The first peril which I will name, and I name it first because it's touch is so fatal, is that of deadening familiarity with the sublime. You will not have been long in the ministry before you discover that it is possible to be fussily busy about the Holy Place and yet to lose the wondering sense of the Holy Lord.
We may be professors, but not pilgrims. Our studies may be workshops instead of "upper rooms."
We may become so absorbed in the words that we forget to eat the Word. And the consummation of the subtle peril may be this: We may come to assume that fine talk is fine living, that expository skill is deep piety, and while we are fondly hugging the non-essentials, the veritable essence escapes.
A man may live in the mountain country and lose all sense of the heights.
Our speech lacks a mysterious impressiveness. We are wordy but we are not mighty. We are eloquent but we do not persuade...we teach but we do not woo. We make a show of power but men do not move. Men come and go, they may be interested or amused, but they do not bow in penitent surrender at the feet of the Lord.
I am profoundly convinced that one of the gravest perils which beset the ministry of this country is a restless scattering of energies over an amazing multiplicity of interests, which leaves no margin of time or of strength for receptive and absorbing communion with God. We are tempted to be always 'on the run' and to measure our fruitfulness by our pace and by the ground we cover in the course of the week!
Gentlemen, we are not always doing the most business when we seem to be most busy. We may think we are truly busy when we are really only restless, and a little studied retirement would greatly enrich our returns. We are great only as we are God-possessed; and scrupulous appointments in the upper room with the Master will prepare us for the toil and hardships of the most strenuous campaign.
This really impacted me this morning....listening to 3 young students give a testimony about how God had healed them, all three creative miracles, and I sat there smiling thinking quietly...wow. Kind of like a "how nice" feeling. Talk about "deadening familiarity with the sublime" (or majestic!) I went forward as I realized, that in my time away, I had already become somewhat distanced in my spirit and had lost my facination with the heart of God. I want it back. I want to pay the price to see God's glory. I want to see His face. Lord, keep my heart here in the place where you are, so that when the worlds great need arises, I don't lose myself in ministry. One Thing...Your my One Thing.
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