Closed Eyes and Ears
Counselors Reflect on Dangerous Calling by Paul Tripp A Series to Care for the Care Takers of God’s People “Once you have closed your eyes to the evidence and quit listening to the voices of others, you are left to the blindness and self-righteousness of your yet-sinful heart.” P. 39. John Wooden, former UCLA basketball coach once said, “Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” If we confuse the two then it becomes extraordinarily challenging to live consistently...
Read MoreQuestion You not Your Calling
Counselors Reflect on Dangerous Calling by Paul Tripp A Series to Care for the Care Takers of God’s People “There are only two ways to explain the external and internal breakdown of my ministry. Either I am attempting to do something that I was not called to do, or I am thinking and doing the wrong thing in the middle of the ministry I was clearly called to.” (p. 38) The problem with making ministry an idol is that it defines you whether you like it or not. Idols enslave they don’t liberate. We think we will experience freedom by giving ourselves to them. I’ve heard it said...
Read MoreAutonomous Christianity?
Counselors Reflect on Dangerous Calling by Paul Tripp A Series to Care for the Care Takers of God’s People “The more separation and discontinuity there is between the real details of my personal life and my public confession and image, the more I will tend to fear being known. I will fear how people would think of me and respond to me if they really knew what was going on in my life… My responses to the concerns and inquiries of others become structured by fear rather than faith. So I do not make the regular, healthy confessions of struggle to my ministry co-partners, I do not ask...
Read MoreThe Perils of Isolation
Counselors Reflect on Dangerous Calling by Paul Tripp A Series to Care for the Care Takers of God’s People “First, when people are your substitute messiah (you need their respect and support in order to continue), it’s hard to be honest with them about your sins, weaknesses, and failures. There is a second thing that kicks in as well: fear.” p. 38. I remember seeing a special documentary on TV about a man who began training and preparation for an experiment in isolation. His goal was to be dropped into the Alaskan wilderness where he would live by a lake, and his...
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