Selling Out

Yesterday, I was talking with a friend who described an opportunity like this:

"It fit my economic statement, but it didn't fit my mission statement."

What a statement of clarity.

I've gone through life hearing people say, "Well, you've got to pay the bills," as a resignation from their calling. But I wonder if what they're really saying is, "I don't want to sacrifice my standard of living for my God-given purpose."

Just thinking out loud.

Comments

[Doug]

Well, that hit home! Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Ben, you have no idea how much I needed to hear that today. Thank you.

[twitter.com/RG21]

I'm a bivomin (Bi-vocational Minister). I have often wondered if I just quit my job and pursued ministry full-time what would happen. Then I went to Africa and saw men who would do anything and go anywhere to do anything to make a living, and I felt obligated and still do to make as much money as I can to support ministry in Africa, specifically Uganda. I guess the rub is this, "Am I improving my standard of living, maintaining my standard of living, or looking for ways to downgrade my standard of living?" And a follow on question would be, "Why am I doing that?"
I have designed and built three homes with each successive home being larger than the previous one. It was mostly driven by my love of creating and building, but I had to confess a few years ago that there was a seed of greed fueled by my desire to have a really cool spread. At the same time God is in the midst of redeeming that by leading us to adopt three more children. In the mean time, I still struggle with the questions.
Great quote...I needed to ponder something other than church budget today.

[Terrace Crawford]

Reminds me of Perry's recent post "Resign Today," where he said we have too many church leaders who just want a paycheck.

Great post Ben.

--Terrace Crawford
www.terracecrawford.com
www.twitter.com/terracecrawford