Looking in, out and up: made for stewardship

Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear

fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can

you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

- John 15:4

I'm attending a mastermind group focused on John Maxwell's new book The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth. John Griffin, a Maxwell certified coach and trainer, is leading the study and gave us an assignment to bring 2 questions about the Law of Curiosity to the next meeting. While these 7 weeks together doesn't give us time to do more than hit the top-of-the-waves, the book and Griffin's poking has caused me to dig, as I was hoping. Yet, I wasn't necessarily expecting the digging to be in regards to work.

So far, the two biggest "hmmmmm's" have come from the laws of reflection and couriosity. This is from a guy (me) that understands God's design for us to work, was already heavy into evaluation & correction, and doesn't like to ask "why?" (it's a QBQ thing).

As I was preparing to take Bubba for a walk this morning I had a strong desire (from Holy Spirit?) to listen to a Keller message. Made for Stewardship jumped out from the podcast list. This was at least the 5th time I've listened to the messge but today it collided with the study about growth.

Thus, I think it's a great time to dig and ponder a bit of Dr. Keller's teachings on work again and in particular, camp out on how it pertains to my growth. This is the first a series of posts on Dr. Tim Keller's message on Made for Stewardship.

We are called to work because God also worked - He created the world! We can work for God by using out gifts for others. We also need rest from our work, which comes from our security in God through Christ. - Dr. Tim Keller

Dr. Keller continues to intrigue me with his delivery style. It's a mix of intellict, humor and a soft stab to the gut. Dave Moore mentioned once that he's so glad that Keller doesn't yell! Amen to that.

Keller hits the top of a number of important points in this short message without going too deep into any and leaves the listener with much to ponder. At around 14 minutes lays out the three guidelines to work:

- looking In at what you're gifted to do,
- look Out at what people need and
- look Up to the One who's called you.
 
- look In to work because of who you are,
- look Out at the world around you and give the world what it needs to have and
- look Up to realize what you're destined to be


Dr. Keller's message can be found by clicking here.


To that end..........I pray I'm looking in, out and up, paying attention and growing purposefully.


ps....I believe Griffin's purpose was successful.


Link's mentioned in this post -

John Maxwell
15 Invaluable Law's of Growth
John Griffin
Dr. Tim Keller
Made for Stewardship