Have you ever had a sense that you were supposed to do something for God that you knew the people around you wouldn’t understand or approve of?
If you know that people’s disapproval is a factor that might keep you from obeying the Lord, take five minutes today and pray through this little exercise below from this month’s Greenhouse Retreat: Doing Beautiful Things.
Greenhouse retreats: helping you create conditions for long-term fruitfulness.
Happy flourishing y’all,
Alex
In this month’s Greenhouse Retreat we’re looking at the woman who comes into Simon the Leper’s house during a meal and anoints Jesus with expensive perfume during Holy Week (see Matthew 26:6-13).
Just like many of us might do, it’s very likely that she imagined all kinds of possible responses: What will Jesus say? What about the others (all men) who will be there?
As she’s anointing Jesus the murmuring of the critics starts to bubble up from around the table and one of her fears is realized.
What do you think the woman felt as the murmuring went on in the background?
If you have ever felt like the Lord called you to do something that you knew wouldn’t make sense to people that were around you, how did that affect your willingness to do that work?
If you did what the Lord asked of you and your fears came true (the people around you criticized or didn’t understand), how did that affect you?
How much the critics factor in, of course, has everything to do with how much weight we give the crowd versus how much weight we give the Lord. My friend and retired pastor Brian has a delightful phrase: we always move towards the applause that matters most to us.
How would you describe your desire to be applauded/approved of by the crowd (or specific people) over and against your desire to be applauded by the Lord? Is there work that the Lord might want to do in you there?This won’t apply to everyone but if you’ve got a sense that the Lord is inviting you to do something extravagant for him, write that down. Then write down any fears, anticipated objections from family or friends, and anything else that might be standing in the way of you doing that thing. Then pray over all of it and offer it all to the Lord.
This is just one of the exercises in this month’s free Greenhouse Retreat, Doing Beautiful Things. Click here to download and enjoy the rest!