The Judgment of Jesus

This topic has been weighing on my heart for a little while and I do think it’s important. Many people may not agree with me; some religious types may even get upset with me should they read this, but I don’t care. I’m just going to tell you what I think, and why, based on the scriptures of the Bible. You don’t have to agree with me, just know where I stand on this topic: judging.

Now, I should clarify first what I mean by the word, ‘judge.’ Many people feel put upon and unfairly treated when someone calls them on the carpet for something they’re doing wrong. ‘Don’t judge me,’ they’ll say, ‘the Bible says you’re not supposed to judge!’ Many people who claim the Bible in such a way don’t even read it. They have just heard the smallest snippets of scripture such as, ‘judge not lest you be judged.’

But the Bible does teach about how we ought to judge things and people, not in a critical or self-righteous way, but according to the teachings of Christ. A lot of self-proclaimed Christians don’t even know what Christ taught, which makes them a living contradiction. In those cases where we actually need to judge something (hopefully those cases are few) we need to lean on the teachings of Christ which can be found in the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) of the Bible as well as the various epistles written by his disciples, so that we may judge properly according to what pleases God.

And let me clarify concerning criticism. Being critical of people is a form a judging. People who are familiar with the context of ‘judge not lest you be judged’ are well aware of this and I’ll explain it more later on.

One of the main things to keep in mind (possibly THE main thing) aside from ‘learn what Christ taught,’ to be able to judge as a proper Christian should, is ‘don’t be a hypocrite.’ There were many examples of hypocrisy in Jesus’ day, most of them were called Pharisees. Jesus railed on them more than once for being hypocrites, and he warned his disciples against the ‘leaven’ of the Pharisees, which is a reference to their doctrine (or at least some part of it) which was hypocrisy.

The Pharisees (as well as the Sadducees) were hypocrites in that they burdened the people under them with all the laws, traditions, customs, and standards of Judaism while they themselves were lazy and ungrateful (those two tend to go together) putting forth less effort and suffering less for the sake of the law than the people they had rule over. No wonder Jesus called them a generation of vipers (remember that serpents are not generally spoken of kindly in the Bible). The Pharisees often took the laws of Moses, which were burdensome enough as they were, and added even more to them, creating oppression for the Jewish people. They also came up with traditions and customs which contradicted Moses’ Law and served no one but the Pharisees themselves. And as if that weren’t enough, Moses himself had to create laws for the Jews (not just the Pharisees) the only reason for which was, as Jesus put it, ‘because your hearts were hard.’ Aw, man… that’s bad.

And even after Jesus taught a new law, one that would suffice for those who kept tender hearts before the Lord, there were people (more Jews) who not only wanted the Christians of the early church to follow the teachings of Christ, but also all of the Jewish laws, customs, traditions, etc. which they had been taught to follow their whole lives. This of course was what they whined about after they started sharing the gospel of Jesus with the Gentiles (the non-Jewish) and they never really stopped causing trouble for it either.

Paul and the other ministers discussed this matter and concluded that following the old laws of Moses was not needed to fulfill the teachings of Christ and so the Gentiles of the Christian church were not compelled to do so.

Today, however, I can see that many churches, professing to be Christian, do not follow this pattern; they take the teachings of Christ, often misusing them, misunderstanding them, and sometimes just missing them altogether, before adding a bunch of traditions, standards, customs, rituals, etc. which they say a member of their church must follow or else be ostracized from the group. This, as unfortunate as it is, seems to be a constant with the nature of mankind: unless you do things my/our way, you can’t be a part of us.

Of course, Jesus said things very similar, but his way is a perfect way that leads to eternal life and happiness. Others may try to make a similar claim about their groups and about their methods and about their doctrines, but Jesus is truly the only way, because his is the way that comes straight from God Himself.

In the world, as we see it today, especially in America, we see people trying to win moral and social arguments based on liberalism vs. conservatism, or even try to find a balance between the two, whether it be in politics, or the church, or some other area of life. The truth is, however, that you can miss God just as easily on either side or both sides. You can also get a hold of God on either or both sides. God is the point; He sent His only-begotten son, Jesus, to show us the way to find Him.

When we don’t get God, we get something else. If we miss God on the side of liberalism, we allow earthly and wicked worldliness into our lives and into our hearts; and if we miss God on the side of conservatism, we’ll still usher in that same worldliness, only now it’ll dress itself up with religiosity and self-righteousness.

The point is that we should want God, and God does not want His people to be worldly. Truly, God’s people are full of love, meek, godly, righteous, pure, and clean in their hearts.

Of course, many churches, even the truly good ones, may have certain standards and even certain rituals. Good people know how to use such things to guard their hearts against sin.

For example: a good approach to drinking may be to not drink anything ever, because that way you can’t possibly get drunk.

Being so irresponsible that you actually allow yourself to get drunk is a sin; it says so in the Bible in a number of places (read it yourself) however the teachings of Christ never say that you can’t have any alcohol at all. Drink without getting drunk (a ‘know your limit, drink within it’ kind of a thing).

Now a bad example: so many people in religion today boycott alcohol with such a militant and proud attitude, that they actually will teach their standard against alcohol as if it were a doctrine of Christ himself, that if you drink alcohol, you actually have sinned (which isn’t Biblical) and you can’t be a part of the Body of Christ (which is absurd; Jesus won’t refuse you if you occasionally have a glass of wine or a beer).

Such standards should be encouraged, absolutely, to help people stay away from sin. But even without them, if you follow the teachings of Christ found in the Gospels and the epistles of the apostles, you will not sin.

The best way, of course, to know if someone’s stance and standard against sin is Biblical (and Christian), is to read the Bible and learn the teachings of Christ for yourself.

Nowhere does Jesus say you can never ever drink, and nowhere does Jesus teach that God is actually impressed when you are dressed to the nines for Sunday service (I guess it’s better than you showing up in your underwear or PJs, but somehow I’m not worried).

Jesus does teach to help the needy and give to the poor, Jesus does say that you need to practice forgiveness or else God won’t forgive you (Does that mean you have to forgive all those annoying religious pinheads who say that you have to do such and such which are not in the teachings of Christ? YES), and Jesus does teach quite a bit actually about moral living before you even read as far as the epistles.

One key thing I’ll give you here is the knowledge that God’s concern is with your heart. If you can’t, with a clean conscience, go to church without dressing up first, then get dressed up. But, for Christ’s sake (and I mean that literally), don’t impose such things of YOUR faith onto others. It will very likely engender bitterness, angst, hatred, and dispassion for God and his saints and that poison in their hearts will be on YOUR head.

If you are genuinely concerned for others’ salvation, don’t look at the petty things they do and the habits they have that don’t mean anything in the light of the faith we have in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Look at their behavior; those who are truly ‘presenting their bodies a living sacrifice unto God’ won’t be able to hide the fact of it. They worship with their hands raised (hands are hard to fake) and their voice actually making noise (again, this is hard to fake), they are able to discuss the Bible because they’ve actually been reading it, they receive answers to prayer because they’ve actually been praying, they are able to be happy even in the most miserable circumstances because their joy does not come from the things of this world but from the Lord. Let it be known, ‘God is not mocked’ and such ‘a city’ that is ‘set on the hill’ of the salvation we have in Jesus Christ ‘cannot be hid’. Selah.

Now, I feel that I must admonish you, whoever may be reading this: do not be critical of people, even if they are completely insane. Look at the scripture which Matthew wrote of Jesus’ teaching: Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge a man, you, yourself, shall be judged: and with what measure you measure a man, it shall be measured to you. (Matthew 7:1-2)

That scripture is talking about criticism, an expansion, you might say, on what Jesus taught earlier: forgive or God won’t forgive you. And Jesus is comparing measurement to judgment. Why is he doing that? Because you can’t get to heaven on the coattails of someone else faith; it’s not a one-size-fits-all kind of deal. We all have our own faith and our own standards, in case you didn’t notice, but these are for ourselves, not for others. If you look at others through the filter of your personal standards, you will become critical of them, because they won’t fit your measurements of faith. Maybe you have a standard against alcohol, or smoking, or men having beards, or whatever other petty thing that doesn’t really matter to God, who looks at people’s hearts, but is really just a superficial thing. Don’t assume other people have to measure up to your standards.

If it helps, just change the wording slightly. Instead of measure, say… ridiculousness. If you get ridiculous in the way you judge others, then God in similar fashion will hold you to a ridiculous standard when your day of judgment comes.

For example: you might judge another person for drinking a single glass of wine, because if you drink too much wine, you might get drunk, and that’s very bad. God, in similar fashion, may judge you for let’s say… eating all the candy, because all that sugar is unhealthy, and may even lead to diabetes, and that would be very bad because your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, and it is a principle of Christ that you be sober-minded i.e. responsible, which that isn’t.

You see it’s ridiculous, yes? But people will amaze you by their capacity for ridiculousness. I, as in my own personal standard, want to be as nice, and as patient, and as forgiving as I possibly can be, because when the day of judgment comes, I want God to judge me in similar fashion.

Lastly, I feel I should remind you; this hypocrisy can be quite divisive, causing unneeded separation between people. Although Jesus did say that he and his teachings would come between people, when he said, ‘blessed are you, when men shall hate you, and persecute you, and shall falsely say all manner of evil against you, for my sake,’ he was referring only to HIS sake and HIS word. He was not talking about the trouble you may get yourself into just for being a religious pinhead or self-righteous moron. That, you should try to avoid.

Remember also that God does hate certain things, and one of the principle things He hates is that which sows discord (creates separation) among the brethren. Proverbs 6:19

If any person says that you have to follow a certain tradition or standard which is not based in the principles of Jesus’ doctrine, otherwise you can have no part in their church or their fellowship, leave that person and that church and find one whose identity is hid in Christ, one whose message is never one of pride (come unto me; I am the best) or one obsessed with superficial tradition (come unto me when you’re properly dressed) but always based in the powerful redeeming love of Jesus Christ (come unto me and I’ll give you rest), and find a church whose attitude towards people is one of inclusivity (whosever will, may come) and not one of exclusivity (whosoever will look and act just like us, may stay).

Now I imagine that there will be two basic groups of people who may end up reading this: the liberal people who deeply want to thank me for expressing my Biblical views against the oppressive tyranny of religious nut-jobs and the conservative people who are seriously offended by what I have to say as it goes against so many of their ‘traditions’ and ‘teachings’ and such.

To the liberals I say, ‘you’re welcome, but seriously… GET A LIFE!’ It does you no good to live in such a way that you’re stuck waiting for some guy like me to come along with a Biblical viewpoint that validates your ‘precious feelings.’ Go and search out Jesus, the one who can really satisfy.

To the conservatives I say, ‘someone had to say it, if not me, then someone else. And you need to take another look in the mirror.’ The Bible calls itself (or the scriptures) a mirror, one that we can look into and use to cleanse our hearts of sin. So ask yourselves: What does God see when he looks into my heart? Have I let my heart become hard towards Him? What more can I learn from the scriptures about such things?

As for the more well-adjusted outliers here, ‘I’m glad you came!’

It is my hope and my aim that I can actually help sincere people find more enrichment for their lives in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Until next time, God bless!

Faith Hope and Charity

          I have a few ideas rattling around in my brain right now. Normally, when I get a new idea, insight, or revelation, I like to sit on it for a while to let it all condense into a more intelligible whole, and in case there’s something more to it that I might have missed the first time it occurred to me. Recently however, I have been receiving insight after idea, one right after another, and I have to start writing them down and sharing them before my brain starts to get them jumbled up.

          This one will be about the following passage in the Bible.

          And now abides faith, hope, and charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, preferably that you may prophesy. (1 Cor. 13:13 – 14:1)

          Prophesying is not all about predicting the future, although that could come to be a part of it. It’s really about professing the gospel of Christ, sharing God’s truth with others. And the way into that place of prophesying is through faith, hope, and charity. First let’s look at faith.

          Now faith is the confidence in things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen… without faith it is impossible to please God: for he that comes to God must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him out. (Heb. 11:1, 6)

          The main things I want to bring out of that passage are confidence and conviction. Without these things you cannot (and will not) diligently seek God. Believe God exists; that’s the confidence. And be convicted in the knowledge that you won’t get those ‘rewards’ if you don’t earnestly seek God.

          Now let’s take a look at one of my favorite scriptures for describing how to seek out God.

          Blessed is the man who considers the counsel of the godly, and stands for righteousness’ sake, and never shows disrespect or dishonor. And his delight is in the law of Jehovah; and in His law he meditates by day and by night. And he shall be like a tree planted beside rivers of water, bringing forth his fruit in his season, his leaf shall not wither, and everything he does shall prosper. (Psalm 1:1-3)

          This scripture describes a God-fearing man who is diligently seeking God. And it describes his state of being comparing it to a very well situated, fruit-bearing tree. And, for those of you who don’t know, these are the fruits of the Spiritual man.

          The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, and self-control. (Gal. 5:22-23)

          So that, simply put, is what faith is and what it produces. But where does it start?

          Faith comes by hearing, and hearing the declaration of Christ (prophesying). (Rom. 10:17)

          Hearing the word of God, the truth, is what produces faith in a person. Because, as we all know, in the fruit of a tree are the seeds needed to grow more trees like it. And right here is where I’d like to insert a bit about the Word of God and how to handle it.

          The word of God is alive and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the parting of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a judge of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Heb. 4:12)

          That describes how powerful the Word of God is. And take a look at this next scripture.

          Therefore seeing we have this ministry, according to the mercy we have been shown, we are not weary. But we have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. (2 Cor. 4:1-2)

          I would like to highlight the part there that says, ‘nor adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves.’ One can use the word of God for evil ends, and without sharing the actual truth about God with others – this often happens, truth be told. Obviously, we should not be doing this.

          Thou shalt not answer against thy neighbor with false testimony. (Ex. 20:16)

          Thou shalt love your neighbor as yourself. (Matt. 22:39)

          The word of God is not just sharper than any other sword, it is a sword.

          And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is a declaration of God. (Eph. 6:17)

          And remember that the word of God is compared to other two-edged swords. Interesting fact: a two-edged sword has two edges, and each edge has its own name; as you’re holding the sword, the edge facing your opponent is called the true edge, and the edge facing back at you is the false edge. Be careful not to cut yourself with the word of God!

          Now, I think we should move on to hope, and how it works.

          Everyone who has this hopeful expectation in God purifies himself, even as God is pure. (1 John 3:3)

          Hope isn’t like some pie-in-the-sky daydream; it’s a real thing that spurs us on to action. And this hope we can have in God causes us to become pure.

          Whereby shall a young man cleanse his way? By keeping Your word. With all my heart, I have sought after you: O do not let me wander from Your commandments. In my heart I have stored up Your promise, that I may not sin against You. (Psalm 119:9-11)

          Again we see mention of seeking after God, with our whole heart. And in our hearts we should hold onto the promises of God. These will keep our hearts and minds pure and free from sin. The following is one of the most dramatic and just plain amazing promises God has given us.

          Have faith in God. For I tell you truly, that whoever says to this mountain, ‘ Be picked up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, whatever he’s spoken, it shall be done. Therefore I say unto you, all things you ask for in prayer, if you believe that you have received it, it shall be yours. (Mark 11:22-24)

          We believe from the heart, because that is where we should be storing God’s promises. The best way to illustrate this is actually to go to the negative side of things, because everybody is familiar with living with the selfish carnal nature.

          It starts with fear, rather than faith, produced in us by the falsehoods we have been taught throughout our lives, promises of evil things rather than good things. Next we start to imagine in our hearts what our lives would be like when we’re subjected to the fulfillment of these promises; this is most commonly known as worrying. We picture all these bad things happening in our lives, and to varying degrees, we actually believe them, even if they haven’t really happened yet. We know this when our blood pressure increases, our pulse is racing, we start to sweat, and our guts start to tie themselves in knots. Our physical bodies actually feel anxious about something that hasn’t even happened, and may never happen. Why? Because our hearts are telling them that it’s real. Afraid of losing or missing out on so much we end up behaving quite selfishly. This fear-worry-selfishness pattern is the exact opposite of faith-hope-charity.

          I’ve often heard charity referred to as selflessness and perfect love which is clearly true. Charity allows us to clearly prophesy (speak the truth) into other people’s lives and plant those seeds of faith rather than fear. This is, in point of fact, how perfect love casts out fear as it says in the following scripture.

          And we know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love; and he that lives in love lives in God, and God lives in him. In this is love perfected in us that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as God is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, for fear brings punishment. He that lives in fear is not made perfect in love. (1 John 4:16-18)

          We know (faith) and believe (hope) the love God has for us. That’s what allows us to grow fully into charity and produce all that wonderful Spiritual fruit that everyone can enjoy. One last scripture to demonstrate the faith-knowledge, the hope, and the complete lack of fear one can have in the love of God.

          Should this actually happen, our God is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, you should know, we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image you have set up. (Daniel 3:17-18)

          This is a powerful statement of faith, given by these three Hebrew men (not children) before the narcissistic king Nebuchadnezzar threw them into the fiery furnace. They know GOD CAN DO IT, they also believe HE WILL DO IT, but no matter what happens THEY WILL NOT BE AFRAID. Many people will tell you about what God CAN do, not ever really graduating up to the hopeful He-WILL-do-it level of faith which creates true, pure charity. And that is because they still hold fear and doubt in their hearts.

          Let me reassure you, all those miracles you read about in the Bible, God can do them for you, in fact, He wants to. He wants to heal your diseases, help you out with your finances, and give you a chance to buy that newest latest cool thing before they’ve all sold out. He wants to bless you, in ways you cannot even imagine. But you cannot be afraid and have doubt in your heart. Ask, seek, knock, and then do it all over again; seek God with your whole heart and you will find Him.

          You may worry about your sins and your faults and your weaknesses. Don’t. They are nothing before the power of God. As a matter of fact, the more messed up you are, the more glory God will receive when He finally moves in your life. So forget about those things that are wrong in your life; all your baggage will sort itself out if you seek out the things God has promised you for the new life you can have in Him.

          That’s all… for now. I hope it was edifying. God bless you!

The Story of the Land of Nathan

            Usually, I write about whatever things God’s been showing me recently. But today, I want to write a post all about myself. Why? Because people don’t know me; it’s like I’ve been trapped in a state of adolescent enigmatism. I am constantly surrounded by people who love me and would do anything for me, but – it happens so often – when they would actually move in and try to do something to help me, it blows up in their face. While I appreciate the subtle irony of the situation, I cannot and will not let this continue. So, let me explain myself to you (as best as I can on my blog).

            First, I’ll set the stage. The modality I have chosen to use in my attempt to explain me is the Flag Page. The Flag Page is a wonderful program developed by Larry Bilotta, a relationship counselor, and Mark Gungor, a Pastor in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They discovered that the key to helping someone succeed in life is to focus on what’s right about them, not what’s wrong with them, despite its obviously anti-mainstream approach. But considering the horrific failure rates of counseling nowadays, something that flies in the face of the current convention could very well be exactly what we need. And the Flag Page has had great success for those who’ve taken full advantage of the program. Couples have used it to save their marriage; parents have used it to save their kids from depression and even suicide; Special Forces units of the army use it to acutely understand their teammates for when they go out on their assignments and they have experienced amazing results.

The Flag Page is all about understanding yourself and helping others to understand you and what you need from them. As such, it is THE BEST TOOL for assisting you with your dysfunctional relationships. Now I have heard it said (by ignorant people with deplorable listening skills) that the Flag Page is just a personality test, it doesn’t mean anything, and that it isn’t all that accurate anyway. These are people who (like I said, are terrible listeners) need to delve deeper into the program, and not just stop after the ‘taking the test’ part of it. Most people are blown away by the accuracy of the test itself, but even if you’re not, it’s still something you can use to learn more about yourself. To purchase Mark Gungor’s book, Discovering Your Heart with the Flag Page, or to take the test (it’s not very expensive, I’ve bought snacks that cost more) go to flagpage.com. You can also go to markgungor.com to find more helpful resources from Pastor Mark.

            Now, on we go to the mysterious topic of me. I am going to start with a certain part of the results of my own test, one that is more extrapolated and inferred by the computer program and is therefore more likely to not be entirely accurate. For me, however, I think it hits the nail right on the head. Greek philosopher, Hippocrates, discovered that there are four kinds of people in the world. The Flag Page explains the four people as Hippocrates did in his writings. To keep it simple, it uses the analogy of four Countries. Because just as different countries have differing languages, beliefs, customs, and values, so do people from the lands of Control, Perfect, Peace, and Fun. The country I scored in most heavily is referred to as my ‘Home Country’ and it is Perfect. The country I scored in second highest is my ‘Adopted Country’ of Peace. My adopted country has a big influence on how I live in my home country. Now, I will just be copying directly from my own country summary and, bear in mind, this is all true.

For, Nathan, it’s Perfect Country with a score of 160 for his Home Country. He is a specialist in attention to detail, thinking deeply about issues that matter, and passionately pursuing the ‘right’ path. He is always looking to create a life that’s closer to his idea of perfect. He has a knack for diving into the details of a task and analyzing multiple components to find the best possible approach. Friends have always noticed that he is one to continue searching for new ways to grow and improve. Nathan has the basic talents of the greatest artists, poets, musicians, engineers, architects, and technicians because Perfect Country is where the masters of those professions come from. He is also highly sensitive to the feelings of others and he wants people to be considerate of his feelings as well. Nathan’s Adopted Country is Peace Country with 71 votes for that culture. He can be laid back and easy going when he feels comfortable with those around him. When he visits Peace Country, it is because his Home Country isn’t bringing him the serenity that he desires at that time. For instance, he might want to avoid an uncomfortable situation where people in his Home Country are feuding so he would then travel to his Adopted Country of Peace until the conflict subsides.

            That is my temperament in a nutshell, a paragraphical nutshell.

At this point, I suppose it might help you understand what I’m talking about if I describe the test. It’s actually very simple: Step 1, you select, from a list of 56 positive motivations, those that definitively describe you, these are essentially the things you love most about life, Step 2, you rate, on a scale of 1 to 10, how good these select things make you feel, 1 is OK and 10 is AWESOME!!!! Step 3, you pick your Top 5, and that’s it. I should also mention that, if you are a man, do not let your girlfriend or wife help you with taking this test. They think they know you, but will most likely skew the results.

The next part of the Flag Page I’ll mention is the measurement of Soft vs. Hard natured. My score was 79 and 33 respectively. Again, I think I’ll just copy directly from the summary the computer gave me.

Nathan is a mild mannered, Softhearted man who voted highest for Soft traits like peaceful, warm, and sensitive. He can always be depended on to be patient and flexible because he lives his life through his Softhearted nature. Because he is a very easy going and tolerant individual, people enjoy being around him. Nathan is always looking out for other people’s best interests while being compassionate and considerate of their feelings. He tries to be conscious of others’ feelings because he never wants to offend anyone. He believes that being offensive often leads to conflict, which is something that he tries to avoid whenever possible. Sincere, genuine, and open relationships are a high priority to him. With his Softhearted nature in the forefront, Nathan only reveals his Hard nature under certain circumstances. He gave the Hard traits such as strong willed, consistent, and organized 33 votes and can become Hard natured if the situation requires him to do so. He wants to remain calm and flexible whenever possible but will approach things in a direct, straightforward manner if the Softhearted way isn’t working for him.

            Most people in my orbit would probably know that I’m a warm-and-fuzzy, tenderhearted guy already, so I’ll just highlight the primary truth I think you should take away from that whole thing: Sincere, genuine, and open relationships are a high priority to me. So when some of the most important relationships in my life are nothing but dysfunctional and/or stressful, I turn into a rather pitiful mess.

            The next part of understanding me is my Talents. The Flag Page takes all the motivations I selected during the test and sorts them into 5 different talent families. These show the areas in my life where I am most likely to be both successful and satisfied. These are my Creation Talents (40%), my People Talents (39%), and my Task Talents (21%). There are also Leading Talents and Showman Talents, but these don’t apply to me. Of course, I can still be a leader or an entertainer, but it would have to be motivated by something usually found in the other talent families. Here’s the summary.

Nathan loves innovation, creativity, development, experiments, and new ideas because he likes to find ways to make improvements. It’s hard for him to accept things they way they are. He believes there’s got to be a better way! Nathan has a way with people and is able to get them to warm up to him easily. He puts out a vibration that says ‘I like people!’ This talent makes him attractive to others and they want to include him in their lives. People like Nathan are rarely lonely.

To get a concise picture of Nathan’s greatest Talents, here are some expressions that sum up the essence of each motivation found in Nathan’s Talent list:

-         The inventive innovator

-         Attracted to style and art

-         The sound of my feelings

-         Never follows the crowd

-         Feeling what everyone feels

-         Compassion to go

-         Loyal and true to a chosen few

-         Believe in me

-         Analyze everything in order to understand it

-         Making it exactly right

This is so… me.

Out of 56 positive character motivation choices, I turned down 51 to pick my top 5. These 5 motivations, which compel me to live out my daily life, are the key to my happiness and success. These are arranged in a picture so you can see them visually when you do your own Flag Page. And of course the picture is… a flag. This is the flag of Nathan Matthew Knerr: Sensitive, Creative, Musical, Deep Thinker, and Unique.

-         Sensitive (Diligent/Thoughtful/Considerate)

-         Creative (Anything is Possible/Innovative/Inventive)

-         Musical (Rhythm/Entertain/Meaning)

-         Deep Thinker (Analyze/Thoughtful/Introspective)

-         Unique (Don’t Follow the Crowd/Self Assured/Different Drummer)

These are the things I love most about life, what make my life feel like it’s worth living. These motivations can mean different things to different people, of course, so if you do the program you’ll be asked to write down in your own words what these things mean to you and how others can love and encourage you in these areas of your life. I wrote the following:

Sensitive

Meaning: I feel things and people very deeply and emotionally react to them very strongly.

The Rule: Acknowledge and appreciate my sensitivities.

Creative

Meaning: I like to imagine, create, and reinvent things. I believe that there’s a solution to every problem and an answer to every question.

The Rule: Acknowledge and appreciate my imagination as well as the things I create.

Musical

Meaning: I am sensitive to tone and rhythm – vibrations. I like to use these things to communicate, to fellowship, heal, and meditate.

The Rule: Encourage and engage me musically.

Deep Thinker

Meaning: I love to analyze and attempt to decipher the mysteries of the world. I love questions.

The Rule: Ask me questions and give me time to think.

Unique

Meaning: I love doing the unusual, experiencing variety, being unlike anybody else, and exploring the bizarre.

The Rule: Appreciate me for doing the things no one else does.

            So, if you want to acknowledge who I am, motivate me, encourage me, and love me, learn that list of my 5 Rules and follow them. So often I find the people in my life who claim to love me breaking one or more of these rules. Hopefully, that can now stop (at least, mostly stop).

I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to know how to treat someone properly. Love is not an emotion or a sentiment, but a gift you purposefully give to others. Don’t do it casually, that’s not real love, but always be aware of what you give to others to ensure that you are helping them and not hurting them, appreciating them and not criticizing them. We’re all different; we all think, and act, and react to things differently than other people. But this is a good thing that brings so much color and life into the world, so learn to actively appreciate it.

           

Now, there are specific people in my life, who desperately need this information, though I won’t name them here (they should know who they are anyway), and I’m sure they will read this. But all relationships have two sides at minimum, so I hope they do their own Flag Pages as well and read the book, do all of those things and share their own vital information with me, so I can know what they need from me as well.

            And as for everyone else, if by chance you have any dysfunctional relationships in your lives, visit those websites, markgungor.com and flagpage.com, for awesome resources and assistance. If you have any questions or comments, you ought to know now that I like ‘em, so please send me some. And until next time, God bless you!