This morning, God asked me a question that I think we all should ask ourselves.
However, before I tell you what it is, let me give a little context. For those of you who don’t already know, my wife and I are expecting our first child on February 21st! His name is going to be Micah James Brewer, and he is going to be the best boy ever (or so I think, even though you may hold your own opinions on the matter)!
That being said, the question that God asked me this morning was in regards to my soon-to-be-born son. He asked me, “If you were only able to teach Micah ONE THING from your life, what would you want to teach him?”
What a great question, but what a difficult answer to give! Would I want to teach Micah how to study God’s word and teach it? How to do business as mission? How to take care of his future wife and love here well? How to live in community with other believers and share the hope of Christ with others? What would it be?
I sat there and thought about it, and I realized that there is one thing that Micah could not live without. There’s one thing that He must know and one thing that I must teach him!
I would teach Micah how to pray and live in relationship with the life-giving, all-knowing, all-powerful, graceful, merciful, loving, and perfectly just God.
To be honest, I don’t really care if Micah knows how to run a business as mission, do ministry, teach God’s Word, or love his future wife well. At least, I don’t care about those things so long as he knows God, for God will teach him all of those things.
The one thing (if I could only teach him one thing) that I truly care about Micah learning from me is how to know and love God with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength. From that will come knowledge, wisdom, and understanding about how to do all other things well.
I tell you all of this because I believe this little question also applies to what we do as church leaders. I know from my own experience that it isn’t difficult to get caught up in things that may have little significance in an eternal perspective. However, for me the most dangerous things are getting tangled up with too many good things that ultimately hold me back from doing the great things that God has called me to do instead.
So let me ask it: if you were only able to teach your congregation one thing as a result of your time with them, what would that one thing be? There are plenty of good things that you could share with them, but what is the one thing that they NEED to know?
Think about it for a minute. Then ask yourself, is that one thing central to what I do as a pastor and/or ministry leader?
I’d love for you to share what your answers to those questions are in a comment below! Blessings!
