The_Dangerous_High_of_Being_Needed

21:02

DEATH BY 1000 CUTS

There is a kind of wound that is particularly difficult to recognize because, at first glance, it doesn't look like a wound at all. It looks like service. It looks like sacrifice. It looks like commitment. It looks like being the person who always shows up, always says yes, always stays late, always carries the load, and always does what needs to be done when nobody else seems willing to do it. Sometimes it really is those things. That is what makes the cut of martyrdom so sneaky.

The martyr isn't necessarily lazy. In fact, he may be the hardest-working person in the room. He may be dependable, generous, sacrificial, and willing to go the extra mile. He may be the person everybody calls when something needs to be fixed. He may spend enormous amounts of time and energy doing things for other people, and everyone around…

Resentment: From the Root to the Fruit

19:31

DEATH BY 1000 CUTS

THE CUT OF RESENTMENT

There is a reason Scripture describes bitterness as a root.

Hebrews 12:15 says, “See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.”

The Cut of Apathy

HowApathySabotagesYourDarkestDays

41:49

There's an old story about the comedian Andrew Dice Clay — as a child, sitting in a classroom, when a teacher finally lost her patience and asked him: "Andrew, are you ignorant, or are you just apathetic?" And his answer, without missing a beat, was: "I don't know, and I don't care."

It's a punchline. But sit with it for a second, because it's not really a joke about ignorance at all. Ignorance means you don't know. Apathy means you know — and it doesn't move you. That's what makes the line sting under the laugh. He wasn't confused. He simply didn't care enough to engage.

We laugh at that in a fourth grader. But how many of us give God that same answer every single day?

Death By 1000 Cuts Part VI. The Cut of Independence

Why_Independence_Is_a_Dangerous_Blind_Spot

20:09

Introduction

Human nature runs one direction from the moment we're born: toward self-sufficiency. Watch a toddler learn to walk and you'll watch the whole doctrine in miniature — the fierce little refusal of a helping hand, the insistence of "I do it." We don't have to teach a child to want independence. We only have to teach them, eventually, that it has limits. And most of us are never fully taught that second part, because our culture never stops teaching the first.

Death by 1000 Cuts Part V

Busyness / We Can't Afford To Rest

Why We Can't Afford To Rest

24:01

Introduction: The Cut That Wears a Halo

We have to be honest about what busyness actually looks like, because it rarely looks like ambition and it rarely looks like sin. It looks like love.

It looks like signing our children up for soccer camp and T-ball practice and dance and travel league, because we want them to have every opportunity we didn't have, or every opportunity we did have and loved. It looks like saying yes to the nursery rotation, the meal train, the committee, the second job, the third volunteer shift this month, because the church needs hands and we have hands. It looks like staying up after everyone else is asleep to finish the thing nobody else will finish, because someone has to, and it might as well be us. It looks like self-sacrifice —…

DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS

Part Five: Unbelief

Teaching Manuscript

Stop_Calling_God’s_Hand_a_Coincidence

25:02

I. Naming the Cut — Unbelief as Erosion, Not Explosion

There is a kind of death that does not come by the sword. It does not announce itself with violence or drama. It comes quietly, one small wound at a time, until a soul that once walked in confidence finds itself paralyzed, wondering how it arrived at such a place. We have called this death by a thousand cuts, and we have walked together through complaining, through critical spirit, through perfectionism, through entitlement. Today we come to a cut so common, so familiar, that many of us wear its scars without ever having named it. Today we speak of unbelief.

DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS

Part Four: Entitlement — A Thrive Teaching Manuscript

Stop_keeping_a_ledger_with_God

19:30

Teaching Outline

Central thesis: We cannot be grateful for anything we feel entitled to.

DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS

Part Three: The Cut of Perfectionism

Thrive Teaching Series

Perfectionism_Is_Fear_Wearing_a_Costume

20:02

Where We've Been

DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS

Part Two: The Critical Spirit

Thrive Teaching Handout

Stop_feeding_your_critical_spirit_crumbs

20:39

The Tale of Two Wolves

A grandfather told his grandson: "There is a battle inside me between two wolves. One is dark — anger, envy, resentment, self-pity, bitterness, and the critical spirit. The other is light — love, joy, peace, humility, gratitude, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you." The boy asked, "Which wolf will win?" The old man answered: "The one you feed."