"Membership in the family of God is neither inconsequential or something to be casually ignored. The church is God's agenda for the world. Jesus said, "I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it." The church is indestructable and will exist for eternity. It will outlive this universe, and so will your role in it."
- Rick Warren
Friday, August 5, 2011
“Dear Lord, I refuse henceforth to compete with any of Thy servants. They have congregations larger than mine. So be it. I rejoice in their success. They have greater gifts. Very well. That is not in their power nor in mine. I am humbly grateful for their greater gifts and my smaller ones. I only pray that I may use to Thy glory such modest gifts as I possess. I will not compare myself with any, nor try to build up my self-esteem by noting where I may excel one or another in Thy holy work. I herewith make a blanket disavowal of all intrinsic worth. I am but an unprofitable servant. I gladly go to the foot of the cross and own myself the least of Thy people. If I err in my self judgment and actually underestimate myself I do not want to know it. I purpose to pray for others and to rejoice in their prosperity as if it were my own. And indeed it is my own if it is Thine own, for what is Thine is mine, and while one plants and another waters it is Thou alone that giveth the increase.” - (A.W. Tozer, The Price of Neglect)
[H/T David Guzik's commentary on Haggai 2]
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Comments on ""I Refuse Henceforth To Compete With Any of Thy Servants"":
3. Dave
- 08/06/2011 8:28 am CDT
Great stuff. Though "thy servants" may still aggressively compete with thee, and push thee against ropes of many kinds, regardless of thine commitment, whether thou likest it or not.
6. Karl
- 08/09/2011 10:48 am CDT
Tozer is great, and I like the humility in this quote. But I pause a little bit at:
"If I err in my self judgment and actually underestimate myself I do not want to know it."
Would you want your child to have that attitude about his/her abilities - constantly underestimating himself/herself? I prefer C.S. Lewis' approach to thoughts of one's self-worth:
"I would prefer to combat the “I’m special” feeling not by the thought “I’m no more special than anyone else” but by the feeling “Everyone is as special as me”. In one way there is no difference, I grant, for both remove the speciality. But there is a difference in another way. The first might lead you to think, “I’m only one of the crowd like anyone else. All are “members” (organs) in the Body of Christ. All different and all necessary to the whole and to one another: each loved by God individually, as if it were the only creature in existence. Otherwise you might get the idea that God is like the government which can only deal with the people in the mass."
7. Riley
- 08/18/2011 9:19 am CDT
If I err in my self judgment and actually underestimate myself I do not want to know it.
oof... ouch.. zing. I feel too often when I pray in any sort of desperation or self-deprecation I'm waiting on God to say "no, but you're awesome, don't say that about yourself, it's all okay" and that's NOT okay.
The sad reality is many of our Christian community does this.. I included.. giving out Christless encouragement. We should say this: "no, you have value, but not because of anything about you or any of your abilities or intrinsic worth. we have value because of what Jesus did for us. Without him we are worthless, but with His righteousness we are holy, redeemed, loved, and have realized fellowship with the Creator. rejoice in that and have peace!"
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tozer's got it goin' on.