as best we can, inconvenience flares into frustration and irritation simmers in resentment. Sound familiar? This is why some organizational wonks recommend we build a certain number hours into our daily schedule for the unforeseen needs of others. In my career, I found this to be good, practical advice.

Yet God leads us to serve others from a perspective far higher than mere acquiescence—namely, their value to their Creator and as objects of His love. We are equal in this respect, each one as important as the others. Time and again, Paul exhorted early believers to love others as themselves—not in just a “warm, fuzzy feelings” sense, but the proactive kind of love that embraces the good of others as being as important as one’s own. “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ,”1 he penned to the Galatians. To the believers in Corinth, he wrote, “Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.”2 And lest any misunderstanding linger, the apostle doubled down in his letter to the Philippian church, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”3

Our individual responsibilities remain, of course, and we only have finite time in which to execute them. This does not change. What can change, though, is our perspective—our understanding that other people are as precious to God as we are, and that their needs are as important as ours. When we serve them, we serve Him. When we proactively love them, we proactively love Him who calls them His own. So much so that Jesus will say to us on a day that draws ever nearer, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”4 This is community, this is oneness; this is God’s best for us, and He calls us to it. Then when the needs of others compound our own, may we stop long enough to remember how God loves them, and how He calls us to love them, too. Try it today and see the difference.

“It is more blessed to give than to receive.”5 —Jesus

Father, our self-centeredness hardens us to the needs of others, yet they are Yours. Lead us by Your Spirit, that we would love them as generously and as You love us. In Christ we pray. Amen.

1 Galatians 6:2
2 1 Corinthians 10:24
3 Philippians 2:2-4
4 Matthew 25:40 NIV
5 Acts 20:35