"We Are Not Professionals"

There is a John Piper book out called "Brothers, We Are Not Professionals". Not having read it, I know only what I've been told- that is a book written for pastors urging them out of the efficient, professional lifestyle that the church today often reveres in it's pastors. The back of his book says this,

"The mentality of the professional is not the mentality of the prophet. It is not the mentality of the slave of Christ. Professionalism has nothing to do with the essence and heart of the Christian ministry. The more professional we long to be [as pastors] the more spiritual death we leave in our wake. For there is no professional childlikeness, there is no professional tenderheartedness, there is no professional panting after God."

I would like to read this book someday. Simply because I am going into ministry where my human nature is going to want to be the best at what I do. I'm going to want to turn ministry into efficiency, appear to have all the answers, and especially turn my prayers into "highfaluting mumbo jumbo" (Anne of Green Gables, anyone?). Scripture tells us to do everything as unto the Lord (Ephesians 6:7) which includes good ministry. I think the problem comes when we rely too heavily on our own talents and abilities outside of the work of the Holy Spirit. We forget that we are aliens in this world; in ministry to proclaim the love of Christ and wait in eager expectation for His return. 1 Corinthians 1:27 tells us that God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong... so that NO human being might boast in the presence of God.

I felt the depth of my own un-professionalism at Rockbridge the other week. I was asked to sit in for awhile at JMU's chapter time, and though I had met some of the students previously, I literally sat in that circle with my heart racing and hands shaking. And let's be honest, I'm a people person and a Communications major, there is no reason I should have been nervous about being with that group of people. A professional would have waltzed in and "wowed" them with her charm. Yet I believe the Lord used that nervousness to remind me that this is His deal, not mine, and that He is the one receiving the glory.

I read this Scripture in my quiet time this morning:

"And I, when I came to you brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God."
1 Corinthians 2:1-5

Amen.