We’re recently started a new series called “reset”.  Last week, we talked about how Jesus makes it possible to reset all of life, giving us a fresh start in life that impacts every key area.  We’re going to look at many of these in depth, starting this week with how Jesus resets our goals.

When my wife and I were having our first baby, we were encouraged to write birth plan.  This is where you write down a plan for who’s in the room, and make choices about everything from epidurals to breastfeeding to how bright the lights should be.

I know someone who works closely with an OB, and she has some wild stories about how people let some of the small choices get in the way of the big picture.  In a perfect, routine childbirth, a parent’s ideal may be to have the lights just so, no pain with no drugs, and a favourite song playing at the exact moment the child is born.

But when things don’t go perfectly, there are some people who forget the point, or the goal.  They start to argue for their personal preferences, instead of arguing for a baby’s health.

When my wife and I were writing up a birth plan, we decided to stay goal focused.  The goal was to have a healthy child.  All our personal preferences, hopes and dreams for the birth experience were going to be expressed, but we’d drop them in an instant if things were going wrong.

That was a moment we reset our goals…to make sure they were focused on the right thing.  It’s not a bad thing in life to regularly reset our goals, and ensure we’re focused on the right ones.  Not just in childbirth.

We can get so bogged down in day to day tasks we forget the point in our careers.  Do we live to work, or work to live?

I heard a TED Talk (attached) that shared the job description of a hospital janitor.  It was what you’d expect – mop, clean, scrub, restock.  It had nothing at all to do with hospital patients and healthcare.  But some psychologists interviewed hospital janitors.  They met one who told them about how he stopped mopping the floor because a patient was walking slowly down the hall. Another told them how she ignored her supervisor and didn’t vacuum the visitor’s lounge because there were some family members who were there all day, every day.

In the drudgery of cleaning, these janitors remembered the real goal of the hospital, and perhaps even of their human race.  They reset their goals to be about more than cleaning, but about caring for others.

Question: When have you had to reset your goals?  Why did you do it?

Reminder: We are reading the Bible in sync as one community – so check out today’s reading here.

Reminder: The best way to grow spiritually this year is to join our Christianity 101 in the Cafe Course in Pickering starting this Wednesday,  January 22nd. Register for you and a friend today!

Read the Bible in Sync Today

Ryan Sim - July 17, 2013

Wednesday - Change It - Originality

I know a PHd student who asked this question on Facebook: "How do you cite Facebook?" Researchers like her live and breathe citations. It's critical that they learn how to quote someone properly. There are whole books written about referencing sources properly. Good teaching in Jesus’ day was the same. Rabbi Hirschel says this. Rabbi Hillel says that. At best, a good teacher might come up with some creative parallel, paradox or new insight into those ancient words. But to say something original, that was risky. Maybe you could get away with it at end of your career, or maybe after you'd died, people would say it about you. The Jewish people have such a long history – to make up your own stuff was as if you thought you were better, and could ignore the past. If you did, people would ask, "Who is this guy?" In this case, he was Jesus, a carpenter from a small town. He never went to the advanced schools of Judaism. Lucky he was literate. He was not where you’d expect original, profound teaching to come from. You might expect teaching that was original and trite, or profound and dated, but not original and profound at once. Yet, everyone, even his enemies, saw this profound, original teaching in Jesus. They said the same as these crowds. “He teaches as one with authority” meaning he wasn’t quoting the great teachers of the past, like other Jewish Rabbis always did. He just taught, and people recognized his words as good and true, despite his lack of citations. He hadn’t followed another rabbi, he just gathered a school of students around him. He doesn’t need to cite, because he is the source of all truth. He is called the "Word" of God - the "Word" being a Greek concept of the truth with personality. Question: How is Jesus different from other teachers in your life? What did he teach that no one else said before, or has ever improved upon since? We meet for coffee every Wednesday night at Starbucks in the Chapters Store in Ajax, in Durham Region just East of Toronto. Maybe we'll see you there?

From Series: "Sermon on the Mount"

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