Author Dick Wills in his book Waking to God’s Dream (Abingdon, 1999) titles chapter four: “Trusting God Enough Not to Be Loved by Everybody.” I need that particular kind of faith in God’s love more than most people. I am a fairly private person thus even disagreements on my blogs can still give me a bad day. I do need to get over this since I have chosen a public lifestyle, or at least I believe I was called to one. And writing is a deep joy to me that I look forward to every day. But with it comes wide ranging disagreement and dissenting opinions.

I sometime wonder if I write, or even speak, to gain approval and some kind of love. Maybe there is something in me that is so self-centered that I need to hear people say: “I like it (you).” Putting up with the “I don’t like it (you)” response is part of the territory so I try to endure it in order to get the strokes I want. I am sure there is some of this in most of us but there is no justification for it in a mature Christian.

What convinces me to press on with this calling every day is that I have been given a stewardship from God. This stewardship includes teaching, preaching and writing. I need to use that stewardship responsibly but use it I must. I know I will fail but this is no excuse for continuing. I also realize that failure can be a part of the process for how God uses my gift and my life to bring him glory. So, I am learning to “trust God enough to not be loved by everybody” but it is sure taking a long time to do this, to be perfectly honest. Maybe certain kinds of extroverts find this much easier than introverts.

Related Posts

Comments

  1. Dave Moorhead November 3, 2006 at 12:41 pm

    There are some of us who are lucky if anyone at all loves us!
    Do you think it is an extrovert/introvert matter? Maybe it is an arrogance/pride matter that lets some people say, “I really don’t give a rip what people think!” (I repent) But then again, no one has ever read anything I’ve written! Not even my blog! So it’s easy! Try it!
    Hope to see you tomorrow at the ACT3 conference!

  2. Rich November 3, 2006 at 5:30 pm

    Great thought! Thanks for sharing it. Is the rest of the book just as good/insightful?

Comments are closed.

My Latest Book!

Use Promo code UNITY for 40% discount!

Recent Articles

Search

Archive