As they start to talk about cars and argue the finer points of the sport (if you would be so bold as to call it that), you become impressed because the 12-year old is holding his own. He can go toe-to-toe with the Nascar driver about the finer points of cars—how to make high speed turns, etc. At points in the conversation he even seems to be “winning” and making better arguments than the Nascar driver, which is even more impressive.
Here’s my question for you: If you had to ride in car with one of them while sitting in the passenger seat with no seatbelt, who would you choose? If the room was filled with 100 other people, who would they choose?
The 12-year old can argue all day and by doing so think that he and the Nascar driver are peers; however, one-by-one as people choose the driver they are going to follow, it becomes painfully obvious that what people need are experts, not enthusiasts. These are the people that lead. This is what our community desperately needs.
We have a lot of enthusiasts as it relates to holiness, we have a lot of enthusiasts as it relates to stewardship, we have a lot of enthusiasts as it relates to Bible knowledge and theology, but what I’ve found is that we have very few experts, very few practitioners. If you’re only an enthusiast as it relates to holiness, there’s a word for that—hypocrite.
If that’s you, here’s my advice:
Slow Down.
Don’t feel the pressure to memorize Systematic Theology by next week to impress your friends, leaders, or the people that follow you. Don’t feel the pressure to read a whole lot of books this year just to reach a certain status in the eyes of people that are around you. Don’t feel the pressure to insert yourself into Twitter conversations with your heroes to prove that you know a lot.
Slow Down.
This isn’t a race. Take some time and soak up the things that you’re reading. Surround yourself with people that will ask you the , “So what?” question. Start practicing the things you talk about.
After you study, get in the car and take a few laps around the track. You’ll find out that you might actually learn something.
This blog post is reposted with permission of Rebuild Network and John O.
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