God's ways are not man's ways

So many times I have recalled this teaching from sacred literature down through my tenure of professional ministry ... "God's ways are not man's ways" and "do not trust in your own understanding but acknowledge God and He will direct your way."

The Apostle Paul writes a similar proverb to the Corinthians,
"Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God .... For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence" (1 Corinthians 1:20-29).

Robert Fritz reminds us of a scientific fact in his book "The Path of Least Resistance for Managers" that the "underlying structure of anything will determine its path of least resistance. We can determine the path of least resistance by creating new structures. If you try to change your organizational behavior without dealing with the underlying structure then you will not succeed" (pg. 90).

When a church like WHFC desires to restructure and become missional, relational and incarnational rather than attractional (ABC's- attendance, building and cash driven) it will eventually face a crisis moment when some will want to return to past practices and follow the "path of least resistance." We have faced this in recent months and years as we instituted a new leadership model, sought to be more contemporary in our worship style and location to reach a younger, non-churched target group, revamp our membership process, and revision our bus garage into a ministry center. There are many more examples I'm sure but these are the ones which quickly come to mind.

This behavior is understandable because change can be difficult. The past is often so historically comfortable, clear and familiar and change is often times not at first. That is why following the lead of the Holy Spirit and having Spirit filled leaders in place is so imperative for the local church.

Having to wrestle with the path of least resistance can be beneficial for an organization. At WHFC it forces us to engage one another relationally, work together, define vision and purpose, use our resources wisely, and to center ourselves in Christ and not self interest.

If this principle holds true at WHFC eventually the path of least resistance will rear is head and put into question everything new or different. This is normal and should be expected. However, during the awkward, uncomfortable moments of transition leaders must stay the course. Not questioning in the dark what God gave them in the light.

Len Sweet reminds his readers in his book "So Beautiful," that following Christ is a paradox and "paradoxes are often the sign that things are going well" (pg. 45). He states that the true beauty of our relationship with Christ is: "We see the unseen; we subdue by submitting; win by losing; we are promoted by making ourselves little; come in first by being last; are honored by being humble; get filled with God by emptying ourselves; possess all by having nothing; we find real life by dying."

God's ways are not man's way. Proverbs reminds us there is a way that seems right unto a man but the end of the trail is destruction. H. L. Mencken said, "There is always an easy solution to every human problem - neat, plausible and wrong" (Sweet, pg. 41).

Does this ring true for your life? It does mine. Most of the time when I run ahead of Jesus I end up flat on my face. I've had to stop running ahead of Him ... at 49 I do not heal as quickly as I once did! What say you? :-)

Thanks for stopping by!
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Adrian