yeti speak…

nouwen on leadership & hope – 4

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"Every attempt to attach this hope to visible symptoms in our surroundings becomes a temptation when it prevents us from the realization that promises, not concrete successes, are the basis of Christian leadership.  Many ministers, priests and Christian laymen have become disillusioned, bitter and even hostile when years of hard work bear no fruit, when little change is accomplished.  Building a vocation on the expectations of concrete results, however conceived, is like building a house on sand instead of on solid rock, and even takes away the ability to accept successes as free gifts."

I think I agree with Nouwen’s sentiments about what faith is but find it hard to grasp this idea of having hope (i.e. not becoming disillusioned, bitter, discouraged) in the total absence of "concrete successes" in the visible world.  I think you’d have to be some kind of robot to blindly continue to pursue "hope" without seeing some glimmers of light guiding you to the Bigger light at the end of the tunnel.  Am I wrong about this?  Maybe I’m just a donkey that needs "a carrot" of incentive to keep me moving now and then?

At least that’s how I’m feeling currently.  Even in the wilderness God provided manna from heaven and a water fountain on occasion when the Israelites needed it.  Otherwise, we as humans, tend to rush towards fatalism.  So my question is: Is looking for and wanting to see "successes" in our Christian life a culturally-learned or Kingdom-designed principle?   I know it shouldn’t be our primary motivation (obedience should be!) but is it "wrong" to expect it and to get disappointed when it is not achieved?  If expecting God’s promises to come to fruition is the "solid rock" we are building on, can’t some degree of success be an expected outcome–due to His character and the faith we have in it?

Ideas, anyone…

2 responses to “nouwen on leadership & hope – 4”

  1. JLo Avatar
    JLo

    I don’t think there is anything wrong with expecting or getting dissapointed. I think it’s hard not to experience those feelings, and even if you become content with where you are, it’s still possible to experience those frustrations. I just don’t like labelling of those reactions as “wrong.”

    I just wonder how much of this “I do this or that” and then this must happen is a product of our goal oriented culture. We want to start and point A and get to point B, typically. Or at least we want to know we are closer to point B than when we started.

    I’ve been struggling with this content/discontent issue lately. I want to be content where I am, but discontent with the sin in me or the areas I need to grow. God loves me, yet He wants me to draw nearer. How does He accept me as I am, and want me to be closer? How do I journey closer to Him and remain content in where I am right now? How do I love myself and still find parts of myself unacceptable?

    I am also unsure of how God providing for the needs of the Israelites ties in with God giving us benchmarks of success? Or evidence He is working? I think God did that to fulfill a practical need, right?

    Is success in our calling more important to God or us? Why is success so important to us? Does not success sometimes foster a feeling or desire to be overly-confident in ourselves? Or does it draw us closer to Him? Or does it simply just help us out a little in the encouragement department?

    I include myself in all of this as well. I need to hear every bit of it again and again.

    No, I don’t think it’s “wrong” to expect encouragement or benchmarks or whatever, but I think in the end, all your expectations must be thwarted to really be content in Christ. I think we must be reduced to a poverty of spirit. I think you’ve quoted this prayer or shared this on your blog, but I believe it to be true to who we must be:

    May all your expectations be frustrated.
    May all your plans be thwarted.
    May all your desires be withered into nothingness.
    That you may experience the powerlessness and the poverty of a child and sing and dance in the love of God the Father, the Son and the Spirit.

    I would also consider a long meditation on Hebrews 11:1. I know it’s overquoted, but I find it to be utterly mysterious.

    So, those are my ideas.

  2. yeti Avatar
    yeti

    Thanks for your thoughts, J. Like most “kingdom” principles there seems to be a tension that we must tightrope on. God doesn’t want to us to lose heart or faith in Him or His goodness, but He also wants us to move into “new territory” of faith beyond the visible into the invisible. To do this, it seems to me, we must get to the core of our motivation and understanding of Who He is. This entails owning up to the “poverty of spirit” that you suggest.

    I also think my Israelite example was maybe not the best one. I think when He lead His people out of Israel He provided for them in practical ways, but surely the WAYS in which He did so pointed to HIM to the exclusion of other explanations. (Just think of the fire and the Cloud.) As much as the “manna” was sustenance for their bodies (a practical provision) it was also a spiritual sustenance (God is WITH US, HE is good, He is leading us.) Of course, we all, like the Israelites, can even twist these “signs and wonders” into a source of complaint (Awww, manna, again! Crap.), but I see these things as spiritual encouragement–visible results. Of course, this doesn’t really help with my original argument because these THINGS were GIFTS from Him as Nouwen suggests. But in a sense these “gifts” keep us going and moving on a path TOWARDS God and not away from him (in theory, anyway.)

    I guess I am just struggling with my human fragility. When you feel like you are in the desert it is often difficult to stay motivated to keep moving forward (towards things HOPED for) when you sense God has withdrawn a bit. But that’s OK, too. I remember that Jesus wept. I think we can come to God with all of our emotions, vulnerability, and fallenness and HE receives us as children. I am probably not articulating my ideas very well, but I do appreciate the discussion.

    Thanks for taking the time to dialog with me a bit. Still pursuing Him (through the desert)…

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