In my opinion,
there is nothing encouraging about reading how Christians are busy, overworked, under appreciated, stressed, etc. …especially if it involves ministry. It doesn’t encourage me.
The argument seems to be that it’s being real, it’s saying that Christians are relateable and struggle as well.
But I disagree.
There’s that verse in Philippians about doing things without complaining so that we will shine like stars.
To be fair, I understand that I have a very harsh, no-nonsense view of faith. Either Jesus gets you through or he doesn’t. and if he does, you don’t complain about it. People don’t need to know what we’re going through to know who is bringing us through it, and this is a common misconception these days. Because of these social networking platforms, we assume that everybody needs to know every specific detail of our lives. We oversaturate people with what we are doing, how we are feeling, where we are going… and doing so eclipses the work of God in our lives.
Suddenly, we are becoming all about ourselves and what we are doing for God.We get caught up in the busyness of ministry and turn it into a checklist: “Today I…” “Today I have to…”
and the reality of it, regardless of how this can be excused or justify,
is that we are called to be humble servants.
We are called to do the work of the Lord with no complaining and no recognition. Look at the world today: see how it so easily overlooks the gentle hands of a quiet Savior. He came to set an example for us and we wrote a lullaby for him that starts with the word silent. He came with no fanfare. He grew with no fanfare. He lived with no fanfare, and then he died with no fanfare.
He calls us to daily take up our crosses and follow him. Except he did so quietly. Are we to be the people behind our silent Savior, who is carrying a cross for us, whining loudly or updating our twitter about the agony we are in?
Come on.
What do you think? As Christians, as non-Christians, or anybody in between?
