Ministry as a Human Being

It is not a sin to be human. I need not ask forgiveness from God or from another human being because there are some things that I cannot do. By definition, a human being is not God. Being human means that I am not omnipotent (all powerful). Only God can do everything. Nor do I need to ask forgiveness or shame myself because there are many things that I simply do not know. A human being is not omniscient (all knowing). Only God knows everything. Similarly, I am not sinning when I cannot be in more than one place at a time. By nature a human being can only inhabit one place at a time. Only God is omnipresent (everywhere at once). 

A dear friend of mine teaches classes at a local seminary. Sometimes he has his students stand up and say out loud to one another, "I am not the Christ." I'm thinking that when we say we are not God, we are positively declaring to another, "I am a human being." 

Part of living a life that makes much of God requires us to make much of our noble limits as human beings. To humble ones' self is not to shame one's self. Rather, we express humility when we surrender to our limits; when we live as if we are not God. Humility does not always feel very good. It is often less than pleasant to stand naked in my lack of knowledge, limits of power and local geography. It feels vulnerable for others to experience what I am not. 

Sometimes we require or demand others to know everything, be everywhere we want them to be or have the ability to do everything we we feel we need from them. In desiring them to do what only God can do we often wear them out with our demands or hollow them out with our flattery and their lustful desire to feel like God for another. Sometimes we refuse to surrender to our own limits and lacks because we too do not want to let go of the possibility of being God for another or for ourselves. 

The Apostle Paul reveals his humanity. In doing so, he shows us that ministry is human. In fact, surrendering to our limits is required if we desire to make much of God with our lives. Paul reminds us that he and his ministry are local (Macedonia), physical (our bodies had no rest), stressful (affliction at every turn), non-controllable (fighting without), and psychological (fears within) (2 Corinthians 7:5-7). 

What makes Paul's ministry powerful is that Paul declares that he cannot be everywhere at once, is not able to do all things that must be done, and cannot control or understand or know all things. What Paul does know however is that "God who comforts the downcast comforted us." Our effectiveness in ministry has more to do with the presence of God amid our ordinary lives than with our striving for perfection or amassing abilities. The fact that Paul has a body and feels its impact, that while in Macedonia those in other places must exist without him, that he cannot control the criticisms others level at him or that he feels deeply afraid and wrestles with the challenges he faces; none of these realities disqualifies Paul. Rather, surrendering to these limits shatters the illusions that others want to have of their ministers and that ministers want to cultivate about themselves. 

Only God is God. The rest of us must return to our places. In so doing, we learn the freedom of contentment, the knowledge of what we are not, and the grace to enjoy what we are with God. 

Zack