Something More
By Josh Dickens
Our culture is filled with the desire to influence. We all feel it. The desire to influence only increases as careers launch, reach their peak, and begin their descent. Everyone is measured by how far they can get. If you're in business, you are measured by numbers, sales, corporate social responsibility, or whatever metric is popular right now. Doctors by degree, lawyers by cases, the hunger for more never ceases.
You know what I’m talking about. You feel it too. Ministers are not excluded either. One could argue we are more guilty than all others. The old adage of ministry success butts, budgets, and buildings all too often describes a reality that is far too real.
But what if, just for a moment, we dared to step away from the great enemy of our joy. This enemy I’m speaking of is comparison. We allow our joy to be stolen by constantly comparing ourselves to others. Measuring how much we own, achieved, or influence to bring the stability in our lives only Christ can give. There has to be something more.
This brings us to a Biblical example, the Apostle Paul. I know what you're thinking. Of course, Paul wasn’t caught up in what I struggle with. He was the great apostle after all. You remember the one who planted churches to the ends of the earth and got to see the third heaven. (Whatever that means:)
Yes, it is interesting to me that, outside of Jesus, the one who had more influence and accomplishments than anyone else chose not to do it again and again. Shepherding a difficult flock he wrote to the church in Corinth in 2 Corinthians 3:1-5.
Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God.
His wandering church was questioning exactly who he was and why he could lead. In the midst of the impending pressure, Paul turned and pointed to his influence resting in the sufficiency that God offers. What would my ministry look like, if instead of piling up accomplishments for my benefit or advancement, I leaned into the sufficiency that God offers through Christ? It would change everything from my prayers, to how I see people, and how I teach. I challenge you this week to lean into his sufficiency. Join us, email faithfuldevotionblog@gmail.com and let us know how you plan to find your sufficiency in Christ this week.