The Highlander

 I was recently scanning some blogs about different “Pastors Conferences” that were going on around the country, and as I was reading, I just had this sick feeling come over me.  I started looking at the “headliners” who were speaking at these places, and of course, they were the guys who have supposedly “made it”.  They have big churches, lots of nickles and noses, and have seemingly found the key to growing a big church.  They’ve written books, got You Tube status, and are “reaching the world for Christ”.  Now, they can go and stand in front of a group of salivating folks who want to know how they too can do the same thing, and get paid very nicely to tell them “how”.  In most peoples eyes, they have “arrived”.

It’s sickingly funny how this has not changed through the years in any denomination or movement.  It seems that the only way you have a right to share or speak at these major events, is if you have proven that you are a success, however that group or movement deems that.  Here in the United States, that success is determined by the capitalist principles of buildings, budgets, bodies, and popularity.  If you have done well with these, you can write a book and headline all the major “Christian” gatherings across the land.

There may be exceptions to this, but they are rare…very rare.  What about the little guy who sits unnoticed in the back of the room who is doing good to gather 25 people together on a weekly basis, BUT, who knows God in ways and depths far beyond the “keynote speaker”?  What about the man who struggles weekly just to get by, but whose character and conduct reflect Jesus in ways that leave an impression on people for a lifetime?  Don’t you think these guys might have something of far more value to share with us concerning a RELATIONSHIP with the living God, and not about how to have a “successful ministry”?

We are a nation that flocks to the “successful” ones in any field.  We are attracted to the glitz, glamour, and gold of those who have arrived in our eyes.  Sadly, it is no different among the Christian community, and especially among the “professionals” in that community.

Funny how Paul had no spiritual “heroes”.  He cared less about what others were in the eyes of men.  It was no big deal with him that he got to hang out with Peter and James for a while.  Heck, what were they to him, but brothers in the family?  He was not smitten by their very presence, what they had done, or even the fact that they were part of the “original” group of disciples who physically walked with Jesus!  Don’t believe me?  Just read Galatians 2:1-14.

This same Paul also talked about the more insignificant parts of the Body deserving greater honor than the ones everybody else could see.  But, where do WE focus and glory in, and flock to hear?  The one’s everybody can see!  We seem to be mere hearers of the Word and not doers of it.

We have whole cult followings now in every circle, movement, and denomination, along with devoted followers to their particular “heroes” who will defend them and their message/theology to the death.  It is idolatry plain and simple.  Has “I am of Paul, I am of Cephas, I am of…”, now become the “in” thing?

If I remember correctly, Jesus did say something about the fact that HE would build His church, and I don’t remember Him saying that He needed our help in doing it.  What He has invited us into though is a RELATIONSHIP with Him and each other, where we learn to love Him and others as we journey through this life.  He Himself said that others would know that we were His by the way we loved each other and Him.  He did not say it would be by how “successful” our ministries were, or how “big” our churches grew.  No, it all goes back to LOVE.

I guess I am at a point in my life where all that stuff just does not matter any more. I really could care less whether any man or group deems me a success.  It used to be important to me (sadly and sickingly so), but not any more.  I have a library full of thousands of books that when I look at them, I feel sort of like somebody who is full of steak walking into a steakhouse to have to eat again!  There is just no appeal.  I rarely go into a “Christian” bookstore any more, because of that same feeling, and because the shelves are lined with “how to’s” and “steps to” success in whatever area you want.

I have not been to a Conference in years, and have no plans to be at any in the near future.  Don’t get me wrong.  I am sure that there are many folks there who truly love God and want to serve Him, and believe that they really are.  It is just the “system” itself that makes me sick.  The Kingdom and its values just is vastly different than those of the world.

I am interested in a relationship with a God Who is better than my best thought of Him, and Whose grace is richer and bigger than I can imagine!  I want to walk with a Father Who loves me more than I’ll ever know, and Who deems success in terms of Him shaping me more and more into the likeness of His Son each and every day.  He promised to finish the work HE started, so I think I will just sit back, learn to love Him and others, and enjoy the ride.

The Highlander

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 9th, 2009 at 7:35 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.