Personal development is NOT discipleship!
“Hold in your mind the thing you most desire” is a tweet a “personal coach” floated out onto the Twittersphere.
It’s a common message in the world. It’s even a common message in the church. In fact, a lot of preachers teach the same thing. The problem is, it’s opposite of the most basic Christian teachings.
At some point, already long past, many preachers switched from teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and sound biblical doctrine to teaching the pursuit of dreams, of achieving personal goals, of chasing greatness, and justifying in their minds that generally teaching “personal development” was the same thing as biblical discipleship.
It’s not.
Too many men who stand in pulpits today … or, more accurately, sit on stools in front of congregations … are primary contributors to the “it’s all about me” attitude. That’s because their teaching focus is more consistently about teaching people to dream a dream, and then pursue it at any cost. It might even be about crafting a “personal ministry” that is more about personal branding with a spiritual twist than it is about taking up one’s own cross and following Jesus.
Seriously, when you look at the actual content of the Bible, and compare it to the actual content of many sermons today, you all too often find a massive discrepancy.
Where is the real focus on the fact that “it’s all about Christ”?! And that God’s greatest desire is to change us into being like Christ? That God wants us to think like Christ, follow Christ, live like Christ, love like Christ, and represent Christ here?
When was the last time you had some serious Bible teaching such as “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you …” (Colossians 3:1-5a).
To be Christian is to put to death self (Col. 3:5a). To bury the old nature (Eph. 4:20-22). To be united with Christ in baptism (Gal; 3:27). To rise to an entirely new life, created in Christ to carry out the good work He has for us (Col. 2:12, Eph. 2:10).
That needs to be preached. That needs to taught. That needs to be modeled. And that not only needs to be lived, but needs to be the content of our lives!
Scotty
June 24, 2011 at 6:18 pm
Amen and thank you!
If anyone chooses to be offended at this message, it's true anyhow.
June 24, 2011 at 6:19 pm
So appreciate this Scotty! I so heartily endorse your thoughts here. "Give me Jesus" as the old song goes.
One of my favorite passages is:
“… Christ who is your life … ” (Colossians 3:4, ESV)
I ask myself often, "Is Christ my life?"
Thanks for this!
June 24, 2011 at 6:36 pm
Thanks Angie!
Matthew, I so agree with "… Christ, who is your life …" Wow! To understand and experience that! Thanks for sharing here bro!
June 24, 2011 at 6:38 pm
We as teachers need a lot more accountability for when too much of "us" get into the sermon. Excellent post which makes me much more cautious in approaching my Sunday preparation.
June 24, 2011 at 6:48 pm
Thanks Paul. As we both know, there are so many committed, humble, focused men rightly teaching God's Word out there. This post comes at one of those temporary moments of not simply being tired of seeing and hearing the constant flow of nonsense, but something more important: having to try to help those who have been given, and have bought into, the nonsense and have crashed into the ugly end result of doing so. Lives are at stake … eternally so! And there is a stricter judgment (James 3:1) for those who teach. We just need to open God's Word, and "speak the truth in love." Thanks for what you're doing for Christ bro!