They’re Not The Enemy!

They’re not the enemy?  Really?  They sure do “feel” like it!  See if you can relate…

•    Your high school pastor is a little more “edgy” than you are. The tattoos, the piercings, the music…  Seriously, you have to hand your junior high kids off to HIM?

•    Your senior pastor is your hero. In fact, you feel called to be his armor-bearer.  But, word on the street has it that Mr. Miller doesn’t feel your senior pastor measures up when it comes to leading the church. All of the sudden, your greatest desire is to initiate the “slap” ministry so you can “slap” Mr. Miller upside the head.

•    Josh is the golden child on staff.  Because he’s so stinkin’ talented, he can do no wrong. If you hear the senior staff sing his praises one more time, you’re seriously going to vomit in your mouth.

•    The children’s ministry budget is three times larger than yours and they have three times as many staff. Their rooms are equipped with the latest bells and whistles, but you’re still pulling your beat-up ping pong table, makeshift café and hand-me-down par cans out of the closet each week. You can’t seriously want me to clap after the announcement of their department’s latest hire.

•    Are you kidding me? It takes two full-time worship leaders to sing three songs and a special each week? Meanwhile, I’m trying to control and minister to 210 kids and 42 leaders all by myself. A little inequity, eh?

•    The church down the road still sings hymns to the sound of the organ, uses clip art for their bulletin and puts goofy “christianese” sayings on their sign out by the street each week. They’re so irrelevant it’s embarrassing, no sense in befriending them…there’s nothing to be learned or gained.

For some reason, in each of these situations, the person that doesn’t line up with our standards, challenges our leadership, is gifted beyond measure, has a ministry a little higher up on the food chain, or doesn’t hold the same values “feels” like the enemy.  And, as a result, our eyes come off Jesus and we become more pre-occupied shooting arrows at each other than the real Enemy. To the Devil’s delight, we let bitterness, anger, and a judgmental spirit boil inside of us to the point it overflows out of our hearts and into the world through our words and deeds. And being people of influence, others happily feed off our spirit and the ugliness multiplies like the plague throughout the body of Christ. When the negativity goes viral, it’s no wonder people have a hard time distinguishing between the church and the rest of the world.

What’s the solution?  Intentional choices.

1.    Fight the feelings of ugliness by doing random acts of kindness for those you feel negativity toward, and look for opportunities to encourage them often. We think we only suffer from mind games; you should see what’s rolling around inside of their head!

2.    Pray blessings on their ministry…that God would swing wide the doors and enable them to have huge success! Prayer alone is more than capable of taking the Devil out at his knees.

3.    Be grateful for what you’ve been given. While you might have less, you have a whole lot more than most.

4.    Realize your differences are meant to complete the body of Christ, not divide it. At some point, you’ll realize you desperately need the very people you despise! Instead of burning bridges, you’ll wish you had built them.

5.    Learn the lesson and move on to more important things. Oftentimes when you or your ministry is challenged, there’s at least a nugget of truth in what the person is saying. Cash in on the nugget, change your ways, and apologize when necessary.

6.    Continue to remind yourself and others, they are not the Enemy! Let’s recap who is NOT the Enemy…

•    When someone disagrees with your methodology, they are not the Enemy.

•    When someone is angry at your friend, they are not the Enemy.

•    When someone doesn’t see the value in your ministry, they are not the Enemy.

•    When someone else is the golden child and you’re not, they are not the Enemy.

•    When someone else’s budget is bigger than yours, they are not the Enemy.

•    When someone challenges your thinking, they are not the Enemy.

•    When you’ve failed and someone calls you out on it, they are not the Enemy.

•    When someone piles more work on you because you don’t know how to say “no,” they are not the Enemy.

•    When someone doesn’t communicate with love and compassion, they are not the Enemy.

•    When you’re conservative and someone else is a little more “edgy,” they are not the Enemy.

•    When you’re a little more “edgy” and someone else is conservative, they are not the Enemy.

•    When someone else is more talented than you, they are not the Enemy.

•    When someone else’s capacity is less than yours, they are not the Enemy.

•    When someone else is more driven when it comes to work, they are not the Enemy.

•    When someone else values family more highly than work, they are not the Enemy.

Our real ENEMY prowls around like a roaring lion and is looking to devour us, our ministry and our church.  Let’s CHOOSE not to give him so much as a toehold, let alone a foothold!