Better To Be Short Handed

A few weeks ago I mentioned a church I enjoy watching once in a while on the web. It is New Spring church in South Carolina. You can check it out at www.newspring.cc They have a great website and they do an awesome job making their services available online after the fact, and it appears that they have an awesome worship team.

This last week I was watching one of their services and something really jumped out at me. It was one of their guitar players and what was strange was that his face appeared almost emotionless. Now…in many settings this would not be strange at all. It would be almost normal. But here, it stuck out like a sore thumb, because in almost every other shot and in every other service I have watched every musician and every singer shows so much passion for what they are doing. They are totally into it. So when I saw this one person seemingly rather emotionless it really stuck out. Now in all fairness it was probably just this one shot or this one moment…but it was apparent.

This made me think…the higher our level of performance, the better we become at what we do, the higher our expectations, the more passionate we become about what we are doing, the more important it is that everyone that is working alongside us be totally on board with what we are doing and what we are about. Because as this one shot showed; as the standard is raised, anybody or anything that reflects less than this will stand out. The people that were once serving alongside us in unity may no longer be able to do so if they have chosen to remain at the same level that they were previously.

When Jesus first began calling his followers he had quite a crowd. But as time went on and his ministry developed and expectations were raised and the challenge was put out there those that decided to stick with him became fewer and fewer. And at one point he even looked at his disciples and asked them if they too were going to leave him and walk away.

The call to be a Christian is open to everyone. It is available to all. But at what level are you content to be at. Are you willing to settle for the just making it into heaven bunch or are you one who is going to strive to perform at the highest level. If you are going for the highest level there are those that you will leave behind. I don’t think Jesus lost much sleep over those who decided to walk away. He wasn’t busy chasing them down. Instead he was focused on what was ahead, and he continued to raise that standard higher and higher.

Take a look around you today and survey those who are willing to continue to grow in the direction you are headed and those that seem to be holding you back. If there are people who are continually holding you back and pushing you down it may be time to make a separation. Better to be short handed than to have that hand connected to an anchor that is weighting you down.

John 6:60-67 – “On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?" Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you? What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him." From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. "You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve.”

Have a blessed day,

RodZ

© 2008 – Rodney Zimmerman – All rights reserved