Pastor Alexander Sosler in an article entitled “You can’t hustle your way to holiness” in Christianity Today, used the phrase “rise and grind.” He is talking about the new generation of influencers, who are targeting younger men, with the thought of getting Christian men out of their heads and into the real world around them. But pastor Sosler wonders, “But in the life of faith, I also think my drive to be the best can make me the spiritually worst.”
He gives this caution, “… underneath these modern messages is also a deeper, more distorted desire; There’s always more to do, more to read, more money to make, more experiences to have, more people to beat. Life is set up for the grind. Perform. Do better. Money is power, so get some. And what young people can’t know yet is that this mindset leaves you exhausted.”
He goes on to rightly suggest, “In Christianity, we call upon a higher standard of grace, which has nothing to do with our effort or striving. You can’t hack your way to holiness because holiness is slow work. Formation is less about productivity and more about stillness. This way of life requires discipline, but it’s a discipline of absence not performance. The battle cry of formation isn’t necessarily ‘Fight for the Lord’ but ‘the Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still'” (Ex. 14:14)……These words don’t excite my Western sensibilities. I want to be deserving of what I get.”
He goes on to focus on “deserving.” He quotes Thomas Merton on perseverance. “Perseverance is not hanging on to some course which we have set our mind to, and refusing to let go……I am coming to think that God …. loves and helps best those who are so beat and have so much nothing when they come to die that it is almost as if they had persevered in nothing but had gradually lost everything, piece by piece, until there was nothing left but God. Hence perseverance is not hanging on, but letting go.”
Sosler reminds us of Paul’s words, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness: (II Cor. 12:9). “For Paul,” notes Sosler, “perseverance involved letting go. Formation was submission. His weakness proved God’s power, which means the scandal of perseverance is this: Even in the emptiness, God loves us.”
The author ends his article with these words. “So in those moments when you’re at the end of your proverbial rope, God is there, and you are still his beloved.” He quotes Henri Nouwen, “We are not what we do. We are not what we have. We are not what others think of us. Coming home is claiming the truth, I am the beloved of a loving Creator.”
The quote from Nouwen was instrumental in my formation some years ago, when I was caught up in a “spiritual performance” trap. I still can feel and picture myself as a earnest, sincere pastor wanting to be holy and spiritual effective at the same time. I was on a treadmill, with little awareness of how to get off. Thank God, I had a spiritual friend who taught me how to slow down and allow the Lord to do his work in my heart.
That transition for me happened over thirty years ago. But even at my age (83), I still get caught in the “performance trap.” I have my unique “conveyer belt” that I get on, carrying me along in my own energy and strength. I have had the learn patience the hard way. God work of transformation is a “slow process.”
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