Today starts a two-week vacation. Unfortunately, our plans to travel to Michigan to start my two-weeks off have been cancelled. The dear friends we were planning to visit have had illness running through their family this week. So with an unexpected day at home, I thought I would catch up on some blog posts that I've had in my Drafts folder for several days. Here's the first: Anonymous for God.
The book of Acts is the "history book" of the New Testament. It's filled with the acts of God done through the apostles and disciples. All through the pages, we read about the adventures of Peter, Paul, Barnabus, Stephen, and other heroes of the Christian faith.
Even though the heroes of Acts saw their days end long ago, we still have "heroes" in the Christian faith. We hold up various pastors, authors, musicians, and speakers as our contemporary heroes. I don't think this is always bad - I have various pastors and authors that God has used to inspire me in my role as a young adult pastor.
But sometimes our hero worship goes too far. I just had a trusted friend return from a conference where he felt it was more about these Christian "heroes" that were speaking than about the God they were speaking about. And I confess I've made the same mistake as the conference attenders. I mentally join "camps" with certain "tribal" leaders (sort of like the issue in 1 Corinthians 1:12). I listen to the sermons of these heroes, and skip the sermons of the lesser-knowns.
If that weren't bad enough, to compound this issue, I secretly wish I was a tribal leader. There is a part of me that wishes I was famous, to have those in my camp tell me how valuable my thoughts are, how effective my ministry is, and how I have impacted them to move deeper in their spiritual journey with Jesus. Because I know this type of pride is sin, and ministry is to be all about God and not about me, I find myself praying that God would allow me to remain anonymous, but that the message, or Scriptural insights, or spiritual counseling I gave would stick in the hearts and minds of those listening to my words.
That's why in my read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year plan Acts 11:20-21 jumped out at me. It wasn't just Paul and Peter and a handful of heroes "getting it done" for God. It was God's delight to allow some men from Cyprus and Cyrene to remain anonymous. We don't know their names - not even a mention! Yet the Kingdom-work they engaged in made it into the annals of Scripture. They told people about Jesus, and saw many come to believe.
If you don't struggle with pride or long for attention, this post may not be for you. But if you long to be recognized in your job, if you want to be famous in certain circles, if you keep aiming for the attention of others, let me ask you:
Are you willing to be anonymous for God?
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