Pedestal People (#578)
Everyone, it seems is drawn to the top of the pedestal. To be admired by others, thought influential in their field, and to reap the financial rewards of being at the top of the heap is often equated with success. Should it be? Brad and Wayne discuss the lure of the pedestal and what it does to people who seek it, even if they fail to gain it. While acknowledging that there's a world of difference between having influence because of the quality of someone's life and message and seeking that influence to be thought successful. But at what cost to honesty and integrity do people pay to try to hold on to a pedestal they've fallen in love with. The life of Jesus is not passed on through people on pedestals, but by relational engagements where we are alongside people helping them explore their own growing relationship with him. Oh, and that invites yet another discussion about Promisekeepers and the lessons learned from mass movements, genuine passion, and human ambition.
Podcast Notes:
Wayne's Blog on The Thirst for the Limelight
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Wow, 6 months ago, I was not ready to hear this. I would not have processed Brad’s comments the same. It would been just, “Oh, interesting.” Wayne, your words would not have resonated the same. My last 12 months have been focused on processing (and I still have not completely got my head around this), “I am not the author of my own script.” Just two days ago the latest revelation on this topic is that my script writing includes the paradigm that “others need to read and follow the script that I put out there”. Oh course, I don’t write and publish such a thing.
Sure, I got, internalized, the idea of what you wrote in The Shack when the Holy Spirit said that we should live in expectancy and not expectations, but it was not until Thursday hit me, that the paradigm needs to change. The truth is that I am learning to trust God at an even deeper level.
I am a high school teacher who has been removed from teaching the subject that he loves to teach one that people say that I’m good at, but it leaves me without the passion of teaching that the other “provided”. But Brad, thank you. You have given words to my frustration. I am really just frustrated, not that God is using me to reflect His love on the person right in front of me, but that God does not want me to “build my own influence”. If I described what I was teaching, it was the truth, it was meaningful, but it was also my moment of glory. Look at what 150 people each year thought of me. It should have always been about drawing people to the truth, and not showing how good I am for doing that. I am not saying that God orchestrated my removal, but I can see why He is not troubled that I am not teaching what I was teaching. He can use that to show me more of his love and greatness and that is creating a greater change than anything I could have ever done.
It is enough just to be known by Him.
“I’ve never drank from a pure stream, but Him.” Brad
I couldn’t agree more heartily!
“Is it enough to be known by Him?” I wish I could say yes to this question, but He is not currently enough. Maybe one day He will be, just as I thought he was for so many years. However, the sad but honest answer is He is not enough right now.
I imagine that if He becomes enough, so much more of my fears and insecurities and control will start to dissolve. Striving for success is so much different and captivating, than participating in the cultivation of my heart to bear fruit. The tenderizing of the soil of my heart to receive new seeds and new wine skins to bear good fruit is soooo much more painful and disrupting than the lure of being on a pedestal.