Corby Stephens

I added the “1” to the title because, for all I know, this will be the first of many. And to describe how I got to this particular self reflection would talk a blog entry all by itself. so I’ll skip that one for now. On to the reflection.

Some people are good at something they shouldn’t be. Like lying. Kind of a no-brainer, but it needs to be said. Some people aren’t good at things at which they are supposed to be good. Like being patient. Then there are those ones who are good at things at which they are supposed to be good, but still something is missing. They are incomplete. What’s missing are the things they used to be good at, things it would be good to be good at, but they aren’t anymore. Have I thoroughly confused you yet?

One skill I have tried to develop over the years is critical thinking. Thinking through things. Identifying truths and lies, rights and wrongs, facts and faults. For whatever reason I’ve gotten good at noticing, or drawing attention to lies, wrongs, and faults as opposed to truths, rights, and facts. Pointing out what is wrong is a good things. The word tells us to test, to judges, to evaluate. But if all you do is notice the negative you are going to find yourself increasingly bitter and increasingly left to yourself. It isn’t that I don’t see the good in things, it’s just that it seems like so many people ignore the bad that needs to be dealt with to the point where there is no such thing as bad. I could go on with examples and “why’s” but I don’t need to bore you with “Corby on the couch” time. Moving on.

I used to be known as an encourager. I’m not bragging on myself or anything, that’s just how it was back in the day. I don’t know precisely how or when it changed, but I’m not known for that anymore. I think one of the bigger reasons is that I had a job where I had to be encouraging. I had to be “on” all the time. Some guys who did what I did were natural at it. I wasn’t. I had to fake it after a while. I think I had to fake it so much that even when I felt the need, urge, or instinct to be genuinely encouraging that I shrank back from it because it felt fake. The same principle applied to other areas that are normal behavior for most humans. You know, like feeling happy. I had to fake people “up” and happy so much that I forgot what it actually felt like for real.

I need to stop being good at faking it. I need to temper being good at being critical. I need to get good again, more good, gooder, at being that encourager. Instead of just noticing the good in passing on the way to nailing the bad and shining the spotlight on it, I need to also shine the spotlight on the good.

Reflect.

Paul, writing to the believers in Galatia, says in Galatians 4:19, “My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you,” In Romans 7:3-4 Paul says, “So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another–to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.” (emphasis added).

It’s interesting how sexual and intimate Paul can be in his language. In other places he said that he considered himself a nursing mother to the new baby believers. Marriage, sex, labor pains, fruit. Fellow believers, especially you pastors out there, have you ever thought about it like that? The “labor in birth” dynamic hit home for me this past week, and indeed these past several years. I’ve always conceptually understood it, but never really experienced it. At least I never connected the dots. (I can be a little slow sometimes.) Read the rest of this entry »

One of the things I’ve wanted to do is, after I go through a book, to turn the study of that book into a devotional. Like one of those 30-day thingys. I started on one after I went through Acts and, like the Captain ADD that I am, I got side tracked. So perhaps I need a little inspiration. Here is the first one that I got through. I thought I’d post it as a demo and get some feed back. Read the rest of this entry »

Words have what is called a “semantic range”. It means that any particular word can have a range of different meanings. Those meanings depend on context. For example, the word “day”. “What day do you want to meet?” “Back in my day…” “It’s the end of a long day.” One word, three different meanings.

A thought occurred to me a week or so ago and I’ve been chewing on it for a while. As I was thinking it through and how I might convey this thought, I felt it important to point out that the use of two specific words might be outside of their usual semantic range. These words are “grace” and “faith”. Were they read with the typical meaning, that having to do with salvation, what I’m trying to say might come across as heresy. It isn’t. As you read this, just bear with me and I think you will see the Biblical truth in it. It may even inspire some change in your own life as it has in mine. Read the rest of this entry »

As I think I said in the “Here we go” post, I could have gotten as much out of the sessions if I had stayed home and watched the DVDs. That isn’t to say there was/is anything wrong with the sessions, it has more to do with how I process info. I don’t like crowds, I don’t like the eating with people and the usual chit-chat that goes with it. It isn’t that I think I’m above it or anything, I just genuinely feel awkward in those situations. Having said that, I could not have gotten what I did get from the conference via DVD or following the blogs. Read the rest of this entry »