“He leadeth me, He leadeth me,
By His own hand He leadeth me,
His faithful follower I would be,
For by His hand, He leadeth me.”[1]
I am sure you have heard this old story. There is a small group of hikers eating their
lunch beside a mountain trail. Soon a
man comes huffing and puffing up the trail and they invite him to stop for a
rest. He says he can’t and asks if they
saw a group of Boy Scouts go up the mountain awhile ago. “I have to catch up with them,” he explains,
“I am their leader.”
The story is often used to introduce a
discussion of the nature of leadership, but I think it illustrates our
relationship with the Spirit as well.
Like the energetic young scouts, we want to run out in front. We don’t need a leader – until we get into
trouble that is.
The Spirit leads us quietly
We do so want to direct our own steps, to plan
our own course, to map our own way. It
is the American way. It is the American
story. We start with the cards we are
dealt and we play our way to the top.
And we get to define the top: the top of our profession, the manager`s
job at work, the nicest house or car or boat in the neighborhood, the biggest TV among our friends.
But God says it is not in us.[2] That is not a put down. He is not saying we are not capable of
developing a business plan and carrying it out.
He is just saying that our vision is too limited to direct our spiritual
lives. We cannot see what he can see.
On to peace
But his spirit will lead us to peace if we get
out of the way. Peace is one of his
promised fruits.[3] We need to quit being concerned about who and
what people think we are. Isn’t that a
major part of what concerns us? What
will my coworkers and friends think of me?
Who are we really?
We need to figure out first of all who we really
are. Some of us don’t really know. We are so concerned with our image, so
focused on what others think of us that we have not spent any time figuring out
who we really are. We need to do
that. We should be able to put it in a
few words and know that it makes sense.
And we need to put it in the context of what role God is calling us to
play in his kingdom. What does he want
us to accomplish for his work in our workplace, in our family, in our
neighborhood, in our church and civic club, among our golf or fishing
partners? Once we have defined those
roles, we have figured out who we really are – and who we are not.
That may be the hardest and most important part
– figuring out who we are not. We are
not defined by the roles we have been assigned at work or in the family, church
or neighborhood. We are not the manager
of so-and-so or the deacon of whatever.
We are not the “head of the house” or the secretary of the board of
such-and-such. We are instead
ambassadors of God,[4]
each of us with a separate set of good deeds programmed for us from the beginning
of our time here on earth.[5]
“Be still and know”
How do we do that? How can we know what role God wants for
us? Remember the story of Elijah? God wanted to speak to him. But God was not in the strong wind that
passed by. Then an earthquake came, but
God was not in the earthquake either.
Then there was a fire, but God was not there either. As Elijah waited for God he was able to find
him only in a still small voice.[6]
You see that is what we must do to find what God
wants us to do. We must be still and
listen.[7] We will have to know the scriptures because
if we conclude that something is God’s will for us but it is contrary to the
written word of God, we can know that it is a thought that was planted by
Satan. [8]
This will likely be some agonizing work and
might take quite some time. Be
patient. One of the fruits of the Spirit
is patience.[9]
And pray.
These are answers you cannot work out on your own. God’s spirit has to show you the way. And work really hard at getting yourself out
of the way. This is not about you. It is about your neighbors in the broadest,
Biblical sense of that term.[10]
Resign from the cast of the play
Once we have figured out who God wants us to be,
and we have it firmly in our mind, and we are diligently working toward really
being who we want to be and should be, we need to admit it to ourselves and
others. Quit trying to appear to be who
you are not. That will be a hard thing
for some of us. We have worked so hard,
so long on our image that it has become a part of who we are. Breaking the habits connected with being
someone else may be as hard as breaking a smoking or drinking habit. But with God’s help, we can do it.
I need to pause here to ask you to think about
your church family as well as your personal family, co-workers, neighbors, and
friends. What is the image you have been
trying to convey to your church? Who is
it that you have wanted them to think you are?
That may be an even harder role to break out of than the image you have
been trying to convey at work.
We are all just people, but God loves us
anyway. We all slip up. None of us has a right to claim salvation by
our own doing. We are no better than
those we seek to teach about the good news.
Once we can own that fact, God can put us to work, and not until then.
Move your feet
But at that point, we need to be ready to move
our feet. God can’t use us very
effectively if we are just sitting in a pew or if we are sitting on our couch
at home with the doors locked. We need
to plan how we are going to meet people in our neighborhoods and at our
workplace. Someone has suggested that we
should be doing things like being a repeat customer at the same establishments
so we can get to know the clerks, joining a civic group or a hobby club, taking
a class. That is, we need to be
strategic about how we get to know people and about how best to represent God’s
love to those around us. Our prayer each
morning should include something about how God will use us that day to show his
love to others and to help someone who needs help.
Thank you, Brother. I still remember the lesson you gave at Call St. about letting God lead us in the great adventure he has planned for us and your admonition to carry each others' burdens. Please continue to pray that God's plan for Bruce includes remunerative employment in which he can use his gift of teaching.
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