Inspirational Intersection

This past Wednesday at the Alpha Celebration Dinner I introduced the concept of the Inspirational Intersection.

I came up with this idea when I first saw the movie, “Jerry Maguire.” The movie is known for the phrase “show me the money.” But there’s another scene that made an impact on me. In the movie Jerry Maguire who was played by Tom Cruise. Jerry Maguire set out to start his own sports agent company. Rene Zellweger was his secretary and was going to work for him. The two of them went off to have lunch to talk about their new company. As they were having lunch Jerry Maguire looked at Rene Zellweger and asked her what type of job she wanted. Rene Zellweger looked Jerry Maguire straight in the face and said, “I don’t want a job. I want to be inspired.”

When I saw that scene I wanted to stand up and shout, “that is it. That’s what I want. I want to be inspired.” I saw this movie in December which is the busiest time of the year for pastors. I was worn out by all that was going on at the time. But I bounded out of that movie theatre reaffirmed with what I wanted with my life. I want to be inspired!

Soon after I came up with the idea of the Inspirational Intersection. It’s an intersection of discovering what God wants us to do AND what we want to do. Our task is to discern this place. The Inspirational Intersection is a place of tremendous energy and passion and inspiration.

The Inspirational Intersection is not a place of discovering what God wants us to do, but we don’t. At times it is appropriate to do what God wants us to do even though we don’t want to do it; however if we’re only doing what God wants us to do and we’re not happy, then we turn God into a tyrant. Also our Inspirational Intersection is not doing what we want to do but God doesn’t want us to do. That turns us into God.

We want to discover what God wants us to do AND we want to do.

This intersection is not just a place that we find in our work. We could find our Inspirational Intersection in volunteer work or our family. We could find our Inspirational Intersection through our church work. And our Inspirational Intersection is not just an activity. We could find it through growing in our character—living out the fruits of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, humility, gentleness, generosity, and self-control.

Finding our Inspirational Intersection means everything because when we partner with God we discover tremendous energy and passion. We’re excited about what we do. We don’t get deterred by the inevitable obstacles that we face. We enjoy life—even if it is very hard—because we’ve found something that we’re willing to give our lives to.

As I was working on this talk I thought about designing a Lenten series called, “The Inspirational Intersection.” I could preach on this for six weeks and then we at Chain of Lakes could offer corresponding small groups. The objective would be for each participant to identify their own Inspirational Intersection on Easter Sunday.

Imagine what our churches would look like if a majority of our people identified their own Inspirational Intersection and had committed their lives to it. Wow!!

Please share some thoughts in the comments section about the Inspirational Intersection and how churches could help people find this place.