The Wheatland Mission

Getting The Scale Right...redux

The way I was doing the work of God, was destroying the work of God in me. - Bill Hybels

I remember, many years ago, attending the Willow Creek Leadership Seminar in the suburbs of Chicago. At that time people from all over the country and around the world gathered to hear about the successes of Willow and the great accomplishments of their leadership. They described their church growth strategies, their ministry philosophy, and showed us how they go things done. Now, fifteen years later I can't remember anything they taught us.

But, I do remember Bill Hybels crying.

Hybels, who was something of an icon to young pastors around the country stood in front of everyone and acknowledged that he had been slowly committing spiritual suicide. Building a new facility, managing a larger staff, expanding the impact of their ministries had all begun to take a toll upon his soul. The successes that he fed upon was not the food that his soul needed so desparately.

Although he didn't use these exact words I believe that Hybels suffered because he didn't get the scale right.

As a young man he had an unceasing supply of energy. As an older man he still had energy and the wisdom how to apply it. But, as he kept going he discovered that he was neglecting his soul. His accomplishments were being made at the price of his spiritual life. Like a farmer with too much land to till he kept pushing and pushing. He didn't collapse physically but he did begin to collapse spiritually and emotionally. The constant pace, the unrealistic expectations and the means he used to get things done waged war on his walk with God.

"The way I was doing the work of God was destroying the work of God in me." Hybels has repeated these words over and over again in the years since his personal discovery. They are words that we do well to heed as well. God has given us work to do that is both meaningful and challenging. God often calls upon us to endure difficult circumstances and to persevere through hard situations. God sometimes calls upon us to do more than we think possible. But, he will never call us to do so much that it destroys his workmanship, his craftsmanship, his art. He will never call us to work in such a way that we are driven from a relationship with him that is based on vulnerability and trust.

As individuals, as families and as a church community we all have to find our "field. While we work hard we don't work ourselves to death. While we do work that challenges us and stretches us we do not do that work in such a way that we are distanced from our heavenly Father, in strife with one another, or alienated from ourselves. Getting the scale right means finding the work that God has called us to do and entering into in a way that is appropriate to the task and water to our souls. Getting the scale right is about vocation and one of the best comments about discerning one's vocation comes from Frederick Buechner.

"Neither the soft berth nor the hair shirt will do. One's vocation is where one's deep joy and the world's deep needs meet."

posted by The Wheatland Mission @ 3:02 PM