Discouraged, Disgusted, Discontented
January 16th, 2012 by Glen CumminsAt our Mission Board Meeting in December, our Church Development and Evangelism Committee asked our assigned mission board members to share “needs that needed to be addressed in future training”. One person said “the biggest problems for pastors are discouragement and discontentment with their lives”. While I was at KBC Convention in Florence back in November, a pastor sat down at my breakfast table and shared about a book that had recently transformed his life. I was interested in the book and have since bought it and read it.
“Grace Walk” by Steve McVey is the book and Steve starts the book on the floor of his office crying, discouraged, disgusted, and discontented. It is a good book to start a New Year 2012! Let me share just a few points from the book:
RESTING – Steve looks at Mary and Martha. Martha was stressed out while Mary was resting. People for whom Christian living is strictly service-oriented often get impatient with those whose level of measurable activity is not as intense. Luke says that Martha was “distracted.” Distracted from what? From Jesus! What was it that caused her attention to be distracted from Jesus? Serving Him! It was a startling revelation in Steve’s own life when the Holy Spirit showed him that he had become more preoccupied with the work of the ministry than with the One who called him to it. Busyness in serving Christ can block intimacy with Him. One thing is needed – resting in Him.
PEACE – Self-sufficient living always produces conflict. Steve never would have been satisfied with life if the focus of his Christian experience had remained on doing what he believed was necessary to please God. Steve experienced peace only after he learned to focus on the person of Christ, instead of on what he should be doing for Him.
BROKEN – Steve told his congregation that their need was not for a new and improved approach to ministry, but rather for a more intimate knowledge of God Himself. – He was bringing us to the place of brokenness. God put us together and allowed circumstances to develop in such a way that He brought us to the end of our own resources. He kept on until all we had left was Him. And that’s not a bad place to be!
NEW – Steve saw things new. Understanding the truth that Christ is my life hasn’t just changed Steve’s mind: it had transformed his life. It is simply a new awareness and appreciation for the life of Christ that resides in every Christian.
It is: KNOWING HIM ABIDING in HIM EXPRESSING HIM
“I asked the Lord that night, “What do You want from me?” What does He want from us? He wants us. Not our promises. Not our good intentions. Not even our Christian service. Everything else takes care of itself when we just rest in His arms, allowing Him to act through us. What a joy and a relief. It isn’t a passive lifestyle, but a peaceful one where we actively rest in Him and He does it all. It is a walk of grace! – Steve McVey
“That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death” Philippians 3:10
What a trade off: From Discouraged, Disgusted, Discontented to JOY – PEACE – GRACE……. Find the book, read it, then live it!
