Hit between the eyes.

Have you ever been hit between the eyes by God?

Do you know what I mean? You're just cruising along in life, reading or working or driving or talking when the thought hits you "I am off track" or "I've drifted way to far" or "My life and doctrine isn't what it was nor is it what it should be"? Visually, I think of this as walking in the woods, so intent on the trail that you're on that when you finally look up you realize you don't know where you are.

Such a moment came to me yesterday as I read a blog post by Paul David Tripp entitled Beware Your Delusions of Spiritual Grandeur. Based on previous posts by Tripp and the title, I thought of people to whom I should forward it to and others to whom I wouldn't forward, but who would really needed to read it.

Then I read it. And God hit me right between the eyes. Statements like the following brought me up short:

an attitude of arrival still shaped my ministry. 

when you think you've arrived, when you quit being convicted of and broken by your own weakness, failure, and sin, you will begin to make bad personal and ministry choices.

So I sit here today considering the ways my attitude of arrival has infected how I approach people and ministry. And, quite frankly, this attitude not only affects pastors and leaders, it affects us in the "rank and file" as well. Prayerfully consider this:

The reality and confession of personal spiritual weakness is not a grave danger to your ministry. God has chosen to build his church through the instrumentality of bent and broken tools. It is your delusions of strength that will get you in trouble and cause you to form a ministry that is less than Christ-centered and gospel-driven.  

Remember, the tender ministry of grace grows in the soil of constant awareness of your need for grace.

Read the full post here.

To God Alone be the Glory