by: Bob Reccord

“Do you think ministry has gotten harder than ever, or am I just feeling like I’m in the cross-hairs more often than not?” That question from a young ministry leader recently hasn’t let go of me.

This morning in my quiet time I was reading Henri Nouwen’s SPIRITUAL DIRECTION and found myself captured by a thought. He was talking about how many things can go right in our lives but it only takes one or two folks, and their verbal criticisms, cutting remarks or attacks to unsettle our focus and confidence.

Nouwen claims “the greatest trap in life is not success, popularity or power, but self-rejection, doubting who we truly are.” And what is that? The Beloved in the eyes of the Lord. Clearly he points out that Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness was to get him to believe that he was something other than The Beloved. Likewise, he points out that we are tempted and pulled to believe, that we find our primary value by…

I am what I do!

I am what other people say about me!
Or
I am what I have!

But none of those satisfy…and all of them leave us feeling empty and that ministry and life is getting increasingly tough. My soul resonated with this reality.

Do you ever find yourself struggling with these traps? How? And what do you do to get life and ministry back in perspecitive?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 4th, 2007 at 6:01 pm and is filed under Bob Reccord. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.