Friday, June 22, 2007

GROWING UP AND OLD OR DOWN AND YOUNG?

When I was in my 20s and then my 30s I had hoped the fog of leadership would eventually clear. There seemed to be a hazy, yet reachable, target which would usher me into I've finally arrived and now I know what to do. I have good news for you young guys and gals with the same dream. It never happens!

Good news? Yes, I believe it to be some of the best news. I don't believe I'll ever arrive and, now, have no interest in accomplishing it. It seems that biblical maturity may be that we do not grow up with age, but we grow down with youth....II Cor. 4:16-18. I will always be in kindergarten as a church leader. I desire to remain green and wide-eyed versus growing protectively dull and squint-eyed. I hope He lets this happen to me.....to us!

Even after several undeserved scoldings over many years, I can name more deserved reprimands I should have received....and didn't. Of the encounters where church colleagues' skills fail us, my misfires outnumber theirs. I will not ever arrive....not because of choice, but because of stark weakness. Jesus must arrive for me. I can't.

This frees me up to keep trying to be a leader when everyone knows the church (and in my case, the workshop) deserves a deeper, smarter, and more gifted man. I don't have to hide in shame nor live in jealousy. I get to dream because I am only in kindergarten. I am in the secretly successful process of growing down and young!

Will things get easier once you do arrive? My guess is that whenever a follower reaches arrivation (a self-dependent and independent focus and consequential assumption of stability) there is total disalignment with God and His working putty called grace.

Failing to arrive does leave us out on many limbs and God will personally hand us a very sharp saw. He will ever be noting whether we depend on Him or ourselves. We'll forever be tempted to do the work without Him. The good news is that as we grow down and young, instead of up and old, He seems to respond with more and more of His equipment to get the job done right.

But by the grace of God, we'd be paranoid leaders scared of our own shadow. With Him, all things are possible. I like the idea of always being in kindergarten in the kingdom of God. Leadership? Welcome to the world of more to learn than what we already know.

3 comments:

cwinwc said...

"Arrivation." You sound like a fellow southerner. It is so true of leaders and followers that when they feel that they have "arrived," they become dangerous to the cause of Christ.

Liz Moore said...

Your post is so contradictory to what the world would have us believe. And yet spiritually, it is so true. It's just like no matter how much we read God's word, there is always something new and fresh we discover. How just when we think we've grown all we can possibly grow spiritually, God takes us to even newer and greater heights. I love that about God. Thanks for the reminder.

God knows how much He can accomplish through you because of the heart you have for Him and the servant heart you have for others. He continues to use you for amazing things! I can't wait to see what else He uses you for! May we never grow up!

Unknown said...

Whew! That takes some of the pressure off, eh? I finally had a few moments to catch up on my reading and saw that I missed your eBirthday party. :( Is that what inspired today's message? You are not getting older, you're getting better!