Chapter 14
Practices Citizens and
Long-Term Residents
Can Use to Contribute More
Brethren, join in following my example,
and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern.
For many walk, of whom I have told you often,
and now tell you even weeping,
that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly,
and whose glory is in their shame —
who set their mind on earthly things.
For our citizenship is in heaven,
from which we also eagerly wait
for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who will transform our lowly body
that it may be conformed to His glorious body,
according to the working by which
He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.
— Philippians 3:17-21
(NKJV)
Citizens and long-term residents have potential advantages
in making Godly contributions to a nation’s fruitfulness that most visitors,
the subject of Chapter 13, cannot hope to match no matter how well intentioned
and energetic. Compared to visitors, possible advantages often include:
• More time to study what the
Bible has to say on a subject before acting
• Greater opportunities to
experiment with other Christians in that nation
• Potential to engage with more
churches and Christian ministries
• Opportunity
to gain the support of more prayers from local people
• Making more prayers for
receiving guidance from the Holy Spirit before acting
• Longer contact with and more
knowledge concerning a nation’s language, culture, and practices
• Greater experience with having
taken fruitful and harmful actions in a nation
• Connections to more people who
reside there
• A local reputation that makes
it easier to build trust and to gain cooperation
• Possible credibility from any
fruitful actions taken there previously by the person
• Greater flexibility to select
more favorable times to take actions
• More ways and time to gather
information about, to measure, to evaluate choices for, to decide on, and to
improve on any potential actions that could be or are taken
• Access to more local advisors
• Visibility with local people
while the action continues
• Longer-term leadership
connections
• Ability to attract more
influencers to support an action
• Greater opportunities to engage
other people
• More possibilities for
demonstrating the superiority of an approach
• Reduced likelihood of being
seen as a harmful influence
• Continuing ability to
participate in the nation’s political process
It’s not enough just to have more
potential advantages than many visitors for improving a nation’s fruitfulness.
A citizen or a long-term resident must actively and effectively employ any
advantages. The results will be primarily measured by God in terms of impacts
on other people in the nation. In this chapter, three practices are addressed
for how citizens and long-term residents can improve the fruitfulness of their
impacts on others:
1. Assess personal impact on the
nation’s fruitfulness.
2. Change and shift activities to
become a greater direct contributor.
3. Encourage those who are trying
to become greater contributors.
We begin with how a citizen or long-term resident can assess
his or her personal impact on a nation’s fruitfulness.
Assess Personal Impact on the Nation’s
Fruitfulness
Test all things; hold fast what is good.
Abstain from every form of evil.
— 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 (NKJV)
In Chapter 1, we looked at how God measures a nation’s
fruitfulness, as well as the imperfect measures that a nation can use to
approximate understanding the same fruitfulness. In this section, we examine
how individuals can assess their own impacts on a nation in terms of the same
fruitfulness dimensions.
Let’s begin with spiritual
fruitfulness. Christians can ask those they meet whether they have repented,
have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and are following Him. Since the
answers will change from time to time, it’s good to check routinely. By knowing
the Salvation status of more people, the potential for spiritual fruitfulness
increases in terms of witnessing where that’s needed, supporting sanctification
where that’s appropriate, and providing prayers and encouragement for a saved
person who is in spiritual turmoil or battle. While checking on spiritual
status, Christians can also ask these individuals for information about how
well they, the inquiring Christians, are providing them, the questioned, with
spiritual support.
Christians can also ask their
pastors, the evangelists in their churches, and witnessing teachers to assess
how well they, the inquiring Christians, are applying the Bible while sharing
the Gospel with unsaved people. Such assessments can be done through
conversations, role playing, and written tests. Requests for improvement
suggestions should be made by the inquiring Christians.
From time to time, Christians who
have also been teaching others to share the Gospel should check on how well
those learning-to-teach individuals are applying the Bible while witnessing.
The teaching Christians should suggest improvements to their learning Christian
witnesses.
In terms of moral acts (as
described in Galatians 5:22-23, NKJV) that are inspired by the Holy Spirit,
each Christian should keep track of what her or his acts are and how often they
occur. Recording moral acts will help encourage more frequently taking these
actions.
At the same time, immoral acts
(as described in Galatians 5:19-21, NKJV) should also be tracked for what his
or her acts are and how often they occur. Such recording should be used to
encourage setting matters right with those who have been harmed, speeding
repentance, asking God for forgiveness, and seeking help to avoid future
temptations.
In terms of health, Christians
should consider how well the condition of their bodies allows them to fulfill
their callings from God. Given that each individual’s callings are different,
assessing the adequacy of health has to be adapted to each Christian’s
callings, opportunities for service, and any associated needs for bodily
functioning. As encouragement to improve, it’s also helpful to keep track of
how long necessary aspects of good health are maintained for fulfilling each
and every calling from God.
A parallel review should be taken
of how well a Christian’s emotional state enables fulfilling His callings on
her or his life. In addition, the Christian citizen or long-term resident
should keep track of how many times his or her emotional encouragement is
provided to others. On those occasions when someone the Christian had
encouraged later reports having taken an action due, in part, to having been so
encouraged, a note should be made of having promoted emotional fruitfulness in others.
In terms of physical
fruitfulness, Christian citizens and long-term residents should check on
whether those around them have the resources needed for a healthy, active life
and for engaging in their callings from God. Further, those who are met should
be asked about the availability of any physical resources needed to draw closer
to God, such as Bibles, Bible commentaries, and nonfiction materials concerning
issues that affect a person’s faith and ability to fulfill her or his callings.
Next, let’s examine how citizens
and long-term residents should change and shift activities to become greater
direct contributors to fruitfulness.
Change and Shift Activities to Become
a Greater Direct Contributor
Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos,
but ministers through whom you believed,
as the Lord gave to each one?
I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave
the increase.
So then neither he who plants is
anything, nor he who waters,
but God who gives the increase.
— 1 Corinthians 3:5-7 (NKJV)
God often accomplishes of His purposes through our actions,
both good and bad. His infinite ability to bring good results out of our
mistakes and sin doesn’t excuse us from learning how to behave better. That’s
how we become more like Christ and are able to bring more glory to God.
Assessing our personal impact on
others in the five fruitfulness dimensions described in Chapter 1 also doesn’t
mean that we should be satisfied with whatever results we are achieving, even
if the results look good compared to our past or to what others are doing.
Instead, we should focus on continually improving … always with an eye to
making exponential breakthroughs for His purposes.
By simply making and keeping
track of the fruitfulness measurements described in the preceding section, a
Christian can see where performance is low, where progress is modest, and where
acts of the flesh are getting in the way of being more fruitful. Citizens and
long-term residents will learn about many of any problems they are causing and
where they are performing at much less than their fruitfulness potential.
The next step is to find
effective ways to improve. In doing so, start with circumstances where you
believe that you know what needs to be done … but you aren’t yet doing what’s
required, or aren’t doing the right things often enough. In many cases, you can
improve through praying, changing focus, shifting how you spend your time,
changing where you go, and working with an accountability partner to improve.
If such methods fail, seek counsel from Christians who have experience with
making whatever changes you need to make.
If you have few, if any ideas,
about how to improve, you will definitely need some counsel from more
experienced Christians. Where you have a number of ideas but aren’t sure of the
best ways to improve, try different methods to see how well each one works.
If you feel out of touch with God
while seeking improvement, there may be fundamental problems in how you are
maintaining your relationship with Him. Spend more time in prayer, Bible study,
and paying attention to any messages or signs from the Holy Spirit. Your pastor
may well be able to advise you on what other changes to make after you describe
what you have been doing.
Improvement also means seeking
how to accomplish more where you appear to be taking good actions that are
enhancing fruitfulness. I make that observation because it’s easy to become
complacent about those areas where you seem to be doing well. Your satisfaction
may not be matched by God’s impression of how well you are doing compared to
what He wants. Someone with more experience in making improvements in the same
fruitfulness areas can often provide a more accurate sense of what’s possible
and describe the more likely ways to go well beyond your current perceptions of
what’s possible.
Although part of your
fruitfulness contribution is to encourage others, the potential fruitfulness of
improving performance in this activity is so huge that it deserves special
attention. We take up that opportunity in the chapter’s final section.
Encourage Those Who Are Trying
to Become Greater Contributors
Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before
you, he shall go in there.
Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel
to inherit it.
— Deuteronomy 1:38 (NKJV)
God may have spoken to Moses more than to anyone else who is
described in the Old Testament. Despite the encouragement of God’s continual
presence and frequent communications during the forty years in the desert,
Moses was so disobedient that God denied him access to the Promised Land. Even
with this displeasure, God gave Moses one great remaining task: Encourage
Joshua in leading the Hebrews to conquer the Promised Land.
Many people who lead fruitful
lives for God will tell you that while they communicate quite frequently and in
detail to God, the responses they perceive are much less frequent and a lot
more succinct. At times when God’s answer to prayers is “no” or “not yet,” it’s
easy to become discouraged and to stop trying to be as fruitful as possible. At
such times, the enemy who is in the world may also try to sow doubt about a
fruitful person’s relationship with God.
Isn’t it wonderful that God has
provided us with one another for encouragement at such times? While almost
everyone agrees with that sentiment, some people provide a lot less
encouragement to fellow Christians than the encouragement that they themselves
would like to receive. In this section, let’s consider ways to encourage
greater fruitfulness that can help unleash the kind of results that Moses’
encouragement of Joshua provided to the Hebrews during their battles in the
Promised Land.
Let’s start with greeting one
another. If Jesus were to walk into the room, how would you respond? When
someone you don’t like very much approaches, what do you do? What about when
you are thinking about something that’s important to you and someone
approaches? If you are watching your favorite television program and someone
walks in the room, what do you do?
I could give you a lot more
examples, but I’m sure you get the point: Only on infrequent occasions are you
giving someone your full attention and most encouraging greeting. Let me
suggest an experiment. The next few times you encounter people you are not
especially close to, focus totally on them and think about how fortunate you
are that God has provided you with an opportunity to encourage each one to
accomplish great fruitfulness for Him. As you greet them with genuine joy and
appreciation, watch how their faces and bodies change. You will have given each
one a loving present that will open up both of you to receive more
communications from the Holy Spirit.
If you keep doing this, you’ll
enjoy yourself so much that you’ll want to keep doing it. In my experience,
many times people would like to be enthusiastically greeted by you but fear a
cold reception or are shy. In emotional self-defense, these people may look
away from you while still keeping a bit of awareness on you out of the corners
of their eyes. Just beam lots of love at them, and you will often be rewarded
by stopping them in their tracks, causing their bodies to relax, and receiving
one of the biggest smiles you’ve ever seen.
Unless the other person has
something pressing to do then, chances are that your warm welcome will lead to
a conversation. A lot of people speak a friendly greeting such as, “How are you
doing?” in a way that displays genuine interest. We all hear such greetings so
often that they don’t fully engage us. Contrast that with saying something
unexpected, such as, “I’m so glad to see you! I feel so blessed.” and meaning
it. How would you react to a greeting like that? I would feel about forty
pounds lighter and thirty years younger.
At first, you may not be very
good at providing friendly greetings that aren’t stock answers you’ve been
hearing and using all your life. You can do better by thinking in advance about
who you are likely to see during the next few hours and why it will be a
blessing to see them. It might be that you want to praise them for something
fruitful they have done recently. Or you may want to thank them for something
wonderful they did for you. Keep whatever that subject is in mind so that you
can draw on it to say something spontaneous in that regard when you next see
the person.
Perhaps conversation isn’t one of
the gifts that God has most abundantly blessed you with. What can you do
instead? I find that most people are pleased if you ask permission to pray for
them. It’s natural then to ask what they would most like to receive prayer for.
Then, pray aloud right then and there if at all possible … or immediately
retire with them to a more private place for that purpose, if that’s more
appropriate. After you pray for what they have requested, add your own prayers
for their fruitfulness in the areas you have praised (or wish you had praised)
and where you believe that they can be highly fruitful in the future.
After such prayers, I always
thank people for allowing me to pray for them and tell them how blessed I feel,
which is the personal reaction I always experience. At that point, people often
mention something else that’s going on in their lives. I listen carefully. If I
know an encouraging story about someone else’s experience in such a
circumstance, I’ll share it. If I don’t know one, I’ll jot a note and look for
such a story in the next day or so. As soon as I find the story, I’ll share it.
If someone displays a desire to
learn and a lot of ignorance about a fruitfulness subject where there are good
resources, I’ll make a mental note to obtain one of those resources and either
lend it (if it’s a library book, for example) or to give it (if I have one). In
future conversations, I’ll steer the discussion to that subject and provide all
of the encouragement that I can. It’s easy to see when people are filled with
encouragement, because they usually just bound off to start doing something
you’ve just discussed.
When people need more
encouragement than that, I will mention the possibility of my teaching them and
make the opportunity to learn as simple, as easy, and as inexpensive as I can.
Such an offer can tip the balance in favor of someone taking on an opportunity
that she or he has been procrastinating about.
If the person feels uncomfortable
just receiving my teaching and doesn’t have any financial resources to employ,
I’ll suggest that they teach me something or do something for me that builds on
their gifts. Even if someone doesn’t take me up on such an offer, it’s always
clear that my interest in receiving from them was encouraging.
Before leaving the subject, let
me just mention something that you may not have taken full advantage of:
sitting near those you want to encourage during worship. Like most people, I
reflexively would sit in the same seat at church or during a Bible study for
the rest of my life unless I made an effort to change my habits. I pick
occasions when it’s easy to move around and take the opportunity to continue a
conversation prior to worship or a Bible study by following someone to where
that person likes to sit. I find that my ability to encourage the person will
always be increased by doing so.
Here’s a last observation, make
yourself available. If someone looks as if receiving encouragement is
important, I make sure he or she knows how to reach me so that I can help. In
almost every communication, I’ll also ask them to “please let me know how I can
help.” Although an individual may never take advantage of my offer, it can be
very encouraging to know that someone is available to assist should that be
needed.
In our final chapter, we look at
what Christians need to be doing to expand their abilities to increase a
nation’s fruitfulness. Let’s get to it!
Copyright
© 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012 by Donald W. Mitchell.
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are taken
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