So I’ve been having a problem recently. I’ve been hearing church leaders making comments that prove, to me at least, that they do not truly believe the teachings of Scripture. I find that not just frustrating but baffling. I often make the comment (I think I’ve even made it here) that if I didn’t believe the teachings of Scripture, I wouldn’t be a preacher. I’d go into the world of motivational speaking, because the paychecks are a lot larger. Lately, though I have been having struggles with that line of thinking, and not for the reasons you might think.
I think the underlying tone on my comment is that there is something wrong with motivational speaking. In reading my comments, it almost sounds like I’m some kind of martyr, sacrificing the wealth of motivational speaking for a higher call. I hate that. For the record, I love motivational speakers. I watch them. I listen to them. I study them and I want to communicate the way they do. They help and encourage a lot of people, which is pretty much exactly what I want to do.
Then another thought occurred to me. I happen to know more than a few motivational speakers share my faith, they just get to reach a much larger audience, an audience that is by-and-large outside the church. How much different is that that what we are commanded to do as Christians. You know taking the message of Christ to the ends of the earth. Making the most of every opportunity. Using WHATEVER gifts you have received to serve others. Those are all things God told us to do. What if that is precisely what we’re called to do?
Think about it. The principles of Christ are beyond a doubt the most beneficial teachings that could be taught. I mean we serve the most motivational person who has ever lived. People have been sacrificing their very lives to His cause for millennia and finding truth and meaning beyond anything this world has to offer. What would be so wrong with taking that to a wider audience?
Now I can almost hear the resistance. Well you’ll sugar coat it and weaken it. What if we don’t? Well some people won’t receive it. How is that different from now? Some people won’t bring you in because they know you’re a Christian. Yes, but some people will. What if we were to just take those principles to the world and let the chips fall where they may? Maybe instead of thinking I would be a motivational speaker if I didn’t believe the Scriptures, I should be thinking, I should be a motivational speaker because I believe the Scriptures, specifically, because I believe the Gospel is still the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.
It’s something to ponder.
P.S. No I am not thinking of leaving pastoral ministry or my itinerant ministry, just examining my heart and contemplating something different.
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