One of the most damaging mistakes we are making today is obsessing on where we want to be without getting honest about our current reality. Maybe Siri and Google Assistant have fueled the delusion. When we ask them for directions, they automatically launch directions to where we want to be from our current location. They allow us to assume our current location.
In real life and ministry, assuming the starting point is delusional. You won’t get there, until you start here.
Vice Admiral Jim Stockdale was a prisoner of war in Vietnam for eight years. Stockdale had no prisoner rights, no promised release date, and no assurance the torturing would end or that he would survive to see his family again. Yet he endured and helped other prisoners do the same.
When author Jim Collins asked, “Who didn’t make it out?” Stockdale replied, “Oh, that’s easy. The optimists.” The legendary Admiral explained, “You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end…with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality.”
Collins coined this The Stockdale Paradox: maintaining faith for a victory while confronting the brutal facts. We must embrace that paradox for gospel ministry.
Scripture is replete with the promises of our prevailing. We are new creations, all things passed away (2 Cor. 5:17). We are seated with him in the heavenlies (Eph. 2:6). We will reign with him (2 Tim. 2:12).
Simultaneously, Scripture provides a brutal reality check: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves (1 Jn. 1:8). Those who live according to the flesh will not inherit the kingdom of God (Gal. 5:19-21). To be ashamed of Jesus now results in him being ashamed of you, then (Lk. 9:26). Remember, repent and repeat your good works or I will remove your lampstand (Rev. 2:5).
Are you that candidly honest about your current reality, while resting in the victory secured by Jesus?
I recently marveled at how Paul was honest about his own life. In ignorance of the Gospel, he violently persecuted the church. By God’s grace a dramatic revelation of Christ saved him from success and extreme zeal for his Jewish traditions (Gal. 1:11-14).
Paul was also vulnerable about his own ministry. He knew that he was called by God to lead the Gospel ministry to the Gentiles, and he would prepare for three years prior to going to the Apostles in Jerusalem. From this place of honestly and vulnerability, he was positioned to have a most difficult conversation with the Galatians: “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?” (3:1).
When you address the plank in your eye, you can see clearly to help your brother with his speck (Mt. 7:5). We are not to avoid helping fellow believers with their specks; we just can’t do that while people are trying to keep from getting hit by the massive planks protruding out of our faces.
If you know the year we had at Cornerstone, you know we were dealt a very difficult situation. The moral failure of a pastor immediately caused parents to fear for the safety of their children. With tears streaming down my face, I reflected, “Why didn’t we see it sooner?”
Without exception, that situation created the two most intense weeks of ministry—in my life. Without question, we were committed to honest assessment. Whatever we found, that was our starting point. And it was that approach that allowed us to protect our reputation, honor the name of Jesus, and act with complete integrity.
I challenge you to honestly assess your current reality. Though it may be quite unsettling to “go there,” it will actually establish your credibility with all who are watching you. When you are honest about you, it is far easier for them to trust you to be honest with them. When you accurately evaluate your current reality, you make it far easier for them follow you on a difficult journey to a desired destination.
What plank do you (or your church) have that is stopping you from helping them?
What reality check have you avoided because you are afraid of what you might find?
Your journey to a place of blessing and victory unavoidably begins from your current location. You won’t get there until you start here.
Michael Nave is pastor of Cornerstone Church in Marion. He is serving a second term as IBSA president.