Difficult questions leaders need to ask
“Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided Him. And He said to them, ‘You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God’”(Luke 16:14-15).
Is there anything worse than “an abomination in the sight of God”? In the immediate context, Jesus is addressing the love of money. But is that all that qualifies? Can you think of anything highly esteemed among men which is not detestable to God?
We can safely assume Jesus is not including the things of God’s kingdom as abominations in His sight. That narrows things down a bit, but still leaves us with much more than money to consider. Here’s an example from A. W. Tozer, just to make the point:
“Man's moral fall has clouded his vision, confused his thinking and rendered him subject to delusion. One evidence of this is his all but incurable proneness to confuse values and put size before quality in his appraisal of things. The Christian faith reverses this order, but even Christians tend to judge things by the old Adamic rule. How big? How much? and How many? are the questions oftenest asked by religious persons when trying to evaluate Christian things.”
I need to confess that I have no intention of calling out all the things which are highly esteemed among men. That would be exhausting for me and too easy for you. I am encouraged that each one of us must go through the exercise for ourselves; to individually and prayerfully consider what is highly esteemed by our society, our influencers and the people in our lives. We must ask ourselves these hard questions:
• What are we highly esteeming along with them?
• Which of these things are the things of this world?
As you consider these questions and take every thought captive, remember this: our subconscious is the carnal mind’s playground. We would do well to allow the LORD to lead the investigation.
Psalm 139:23-24 is always a good starting point:
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties;
And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.
Discovery should lead to 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Living in the world, but not of the world is incredibly difficult. Some would say impossible, and rightly so. Without Christ, we can do nothing; yet, through Him, we can do all things. We are not sufficient for these things; our sufficiency is from God.
Not sufficient, but responsible.
God bless you with grace for the difficult questions and impossible responses.
*Tozer, A. W. (2015). Born After Midnight.Chicago: Moody Publishers
Photo source: istock
 | Rob Streetman serves the body of Christ as President of two parachurch ministries: inLight Consulting (a workplace transformation ministry) and 2:2 Collective (a unity and church growth ministry). He is the author of two books: The Map Maker and A Storm is Coming. Rob’s heart desires is to encourage, edify and equip Christian leaders as disciple-makers and transformation agents—that they would become houses that stand in the storms of this life. He previously worked in various IT industry positions. Learn More » |
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