Chazown - The Anger-Bliss Factor

My journey takes me today to thinking through my core values and developing a clear understanding of the non-negotiables that must be present in my life for the second half of the journey.  In the process of developing that list, I am working through Craig Groeschel's book and material on God's Chazown* for my life.

In the midst of this journey it is easy to establish the list of things that are highest priority to me that will always be there: my relationship and time with the Lord, my relationship with my beautiful wife Debbie, my relationship with my little princess Kaitlin, my relationship with my not so little man Andrew, my family, the living out of my call in ministry, my friendships -- and a new non-negotiable - discovering health and wholeness physically and emotionally.  I have always taken care of the spiritual, but have allowed the physical and emotional to wain over the years -- that is now changing.

The next step in the journey is to be reminded of the biblical moral values that apply to everyone and must be part of my non-negotiable list.  Here I am talking about things like "honesty, compassion, diligence, patience, and humility.  They're God's way and they lead to God's best for everyone" (Chazown, 32).  But then there is also that list of things that are unique to me and that is where this journey takes a very reflective and consciously much more difficult effort.

Groeschel delineates this part of the pursuit "The Anger-Bliss Factor" and here the focus is on answering two very personal, very revealing questions:

1. What stirs righteous anger inside of me?
2. What kind of relationship or activity brings me deep feelings of meaning and fulfillment, and hapily drives me to achieve?

The first question illicits lots of stuff inside of me.  I am passionate about integrity and when I see breaches of it, I am deeply angered.  I am passionate about responsibility -- doing it right all the time, and when I see people taking short cuts, it frustrates me incredibly.  I struggle with the whole concept of justice and when I see people beat the system, I am frustrated beyond words.  I struggle with the prevalence of selfishness in the world I live in -- and am angered when people can't see beyond themselves and demand that everything be as they want it.  I hate falsehood and compromise and hypocrites - these things ought not be.  And my list goes on and on.

But then I turn to the things that bring me bliss.  Oh what joy I find in relationships and being with people.  I am energized to help others become all that God gifted them to be.  I am energized when people come into a relationship with Jesus Christ, and love to see the opportunities I have to share Him.  I love to see people engage others in our community and reach out to them in Christ's love.  I am passionate about family and fellowship and fun -- and in that to live out a faith that is real and lively.  I love to help others and care for them deeply.  I am jazzed by ministry and preaching and serving, and once again the list goes on and on.

As I think through these things, I am caught by the importance of this pursuit to discover and understand these core values that drive my life.  Groeschel asks a most important question: "What do you know is so important that you'll let go of everything else in order to grasp it?" (Chazown 39)  That is what I am working through (and wrestling with) this day.  Ultimately, I want to truly know what drives me and then choosing to living out of that understanding, be driven by my strengths and not just things that others think I ought to do!

My prayer is simply this: Lord, I want to know you and all that you have for my life.  I want to be engaged in doing what you created me to do, and learn to trust that others will do the rest.  I want to focus, to minimize my pursuits, to zero in on what matters most for me, not just what matters.  Help me Lord to see as you see, to embrace what You want me to embrace, to be what You want me to be, and to do what You want me to do.  Then I will find the peace and joy -- the fulfillment You desire for me to experience in this next step in my journey.  Amen.


* Craig Groeschel, Chazown (Colorado Springs, CO: Multnomah Books, 2010).