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Hi everyone! Sooo...was my sweet mother-in-law the only one who thought my last post was going to be a pregnancy announcement? Hahaha. Sorry to disappoint, if that was the case!

Nope. I am not currently with child, and as I'm sure you've noticed, I'm still at Life Under Construction. I do have something really exciting in the works, but it's going to take some time to create. Until then, I'll continue to blog here...cuz I can't stop blogging. That's just crazy talk.

That having been said, let's carry on, shall we?  

For some reason, I seem to be getting a lot of writing inspiration from my nonprofit business class. I don't know if it's the nature of the nonprofit sector itself, or just the fact that I am where I am in my spiritual walk at the moment. Either way, it's speaking to me, and I like it.

The other day I read this little tidbit, and it jumped off the page at me: "Thus, perhaps, accountability needs to include more than just avoiding transgressions and exhibiting model behavior. It may need to encompass demonstrated effectiveness in achieving the purposes for which the nonprofit exists" (Worth, 2014, pg. 128).

Maybe it was the word transgressions that made that whole sentence leap off the page for me.  After all, thanks to Mac Powell et. al. and their song "By His Wounds" that word gets stuck in my head on a daily basis (WARNING: if you go to that link, the video has scenes from "Passion of the Christ" that depict the graphic crucifixion of the savior who died for all of us).

Whatever the case, it leapt off the page.  Still don't see it?  Let me help:

Thus, perhaps, being a Christian needs to include more than just avoiding transgressions and exhibiting model behavior. It also needs to encompass demonstrated effectiveness in achieving the purposes for which the Christian exists.

That. Is. POWERFUL, my friends.

Just a few word changes, and nonprofit management becomes the solid, life-hanging truth of Christian existence...

We were called to more than just sitting in a pew on Sundays and trying to be good.

Don't believe me? How about this?

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-

and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God

 not by works, so that no one can boast. 

For we are God's handiwork, 

created in Christ Jesus to do good works, 

which God prepared in advance for us to do.

(Ephesians 2:8-10, NIV, emphasis added)

You may notice I emphasized the word handiwork there. We're currently going through Ephesians in our sermon series at church, and my pastor said something a few weeks ago that really stuck with me.  The Greek word there is poiema (poy'-ay-mah), and it is the word from which we get our words poem and poetry. 

You are God's poetry, carefully created cell by cell and hair by hair, and He created you for a purpose.

Please don't misunderstand me, by all means, go to church and sit in a pew because that's often how we begin to grow, and we need the body of Christ.

But if that's all we're going to do? If it's going to end there, then it just happens to be a giant waste of time because "As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead" (James 2:26).

Harsh? Yes, but sometimes God needs to lay it all out there to get our attention. 

And the good news is, it's not even our jobs to figure it all out.  Just like our faith is not through works, but a gift from God, so also, we cannot save people...only God can do that.  We just have to be willing to seek His face and His will for our lives, and He will guide us to where we need to be.

The path is already there, folks, we just need to walk in it.

So, that's my "business" lesson for the day. I'm a CEO, and it's my responsibility to do more than avoid sinning and act properly. 

I wonder what my next "business" lesson will be!!

Reference

Worth, M. J. (2014). Nonprofit management: Principles and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE       Publications, Inc.

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