Undeniable Truth #8

8. We are better than me- Exodus 18:13-27

I love my father in law for a lot of reasons but one of the main ones is because as my sons say: "he is wicked smart!" Seriously, he just knows stuff. And through our 27 years of marriage he has given us wise counsel on many occasions. (he also taught me what I call my "father in law knot" which I have used to tie down everything from motorcycles to the luggage on top of the car).

Moses had a smart father in law as well. His father in law, Jethro, watched him struggle with the impossible task of being the sole judge for all the problems of all the people, day after day. And then he spoke these words of wisdom:

"What you are doing is not good. 18 You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. 19 Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. 20 Teach them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave. 21 But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. 22 Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. 23 If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.”

Jethro started his advice with words as strong as garlic. In fact they may have sounded a little condescending. After all, who wants to hear his father in law say: "What you are doing is not good." ? But his heart for Moses quickly comes through and it's apparent that he just doesn't want his son in law to burn himself out. I admire Moses for not freaking out at those first words. He could have turned Jethro off or he could have immediately become defensive and filled with pride. After all Moses was over 80 years of age and he had managed to lead millions of people out of Egypt.

But Moses listened. And what Jethro was really teaching him was that if he would train others and raise them up to form a team of wise judges that their "we" would accomplish much more than his "me."

My greatest joy in ministry has come through serving with ministry teams. The most life changing ministries I've been a part of have come from the collective wisdom of volunteer teams.  And- serving with those teams has filled my life with joy and proven another truth that "we" is also more fun than "me."

I close by saying thank you to all of you who are reading this who've served alongside me in crazy projects like the mud coaster, homemade t-shirt launching, 4th of July at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, open air concerts at the market in Africa, celebrating New Years on the roof in El Salvador, bottle rocket fights in a field in Illinois, and too many more to mention.

You have made my life full...and that's why this blog is called the Evangel Adventure.