Survival is Dangerous

If there ever was a time to stop scheming myself into writing revolutionary thoughts it is now. I have to admit that I’m coming off a two-month journey through what I’d call the wasteland (normal thinking living) – caused by doing what I need to do to survive.

I became a survivor when I said yes to a writing job that God was nudging me to say no to. I took it to survive, to pay the bills, and to take up a great opportunity, but at the time didn’t realize that fulfilling my commitment to finish the job would have a huge toll on me. It was good, but not freeing. It was productive, but not powerful. My spiritual walk like vaporized and I couldn’t figure it out. I’m not talking about a spiritual walk where I ‘feel’ great, I am referring to the kind where Jesus is walking through you all day long and it’s like a sailboat all the time rather than a paddle boat or a boat that runs out of gas at times.

The desire for survival is what takes us all down – unless we find some way some how to stay free in a spiritual walk. Models. Systems. Programs. They kill the spiritual walk. Then why do we continue to create them? For one reason alone: to survive. Suddenly, we sense that our freedom is gone, yet we’re confused at what it could be, so it’s natural to find something – some kind of outlet, to get by. At least then we can look like we know what we’re doing. At least then we feel successful.

The thing for me is, God did not call me to get by, he called me to walk with him, and walking with him is always above and beyond getting by. Walking with him is on the cutting edge. Walking with him is a conversation. When the conversation depletes, you know something’s wrong. Today, I am afraid not to keep the conversation going. My conversation with God is my lifeline, my spiritual walk, my freedom. Millions of believers lack these things, yet don’t have a clue that there’s so much more to life.

How many people live long lives surviving? How does the surviving mentality affect the spiritual walk? How dangerous are survivors to the cause of Christ, particularly the leadership?

To be literal, survivors kill the message of Christ.

On a bigger scale, as a whole the reason most people don’t understand this is because pastors and church leaders don’t get it. Their own leadership models are just surviving, and the only reason they’re successful (if) is because the word of God prevails. Yet, there’s ministry burnout and the reason they is because they have a messed up paradigm. On far too many days, my wrong paradigm needs a transplant. They need it. I need it.

The spiritual leaders we read and read about have a quality that separates them from the rest of the world. That quality is the strength to do whatever it takes, and never just survive. The day they start simply surviving is the day their ministry dies.

I am tired of allowing survival to creep into my mind and life.

• Not surviving is having the willingness saying “no” when needed.
• Not surviving is listening to God and obeying, no matter how crazy it sounds or what it takes. *Remember how Jesus called his disciples to follow him. And it wasn’t a popular or normal thing to do in that culture either.
• Not surviving will look strange to the world. *Remember Jesus was the most peculiar of people.

Survival vs. Thrival
• Lynn, who left his high profile job to work with abandoned children for little money rejected survival.
• Lee, who once pastured a mega church and was president of a large bible college decided to pour his life into small groups of disciples rejected survival.