But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ. Philippians 3:7-8
“Christian leaders cannot simply be persons who have well-informed opinions about the burning issues of our time. Their leadership must be rooted in the permanent, intimate relationship with the incarnate Word, Jesus, and they need to find there the source for their words, advice, and guidance.
Through the disciplines of contemplative prayer, Christian leaders have to learn to listen again and again to the voice of love and to find there the wisdom and courage to address whatever issue presents itself to them. Dealing with burning issues without being rooted in a deep personal relationship with God easily leads to divisiveness because, before we know it, our sense of self is caught up in our opinion about a given subject.
But when we are securely rooted in personal intimacy with the source of life, it will be possible to remain flexible without being relativistic, convinced without being rigid, willing to confront without being offensive, gentle and forgiving without being soft, and true witnesses without being manipulative. For Christian leadership to be truly fruitful in the future, a movement from the moral to the mystical is required.”
Henri Nouwen in In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership (1989) 22.
I had a call yesterday with a fellow CEO. In the call we discussed that our role was really to discern direction from God and to depend on God to supply where God guided. Our work is discerning and depending.
Or as Nouwen might say, our role is mystical.
If we want to live generous lives, we must be rooted deeply in a relationship with Jesus. Out of that relationship, contemplative prayer comes into view as listening to the voice of love and finding wisdom for each day.
This guides our generous living, giving, serving, and loving.
Many of you may we wondering how GTP is doing in pursuit of that major grant. I have told you for days that we were praying for 200+ givers from 32+ countries. The number was only 120 from 18 countries on 6 June 2022.
As of yesterday the total hit 201 givers from 46 countries.
That is not a typo. We did it. You did it. All over the world, you stepped up. Thanks for giving so that God’s workers in hard places would not get a handout that creates a dependency but a hand up to build them as disciples.
And may each of us be mystical disciples who discern direction from God and radically depend on God.