Let God do something to you
This summer has been mystically rich for me. I have had a much higher per capita experience-with-God rate than usual. And I have to tell you, it’s been great. I was pretty tired and burned on ministry by the beginning of summer, and I’m finally re-charged and ready to go.
This reminds me of a saying whose origins escape me. “God’s got to do something to you before he can do something through you.” It’s true!
Leadership is so dangerous. We find that we actually have the ability to influence others, that people might listen to us, even do what we say. I’ll never forget in my first year of pastoring when I met Kyle for lunch. He asked if I thought he should marry Ellen. I said I thought it sounded good to me. Within a few days they were engaged.
Whoa! We’re playing with love bullets around here. We have, for lack of a better term, power. Power corrupts- this isn’t any less true in Christian ministry than anywhere else. And while God’s power is available to us, so is human power. How do we know that we are operating in God’s power and not corrupted?
We’ve got to know what God actually tastes like. When you’ve had the real thing, you can recognize the phonies faster. Ask yourself, “when is the last time I really experienced God?” And in particular, his deep love for you. The longer it’s been, the more dangerous you are.
(I’m about to make a universal statement, but maybe there are exceptions. I just can’t think of any.)
I’ve never seen anyone called to what would become helpful, healthy service to God, whether feeding a homeless guy or planting a church, without a grounding in the experienced love of God. I’ve seen lots of unhealthy, poisoned ministry efforts (done plenty myself) that come out of guilt, obligation, shame- just plain old unprocessed pain. But the good ones come out of love.
Does this strike you as true? If it is- how do we get at experience of God’s love?
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Jeff, you reminded me of 1 Cor 13:1. I think we can clang likes cymbals sometimes when we’re not motivated by God’s love but by something else (anything else). Clanging cymbals pall on the ears and drain the energy of the listeners. (Listen to any badly mic-ed kit.)
How do we experience Him? I’m really interested to read other comments. My biggest challenge is just halting the insanity of 24/7 chaos long enough to breath and remember, “oh yeah, God you’re here with me right now, aren’t you. Sorry. I forgot. Here I am again.”
I think you gave Kyle some pretty dang good advice!
Hey Jeff – glad to see that you are back blogging (and even more glad that the time away has been so restorative…) Good stuff.
This isn’t an answer to your question, but was what I got to thinking about as I read your post. One of the statements that stuck with me from January’s time with Rick Olmstead went something like this, “When I was a young leader, my shouts were like whispers to people. Now, my whispers are like shouts.”
To give some context to everyone… I remember Rick talking about this progression of gaining spiritual authority in people’s lives, and how at the earlier stages of ministry, the volume/weight of his words has less of an impact…. but, as he grew in scope of influence and equity in pastoring (as well as wisdom and maturity, too)… Rick had the sense that he could really be a blessing with his leadership or he could use it badly and really, really hurt people.
I think I’m still years off from my whispers being like shouts, but I have been feeling this added sense of responsibility as of late… realizing on a deeper level that people do actually listen to what I say and do something about it. That is a sobering thought, and something that puts the fear of God into me. But in the end, that feels like a really good thing…with the fear of the Lord being the beginning of wisdom.
Love Bullets! Ha I love that, made me chuckle. However it also made me remember some bullets I have fired that were not healing. It is a terribly powerful thing to be trusted and it behooves us to get to a place in our lives-especially as a leader) to stay connected to Jesus, get healthy, and stay healthy. That seems so easy to write and talk about, but life is a lot harder than that.
Thanks for the reminder.
I think I’ll check in with the Chief to make sure we’re good…I want to shoot healthy bullets.
i think i have had the opposite experience this summer, so maybe that makes me dangerous. i do want to experience more of God…
your now-universal statement strikes me as true. but you point to the much more signifiacnt question, to which at present i am fluindering at: how do we get an experience of God’s love?
signed: dry-as-brittle-bone-left-in-the-mojave
Hmmm. I feel like I have some quick responses to that question but I will resist the temptation. If anyone has a worthy response, I’ll put it up as a guest post. Let me think about this for a few days. I feel like there is something to say, but the dark nights of the soul are so hard, and cheap answers hurt like dagger.
You said it, Jeff!
I totally agree.