Wholeness: objectivity

Have you ever watched the show Restaurant: Impossible? In the show, a successful restauranteur comes in and tries to turn a failing business around in two days. It was recently put back on the air after receiving countless requests to give their restaurant the "impossible" treatment after cancellation. Which begs the question, why? I say that because when you get down to it, every single episode revolves around one or more of the same handful of issues. The show had already given everyone the information they needed to self-diagnose most issues. While I am sure there are some people who have done just that, everyone in these new episodes obviously couldn't do that. This leads me to the point of this post, the ability to be able to look at self objectively. Let's face it, if we can't see ourselves and our actions objectively, then we won't be able to instigate the right kind of change that will lead to wholeness.

This can manifest in two different ways. First, we can perceive things far worse than they are; this can be very overwhelming. It can lead us to think we are beyond repair, and if you believe that you have missed a vital aspect of the gospel. So the inevitable response to this false notion is making excuses, and ultimately passivity in our walk as disciples. The other side of that is we see things much better than they really are, which can stem from simple pride. We can’t address what we don’t recognize after all. Yet, nobody is so perfect that there is no room for improvement. So again this lack of objectivity can lead to passivity instead of transformation.

There are many ways to describe our lives as disciples. However, passive should not be one of them. This leads to yet another example from Restaurant: Impossible. A pattern I’ve noticed about once successful restaurants that go downhill. It often starts by cutting small corners. This leads to even bigger corners being cut, which snowballs into their downward spiral. It can be similar for the disciple, small compromises, lead to bigger ones, the changes are so subtle that we can’t even see how far off course we have gotten. Since in our mind’s eye, we are still back when and where we were still on track. This makes us blind to the trouble that’s right in front of our face and only adds to our broken state.

So again it comes back to having the humility to face ourselves honestly. The more this comes up, the more I realize just how much the current church is lacking in this area. This is obviously a far bigger deterrent to our wholeness than I realized. I know for a fact that many ministers feel as if they are screaming at the dead much of the time. While I'm not prepared to say that this is the only reason, I'm sure people's inability to see themselves objectively is preventing us from seeing how their messages on holiness apply to us. Until our ministers stop trying to skip ahead to the final objective, then address the obstacles to their goals, nothing can change.

The Visual PARABLEist