In HOPE

  In HOPE 7.3                                  back to home                        David Timms

Ministry Resource

Calvin Miller's The Empowered Leader: 10 Keys to Servant Leadership (Broadman & Holman, 1995: 225 pages) provides a rich biblical and practical analysis of leadership. Miller uses great illustrations, helpful charts, and a delightful writing style to guide the reader into a deeper awareness of timeless leadership principles.

Hope Happenings

On March 15, 16, and 17, the University Music Department performs Once Upon a Mattress, a musical adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson's beloved fairytale The Princess and the Pea . More information can be found at www.hiu.edu .  

 

Hope International University
Fullerton  CA  92831

"No punishment anyone might inflict on us could possibly be worse than the punishment we inflict on ourselves by conspiring in our own diminishment."  -- Parker Palmer


Name It

We tread lightly and reluctantly, afraid to face charges of political incorrectness, insensitivity, judgmentalism, or intolerance. So, in the interest of maintaining social standing and superficial niceties we avoid calling sin by its name.

As any physician will attest, diagnosis is crucial. Until the problem can be identified and named, any effort at treatment will likely be ineffective or dangerous. An asthmatic attack does not require antibiotics, nor does heart disease require an inhaler.

The same applies to our spiritual lives.

The ancient prophets in Israel functioned as "spiritual diagnosticians." As the wealthy prospered and the poor suffered, the prophets stepped forward with words like "injustice," "immorality," and "idolatry." They spoke the names of the disease.

They proved vital in alerting their contemporaries to the spiritual sickness in the land, and their labels need dusting off in our day.

Ignorance and secrecy continue to conspire together to hold God's people and God's creation in captivity. 

We cannot treat what we cannot identify and since the Garden of Eden every human being has suffered spiritual blind-spots. We need "prophets" as much today as ever, though they seldom receive a warm welcome. Perhaps we could become occasional "prophets" for each other, in love.

Ignorance produces bondage. And the path to freedom requires both someone to "name it" and us to hear it.

Secrecy also binds us. If we refuse to tell the doctor that we've had shooting pain down our left leg and oppressive weight on our chest, we risk a massive coronary attack. Similarly, sin's power lies in secrecy. We fear shining light in the dark corner. What will people think? And, in the process, invite spiritual disease and decline.

The journey to freedom involves not just steps to put on Christ, but also steps to put off sin. That means naming it, not to shame each other but to shore each other up. It means confession of the darkness that we harbor in our souls.

And we shall be free indeed.

To know Christ more fully and the Father more intimately, requires that we name and confront the enemies within and among us. May we open those doors to the fresh breeze of the Spirit. 

In HOPE -

David

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For back issues of "In HOPE" (2005-2007) go to http://www.hiu.edu/inhope/.

David Timms serves in the Graduate Ministry Department at Hope International University in Fullerton, California. "In HOPE", however, is not an official publication of the University and the views expressed are not necessarily those of the Administrators or Board of the institution. "In HOPE" has been a regular e-publication since January, 2001.