This resonated with me in the same way a recent piece in the Atlantic did about Mitt Romney (take that, I hope, as a compliment!).
In that piece, Romney laments the state of the Senate he loves, and at one point exasperated and frustrated asks what many of us wonder: “What is the weight of personal acclaim compared to the weight of conscience?”
It's so frustrating to not be able to control what people choose, which often seems personal acclaim and more power.
But we must avoid seeking our own power as "change-agents."
Ironically, those who attempt to try and change others fall into the same trap of pride and arrogance so often demonstrated by those they would seek to change.
I didn’t read that article--but I take it as a compliment. :) Romney is one of the last sane “conservative” politicians of the age. (Although he should know better than to carry a dog on the car roof!)
This is good and hard word, one I’m coming only recently to grapple with: “... we must avoid seeking our own power as ‘change-agents’."
Indeed.
I don’t *think I ever thought I must do “great things for God.” But maybe I thought I might. And maybe we can.
But I just tonight read these words from Brian Zahnd in Tim Alberta’s forthcoming book, The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory, and they are apt: “We’re not called to change the world. We’re called to be the world already changed by Christ.”
Whoa indeed. I need that book ASAP it sounds like!
Personally as someone who HAS thought I must do "great things for God" (perhaps too much reading and re-reading of Jim Elliot journals!), it is so difficult to accept the idea of surrendering and doing the work of embodying a changed person and allowing Christ to do His work.
The book is devastating--in a much-needed way. I’m thankful I didn’t grow up with that message. But I encountered it and assimilated it later nevertheless. I saw its real damage in my students though. I think it’s part of the reason so many are de-constructing.
There are many Scripture passages one could use to teach that truth, that we are not called to change the world but to live changed in it, but the one that began to teach me was the warning, and the promise, of Jeremiah 45:5.
I enjoyed your article. Thank you for sharing your wisdom and experience. I wrestled with a lot of second guessing and guilt over leaving a community in 2020. Over time, the Lord has given me more and more peace about it. Your words are another confirmation that my decision was the right one. I'm grateful for you! Happy Thanksgiving!
I’m so glad the Lord used my words to strengthen you! So much is shifting. I take comfort in the fact that so many of us are going through similar things. The Lord is at work in the hardness of it. Happy Thanksgiving!
This resonated with me in the same way a recent piece in the Atlantic did about Mitt Romney (take that, I hope, as a compliment!).
In that piece, Romney laments the state of the Senate he loves, and at one point exasperated and frustrated asks what many of us wonder: “What is the weight of personal acclaim compared to the weight of conscience?”
It's so frustrating to not be able to control what people choose, which often seems personal acclaim and more power.
But we must avoid seeking our own power as "change-agents."
Ironically, those who attempt to try and change others fall into the same trap of pride and arrogance so often demonstrated by those they would seek to change.
I didn’t read that article--but I take it as a compliment. :) Romney is one of the last sane “conservative” politicians of the age. (Although he should know better than to carry a dog on the car roof!)
This is good and hard word, one I’m coming only recently to grapple with: “... we must avoid seeking our own power as ‘change-agents’."
Indeed.
I don’t *think I ever thought I must do “great things for God.” But maybe I thought I might. And maybe we can.
But I just tonight read these words from Brian Zahnd in Tim Alberta’s forthcoming book, The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory, and they are apt: “We’re not called to change the world. We’re called to be the world already changed by Christ.”
Whoa.
Whoa indeed. I need that book ASAP it sounds like!
Personally as someone who HAS thought I must do "great things for God" (perhaps too much reading and re-reading of Jim Elliot journals!), it is so difficult to accept the idea of surrendering and doing the work of embodying a changed person and allowing Christ to do His work.
The book is devastating--in a much-needed way. I’m thankful I didn’t grow up with that message. But I encountered it and assimilated it later nevertheless. I saw its real damage in my students though. I think it’s part of the reason so many are de-constructing.
The book and the author will be on CBS This Morning tomorrow, Sunday!
There are many Scripture passages one could use to teach that truth, that we are not called to change the world but to live changed in it, but the one that began to teach me was the warning, and the promise, of Jeremiah 45:5.
It’s so easy to read the Bible selectively! Thank you for pointing out that passage.
I enjoyed your article. Thank you for sharing your wisdom and experience. I wrestled with a lot of second guessing and guilt over leaving a community in 2020. Over time, the Lord has given me more and more peace about it. Your words are another confirmation that my decision was the right one. I'm grateful for you! Happy Thanksgiving!
I’m so glad the Lord used my words to strengthen you! So much is shifting. I take comfort in the fact that so many of us are going through similar things. The Lord is at work in the hardness of it. Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving my dear friend
Happy Thanksgiving, friend!