In a recent post, I explained why I’m skeptical of cryptocurrencies — even though I am optimistic about the potential for blockchain technology and its offshoots to create genuine value. This time, I’d like to provide a brief overview of the Bible’s teaching about money.

My pastor likes to explain that Jesus spoke more about money than he did about Heaven and Hell combined. If God came down in the flesh and told you how to regard money properly, you’d listen, right? Well He did. So in the spirit of news you can use, here are ten scriptural principles to help you view money the way God does:

• Money follows faithfulness – In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus wraps up the Sermon on the Mount by reminding his followers that God is a good Father who knows how to take care of His creation. He instructs us not to live and die by what we own, what we eat, or what we wear, instead He tells us to seek God’s kingdom and righteousness. Then, He says, all the things we need will follow (Matthew 6:33).
• Put God first – The Old Testament prophet Malachi chastised the people of God for keeping the finest of their produce for themselves while bringing God their leftovers. The principle and practice of the tithe — giving the first tenth of one’s increase to God — has always been an acid test of one’s faith and devotion. Malachi delivered God’s challenge to his people to test Him by bringing the full tenth and see whether He would, in return, bless them beyond their faithfulness. This challenge remains for us as well. Jesus commended the tithe in the New Testament, even as He corrected the Pharisees for their hard hearts.
• God is God — money is… not – Jesus taught that only God was worthy of our worship. Although we can use money in powerful ways, it has no power of its own. People can and do get confused about this, though. Jesus taught that a man can’t serve two masters, because He’ll end up loving one and hating the other. If money is the rival master, the one who loves it can end up hating God (Luke 16:13).
• It’s not wrong to be smart about money – Jesus told the parable of shrewd manager — a story about a soon-to-be-fired employee who offered to settle his friends’ debts at a discount. In doing this, he delivered a benefit to his soon-to-be-former boss, but he also earned the favor of his friends, and the admiration of Jesus. Look what Jesus said about this man’s  actions:
  The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” Luke 16:8-9 (NIV)
  
• Money is morally neutral – Money is neither good nor bad in itself. It’s simply a tool — an efficient means of exchange that one can use to accomplish good or evil ends. Ah, but what about that “money is the root of all evil” thing? Isn’t that in the Bible? No, it isn’t. What the Apostle Paul wrote is this: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” – 1 Timothy 6:10 (NIV)
• Invest in the Kingdom of God – When he teaches on stewardship and giving, my pastor likes to quote the old saying, “You can’t take it with you.” But he adds, “You can send it ahead.” Jesus said we shouldn’t be as concerned about amassing a fortune here on earth. Instead He instructed us to “lay up treasures in Heaven.” He wouldn’t tell us to if were impossible.
  Here’s a thought on how that works: The Bible teaches that faith, hope, and love are the things that endure beyond the grave. Each of these has a relational element since each one must have an object. If so, it follows that we can use our worldly wealth to share faith, hope, and love with those who need them so desperately. In the passage from Luke above, Jesus essentially told His followers to use the resources of this world to take the maximum number of friends to Heaven with us.
• You’re meant to be generous, you know — I often quote King Solomon here. In Proverbs 16:19, the wise king says this: “Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done.” Elsewhere, in chapter 3, he says, “Do not say to your neighbor, ‘Go, and come again, tomorrow I will give it’—when you have it with you.” And in 2 Corinthians 9, the Apostle Paul wrote, “The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” – 2 Corinthians 9:6-7 (ESV)
• Debt is OK only if you’re into being a slave — I realize some financial advisers will talk to you about what they call “good debt.” I’m here to tell you there is only debt and you should avoid it. Consider that Americans owe $830 Billion in credit card debt, and nearly $1.5 Trillion in student loan debt, and then consider that nobody can force you to take out a loan. But once you agree to their terms, your creditors can force you to pay — and at rates that can cripple you. When someone else is telling you what you must do with your own money, you aren’t free. Quoting King Solomon again: “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.” Proverbs 22:7 (NIV). I’ve been there and done that, and I plan to live within my means from now on. If you’re among the millions who owe billions and trillions, check out Dave Ramsey. He’s helped lots of people change their habits and become debt-free.
  
• Prosperity and poverty aren’t measures of your status before God – Righteous people fall on hard times. Wicked people sometimes prosper. You’ll drive yourself mad trying to ferret out what you must have done wrong every time the stock market goes down. That’s a little like saying God is displeased when the tide goes out or the moon wanes. Jesus said, “For (God) makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” – Matthew 5:45b (ESV) And we haven’t discussed the Old Testament stories of Joseph and Job, or all the hardships the Apostle Paul endured for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus. Try imprisoned, beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, slandered, and snake-bit as a sample — and then tell me he lacked faith or faithfulness to unleash God’s fountain of prosperity.
• It all belongs to God – God, as creator of the cosmos, is its sovereign ruler. As Dutch theologian and statesman Abraham Kuyper said, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!” That includes your wallet, dude — and mine. If I have money, assets, talents, or connections, I am to hold them as a steward, and use them profitably to honor and glorify God.

I like what the Methodists used to teach about money: earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can. That’s your takeaway from my post. A last thought from Luke 16. Jesus says,

“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. ¹¹ So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? ¹² And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?” Luke 16: 10-11 (NIV).

So how about you? In what ways do you need to adjust your thinking about money? How can you use the resources you have to expand God’s kingdom? Add your comments below.

“Whoever digs a pit will fall into it,and a stone will come back on him who starts it rolling.” — Proverbs 26:27 (ESV)

By now you may have already heard about the news story broken by Rolling Stone magazine — a horrific tale of a brutal sexual assault on a female first-year student that allegedly took place in a fraternity house on the University of Virginia’s grounds.  From there it got worse, as the story alleged that the victim’s friends discouraged her from notifying the police, and that the university’s response when the victim came forward was, shall we say, inadequate.  However, in the unforgiving glare caused by the unfavorable publicity, UVA’s president suspended all fraternity activities until further notice.  There’s just one thing: the story printed in Rolling Stone wasn’t accurate.

Somebody should blow the whistle

Why talk about what didn’t happen?*

Two reasons: 1)  Young men need to understand the times in which they live — recognizing that some accusations are, in the minds of some journalists, too good to research.  And 2) Young men need to make sure their conduct is above reproach in every circumstance — and never more so than in their dealings with women.

Far from calling for an unthinking return to chivalry, this is a call for self awareness, self respect and self control.  If you are committed to maintaining a life of integrity, you will want to avoid even the appearance of wrongdoing.  This will not only preserve your reputation — and hers — but it will also help to shield you from the sorts of accusations being lobbed on college campuses these days.

As shocking as it may seem, there is no longer a presumption of innocence on many college campuses.  And many institutions of higher learning have done away with due process — eliminating, for example, the right of legal representation, of cross-examination, or even that of confronting one’s accuser.  Even if you’ve done no such thing, being on the receiving end of a rape accusation can nuke your college career for keeps.

Time-honored wisdom

Recently, I published a post regarding King Solomon’s advice to young men regarding the forbidden woman.  Here’s more wisdom from this ancient king:

“As I stood at the window of my house looking out through the shutters, Watching the mindless crowd stroll by, I spotted a young man without any sense Arriving at the corner of the street where she lived, then turning up the path to her house. It was dusk, the evening coming on, the darkness thickening into night. Just then, a woman met him— she’d been lying in wait for him, dressed to seduce him. Brazen and brash she was, restless and roaming, never at home, Walking the streets, loitering in the mall, hanging out at every corner in town.

“She threw her arms around him and kissed him, boldly took his arm and said, “I’ve got all the makings for a feast— today I made my offerings, my vows are all paid, So now I’ve come to find you, hoping to catch sight of your face—and here you are! I’ve spread fresh, clean sheets on my bed, colorful imported linens. My bed is aromatic with spices and exotic fragrances. Come, let’s make love all night, spend the night in ecstatic lovemaking! My husband’s not home; he’s away on business, and he won’t be back for a month.

“Soon she has him eating out of her hand, bewitched by her honeyed speech. Before you know it, he’s trotting behind her, like a calf led to the butcher shop, Like a stag lured into ambush and then shot with an arrow, Like a bird flying into a net not knowing that its flying life is over.

“So, friends, listen to me, take these words of mine most seriously. Don’t fool around with a woman like that; don’t even stroll through her neighborhood. Countless victims come under her spell; she’s the death of many a poor man. She runs a halfway house to hell, fits you out with a shroud and a coffin.”  Proverbs 7:6-27 (The Message)

We should take a moment to state categorically that some — but not all —  men do assault women. But we also must acknowledge that some — but not all — women lie and lob false accusations. In biblical language this is called bearing false witness (testifying falsely) against one’s neighbor. Taken with the cultural Marxist project to destroy men, a man under such suspicion cannot count on a fair hearing in the media. Hence this discussion about journalistic malpractice by Rolling Stone.

We’ve talked before about leading in the context of relationships — how you should set the tone and be the gatekeeper.  In this way, it’s on you to ensure you and your female companion are not in situations that will even appear illicit.  In the passage above, Solomon is saying the young man should not have allowed himself to be seduced.  This is my advice to you, too.

Understand that apart from marriage, the boundaries are blurry.  What you think is mutual consent could turn out to be an accusation that ruins your life.  No momentary pleasure is worth that.

Epilogue:  

To their credit the magazine, embarrassed,  pulled the story — all 10,000 words of it — apologizing for not researching the claims of the alleged victim more thoroughly.  Despite the retraction of this story, UVA did not reinstate fraternity activities with anything near the speed with which they suspended them.

So how about you?  How are you taking care to mind your reputation in the dating arena?  Add your comments below.

*Just because Rolling Stone’s account can’t withstand scrutiny, that doesn’t prove the young woman wasn’t assaulted.

“Well begun is half done.” – Aristotle

Throughout my life, I’ve found that I begin new tasks with great gusto. This is a good thing, and I have learned to take advantage of my enthusiasm to create momentum that will help carry me through the eventual letdown. The particulars vary from project to project, but it’s usually the result of higher-than-expected costs, missing parts, or delays. When the slog hits, it’s critically important to have built in some incentives to help keep your motivation and to keep you on track.

Wisdom from the ancient world

I’ve always liked the quotation above from Aristotle. For most of my existence, I’ve taken it to mean that a strong start is a great advantage. This is just one of the axioms I refer to to help me overcome procrastination — to begin now — especially on those difficult or unpleasant chores. But there’s another way to interpret it: a strong beginning is only half the battle. You and I are bound to run into what is known as the “muddle in the middle.”

This is true of books, blog posts, product launches — and it’s also true of life.

Solomon sacrifices his lineage on the altar of an idol — Don’t be that guy

Enter King Solomon

Let’s look at King Solomon to illustrate what I mean. Frequent readers will know that I refer often to the biblical book of Proverbs — written primarily by Solomon, the son of King David, who succeeded his father on the throne of ancient Israel. As king, Solomon was unparalleled. He was wise and wealthy because God had blessed him from the beginning of his reign.

In addition to these gifts, God chose Solomon to build the temple in Jerusalem — the center of worship for God’s chosen people. And his body of work also included three books of the Bible — part of the Bible’s wisdom literature — Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. Clearly Solomon had an enviable collection of skills and used them to accomplish many good and enduring things.

It didn’t end well

However, as he grew comfortable in his achievements, apparently, Solomon became complacent. In the following passage from 1 Kings, Chapter 11, we see that Solomon squandered something essential:

King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love.  He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done.

On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.

The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command. So the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”

What went wrong?

Notice the telltale signs. Like his father before him, Solomon got his head turned because of his sexual appetite. Despite God’s direct instruction to the contrary, he amassed a harem of 1,000 women — most from the idol-worshiping folk Solomon’s ancestors had conquered to inhabit the land of promise.

As I wrote in an earlier two-part post titled, “When You Marry a Mountain Girl, You Marry the Mountain,” you’re going to adopt the ways of the people you spend time with — this is especially true of one’s spouse. This is another reason it’s better to marry someone with similar beliefs and values. Failure to do this results in what the Bible calls “being unequally yoked.” In agricultural terms unequally yoked animals couldn’t  plow straight, as the stronger animal would always pull the weaker in its direction. In Solomon’s case, his wandering eye resulted in a wandering heart that worshiped inert idols in place of the living God. This ultimately led to the destruction of the temple Solomon built, but also to the captivity of God’s people.

How to avoid foolishness and failure

The objective here is to be a faithful steward of the gift that is your life. This means you don’t want to peak in high school, and it also means you don’t want to put it in neutral once you hit 50, 60, 70, whatever. To finish your life strong and satisfied, here’s what I recommend:

Begin with the end in mind – The late Stephen Covey coined this phrase in his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People.  Having a mission — a purpose with a desired outcome — in front of you is paramount. It’s a challenge to remain as motivated at the end of your shift as you are when you clock in, but having a mission makes it easier. Notice that Solomon’s resolve weakened as he got older.

Count the cost – The funniest and yet saddest episodes of the TV show “American Idol” are the ones featuring the deluded contestants who swear they can sing — the judges just aren’t being fair. If you want to be a professional musician, you have to put in the time in solitary practice. The 10,000-hour rule is no joke — and you can only spend those hours on one thing, not multiple things. This is the definition of opportunity cost. What are you willing to do without to achieve at your peak? It’s your life, so do be honest with yourself.

Stay connected to your power source – To be the best possible version of yourself you need to be working at the intersection of your Passion, Purpose, and Potential. This is a quest, and it is easier for some than for others, but the effort is worth it. God made you and He knows His plans for you. Get out your spiritual shovel and dig with your eyes open. Don’t get discouraged if you have to do some living before it snaps into focus. It’s all training if you’re legitimately seeking. And when you find it, you’ll have to pray, study and reflect — alone and with others —  to stay on track.

Stay fresh – I know I’ve said it before: You’re either green and growing or you’re ripe and rotting. Are you an expert? A virtuoso? Not yet? You still have those challenges in front of you. If you are an expert or a virtuoso, consider the challenge of teaching what you’ve learned to other people. There’s always more to learn, more to do — and if you’re not dead, you’re not done.

Get some rest – Take care of your body by exercising, eating right, drinking plenty of water, and getting enough sleep.

Get your mind right – The body goes where the head goes. Competitive divers learn this to enter the water with that minimal splash the judges reward. It’s the same in life. And we’ve talked about it before: thoughts lead to feelings; feelings lead to behaviors. If you’re not impaired, you can choose what to think about — good or bad.

But sometimes you’re vulnerable. Then what? As Dr. Charles Stanley advises, use the H.A.L.T. method to avoid giving in to the temptation to foolishness — whatever form that takes for you. Don’t do anything when you’re Hungry, Angry, Lonely or Tired. Whether you’re tempted by an unlocked door, an unwholesome relationship, a bottle, a smoke, or a plate of fries, it’s much easier to resist when you recognize when and where your defenses are at their lowest, and you can see the larger goal beyond the moment.

Is it hopeless if I’ve wrecked it?

Not at all. If you live to tell the tale, you can still finish well. If you need a refresher on Grace and forgiveness or if the whole idea is new to you, you can read about it here. Your Father in Heaven made you, and He — with all His faithful ones — is cheering you on. You can be clean. You can be His. You can be faithful in fulfilling your mission and finish strong.

So how about you? What steps are you taking now to finish well. Encourage your brothers by declaring it below.

Men:  We have to talk about sex. If there’s one area where this generation is stuck, this is it.

The Water Was Dirty Before You Got In

Now, before you conclude that I’m pointing my finger at you, please realize that the Boomer cohort gave us the sexual revolution and rampant divorce, and the Gen X cohort was equally careless about sex and marriage.  But it’s even worse than that.  These are the guys who grew up to convince you that everyone but you was sexually active, to urge the women you know to emulate the worst of promiscuous men, and to offer you pornography pretty much anywhere and anytime — and all so they could separate you from your money.  If you want poor examples, the generations ahead of you are shot through with them.

Applying wisdom — that’s a horse of a different color!

So if you’re a typical American male, you were probably exposed to pornography somewhere around age ten.  But even if you didn’t see any sexually explicit magazines, videos or websites in your youth, you’ve been awash in a culture that has turned sex into a commodity devoid of any spiritual significance.  As a man who has spent much of his career in and around sales, I say it’s lazy to use sex to sell.  As bad as that is, it’s worse to be so checked out that you allow it to influence you.  There is a better way.

Meet King Solomon

In the Old Testament (that’s the first 39 books of the Bible), we meet a king named Solomon.  He was the son of King David and Bathsheba (there’s a story about the misuse of sex, right there).  When Solomon succeeded his father as the king of Israel, God told Solomon to ask him for anything.  In reply, Solomon asked for wisdom to govern God’s people.  This pleased God and he promised Solomon that no one would be wiser or more honored than he.

In addition to building the Temple in Jerusalem, Solomon reportedly had 1,000 wives and concubines.  (Here I should point out that just because the Bible describes something, it does not prescribe it.)  Solomon is also credited with several books of the Bible — Ecclesiastes, The Song of Solomon, and Proverbs.  And that brings us to the purpose of this post.

In Proverbs 5 Solomon writes this:

My son, be attentive to my wisdom;

incline your ear to my understanding,

that you may keep discretion,

and your lips may guard knowledge.

For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey,

and her speech is smoother than oil,

but in the end she is bitter as wormwood,

sharp as a two-edged sword.

Her feet go down to death;

her steps follow the path to Sheol;

she does not ponder the path of life;

her ways wander, and she does not know it.

And now, O sons, listen to me,

and do not depart from the words of my mouth.

Keep your way far from her,

and do not go near the door of her house,

lest you give your honor to others

and your years to the merciless,

lest strangers take their fill of your strength,

and your labors go to the house of a foreigner,

and at the end of your life you groan,

when your flesh and body are consumed,

and you say, “How I hated discipline,

and my heart despised reproof!

I did not listen to the voice of my teachers

or incline my ear to my instructors.”

Be the Gatekeeper

What Difference Does It Make?

The Rest of The Story

It Isn’t Easy

So how about you?  How are you applying God’s wisdom to help you lead a chaste life?  Add your comments below.

“Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.” – St. Paul (Philippians 4:8 – The Message)

Bear with me today. I want to connect some seemingly unrelated ideas into a more compelling argument for remaining intellectually and emotionally agile.

The one time I endorse Revisionist History

If a butterfly submitted her first draft, she’d be an unimproved worm.

I am a fan of Malcolm Gladwell’s writing, and I have been listening to his new podcast titled “Revisionist History.” During some recent travel, I listened to several episodes, and was struck by two ideas I wrote down to share with you. In one episode, Gladwell recounts the story of how NBA legend Wilt Chamberlain scored an unmatched 100 points in a single game. Part of the reason the 7′ 1″ superstar was able to score so many points was that for that one game only, he shot free throws underhanded — a technique made famous, but not popular, by NBA Hall-of-Famer Rick Barry.

Gladwell marvels that after his record-breaking score, Chamberlain never used the underhand technique again in his career. One would think — and Rick Barry says so — that Chamberlain would have been an even more significant asset to his team, if he had continued to use what had worked so well. Keep in mind that Barry still has one of the highest free throw percentages in NBA history, so he is the expert. But Chamberlain reverted to the conventional and less accurate shooting method. Gladwell adds that Wilt Chamberlain was not the only man to persist using an inferior method. Only two players in the NCAA use the Barry method — and one of them is Barry’s son.

In a separate episode, Gladwell explores what economist David Galenson calls Experimental Innovation by tracing the revisions and iterations taken by two songwriters — Elvis Costello and Leonard Cohen — of their respective songs. In the latter’s case, Gladwell explains the years-long path that Cohen’s song “Hallelujah” took from his own many drafts to John Cale’s cover, to Jeff Buckley’s cover of Cale’s version to Buckley’s untimely death and posthumous success to the classic status the song now enjoys. None of this would have happened if Cohen had not been the sort to revisit his assumptions, and to rewrite remorselessly.

The contrasting creative style, according to Galenson, is Conceptual Innovation. A conceptual innovator tends to create earlier in his life — or perhaps he completes more works earlier in his career — because he tends to formulate a more exact plan and execute according to it with minimal editing after the fact. If Cohen and Costello are Experimental Innovators, the artist Pablo Picasso is a Conceptual Innovator.

Then I heard a TED Talk

Quite providentially, the next podcast I listened to was a TED Talk given by Julia Galef, a noted skeptic, who told the story of the Dreyfus affair — the case of a French artillery captain, Alfred Dreyfus, who lost his commission and his freedom after being falsely accused and imprisoned for treason. Dreyfus was Jewish, and antisemitism among his fellow officers contributed to the miscarriage of justice. A fellow officer, Lt. Col. Georges Picquart, worked ten years to clear Dreyfus’ name, despite his own prejudice against Jews. Galef says this persistence resulted from Picquart’s innate sense of curiosity and desire to identify the real culprit.

Scout vs. Soldier Mindset

Galef coined two metaphors to characterize the mindset of Picquart and that of his fellow officers. The soldier mindset is the practitioner of what Galef calls motivated reasoning. This way of thinking also belongs to the category known as confirmation bias. Those of a soldier mindset tend to argue more vigorously for their biases and tend to discount the arguments of their critics, while at the same time finding fault with arguments or data that conflict with their settled assumptions.

The Scout Mindset appears less focused on a specific end result. instead, it is open to consider contrary arguments and to cede valid points. Col. Picquart in her telling was motivated to seek the truth of the Dreyfus case — wherever it led.

Here in the real world

I thought the Galenson characterizations and the Galef mindset metaphors were interesting in their overlap and their application in the lives of men. If you followed the 2016 US presidential election cycle, you saw both creative processes and both mindsets at work on the left and the right. The mindsets continue today.

Those of the political left charge that their opposite numbers on the right only read websites, blogs and newspapers that agree with their home truths. Those on the right accuse their opposite numbers of inhabiting a liberal echo chamber. Here we see the Soldier Mindset in full flower — at least among the most outspoken. But what about the creative strategies?

Both major candidates — or their campaign staffs — appeared to be experimental innovators. If we were to score on the candidates alone, the flatter — some would say non-existent — campaign organization of Donald Trump suggests him to be a natural Experimental Innovator. Whether it came from the candidate or from an influential campaign manager or consultant, both parties tested and iterated constantly, measuring effectiveness through polling data, as they sought to win on election day.

A couple of Old Testament examples

If you’ve been reading here awhile, you know I admire King Solomon and the wisdom shared in the biblical book of Proverbs. Elsewhere we’ve talked about how Solomon departed from sound judgment at the end of his life. I submit to you that Solomon embodied the Soldier Mindset — being so invested in what he wanted that he failed to consider the consequences, and persisting against wisdom — like Wilt Chamberlain did — along a less effective course.

But let’s contrast Solomon with Caleb, a man we meet in the Old Testament books of Joshua and Numbers. Moses had sent Caleb and Joshua and some of their fellow Israelites to collect intelligence on the Promised Land. Everyone except Caleb and Joshua looked at the size of the people living there and their fortifications and were too scared to obey God. So God caused them to wander in the desert another 40 years as a judgment for their unbelief. When only Joshua and Caleb were left from the scouting party, Caleb was 85 years old. Even then he was open to new ideas and asked for the portion of land with the biggest, baddest foes. That’s the Scout Mindset!

And in my life

I see benefits of both creative processes, and I believe each of us likely is more of one type than the other. For much of my life I’ve tend toward a “first-thought-best-thought” creative style, but I have learned not to fear the re-write. Despite its disadvantages, I can think of certain areas where having a Soldier Mindset is an asset. Faithfulness in marriage is the most vivid example. But within that solid commitment, having a Scout Mindset can keep you growing within your marriage. And we haven’t talked about how being agile can enhance your career.

Spelling it out

I recommend taking some time to review some of your past decisions to notice how you came to each decision. Did you plan and then act, or did you begin and adapt as you went along? Are you willing to listen to other points of view without unfriending people with whom you disagree? Are you allergic to a better idea?

Don’t forget, we are not captive to our thoughts. We can choose them — and we should. In his second letter to the church at Corinth, St. Paul wrote:

We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ…” (2 Corinthians 10:5 – ESV)

If we can take thoughts captive, then clearly you and I can “change the channel” of our thoughts and be generous to our neighbors, even the disagreeable ones. But there’s something more important here. We have covered it before, but we need to remember that our feelings begin with our thoughts. Thoughts lead to feelings, feelings lead to actions, and actions lead to habits.

This taking thoughts captive and replacing them with more positive and godly thoughts will improve our feelings and dispositions and lead to more noble actions. Over time, that leads to noble character and a good name — or as I like to call it, the best possible version of yourself.

So how about you? What channel are you watching? How are you going to cultivate a Scout Mindset and a noble character? Add your comments below.

“Whoever increases wealth by taking interest or profit from the poor amasses it for another, who will be kind to the poor.” – Proverbs 28:8 (NIV)

In a recent post, I explained why I’m skeptical of cryptocurrencies — even though I am optimistic about the potential for blockchain technology and its offshoots to create genuine value. This time, I’d like to provide a brief overview of the Bible’s teaching about money.

My pastor likes to explain that Jesus spoke more about money than he did about Heaven and Hell combined. If God came down in the flesh and told you how to regard money properly, you’d listen, right? Well He did. So in the spirit of news you can use, here are nine scriptural principles to help you view money the way God does:

Time for a higher perspective on money

• Money follows faithfulness – I the gospel of Matthew, Jesus wraps up the Sermon on the Mount by reminding his followers that God is a good Father who knows how to take care of His creation. He instructs us not to live and die by what we own, what we eat, or what we wear, instead He tells us to seek God’s kingdom and righteousness. Then, He says, all the things we need will follow (Matthew 6:33).
• Put God first – The Old Testament prophet Malachi chastised the people of God for keeping the finest of their produce for themselves while bringing God their leftovers. The principle and practice of the tithe — giving the first tenth of one’s increase to God — has always been an acid test of one’s faith and devotion. Malachi delivered God’s challenge to his people to test Him by bringing the full tenth and see whether He would, in return, bless them beyond their faithfulness. This challenge remains for us as well. Jesus commended the tithe in the New Testament, even as He corrected the Pharisees for their hard hearts.
• God is God — money is… not – Jesus taught that only God was worthy of our worship. Although we can use money in powerful ways, it has no power of its own. People can and do get confused about this, though. Jesus taught that a man can’t serve two masters, because He’ll end up loving one and hating the other. If money is the rival master, the one who loves it can end up hating God (Luke 16:13).
• It’s not wrong to be smart about money – Jesus told the parable of shrewd manager — a story about a soon-to-be-fired employee who offered to settle his friends’ debts at a discount. In doing this, he delivered a benefit to his soon-to-be-former boss, but he also earned the favor of his friends, and the admiration of Jesus. Look what Jesus said about this man’s  actions:
  The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” Luke 16:8-9 (NIV)
  
• Money is morally neutral – Money is neither good nor bad in itself. It’s simply a tool — an efficient means of exchange that one can use to accomplish good or evil ends. Ah, but what about that “money is the root of all evil” thing? Isn’t that in the Bible? No, it isn’t. What the Apostle Paul wrote is this: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” – 1 Timothy 6:10 (NIV)
• Invest in the Kingdom of God – When he teaches on stewardship and giving, my pastor likes to quote the old saying, “You can’t take it with you.” But he adds, “You can send it ahead.” Jesus said we shouldn’t be as concerned about amassing a fortune here on earth. Instead He instructed us to “lay up treasures in Heaven.” He wouldn’t tell us to if were impossible.
  Here’s a thought on how that works: The Bible teaches that faith, hope, and love are the things that endure beyond the grave. Each of these has a relational element since each one must have an object. If so, it follows that we can use our worldly wealth to share faith, hope, and love with those who need them so desperately. In the passage from Luke above, Jesus essentially told His followers to use the resources of this world to take the maximum number of friends to Heaven with us.
• You’re meant to be generous, you know — I often quote King Solomon here. In Proverbs 16:19, the wise king says this: “Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done.” Elsewhere, in chapter 3, he says, “Do not say to your neighbor, ‘Go, and come again, tomorrow I will give it’—when you have it with you.” And in 2 Corinthians 9, the Apostle Paul wrote, “The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” – 2 Corinthians 9:6-7 (ESV)
• Prosperity and poverty aren’t measures of your status before God – Righteous people fall on hard times. Wicked people sometimes prosper. You’ll drive yourself mad trying to ferret out what you must have done wrong every time the stock market goes down. That’s a little like saying God is displeased when the tide goes out or the moon wanes. Jesus said, “For (God) makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” – Matthew 5:45b (ESV) And we haven’t discussed the Old Testament stories of Joseph and Job, or all the hardships the Apostle Paul endured for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus. Try imprisoned, beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, slandered, and snake-bit as a sample — and then tell me he lacked faith or faithfulness to unleash God’s fountain of prosperity.
• It all belongs to God – God, as creator of the cosmos, is its sovereign ruler. As Dutch theologian and statesman Abraham Kuyper said, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!” That includes your wallet, dude — and mine. If I have money, assets, talents, or connections, I am to hold them as a steward, and use them profitably to honor and glorify God.

I like what the Methodists used to teach about money: earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can. That’s your takeaway from my post. A last thought from Luke 16. Jesus says,

“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. ¹¹ So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? ¹² And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?” Luke 16: 10-11 (NIV).

So how about you? In what ways do you need to adjust your thinking about money? How can you use the resources you have to expand God’s kingdom? Add your comments below.

“As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.” – Psalm 103:13-14 (ESV)

In part I, I told how I recommended to a friend that he read the Old Testament story of Joseph, and how he didn’t expect to encounter the story of Judah and Tamar — a single chapter in the book of Genesis that appears in the middle of the story of Joseph. In this story Judah, one of Jacob’s twelve sons and Joseph’s older brother, deceives and deprives his daughter-in-law Tamar of her rights. Let me recap briefly.

By custom, if a man died childless, his brother had an obligation to conceive children with his widowed sister-in-law so his brother’s family line could continue. Tamar was the wife of Er, Judah’s son, but Er died. Judah told his middle son, Onan, to sleep with Tamar to fulfill the family obligation. Onan slept with Tamar, but never completed the act of conception, instead he spilled his seed on the ground. This provoked God’s judgment, so Onan paid with his life. Although Judah promised his third son to Tamar when he came of age, he didn’t keep his promise to her.

Not everything that is pretty is good for you. Look and think deeply.

To even the score, Tamar disguised herself as a prostitute and seduced her widowed father-in-law, taking his identification as collateral for the transaction. Three months later, Judah got news that Tamar was pregnant, bringing shame on the family, so he ordered her execution. But before she accepted her sentence, she explained that the man who got her pregnant is the man who owned Judah’s staff, cord, and seal — oops!

The story ends with Judah’s saying that Tamar was more righteous than he. And she gives birth two twin boys, Perez and Zerah.

Why is that in there?

For those of you unfamiliar with the Bible, you may be wondering if this is some kind of a joke. It isn’t. The story is in the Bible, and I invite you to read it for yourself (you can link to it here). There are lots of good reasons why this story appears in scripture, and my purpose in this post is to explain those reasons and, by explaining them, to encourage you.

About Onan

Let’s talk for a minute about Onan. This part of the story is the source of a lot of mistaken teaching about masturbation. I’m not advocating it — I discourage it, in fact — but there is no specific scriptural prohibition against it, and it is not a capital offense. Jesus taught that adultery was sinful, and then raised the stakes by saying that to lust after a woman was to commit adultery in one’s heart. The purpose of this teaching was to illustrate that sin is more a matter of the heart than of the flesh. That is, the inclinations of the heart reveal more about our spiritual condition than our outward behaviors. It also demonstrates that God wants to preserve the sacredness of sex, by warning us to avoid even the thought of sexual sin.

God gave the gift of sex. It was His idea. And in this case, Judah told his son to provide an heir for his late brother. Onan didn’t go off by himself to think lustful thoughts about Tamar while pleasuring himself. Instead, he took advantage of her, enjoying her body — consuming her — but withdrawing at the last moment and denying her the life-giving seed that would have fulfilled his obligation to his sister-in-law and his deceased brother. The sin of Onan was the sin of selfishness. The scripture says he knew the child wouldn’t be his, so every time he slept with Tamar, he spilled his semen on the ground. God demanded Onan’s life for his selfishness and rebellion, not for masturbation.

But what’s the big deal about not conceiving?

Context

The larger picture of this filial obligation was that God had chosen a people for himself when He established the covenant with Abraham. God promised Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky, so it was important for every household to have children. If a man died without having conceived a child, his brother had to take on the responsibility to do his part to fulfill the covenant.

This is also the reason for a lot of the ceremonial law that appears later in the Old Testament. God’s people were to be distinct in their life and conduct, so they were to keep themselves separate from neighboring tribes that worshiped other gods.

In the case of Judah and Tamar, we were only into the third generation of Abraham’s descendants, and you could say they were still a long way from stars-in-the-sky numerous. Judah’s fear that his third son might also die, caused him to be stingy toward Tamar. But this also was contrary to God’s will, as Judah withheld his seed from God — just in a way that was different from his son, Onan.

Description vs. Prescription

What about Tamar? Should a wronged woman dress up like a harlot and use sex to get what she wants? The short answer is no. I have to explain here that the Bible describes a lot of things that it doesn’t command or endorse. Tamar’s behavior is one such example. Slavery and child sacrifice are two more. One cannot judge the rightness of a thing simply because “it’s in the Bible.”

We can understand some of Tamar’s motivation, since in her time, to be barren and a widow was to be an outcast as well as desperately poor. In this light, Onan didn’t just deny her a child, he denied her redemption and life. Given that she was in Judah’s household, she was entitled to her rights. But when Judah failed to keep his word to her, she acted according to her flesh, rather than seeking God’s wisdom. And speaking of God’s wisdom, we need to consider something important. We’ll get into that in Part III.

So how about you? How does the story of Judah and Tamar challenge your ideas about the Bible? Add your comments below.

Men:  We have to talk about sex. If there’s one area where this generation is stuck, this is it.

The Water Was Dirty Before You Got In

Now, before you conclude that I’m pointing my finger at you, please realize that the Boomer cohort gave us the sexual revolution and rampant divorce, and the Gen X cohort was equally careless about sex and marriage.  But it’s even worse than that.  These are the guys who grew up to convince you that everyone but you was sexually active, to urge the women you know to emulate the worst of promiscuous men, and to offer you pornography pretty much anywhere and anytime — and all so they could separate you from your money.  If you want poor examples, the generations ahead of you are shot through with them.

Applying wisdom — that’s a horse of a different color!

So if you’re a typical American male, you were probably exposed to pornography somewhere around age ten.  But even if you didn’t see any sexually explicit magazines, videos or websites in your youth, you’ve been awash in a culture that has turned sex into a commodity devoid of any spiritual significance.  As a man who has spent much of his career in and around sales, I say it’s lazy to use sex to sell.  As bad as that is, it’s worse to be so checked out that you allow it to influence you.  There is a better way.

Meet King Solomon

In the Old Testament (that’s the first 39 books of the Bible), we meet a king named Solomon.  He was the son of King David and Bathsheba (there’s a story about the misuse of sex, right there).  When Solomon succeeded his father as the king of Israel, God told Solomon to ask him for anything.  In reply, Solomon asked for wisdom to govern God’s people.  This pleased God and he promised Solomon that no one would be wiser or more honored than he.

In addition to building the Temple in Jerusalem, Solomon reportedly had 1,000 wives and concubines.  (Here I should point out that just because the Bible describes something, it does not prescribe it.)  Solomon is also credited with several books of the Bible — Ecclesiastes, The Song of Solomon, and Proverbs.  And that brings us to the purpose of this post.

In Proverbs 5 Solomon writes this:

My son, be attentive to my wisdom;

incline your ear to my understanding,

that you may keep discretion,

and your lips may guard knowledge.

For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey,

and her speech is smoother than oil,

but in the end she is bitter as wormwood,

sharp as a two-edged sword.

Her feet go down to death;

her steps follow the path to Sheol;

she does not ponder the path of life;

her ways wander, and she does not know it.

And now, O sons, listen to me,

and do not depart from the words of my mouth.

Keep your way far from her,

and do not go near the door of her house,

lest you give your honor to others

and your years to the merciless,

lest strangers take their fill of your strength,

and your labors go to the house of a foreigner,

and at the end of your life you groan,

when your flesh and body are consumed,

and you say, “How I hated discipline,

and my heart despised reproof!

I did not listen to the voice of my teachers

or incline my ear to my instructors.”

Be the Gatekeeper

What Difference Does It Make?

The Rest of The Story

It Isn’t Easy

So how about you?  How are you applying God’s wisdom to help you lead a chaste life?  Add your comments below.

“Well begun is half done.” – Aristotle

Throughout my life, I’ve found that I begin new tasks with great gusto. This is a good thing, and I have learned to take advantage of my enthusiasm to create momentum that will help carry me through the eventual letdown. The particulars vary from project to project, but it’s usually the result of higher-than-expected costs, missing parts, or delays. When the slog hits, it’s critically important to have built in some incentives to help keep your motivation and to keep you on track.

Wisdom from the ancient world

I’ve always liked the quotation above from Aristotle. For most of my existence, I’ve taken it to mean that a strong start is a great advantage. This is just one of the axioms I refer to to help me overcome procrastination — to begin now — especially on those difficult or unpleasant chores. But there’s another way to interpret it: a strong beginning is only half the battle. You and I are bound to run into what is known as the “muddle in the middle.”

This is true of books, blog posts, product launches — and it’s also true of life.

Solomon sacrifices his lineage on the altar of an idol — Don’t be that guy

Enter King Solomon

Let’s look at King Solomon to illustrate what I mean. Frequent readers will know that I refer often to the biblical book of Proverbs — written primarily by Solomon, the son of King David, who succeeded his father on the throne of ancient Israel. As king, Solomon was unparalleled. He was wise and wealthy because God had blessed him from the beginning of his reign.

In addition to these gifts, God chose Solomon to build the temple in Jerusalem — the center of worship for God’s chosen people. And his body of work also included three books of the Bible — part of the Bible’s wisdom literature — Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. Clearly Solomon had an enviable collection of skills and used them to accomplish many good and enduring things.

It didn’t end well

However, as he grew comfortable in his achievements, apparently, Solomon became complacent. In the following passage from 1 Kings, Chapter 11, we see that Solomon squandered something essential:

King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love.  He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done.

On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.

The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command. So the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”

What went wrong?

Notice the telltale signs. Like his father before him, Solomon got his head turned because of his sexual appetite. Despite God’s direct instruction to the contrary, he amassed a harem of 1,000 women — most from the idol-worshiping folk Solomon’s ancestors had conquered to inhabit the land of promise.

As I wrote in an earlier two-part post titled, “When You Marry a Mountain Girl, You Marry the Mountain,” you’re going to adopt the ways of the people you spend time with — this is especially true of one’s spouse. This is another reason it’s better to marry someone with similar beliefs and values. Failure to do this results in what the Bible calls “being unequally yoked.” In agricultural terms unequally yoked animals couldn’t  plow straight, as the stronger animal would always pull the weaker in its direction. In Solomon’s case, his wandering eye resulted in a wandering heart that worshiped inert idols in place of the living God. This ultimately led to the destruction of the temple Solomon built, but also to the captivity of God’s people.

How to avoid foolishness and failure

The objective here is to be a faithful steward of the gift that is your life. This means you don’t want to peak in high school, and it also means you don’t want to put it in neutral once you hit 50, 60, 70, whatever. To finish your life strong and satisfied, here’s what I recommend:

Begin with the end in mind – The late Stephen Covey coined this phrase in his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People.  Having a mission — a purpose with a desired outcome — in front of you is paramount. It’s a challenge to remain as motivated at the end of your shift as you are when you clock in, but having a mission makes it easier. Notice that Solomon’s resolve weakened as he got older.

Count the cost – The funniest and yet saddest episodes of the TV show “American Idol” are the ones featuring the deluded contestants who swear they can sing — the judges just aren’t being fair. If you want to be a professional musician, you have to put in the time in solitary practice. The 10,000-hour rule is no joke — and you can only spend those hours on one thing, not multiple things. This is the definition of opportunity cost. What are you willing to do without to achieve at your peak? It’s your life, so do be honest with yourself.

Stay connected to your power source – To be the best possible version of yourself you need to be working at the intersection of your Passion, Purpose, and Potential. This is a quest, and it is easier for some than for others, but the effort is worth it. God made you and He knows His plans for you. Get out your spiritual shovel and dig with your eyes open. Don’t get discouraged if you have to do some living before it snaps into focus. It’s all training if you’re legitimately seeking. And when you find it, you’ll have to pray, study and reflect — alone and with others —  to stay on track.

Stay fresh – I know I’ve said it before: You’re either green and growing or you’re ripe and rotting. Are you an expert? A virtuoso? Not yet? You still have those challenges in front of you. If you are an expert or a virtuoso, consider the challenge of teaching what you’ve learned to other people. There’s always more to learn, more to do — and if you’re not dead, you’re not done.

Get some rest – Take care of your body by exercising, eating right, drinking plenty of water, and getting enough sleep.

Get your mind right – The body goes where the head goes. Competitive divers learn this to enter the water with that minimal splash the judges reward. It’s the same in life. And we’ve talked about it before: thoughts lead to feelings; feelings lead to behaviors. If you’re not impaired, you can choose what to think about — good or bad.

But sometimes you’re vulnerable. Then what? As Dr. Charles Stanley advises, use the H.A.L.T. method to avoid giving in to the temptation to foolishness — whatever form that takes for you. Don’t do anything when you’re Hungry, Angry, Lonely or Tired. Whether you’re tempted by an unlocked door, an unwholesome relationship, a bottle, a smoke, or a plate of fries, it’s much easier to resist when you recognize when and where your defenses are at their lowest, and you can see the larger goal beyond the moment.

Is it hopeless if I’ve wrecked it?

Not at all. If you live to tell the tale, you can still finish well. If you need a refresher on Grace and forgiveness or if the whole idea is new to you, you can read about it here. Your Father in Heaven made you, and He — with all His faithful ones — is cheering you on. You can be clean. You can be His. You can be faithful in fulfilling your mission and finish strong.

So how about you? What steps are you taking now to finish well. Encourage your brothers by declaring it below.

“Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.” – St. Paul (Philippians 4:8 – The Message)

Bear with me today. I want to connect some seemingly unrelated ideas into a more compelling argument for remaining intellectually and emotionally agile.

The one time I endorse Revisionist History

A butterfly or merely an improved worm?

I am a fan of Malcolm Gladwell’s writing, and I have been listening to his new podcast titled “Revisionist History.” During some recent travel, I listened to several episodes, and was struck by two ideas I wrote down to share with you. In one episode, Gladwell recounts the story of how NBA legend Wilt Chamberlain scored an unmatched 100 points in a single game. Part of the reason the 7′ 1″ superstar was able to score so many points was that for that one game only, he shot free throws underhanded — a technique made famous, but not popular, by NBA Hall-of-Famer Rick Barry.

Gladwell marvels that after his record=breaking score, Chamberlain never used the underhand technique again in his career. One would think — and Rick Barry says so — that Chamberlain would have been an even more significant asset to his team, if he had continued to use what had worked so well. Keep in mind that Barry still has one of the highest free throw percentages in NBA history, so he is the expert. But Chamberlain reverted to the conventional and less accurate shooting method. Gladwell adds that Wilt Chamberlain was not the only man to persist using an inferior method. Only two players in the NCAA use the Barry method — and one of them is Barry’s son.

In a separate episode, Gladwell explores what economist David Galenson calls Experimental Innovation by tracing the revisions and iterations taken by two songwriters — Elvis Costello and Leonard Cohen — of their respective songs. In the latter’s case, Gladwell explains the years-long path that Cohen’s song “Hallelujah” took from his own many drafts to John Cale’s cover, to Jeff Buckley’s cover of Cale’s version to Buckley’s untimely death and posthumous success to the classic status the song now enjoys. None of this would have happened if Cohen had not been the sort to revisit his assumptions, and to rewrite remorselessly.

The contrasting creative style, according to Galenson, is Conceptual Innovation. A conceptual innovator tends to create earlier in his life — or perhaps he completes more works earlier in his career — because he tends to formulate a more exact plan and execute according to it with minimal editing after the fact. If Cohen and Costello are Experimental Innovators, the artist Pablo Picasso is a Conceptual Innovator.

Then I heard a TED Talk

Quite providentially, the next podcast I listened to was a TED Talk given by Julia Galef, a noted skeptic, who told the story of the Dreyfus affair — the case of a French artillery captain, Alfred Dreyfus, who lost his commission and his freedom after being falsely accused and imprisoned for treason. Dreyfus was Jewish, and anti-Semitism among his fellow officers contributed to the miscarriage of justice. A fellow officer, Lt. Col. Georges Picquart, worked ten years to clear Dreyfus’ name, despite his own prejudice against Jews. Galef says this persistence resulted from Picquart’s innate sense of curiosity and desire to identify the real culprit.

Scout vs. Soldier Mindset

Galef coined two metaphors to characterize the mindset of Picquart and that of his fellow officers. The soldier mindset is the practitioner of what Galef calls motivated reasoning. This way of thinking also belongs to the category known as confirmation bias. Those of a soldier mindset tend to argue more vigorously for their biases and tend to discount the arguments of their critics, while at the same time finding fault with arguments or data that conflict with their settled assumptions.

The Scout Mindset appears less focused on a specific end result. instead, it is open to consider contrary arguments and to cede valid points. Col. Picquart in her telling was motivated by a desire to find the truth of the Dreyfus case — wherever it led.

Here in the real world

I thought the Galenson characterizations and the Galef mindset metaphors were interesting in their overlap and their application in the lives of men. If you are following the US presidential election cycle, you can see both creative processes and both mindsets at work on the left and the right.

Those of the political left charge that their opposite numbers on the right only read websites, blogs and newspapers that agree with their home truths. Those on the right accuse their opposite numbers of inhabiting a liberal echo chamber. Here we see the Soldier Mindset in full flower — at least among the most outspoken. But what about the creative strategies?

Both major candidates — or their campaign staffs — appear to be experimental innovators. If we were scoring on the candidates alone, the flatter — some would say non-existent — campaign organization of Donald Trump suggests him to be a natural Experimental Innovator. Whether it comes from the candidate or from an influential campaign manager or consultant, both parties are testing and iterating constantly, measuring effectiveness through polling data, as they seek to win on election day.

A couple of Old Testament examples

If you’ve been reading here awhile, you know I admire King Solomon and the wisdom shared in the biblical book of Proverbs. Elsewhere we’ve talked about how Solomon departed from sound judgment at the end of his life. I submit to you that Solomon embodied the Soldier Mindset — being so invested in what he wanted that he failed to consider the consequences, and persisting against wisdom — like Wilt Chamberlain did — along a less effective course.

But let’s contrast Solomon with Caleb, a man we encounter in the Old Testament books of Joshua and Numbers. Moses had sent Caleb and Joshua and some of their fellow Israelites to collect intelligence on the Promised Land. Everyone except Caleb and Joshua looked at the size of the people living there and their fortifications and were too scared to obey God. So God caused them to wander in the desert another 40 years as a judgment for their unbelief. When only Joshua and Caleb were left from the scouting party, Caleb was 85 years old. Even then he was open to new ideas and asked for the portion of land with the biggest, baddest foes. That’s the Scout Mindset!

And in my life

I see benefits of both creative processes, and I believe each of us likely is more of one type than the other. I tend to be more of a “first-thought-best-thought” creative, but I have learned not to fear the re-write. Similarly, I can think of certain areas where having a Soldier Mindset is an advantage. Faithfulness in marriage is the most vivid example. But within that solid commitment, having a Scout Mindset can keep you growing within your marriage. And we haven’t talked about how being agile can enhance your career.

Spelling it out

I recommend taking some time to review some of your past decisions to notice how you came to each decision. Did you plan and then act, or did you begin and adapt as you went along? Are you willing to listen to other points of view without unfriending people with whom you disagree? Are you allergic to a better idea?

Don’t forget, we are not captive to our thoughts. We can choose them — and we should. In his second letter to the church at Corinth, St. Paul wrote:

We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ…” (2 Corinthians 10:5 – ESV)

If we can take thoughts captive, then clearly you and I can “change the channel” of our thoughts and be generous to our neighbors, even the disagreeable ones. But there’s something more important here. We have covered it before, but we need to remember that our feelings begin with our thoughts. Thoughts lead to feelings, feelings lead to actions, and actions lead to habits.

This taking thoughts captive and replacing them with more positive and godly thoughts will improve our feelings and dispositions and lead to more noble actions. Over time, that leads to noble character and a good name — or as I like to call it, the best possible version of yourself.

So how about you? What channel are you watching? How are you going to cultivate a Scout Mindset and a noble character? Add your comments below.