cramming the big picture into small frames

Specifics are fantastic -- specifics are necessary. Specifics are the details to God's Church that translate our big ball of theology into actual practice. They are the youth worker having an afternoon heart to heart with a disconnected 15-year-old. They are the college student giving a little of her weekend to serve the poor in the city. They are the husband and wife visiting the elderly woman next door to make sure everything in her home is functioning properly.

Specifics are not just important, they are observed. Through specifics, His Church is given its face. We've all read the books: we need more specifics. We understand that our faith and theology are rendered useless to the world without the church engaging in more specifics. I would venture to say, 95% of Christ's followers are either passionate about a specific or are searching to find what specifically they should be passionate about, and most of them would not be worse for it.

Nothing renders Anthony Marks more useless than becoming tangled with specifics.

Let's recount the past ten years and assess the situation: I've been a youth pastor, a church planter, a camp director, an educator, a mental health worker, and a store manager (both retail and food service). I've been passionate about churched kids, ending domestic abuse, sexual purity, spiritual freedom, worship, drama, urban restoration, Christian-owned businesses, and a smidgen of politics (even while disregarding it). At each stop, I've convinced myself that I could make a life of that sort of ministry, with that particular passion and call.

Thankfully I have spiritually wise and discerning men around me that are willing to reiterate the message I need to hear:

"Knock it off!!!"

My mistake is based out of a common sin: I want to be like everyone else.

I don't get to be. I will never be able to be. His Church suffers when I am. The quicker I accept that God has placed a greater anointing on my life, the quicker my life will bear fruit -- and I will experience the joy of serving. It seems like a simple enough contract between God and I: He gives me the call to lead, He empowers me to live within that call, and I walk in obedience.

He's made good on His end of the transaction.

I've been scared to obey because I might screw up. When God lays the big picture on my heart, it's easier to digest if I chop it up and chat about specifics. I can become "Chameleon Christian" and absorb the passion of the person sitting across from me. If they care about youth, I can care about youth. If they want to feed the poor, I can help feed the poor.

It requires the confidence of the Spirit to deliver the unabridged message He has deliberately placed on my heart: "Your passion is a small part of something SOOOOO much greater, and I'm going to tell you about it!!!"

And then I would allow God to speak like a rushing fire hose. People would hear of His never-ending pursuit of a holy people, set apart for only His purposes. They would hear of the eternal declaration of His Glory -- how He must be glorified. They would hear about His decision to include us in the grand scheme of redemption, to reconcile the broken and sick of the world to Him. They would hear about the church's one function: to serve as an earthly representation of this Christ that must be glorified, that all may know and acknowledge Him as King!

Everything else is details! All the specifics that people write incessantly about are discredited outside of the big picture. Within the big picture, God would have the everyman represent Him through the details, but specifics are nothing but works outside of the holy life! If we have the audacity to make our passion the big picture, we essentially offer the lost an incomplete Gospel, which is no Gospel at all!

I would share all these things if I were walking in obedience...