Skip to main content

Confusing the Messenger with the Master

We’re great disciples – that’s the problem!

Many Christians are really good at following someone – imitating them, paying close attention to their teachings and praising them verbally and with their actions.

This is a great thing when the person we are following is Jesus; it is not such a good thing when the person we are following is someone else. A recurring issue I see among Christians, including myself at times, is attaching ourselves to a Christian mentor (famous or not), leader, speaker or musician and becoming a disciple of that person. All too easily, we become “starstruck,” in awe of this person who delivers amazing content, seems to have all of the answers and does not struggle with the things that trouble us. Suddenly we want to dig up every message this person has ever preached and know details about his or her family and even what he or she orders at Starbucks.

Don’t get me wrong – I believe that God places people in our lives who he uses as vessels to speak to us and to get our attention. I’m very thankful for the small group leaders, ministers and speakers who have been a part of my life. However, it is dangerous to idolize or follow anyone other than Jesus – even when the person is a “Christian” and someone who has served as a spiritual authority figure for us.

We can thank God for speaking through these people, but let’s always remember that it is God alone who deserves all glory and honor.

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2

"You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being." Revelation 4:11

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Olivia Kate Update

We expected a routine appointment. Last April, the cardiology team told us that we did not have to return for another check-up on the hole in Olivia's heart for a full year. This was music to a mom's and dad's ears! Since her pediatrician had noticed the severe murmur in her heartbeat when she was just four days old, we'd visited the cardiologist office several times to monitor any changes in heart function. So far, it seemed that this hole was not causing any problems, and the doctors said that it might even close on its own. The ultrasounds of Olivia's heart today revealed a different story, unfortunately. The left side of her heart has enlarged slightly over the last year, which tells us that this precious organ is under a bit of stress due to the turbulence of the extra blood flowing in and out of the hole. The first cardiologist who reviewed the ultrasounds with us today told us what we really did not want to hear: Olivia is heading down the path that req...
10 comments
Read more

What's Real

I struggle with mental illness. Like many others, I can't really define myself as falling cleanly into one category or give myself a specific diagnosis. Mine has manifested in different ways during different seasons of my life: sometimes it's anxiety, but other times it's depression, disordered eating, obsessive compulsion or a cocktail of these. Regardless, it's there, and while I experience a lot of happiness in my life, there's also some inner turmoil that I fight to keep at bay. Why am I telling you this? It's certainly not for pity or to draw attention to myself. I'm guessing that many people reading this also struggle, but others may not. For both parties, I want to take a stab at normalizing mental illness and I also want to point out a few things I've found to be true: - Mental illness is not limited to a certain stereotype. Depression doesn't just affect teenagers who prefer dark clothes and hooded jackets! It's not just the poor, ju...
5 comments
Read more

The Naked Truth

I've struggled with body image for an undefinable amount of time. My weight has fluctuated my entire life, and once I became old enough to realize it, it became an unfortunate obsession. As I matured and opened up about this to my peers in college, I found that I was not alone. Maintaining an unhealthy relationship with food is what my husband now refers to as the "acceptable" sin among Christian women. It's the most common struggle among my female friends. Or, it's the most common one they admit to, at least. This destructive sin rears its ugly head in many ways, manifesting differently in different women. Some women develop actual eating disorders, others binge and purge, others develop a more generalized obsession with appearance and self loathing, and still others fall elsewhere in this nasty spectrum. I've been thinking a lot about this sin specifically lately, which led me to think about how the enemy confuses us about the very definition of sin. L...
5 comments
Read more