Thursday, September 04, 2008
Finding Yourself
Milt Stanley links to a post on what our idols are, especially ministry.
When we come to Christ to fix ourselves, to find fulfillment, to be saved even, it is all about us. Ministry seems like a natural step to get more of "that" - whatever "that" may be. Somehow such misses the mark - because the only acceptable "goal" of Christianity is Jesus. We don't derive an identity from Jesus - Jesus is our identity! Anything else reserves our own ego sufficiently to allow that idolatry to creep in there.
Christianity is not an exercise in finding oneself, but in losing same.
Which brings me, sort of, to my second point. WAY too many people get into ministry in an effort to find "more" of what they think Christianity is supposed to supply - this is a huge problem in so many ways, more ways than I want to discuss here. It stems from the perception that our clergy and staff have it all together and are somehow closer to God.
We need to work actively to dispel this perception. Pastors work so hard to maintain that "leadership air" - that apartness and aloofness - that permits the illusion of "better." Better, when it comes to our faith, is such a radically different thing, than as offered by the rest of the world - and it is not necessarily expressed in professional leadership. What Christian leadership leads in is the self-denial that we just discussed.
How do we find such leaders?
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As I've been thinking about pastoral envy, I've come to realize how easy it is to find meaning and fulfillment in pastoring and the church. This means that ministry can become an idol. When it's going well, then I feel good about myself. When it's not going well, my identity is crushed. Pastoral ministry can become an idol and take the place of God.First off, this is true in general - when we take our identity anywhere but from Jesus, we have an idol on our hands. But the main thrust, about ministry, goes even deeper than this guy points out - ministry is not the idol - self is.
[...]
The only way to prevent ministry from becoming an idol is to find our identity in Jesus rather than in the church.
When we come to Christ to fix ourselves, to find fulfillment, to be saved even, it is all about us. Ministry seems like a natural step to get more of "that" - whatever "that" may be. Somehow such misses the mark - because the only acceptable "goal" of Christianity is Jesus. We don't derive an identity from Jesus - Jesus is our identity! Anything else reserves our own ego sufficiently to allow that idolatry to creep in there.
Christianity is not an exercise in finding oneself, but in losing same.
Which brings me, sort of, to my second point. WAY too many people get into ministry in an effort to find "more" of what they think Christianity is supposed to supply - this is a huge problem in so many ways, more ways than I want to discuss here. It stems from the perception that our clergy and staff have it all together and are somehow closer to God.
We need to work actively to dispel this perception. Pastors work so hard to maintain that "leadership air" - that apartness and aloofness - that permits the illusion of "better." Better, when it comes to our faith, is such a radically different thing, than as offered by the rest of the world - and it is not necessarily expressed in professional leadership. What Christian leadership leads in is the self-denial that we just discussed.
How do we find such leaders?
Technorati Tags:leadership, idolatry, ministry
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