“The world can no longer be left to mere diplomats, politicians, and business leaders. They have done the best they could, no doubt. But this is an age for spiritual heroes - a time for men and women to be heroic in their faith and in spiritual character and power. The greatest danger to the Christian church today is that of pitching its message too low.” ― Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives
Each day of our lives we will face decisions that challenge all our senses and bring emotional distress. These decisions can fill us with doubts and fears and we hope we have the correct information and resources for a good, solid, just decision.
As a pastor, I face moments of critical decision-making where leadership skills are strained and all my skills and patience is required. When I face these moments, my hope and prayer is that I will be as smart as Jesus in my decisions, but I also hope I will be supported and encouraged by the community of faith.
When looking on a situation from the outside, others sometimes lead us to believe that some decisions are just simple, no brainers when the fact is that they are far from easy. After the fact, when critical action was taken, we can seem to others like we were geniuses or fools. Others might believe we made these decisions on our own, but within the body of Christ this is not generally the case, nor should it be.
Knowledge and skills are beneficial when making critical decisions, but what is even best is when we face these challenges within a supportive, faithful, and nurturing community that provides focus and direction for the gifts, talents and things we know. Communities during the times of trouble in our lives save us, sometimes from our own unreliable knowledge and our lack of patience.
Most of the time I just need Christ and the Christian community to save me. As the Psalmist says: “In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me and save me.” (Ps. 71:2) Jesus faced challenges not unlike the challenges the church faces today.
I came to realize that regardless of how good I became in anything, there is always someone better than me to deal with some situations and critical decisions and that was OK. Working with others who are more gifted and talented than you are, is a critical advantage within the body of Christ. We are not in this life alone, we are partners within the body of Christ in both our in discipleship and ministry.
We are in this world just as God planned for us to work together not apart. As the apostle Paul reminds us: “The gifts he gave were … to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God,” (Eph. 4:11-13)
Our role as spiritual leaders and disciples of Christ is to let our community know they need not settle for the way things are, but that God intends much more wonder and joy for us than we can imagine. We achieve all that God intends is to recognize we are not in this alone but partners with Christ in making the critical decisions that will give God glory.
Our mission as the church, as the body of Christ, is to discover what God is up to next and whether we are willing to listen to God's direction and become God's partner.
Our calling as the church is to share a gospel of tried and true ways of Christ that can save us and our community through compassion and care and the love of God.
Our responsibility is to trust God that the future lies in God's hands and God does not want us to settle, but to reach out for all His Glory and wonder.
Regardless of how challenging the tasks which lie before the church and how many apparent disappointments we may experience, we must trust that God is at work and God is indeed leading us to a good place. Sometimes we have to be saved from ourselves, so that God may be at work in the world and we will be God’s partner not God's obstacle.
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