I cannot resist not posting another story from Anthony Mello's The Song of the Bird
Uncle Tom had a weak heart and the doctor had warned him to be very careful. So when the family learned that he had inherited a billion dollars from a deceased relative they feared to break the news to him lest the news give him a heart attack.
So they sought the services of the local pastor, who assured then that he would find a way. "Tell me, Tom," said Father Murphy, "if God, in his mercy, were to send you a billion dollars, what would you do with it?"
"I'd give half to the Church, Father."
When he heard that, Father Murphy had a heart attack!
When the industrialist had a heart attack from pushing his industrial empire it was easy to show him his greed and selfishness. When the priest had a heart attack from pushing the Kingdom of God it was impossible to show him that it was greed and selfishness in another, more respectable disguise. Is it the Kingdom you are pushing or yourself? The Kingdom needs no pushing. Your anxiety betrays you, does it not?
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I think this is a danger for many Christian leaders. It is easy to push for funds and people for our ministries and believe that we are doing it for God. Such self-promotion is disguised in an 'acceptable' form. Perhaps as leaders we ought to teach people to listen for themselves and be led by God to give or to serve. When this happnes all glory goes to God, not to the one doing the pushing.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Respectibility as a disguise is a most dangerous one. may God preserve all of us from it.
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