I heard a short war story the other day, and agreed with the story's teller that it was incredibly true about church ministry as well. The story goes that an old army officer was talking to a buddy in an overseas crowded bar. He told his friend "I can tell you how close to the action these men are simply by listening to them talk." Intrigued by this his friend asked him "how?" "By what they complain about," he replied. "If they talk about how warm the beer is, you know they haven't seen much action, but the ones complaining about how high off the ground their buttons keep them...those men have seen the real war."
Warm beer or buttons. It's a funny little story, and yet I think this helps capture the feeling so many have experienced in ministry. It seems the case of so many, that they are having trouble with their buttons holding them off the ground too high, while at the same time getting phone calls, emails and nasty little jabs from people upset about their warm beer. In other words, how many times are you trying to focus your attention on reaching this lost, broken world with the hope and truth of the gospel...but keep getting side-tracked (or worse) by those back-line (as opposed to "front-line") battles over personal preferences and opinions...and isn't it strange how much power there can be in that little word "just" ("if we would just..." or "I think they just...").
Now...after we come to the point where we acknowledge that this is truly a problem, it gets even more interesting when we humble ourselves enough to do an honest self-examination. How many of us, honestly...are actually on the "front-lines" and not just watching from the side, or a safe few hundred yards back thinking "yeah, 'warm beer'...he's right, people really can be ridiculous."
So what's the answer? Don't complain, or go to the front-lines? Maybe both, but prayerfully so. Let me challenge you, as I also challenge myself, to pray for the Holy Spirit to reveal to you where He wants you to boldly step forward...to get into the real battle - for people who desperately need the message we carry! May we become people who don't just refuse to complain about our ministry preferences, but into those who understand the challenge of being shot at, and with understanding can help pray for the perspectives to be stretched of those complaining of 'warm beer.'
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