Significance part II

What I like about Timothy Keller is that he has managed to distill the essence of so many issues affecting us sinners, into a few simple truths.

I keep returning to the theme of his book Counterfeit Gods as it is such a powerful idea that captures much of our struggle against God, even when we have accepted Christ. We want  to build our own edifices to ourselves because we want people to notice. Even when doing God’s good work, it is a struggle to resist the urge to say, “Look at me! See how good a servant I am!!”

This is about wanting to feel significant, rather than about knowing what should be personally significant. The former focuses on the image one presents to the world or on one’s place in the world, whereas the latter concentrates on our personal relationship with God.

Our role models in serving, whether in church or outside of it, should be those who toil away quietly in the background, never seeking attention. This is not an indictment of higher office. People who hold leadership positions are just as important, and they may have been led by God to serve there as the best use of their talents. Which God provided.

My point about role models is about posture. What does it look like? I’ve described it above. For want of a better description, you could say in many cases it’s like being invisible. No one notices when you’re doing the work because you just focus on getting things done, and these are usually those unwanted bits of any job or task. Cleaning up, tidying up - of your own accord I might add;)

Or if you are in supervisory or leadership positions you do things that are needed even if they are unpopular, even if someone else reaps the recognition because success will come much later, or even if no one thinks it is important at the time - though if you’re a leader, part of your job is to convince them it is.

What should you feel when you have the right posture?

It always comes back to love. If we do it because we love others, because we know it’s unpleasant and others don’t like to do it, you’re probably on the right track. Or we do it because we know it needs to be done and we don’t wait for someone else to take up the slack. Love isn’t about doing things for people who love us. It’s about doing things for people because we love them.