My advice to young leaders regarding when to take a stand would be two considerations:
- NEVER TAKE A STAND TO DEFEND YOURSELF. You have been called to die from your cross every day. He's not kidding. You'll find yourself pummelled with insult and intentional injury. The question is not whether you will die....if you are in it for His reasons, you will die. Count on it. I Peter 2:21-25 lays out our position. No personal defense coupled with assurance in God. I Peter 4:12 pleads with us to believe the fiery ordeal among us is to be of no surprise. Don't flinch. Don't defend. God will take care of you. Jesus never defended himself to spare himself stress. His ministry was never about him and ours isn't about us...which leads to the second consideration.
- STAND UP WHEN YOU SEE THE CHURCH PROCESS IS KILLING THE SPIRITS OF OTHERS. The Word say the law will kill and the Spirit will give life. Law-murder is awful. It's vicious and it's mean. The sheep are in their greatest danger when the law-dispenser comes upon the scene. Our cities are filled with former members who have since distanced themselves from the church Jesus is building. They've been devoured by law-wolves. It is in this arena we must protect the sheep. While there can be seeming peace if the church abides under the rules of the law-keepers, there will not be life. Life is the sphere Jesus insisted was his purpose to give.
Never fight to save your own skin. Do die on the battlefield so others can experience freedom in Christ. Martin Luther King and his cohorts were not the last of the freedom marchers. I'm involved in one every day...and so are you. God's people are subjects of potential slavery. We must risk our own careers and ministries to see they get the freedom God dreamed of giving!
5 comments:
Wow. You never cease to amaze me. That is such good advice.
Our human tendency is to defend ourselves to the death and stand idly by while others are devoured.
The Jesus way is just the opposite. When he was on trial and on the cross, he refused to utter a word in His defense. Yet He did make sure his mother was taken care of.
Lord, help me do it your way.
Took me many years to learn these two invaluable insights!
Thanks, Terry for this post. In a former job, I was chastised so much that a defensive stance has become my default mindset!
I have thought before that there was something missing o wrong with the "Don't be a doormat" teaching. That seems to be EXACTLY what Jesus was teaching!
But it's another thing to practice it. Hope I can do better!
Great advice!
This is why we need men like you to mentor more. Keep bringing it brother!
DU
Post a Comment