At Sunshine Bible Academy each student participates in a “gratis” program. Gratis, of course, means “free,” but through this program students have areas which they are responsible for helping to keep the school neat and clean. Some students clean classrooms, some take out trash, some help in the kitchen and the scullery, others clean staff offices. One of the juniors is responsible for cleaning several staff offices, including mine.

Initially, I’ll admit, this took me some getting used to. I have never had someone regularly clean my office for me before. Once in a while someone might take the trash out for me if all of the trash was being emptied, but as often as not I would do that myself. I usually vacuumed my own floor, and (eventually) did my own dusting. (Actually, my wife has been known to dust my office for me on occasion, too). But now, at least twice a week, Shanna comes into my office to clean. Some days she just takes the trash out, but sometimes she will dust, sweep or mop, too.

When the day came that she was ready to mop for the first time Shanna asked me, as politely as possible, “Can you please leave so that I can mop?” If I stayed at my desk she could not clean everything properly–she would not have been able to get under my desk, for example, and even behind my desk it would have been inconvenient to work around me. I have joked with Shanna that she is the only person in the whole school who can kick the superintendent out of his own office. Of course, I could have said no, and refused to leave, but by doing so I would have prevented a thorough cleaning–meaning there would still have been some “mess” in my office. In fact, that mess probably would have been even more noticeable because everything else would have been so clean.

I recently realized that this is a perfect metaphor for what Christ wants to do in my life–and yours. Through the Holy Spirit, He wants to clean out the dirt and dust and trash in my life and make me clean. In order to do that completely, though, He asks me to get out of the way. To give up my claim to my life and let Him do what need to be done. Quietly, He asks me to “please leave.” Just like with my office, I could choose to stay. As amazing as it is, I have the power–as do you–to tell Almighty God, “No, I’m not budging. You can clean over there if you want to, and it’s fine to take the trash out, but I’m keeping this drawer and this area here just the way it is. Don’t touch it.”

When Shanna asks me to leave my office it is so that she can clean completely. If I refuse to go, she will still clean, but her job will be incomplete. Truth be told, though, most of what she will not be able to clean will not be visible to anyone else, because it will be behind and underneath my desk. Similarly, I often allow the Holy Spirit free access to those parts of my life that everyone else will see because I don’t want them to see my dirt and dust. I want them to see me shiny and polished. I kinda like to keep the area under my desk to myself, though. After all, no one is going to see it, and I’m just not sure I’m ready to yield that part of my life to the Lord yet.

Just as Shanna would not physically evict me from my office, the Holy Spirit will probably let me keep that dirt and dust in my life for a while. If I am in a right relationship with the Lord, though, I won’t have peace about it. I will want to get out of the way and let Him do a thorough cleaning.

Also like my office, though, the dirt, dust and trash of life will accumulate again after a while. It isn’t a one-time cleaning. It needs to be done regularly in order to keep it clean. And just like I could agree to leave sometimes when Shanna asks me to, and say no other times, I might yield to the Spirit one time, and hold my ground the next. It’s a day by day, moment by moment decision. What is guaranteed is that the Spirit will be back soon, saying “please leave.” The question is how I will respond.

Today I accompanied a group of eighth graders on another service project. This time we went to help an area rancher whose wife recently suffered serious injuries to her left arm after getting it caught in a combine. The work that we did was pretty simple, really. First, we went around to the various hay fields to pick up twine that had snapped off of last year’s round bales when they were moved from the fields to the house. Apparently this twine would get all wrapped up in the rake when the field is harvested next year if it was not picked up. After lunch we helped clean “the shop,” which included putting things away and sweeping the floor.

As I was sweeping the shop floor, pushing piles of dirt and trash into larger piles, I was reminded of a story my friend Mark Snodgrass likes to tell about the time he and I “met.” Truth be told we had met a few days earlier in terms of formal introductions, as we were both new on staff at a children’s home in Virginia. But the first time we spent any time together was mopping the floor of the gymnasium in preparation for the organization’s 40th anniversary celebration coming up fast. Mark likes the story because it illustrates perfectly the fact that there should be no job that is beneath anyone. Mark came to the children’s home with an impressive resume that included a couple of graduate degrees and considerable experience in the U.S. Army, as a city manager, and as an executive for the Boy Scouts. My resume was much less impressive, but I was Mark’s “boss,” in that he and his wife were hired to be houseparents and I was hired to be the Assistant Program Director. Just over a year later I would be the Program Director and Mark would become the Assistant Program Director.

Fast forward a few more years and I was now the Executive Director of that organization. Mark had left and was serving about 45 minutes away as a pastor of a small church. One day as I was sitting in my office my friend Carl Etheridge came in. When Mark left to pastor the church, Carl became the Program Director. Carl told me that someone on our staff (who shall remain nameless in order to protect the guilty) had balked at a task he had been asked to do, saying that he was too highly educated to do something so menial. Carl and I shared our mutual disgust for this kind of attitude, but I also thought immediately of Mark–who was a mutual friend of Carl and me. I told Carl that Mark would get a kick out of the incident, and told him that Mark would immediately recall the story of our experience mopping the gym floor. So I put Mark on speaker phone and called him. I got the reaction I expected.

That incident, however, led to what I think may be the only time I can recall in what has now been ten years of holding the top executive position at a few Christian ministries where I told an entire staff of people in no uncertain terms that as long as I was in the position I was in there would be no room on our staff for that kind of attitude and that should something like that ever again come to my attention the guilty party would be dismissed immediately.

Mark and Carl were both promoted from within at the children’s home. Both of them are older than me (Mark could be my father, Carl could almost be my grandfather) and both of them had considerably more life experience than I did, but I did not promote them for those reasons. I promoted them primarily because I knew that they would lead by example–that they would never ask anyone else to do something that they had not done or would not be willing to do themselves. Mark and I mopping the gym floor is one of many examples I could give. I could tell a similar story about Carl and I stripping and waxing the dining hall floor over spring break one year.

I don’t recall anyone ever point-blank telling me that I needed to be a servant leader, someone who leads others by my example. I don’t recall ever making a conscious decision that that is the kind of leader I would be. But I do know that the people in my life who have had the strongest influence on me have been those kinds of people. I can remember, for example, the two government/economics teachers in my high school. Every other teacher who got food from the line in the cafeteria would go to the front of the line, get their food and disappear into the teacher’s lounge. Mr. Giga and Mr. Kolbe, though, would stand in line with the students and talk to those in line around them. Something that simple made an incredible impression on me, and on many other students at OHS too, I am sure.

Now, I would be less than honest if I did not admit that it I did wonder today while sweeping that shop floor if I was really making the best use of my time. After all, like Mark when we were mopping the gym, I have several graduate degrees now, and I have “important responsibilities.” I mean, I have more letters that come after my last name than I have in my last name if I want to list my degrees. But, thankfully, that thought did not last long. I realized that what I was doing was important, because I was helping someone who had a need, I was doing it alongside some really cool kids, and I was leading by example.

My point here is not to pat myself on the back. I’m not big on tooting my own horn, quite frankly. But I am troubled by the fact that servant leadership is so unusual. The rancher we were helping today made a comment as we were preparing to leave that he never knew superintendents were normal people. He said he couldn’t get over the fact that, “the Superintendent of Sunshine Bible Academy is sweeping the dirt on my floor.” Did that make me feel good? Sure. But please believe me when I tell you that more than anything else it makes me sad. I know the gentleman who held this position before me, and I am confident that this rancher did not mean to disparage him in any way. The truth is, though, this idea has come to my attention before. At the last school I was at I received all manner of astonished looks and comments when I helped take out the garbage or sweep the cafeteria floor. At the children’s home it was, at least initially, considered unheard of that the Executive Director would be helping to weed eat or trim hedges or paint walls.

The Gospels are full of examples of Jesus leading by example and serving others. I suspect He would have no qualms about sweeping dirt, taking out trash, mowing grass, washing dishes…whatever needs to be done. Here’s my challenge to you and me…why is it so unusual for someone in a position of leadership to do such things now?

Today I accompanied a number of students from Sunshine Bible Academy to a local ranch. The 9th through 11th graders are scattered around the state right now for SBA’s annual Servant Days, so some of the younger students and their teachers thought that it would be a good idea for them to get involved in some kind of service project, too. The rancher we went to help had already harvested his corn, but there was–as I assume there always is–corn left behind after the harvest, and this rancher wanted to collect that corn to feed to his livestock. (Disclaimer: I am not a farmer, have no experience with farming, and may use some terminology incorrectly in the process of this entry. Your understanding is appreciated).

So, each older student had a five gallon bucket and was accompanied by a younger student as they walked through rows of harvested corn looking for corn that had been left behind. They would pick up the corn, shuck it, drop it in the bucket and eventually, when the bucket got full, empty it into the bed of one of the 4-wheel farm vehicles in the field. (I got to drive a John Deere Gator. And that, believe it or not, I had done before. But this one was completely enclosed–a huge benefit with the South Dakota wind!)

As I was helping one set of students collect corn I could not help but think of the biblical account of Ruth gleaning in Boaz’s field. I asked the younger student if she remembered that biblical story, and, when she said she did, told her that Ruth did something very much like what were doing. After Boaz’s workers had harvested the wheat, Ruth went behind them and gathered wheat that had been left behind. She would then take it home so that she and Naomi would have something to eat. The student seemed to catch the similarity, and also added, “But I don’t think we are taking the corn home.” You have to love the literal mindedness of so many elementary students (especially when the student in question happens to be your daughter!)

Now, I am not sharing this to pat myself on the back, but to point out how we are called to take advantage of teachable moments when they arise. We read in Deuteronomy that parents have the responsibility to teach their children about the Lord “when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Deuteronomy 6:7, ESV). Not that we will be gleaning corn every day, or find ourselves in situations that so clearly correlate to Bible stories–but that is not the point, nor is it necessary. It should be possible to identify teachable moments every day. Of course, before we can identify them and use them to teach biblical truth, something else has to happen. Before we can teach about the Lord when we sit in our house, walk by the way, lie down or rise, we must be thinking about the Lord when we sit in our house, walk by the way, lie down or rise.

Even when we are not consciously and intentionally thinking about the Lord as we go about our daily activities, if we are in a right relationship with Him we will find that He will teach us things, reinforce biblical truths and call to mind lessons we have learned and things He has done as we go along our merry way. Sharing the story of Ruth with my daughter today is but one example of the things that I thought about while I was in that corn field. After a while, I was not right with my daughter and Staci (the 8th grader she had buddied with) any longer. I found myself walking through a harvested row by myself looking for stray ears of corn. As I did so, another biblical story came to mind–that of the prodigal son.

I am sure you are familiar with the story. After wasting his inheritance on “riotous living” the young man found himself employed to feed pigs. He was in such dire straits that he found himself longing after the pig slop he was dishing out to the hogs. This came to mind because I was thinking about the fact that I was collecting corn that would be fed to livestock. In the state that corn was in, I would not eat it. Yet, how often have I been guilty of wasting my time, talents and treasure on the things the world has to offer–and even found myself longing after the slop that the world has in abundance–when my Father has the very best and He would love for me to come back to Him to partake of it.

One other thing came to mind as I was gleaning corn today. As I would pick up ears of corn I would remove the shucks and drop it to the ground. Only, thanks to the strong South Dakota wind, it rarely fell straight to the ground. It would blow away. The corn shucks are thin, light and weak, and when confronted with a gusting wind they no choice but to go wherever the wind blew it. And quite frankly, I didn’t care where it went, because it has no value. It was worthless to me, and to the rancher I was helping. That reminded me to the fact that my works on this earth will someday be separated like wheat from the chaff. I know that wheat and chaff and corn and shucks are not exactly the same thing (give me some credit!), but I think the point is the same. I have seen threshing floors and even learned about the various ways that wheat and chaff was separated during colonial times. One way that I saw demonstrated at George Washington’s Mount Vernon was to lay the harvested wheat on a blanket, beat it with an implement designed for the purpose, and then, with people at each corner, lift the blanket, and toss the contents into the air. The wheat is heavy enough that it would fall back down to the blanket (just like the corn would fall to the ground if I dropped it). The chaff, however, is light, and it would be blown away by the wind–just like the corn shucks. Someday all of the worthless things that I do will be blown away too. Or burned in the fire.

The Bible is full of agricultural metaphors for spiritual lessons. As a new resident of a state with lots of agriculture, I suspect I may find myself picking up on many more reminders of Bible lessons. But working on a ranch or living in the country is not a requirement for finding opportunities to be reminded of biblical truth in our everyday lives. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, be open to the still, small voice of God. You will find plenty of teachable moments–when He will teach you something, and when you can teach others.

Tim Dalrymple discusses recent surveys on giving in American churches in an article in the November 5 issue of World. According to Empty Tomb, Inc. tithing to mainline churches has reached its lowest point in 41 years, and of the amount that churches are receiving, a smaller percentage is going to serve the needy outside of the congregation as churches must retain a higher percentage to cover the cost of maintenance and paying staff salaries. Empty Tomb is an Illinois-based agency that provides “financial discipleship strategy and information about church giving patterns on a national level” (www.emptytomb.org). According to their study, data on evangelical and Roman Catholic churches’ giving patterns was not available, but the authors suggest that the trends among the mainline denominations included in the survey should be indicative of those American churches not included.

According to the Empty Tomb report, Christians in the denominations included in the study (Lutherans, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, and others) tithed 2.38 percent of their income in 2009, down .05 percent from 2008, and those churches then spent less than one-sixth of their budget on ministries that fell outside of the congregation itself.

Dalrymple notes that Empty Tomb could be accused of taking an alarmist approach to its research, but I would agree with him when he notes that, “the statistics are alarming enough if they are even remotely close.” I would like to think that if the churches not included in the study were to be surveyed we would see a higher percentage being tithed to the local congregation, but it is unlikely that it would be overwhelmingly higher, and even if it were double, that would mean only 4.76 percent…hardly anything to get excited about.

There is also the possibility that individuals are including organizations and ministries other than their local church in their tithing, giving directly to missionaries and other para-church ministries rather than having that support funneled through the local church. My wife and I have done that in the past. When we were members of a wonderful, Bible-believing, Bible-teaching church that had an approach to missions that we did not completely agree with we gave part of our tithe to our church, and part of it went directly to fund missionaries we know and support around the world. As much as I would like to think this is the case, though, I have to be honest and say that it is unlikely that the “missing” 7.62 percent of the tithe (assuming one holds to the idea of tithing equaling 10 percent, and the responsibility of the Christian being to tithe) is being contributed in such ways.

Dalrymple correctly points out that the obvious culprit for the decline in giving would seem to be the current state of the U.S. economy. However, according to Empty Tomb, church giving has not always declined when the economy has been, shall we say, sluggish. So there may be other reasons to consider, as well. What concerns me more, however, is the larger picture. Regardless of the reason for the .05 percent decline from 2008 to ’09, lets look at something more troubling. Empty Tomb reports that the .05 decline was the largest year-to-year decline in giving in the past 40 years. So while that is cause for concern, it reveals to me that giving has remained relatively stable…and, therefore, relatively scant.

Dig around on the Empty Tomb web site and you will find lots of interesting facts about the giving trends in the U.S. Of note, Protestants were giving 2.9 percent of their income to churches in 1916. In the midst of the Great Depression in 1933 they were giving 3.2 percent. In 1955, it was still 3.2 percent. By 2007, it was 2.5 percent. What happened to income over that same period? Compared to 1933, even taking taxes and inflation into consideration, Americans in 2007 were 582% richer. Yet giving had gone down. Per member giving in 2007 averaged a pathetically low $863.80.

So, what difference could this make? Well, according to the study, if American churches had given the same percentage of their budgets to benevolence ministries in 2009 as they did in 1968, an additional $3.1 billion would have gone to those in need. What’s more, if American Christians had tithed a full ten percent on their income in 2008 the resulting increase for the church would have been $172 billion. In both cases that’s billion…with a “b.” And I don’t care who you are, that’s a lot of money. So much money, in fact, that according to the authors of the study that would have been more than enough to “send missionaries to every unreached people group and all but eliminate the deaths of small children because of starvation and disease.” Notice that that says and, not or. In other words, if each member tithed ten percent–which comes out to an increase of slightly more than $200 per month based on 2007 per capita income–there would be enough resources available to eliminate childhood starvation and reach every known people group in the world. That is not to say that would happen, of course. Churches may choose to utilize that money in other ways if it were given. But think of whatever is most important to you or whatever you would love to see your church be able to do more of, and imagine what a full tithe could translate into. No child would be prevented from attending Christian school for financial reasons. No crisis pregnancy center would be unable to provide ultrasounds to mothers considering abortion. No orphaned child would be left with inadequate care. No elderly person would be deprived of respectful, honorable care. None of the more than nine percent of unemployed U.S. workers would be unable to pay their bills or feed their family. No one would be unable to access quality health care. Fill in the blank with your own vision….

So, back to an earlier question, why is the percentage of income that American Christians tithe to their churches so low? It’s not the economy. It is a failure to acknowledge that their income is not their income. It is God’s money that He has entrusted to them. Unfortunately, many are failing to be good stewards of that money, either because they do not know how, or because they do not care. They would rather spend the money on things they want, and give God what’s leftover. Remember, too, that when we look at averages of anything we must keep in mind that to get that average figure, some give much more while some give much less. I cannot think of much that would be more depressing than to think that there are many professing Christians who tithe much less than 2.38 percent of their income.

I am reminded of the biblical account of the three individuals who were entrusted with some of their master’s money when he left on a long trip. Two of the three doubled their master’s money in his absence, while one, afraid of a failure to measure up to the master’s expectations, simply buried the money and then gave it back to him upon his return. We find in that account that when the master received his money back from this third individual he called him “wicked and slothful” (Matthew 25:26, ESV). That individual was then cast into outer darkness. It gives me pause–and I think it should you, too–to imagine how much more upset the master in that story would have been had that third individual returned to the master only one-fourth of what he had been given and explained that he had used the remainder to pay bills, go out to eat with his family, buy some designer sandals, and take a vacation to the coast. I cannot help but picture this fool smilingly presenting this meager return to his master thinking it would surely be enough since the master had, after all, given it to him. Couldn’t he do with it what he wanted?

In his excellent and convicting book Whose Money Is It Anyway? John MacArthur writes this: “By God’s grace we can always find a way to give, because even the worst circumstances should never hinder our devotion to Jesus Christ and our desire to obey His commands on giving. … [G]iving is not righteous unless it’s accompanied by sincere, heartfelt joy. That’s because joy will supersede any motivation that causes you to give merely out of duty, pressure, fear of punishment if you don’t, or simply for the sake of a reward.” Towards the end of his chapter entitled “The Characteristics of Biblical Giving,” MacArthur writes, “You can give without loving (that’s merely legalistic, required giving), but you can’t love without giving (true affection leads to generosity).”

I’m not going to tell you that you have to tithe ten percent. I don’t think that’s my place, and I am not even convinced that the ten percent tithe is New Testament requirement. But tithing is a requirement, and I would ask you to prayerfully reflect on your priorities, as I reflect on mine. 2 Corinthians 9:7 says that, “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” If you’re cheerfully giving God your 2.38 percent, that’s between you and Him. But I do wonder if your joy might abound even more…if you decide to give Him more.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was all over the news yesterday, and for reasons I suspect he would have preferred to avoid. At the G20 Summit last week President Sarkozy called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a liar in a conversation with U.S. President Barack Obama. What Sarkozy and Obama did not know was that the conversation was being overheard by several journalists in another room. Sarkozy and Obama were already wearing their microphones and a few journalists had already put on the headphones of their translating device–even though they had been told to wait until the news conference started to do so.

This is certainly not the first time something like this has happened. During the 2000 presidential campaign, for example, George W. Bush identified a reporter from the New York Times and in no uncertain terms told Dick Cheney what he thought of the man. This exchange was picked up by the open mic on the stage.

What these instances bring to my mind, though, is the need to guard our tongues. Presidents and other world leaders are in positions where their comments can have very real and potentially very serious consequences around the world. I am not in a position to impact international diplomacy with a carelessly expressed opinion, but that does not mean that my words are any less powerful or that I need to be any less careful. The book of James makes it unmistakably clear that the tongue is in an incredibly potent force. Like a spark igniting a forest fire or a rudder steering a ship, the tongue is small in size but almost unequaled in power and influence.

In looking at the situation with President Sarkozy it is tempting to sit back and think, “How stupid! You’re wearing a microphone, about to go into a news conference. Wouldn’t you be a little more careful in choosing your words?” I have to resist that temptation, though, because I am well aware that I, too, make foolish word choices at times. I suspect that Mr. Sarkozy was expressing an opinion he genuinely holds, and was expecting it to be a private exchange between himself and Mr. Obama. But should that matter? When I am having a confidential discussion with someone I feel I can trust, should I feel free to say things I would not be willing to say elsewhere? Should I say things I would be ashamed or embarrassed to have announced to the world or broadcast on the Internet?

Several years ago, I heard a fantastic illustration about words from my friend and former pastor, Dr. Joey Anthony. He was talking about words, and how careful we need to be with how we use them. He asked a volunteer to empty a tube of toothpaste onto a paper plate. After the individual had squeezed out all he could, Joey said, “Now, put it back in the tube.” Of course the individual looked at the toothpaste, looked at him, and then said, “I can’t.” I suppose it would be possible with lots of time and effort to get some of the toothpaste back in, but the point was well made: once our words leave out mouths, we cannot “put them back in.” We can never get them back. We may try to explain them away, apologize for them, even retract them, but we can never really get them back. Every word we utter is like the bullet of a gun; once we pull the trigger, it’s too late.

One of the greatest lies ever perpetrated on mankind is the old children’s rhyme, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” On the contrary, the damage inflicted by sticks and stones will heal with time and proper care. And while the damage done by words can heal, it may never completely go away. I suspect you, like I, can remember some specific words someone said to you at some point in your past that hurt you. You may have “gotten over it,” and you may have forgiven the individual who uttered the words, but the pain that you experienced is likely easy to recall when prompted.

In his book Controlling the Tongue, R.T. Kendall says that the scariest verse in the Bible in his opinion is Matthew 12:36, which reads, “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak.” That is a sobering thought, isn’t it? We are each equipped with a tongue, a powerful tool that we can use to build others up, or tear others down. We can encourage others, or discourage them. We can point others to Christ, or drive them away. With such a potent tool at our disposal, I’d like to suggest that we exercise much discernment in choosing our words. Maybe we should think about it this way…what if everything we said was picked up by an open mic?