Tuesday, July 17, 2012

GOD IS NOT IMPRESSED WITH YOUR TITLE

Photo courtesy of clancytales.blogspot.com

GOD IS NOT IMPRESSED WITH YOUR TITLE,
and neither am I.
At least the way you would want me to be.

I recently received information about a ministry in the mail.
The best I know, it is a fine ministry doing a great 
work for God.  In fact, I probably have donated money to help it.

But something stands out as so typical of our day.
The person in charge of this outreach is,
the
Rt. Rev. Dr. ..........  ..............
And not only that but,
the 
President and General Director.

WOW!

How impressive!



Photo courtesy of edu.prixton.org

But the words of Jesus keep eating at me.

"You must not be called 'Teacher,' because 
you are all equal and have only one Teacher.
And you must not call anyone here on earth 'Father,'
because you have only the one Father in heaven.
Nor should you be called 'Leader,'
because your one and only leader is the Messiah.
The greatest one among you must be your servant.
Whoever makes himself great will be humbled,
and whoever humbles himself will be made great."
-Matthew 23:8-11 (GNB)

Eugene Peterson in "The Message"
Translates verses seven and eight this way.

"They love to sit at the head table at church dinners,
basking in the most prominent positions,
preening in the radiance of public flattery,
receiving honorary degrees and getting called,
'Doctor' and 'Reverend.' "



Photo courtesy of www.degree-certificate.org

But how men love titles.
  • Reverend
  • Very Reverend
  • Right Reverend
  • Most Reverend
  • Father
  • Reverend Father
  • Your Eminence
  • Your Piety
  • Your Holiness
  • The Venerable
  • Your Grace
  • Doctor.
SICKING.



Photo courtesy of noveltydegree.com

John Kingdon in Secret Missions on pp. 47,48
shares this insight after his visit with that Spiritual
giant in China, Wang Ming Tao.

"The highlight was actually realizing that when you go through 
all these troubles, I thought you should become a spiritual
giant, but spiritual giants are, in essence, very humble."

"Its just the opposite of what many imagine a giant to be.
Sometimes Christians think a person like this would
be one who spouts off words of wisdom.  That is true
to an extent, but the main thing they put across is their
humility; their servant hood."

Want to impress me?

Then demonstrate the signs of those who believe
as in Mark 16:17,18.
Or,
the signs of an apostle as mentioned by the apostle Paul.
Or,
call down fire from heaven like Elijah.

A title just won't do it.


2 comments:

Kathleen said...

Amen!

I heard a story about Billy Graham from a friend who actually witnessed it. Just ahead of a big rally, there was Billy down on the field alongside the "help" to set up chairs. He didn't fancy himself anything or anyone but a sinner saved by grace.

I like the sound of that title.

http://bitsandpieces-sonja.blogspot.com/ said...

oh I am SO in agreement here! Titles are sometimes harmful to the person wearing them, and never what we need!!

Back to the simple basics always, isn't it??