Fascination With the Road Signs

The other day, I read an interesting and enlightening post over at Thoughts on the Way.

I am so thankful for the men which God has brought into my life – sometimes in person, sometimes through books. I still remember the electricity of hearing John Piper preach for the first time. In my mind he had to be at least 6’3”. I was shocked to find he was closer to 3’6”! I could tell you story after story concerning my exact location when for the first time I encountered several other men who have deeply impacted my life. The value of these men in regard to my growth in grace (and sometimes sanity!) can’t be calculated.

But O how dangerous they are to me! How easily I can get fascinated with the road sign! Men who are gifts to point us to Christ can become the object of our fascination.

And here’s the deceptive thing – it appears you are being God centered because you aren’t making much of men. But again this is an area which needs to be reformulated. God-centeredness is not self-degradation, or the degradation of other men. We often think that the one who is most humble will be the one who talks the worst about men. But even though you are centered on your own unworthiness, you are still centered on self.

- Mason

I think this also applies to my life as a Christian in a broader sense. The question is not only, "How often am I engrossed by the preacher and not the One being preached?" I should more often ask myself, "How important is being with God compared to ministry, songwriting and theology?"

In retrospect, I've found myself to be completely engrossed in the preacher (Paul Washer in particular) and not the subject being preached. So many times I am more interested in hearing Paul Washer preach because he is strong and convicting and even enjoyable to listen to. Scarce are the times that I truly meditate upon the message afterwards, communing with God and just being with Him so that I could grow in His ways based on what was preached.

Not only that, but too many times I find myself writing songs because I want to write. To be honest, my mindset when I write songs is sometimes completely off. There are times where I sit down and think, "Alright. I just want to write a beautiful song that is going to be popular and sung all over the world." There are times that I write songs because I'm bored, not because I want to bring the highest praise to the Lord.

As for the topic of theology, there have been many times that I've read Christian material just for the sake of knowing theology. Did I want to know more about God? Of course! But that motive was mixed with other motives, such as wanting to appear intelligent and godly amongst my Christian brethren.

All of these things (preachers, sermons, praise, theology) are meant to bring us closer to Him so that we could have an intimate relationship with our Lord and Savior. These things are meant to point us to Him! I'll be the first to admit that too many times I've focused on the road signs pointing me to Jesus and not on Jesus Himself.