Christian Show

Every Thanksgiving the Westminster Dog Show is aired on television. Dogs come and walk around a gigantic stage trying to impress the judges. Everything about the dogs are judged, their bone structure, hair length, eyes, teeth, walk, etc. You name it, someone is examining it (and keeping score). At the end of the day, one winner is selected out of all of the breeds at the show. One year later, it is time to do it all again.

It occurred to me today, that is almost what Christianity today has become. As Christians, it is as if we live like we are on a stage being judged on a daily basis. We try to get it all together so we can impress the judges (or in our case God). Tithe - yes looking good there; serving - looking good there; church attendance - looking good there and so on. We put this pressure on ourselves to always be in the show mode. We don't wait for next year to try to impress, rather we do it on a daily basis.

The sad part about this is that we can become so consumed with looking good that we miss relationship. Yes, it is possible to try to please God without ever encountering Him. This leads to feelings of frustration and our walk with God becomes a chore rather than a joyful encounter.

At this point, many people would offer 3 steps to help people get out of the show mode mentality. My challenge to anyone would be to just focus on spending time with God rather than trying to impress Him. Really, He desires a relationship with you and is not a Heavenly Scorekeeper. There is no ribbon to be won for being the "best" Christian. We are all bought with the same price and are the same in His eyes.

Life After Full Time Ministry

For the first time in almost 5 years, I am not working in a ministry/church related role. Honestly, it feels very strange. Sundays come around and it is more of a day of rest rather than my busiest day of the week. I don’t have to keep up with all of the cool church blogs/podcasts or books. I read things because I want to, not so I can impress those I interact with of my knowledge of modern day church culture. I mention this because as a guy it is easy for me to put my value of who I am based on what I do. Having worked in the ministry field for several years, it is almost like I feel lost as a person because I am employed in full time ministry. So much of who I am became wrapped up in what I did. Many people enter full time ministry every year and when that role ends (temporarily or permanently) feel totally lost. My advice if you are going through a similar type of change is to allow yourself to experience those feelings of loss and uncertainty. Don’t just brush it under the rug and try to move on with life (because that truly does not work). Finally, don’t be afraid to get some help. There are so many feelings going through your mind that sorting through them on your own can be hard and having someone work through those with you is invaluable.

I am trying to learn that my indentity is not in my vocation. When I look deeper, I see that I am a husband, father, friend – these are the things that truly make up who I am.