Hey there, long time no see.
My path on re-discovering my identity as a Christian has continued to be slow and occasionally downward spiralling, but with a new year comes new hope! Hopefully this renewed spirit will continue to grow and flourish. This past Sunday at Calvary, Pastor Rick outlined the new series titled Learning Loyalty to the King focusing on the gospel of Matthew. One major point (actually, the only point I bothered to write down) was a quote from Skye Jethani. Apparently this Jethani dude is a pastor and writes things…but anyway:
Many church leaders unknowingly replace the transcendent vitality of a life with God for the ego satisfaction they derive from a life for God.
(Emphasis mine)
This immediately brought a couple rhetorical questions into my mind:
- How much of my ego was I serving while on the worship team?
- Have I ever understood the gravity of a life with Christ?
- Will I ever be able to overcome this ego hurdle and serve again?
As the saying goes “the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem”, and perhaps I’m one step closer.
I’m not big into resolutions, but maybe this year I’ll be strengthened and led to the following spiritual hallmarks:
- Satisfying Christian community
- decreased dependency on sin & self
- Increased Him, decreased i
- Ceaseless praise and worship in my entirety
Interesting thoughts. How goes the pursuit? I know the year isn’t quite over yet, but have you been strengthened and led? Have you become less in order to make Him more?
It’s been interesting! In May I started to help with a fellowship for Chinese students at the college and university, where even the leaders were young Christians. Since they didn’t really have that much experience with leading worship, I gave them a brief worship workshop series (which I have yet to share on here, actually).