Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Negligence vs. Sacrifice

Can I just be really bold here and say that I believe we, and by we I mean Christian believers, or at least those who go by the title, quite often become so involved with “ministry” that we overlook and fail to fulfill the most basic responsibilities God has very clearly placed in our lives. The fine line between sacrifice and neglect becomes blurry. And we tend to sanctify in our minds what is little more than busyness, whatever great intentions we may pursue the work with.

With enthusiasm we devote ourselves to faithfully serving coffee, or food…or to setting the stage for worship…or to some other “doing”. Yet, sadly, in all our accumulated tasks we become deaf to the still small voice. The noise and clatter of our constant movement and compounded commitments drowns out both the supernatural and the obvious. We no longer notice the Spirit's prompting or we haven't the time to take heed. We no longer see the hurting and the lonely and the vulnerable around us. We are distracted by our own objective and our peripheral is skewed. We are so involved with material and temporal things that the eternal and meaningful become slighted: things like…our spouses, our children, our relationships with family and neighbors and friends.

In all our activity, time passes us. Opportunities pass us. And often the things we dub “ministry” are nothing more than recreational pastimes for churchgoers, and the maintaining of contemporary comforts and conveniences.

Are my conclusions drastic?
Maybe...
I don’t think so.
But maybe.

Then again, maybe we will find ourselves saying, “Lord, Lord…didn’t we do all these things in Your name?” I sometimes shudder at the consideration of what His response might be. Perhaps we do, in fact, seek Him and He will receive us. Yet, we remain guilty of a gross misappropriation of our time and thought and effort.

This is what I have observed and experienced. Not only do we neglect the important things God places in our lives – we fail to minister to our children and to our spouses, and often others around us…but we praise those who do the same. We define it as sacrifice and paint it holy. We admire the time spent in continual “service”, and remain ignorant to the end of it all.

May He open our eyes to see and our ears to hear and our minds to understand. May we learn to love rather than “do”. Although the two may appear similar or even the same, may we truly recognize the difference and commit ourselves to the better.

9 comments:

  1. So very (sadly) true. And challenging. Thank you, Heather.

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  2. amen, Sister!
    reminds me of a shane barnard song that really spoke to me a few years back... found the lyrics on the net:
    "Received"
    You can only go so far, until the bottom falls out
    All my singing, smiling, pleasure finds me, I'm all right
    Pretty melody, dedicated to God
    To be called by one Almighty God and take it for granted
    Heard a rumor I guess, but I wanna know who told me so
    Told me serving You replaced me knowing You!
    Can I be received?
    Unclean oh Lord am I
    Find me in my shame
    You are all I need
    Please don't pass me by
    I call upon Your name
    You whispered to Your child today
    But I haven't got a minute to listen
    Your child is busy with the work of God and taking Him for granted
    Got a lot to do today, kingdom work's the game I play
    Lord my serving You replaced me knowing You
    Can I be received?
    Unclean oh Lord am I
    Find me in my shame
    You are all I need
    Please don't pass me by
    I call upon Your name

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  3. This post really resonates with me, and no, I don't think it is drastic. Many of the things you mentioned are the reasons why we have been feeling so lead to home church. Nothing but stripped down, honest-to-goodness fellowship, reading of the word and the breaking of bread. Very well written!

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  4. Oh- and by the way, this is MacKenzie! I think the screen name throws people sometimes and the picture is so small!

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  5. Haha - MacKenzie! I knew it was you...you are THE Chic Mama. ;)

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  6. I head this song on the radio a few weeks back, and it often plays in my head. Has some of the same sentiments I think:

    I look around and see my wonderful life
    Almost perfect from the outside
    In picture frames I see my beautiful wife
    Always smiling
    But on the inside, I can hear her saying...

    “Lead me with strong hands
    Stand up when I can't
    Don't leave me hungry for love
    Chasing dreams, what about us?

    Show me you're willing to fight
    That I'm still the love of your life
    I know we call this our home
    But I still feel alone”

    I see their faces, look in their innocent eyes
    They're just children from the outside
    I'm working hard, I tell myself they'll be fine
    They're independent
    But on the inside, I can hear them saying...

    “Lead me with strong hands
    Stand up when I can't
    Don't leave me hungry for love
    Chasing dreams, but what about us?

    Show me you're willing to fight
    That I'm still the love of your life
    I know we call this our home
    But I still feel alone”

    So Father, give me the strength
    To be everything I'm called to be
    Oh, Father, show me the way
    To lead them
    Won't You lead me?

    To lead them with strong hands
    To stand up when they can't
    Don't want to leave them hungry for love,
    Chasing things that I could give up

    I'll show them I'm willing to fight
    And give them the best of my life
    So we can call this our home
    Lead me, 'cause I can't do this alone

    Father, lead me, 'cause I can't do this alone

    "Lead Me" by Sanctus Real

    I love you Heather. Thanks for being willing to "sacrifice" so much, and thanks for being honest when you see that it's crossed the line from "sacrifice" to "negligence". I hope more wives of those in ministry will feel free to be honest even as they try to follow God in genuine "sacrifice". I know sometimes they just need to be able to say it's hard and not be judged that they are somehow not spiritual enough to handle it.

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  7. Ha Ha! I was thinking of the Sanctus Real song too when I saw the first song posted, but I was thinking that I didn't really want to type out the lyrics! So I'm glad Josh did! And no, Heather, you are not being drastic. I feel very blessed that even though the ministry we work with often does ask too much of my husband they have given me the freedom to say "No more, we need him home." They don't always like it when I say that, but they allow it! However, sometimes even when the ministry will allow it the individuals in ministry keep giving even when they are neglecting their spouse, family, or personal relationship with the Lord. I've seen a lot of families fall apart sadly because of this.
    And thank you Josh, for your influence. Because of words you have spoken that you probably don't even remember, Aaron choses to be considerate of me and the kids, even when people sarcastically say things like "He has to ask his wife first!"

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