The interesting thing about two people working through or reading the same book is that they will both choose to emphasize different things. Not on purpose, necessarily, but invariably we will relate to differing thoughts.
Like observers at an accident scene, we are going to have our different points of view. Not that we would disagree with the viewpoint of the other, it’s just that we will notice different things. Hair color, height, how the jacket didn’t go with the pants, oh and they were driving too fast.
From Henri Nouwen’s The Return of The Prodigal Son:
At issue here is the question: “To whom do I belong? To God or to the world? Many of my daily preoccupations suggest that I belong more to the world than to God. A little criticism makes me angry, and a little rejection makes me depressed. A little praise raises my spirits, and a little success excites me. It takes very little to raise me up or thrust me down. Often I am like a small boat on the ocean, completely at the mercy of its waves. All the time and energy I spend in keeping some kind of balance and preventing myself from being tipped over and drowning shows that my life is mostly a struggle for survival: not a holy struggle, but an anxious struggle resulting from the mistaken idea that it is the world that defines me.
I wish I could say “I read this and thought others needed to hear these words this morning.” I read this and thought “I sure needed to hear these words this morning.” I’m processing through the ways in which the words I hear toss my boat around on the worldly waves of identity.
Highs and lows in my life come Sunday to Sunday. One day you are the hero the next day you are the goat. I say to myself, “don’t worry about, what difference does it make what someone else says?” Nice, rational argument perhaps but I know very well the difference it makes. “Great message today, one of your best,” and my spirits raise. “If the elders would bring back (name of a former preacher) I would start coming back to church,” (yes, an actual comment) and I get angry. “The Saturday Night Praise was so much fun, it was too short,” and I get excited about the success. “We don’t like what you’re doing . . .” and I get depressed.
I remember a time in my life where my focus was completely centered around God’s reaction to what I was doing. I think in many ways I have drifted from this core principle:
Colossians 3:23-24 (NCV) In all the work you are doing, work the best you can. Work as if you were doing it for the Lord, not for people. Remember that you will receive your reward from the Lord, which he promised to his people. You are serving the Lord Christ.
My immediate challenge is to refocus my efforts and my energy so that my service and ministry, my gifts and abilities are God directed. If I truly want success and praise for His glory, and I do, I need to continue doing the best that I can – working in such a way as if for the Lord. I need to remember that serving others is serving the Lord Christ.
