A DEEP WORD THAT WILL ADVANCE YOUR SKILL.
To everything there is a season…a time for the stage and a time for the shadows. And during those high times when you are popular you need to steel your soul for the times when you will not be popular.
I think the shadows are an important contribution to the development of a truly rich life and diverse life message. It's an unhealthy burden to always feel like you need something new to say. The pressure to be novel, new and interesting has produced a culture of flash fads and twitterism's in the place of really deep thinking and living.
Isaiah says that the Messiah would grow up as a “root in dry ground.” Interesting language. Evokes the idea that life springs forth from barren places and the same is true for the seasons of wilderness in our own formation. Don't leave your message – deepen it. Take it to the next level. Be addicted to advancing your ideas and indifferent to the issue of visibility.
Jesus' frequent withdrawal into the wilderness or a mountain was so that he could drill down and intercede into what was most important – His mission, message, and the molding of the handful of men entrusted to Him who would carry on His work. These are the ones who you too should pour into – the ones who continue with you in your tribulations.
It is in the times of being unseen and hidden that we go deeper. For this reason we have to have times when we are the groundbreaker and times we have to back up and let others lead….rejoicing in the progress of the message, independent of our recognition.
Sometimes you need to be your own best friend. Learn to be detached from praise and popularity because both are fickle. Choose rather to deepen the deposit of your message and the progress of those who have committed themselves to what you teach. You will know who they are because they will stay with you.
Jesus told his core team “you are those who have continued with me in my tribulations…” Get that? The disciples had to endure his tribulations. Hence there was appointed to them a kingdom…or an inheritance in the leader's mission when he was finished. The message would live on in those that he loved, and that loved him to the end.
Make sense?
– Lance
