{"id":489,"date":"2010-07-13T05:50:50","date_gmt":"2010-07-13T09:50:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/?p=489"},"modified":"2013-06-26T11:26:27","modified_gmt":"2013-06-26T15:26:27","slug":"impact-or-intimacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/?p=489","title":{"rendered":"Impact or Intimacy?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Which should we, as followers of Jesus Christ, aim for more: impact or intimacy?\u00a0 Should we strive to be used of God?\u00a0 Or should we strive to know God and to be known by Him?\u00a0 It is not an entirely either\/or proposition, I admit.\u00a0 But too often it is an unexamined question.\u00a0 Perhaps we\u2019ve never thought about it.\u00a0 Or maybe we\u2019ve assumed an answer.\u00a0 But may I drag it out into the open for a few minutes?<\/p>\n

If we make impact our aim, what happens?\u00a0 Who knows, maybe we\u2019ll attain it!\u00a0 But then how would we know that we have?\u00a0 How should one measure impact for God?\u00a0 Numbers?\u00a0 Size?\u00a0 Budget?\u00a0 Name recognition?\u00a0 Influence?\u00a0 Position?<\/p>\n

It is a dangerous path to trod, is it not?\u00a0 It is filled with plenteous landmines planted by the world, the flesh and the devil.<\/p>\n

But even if we miss the landmines, what does aiming for impact get you?\u00a0 In proportion to the purposes laid upon him and within his own lifetime would Abraham have been considered successful?\u00a0 Probably not.\u00a0 How about Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel or most of the rest of the prophets?\u00a0 Not likely.<\/p>\n

What is it the writer to the Hebrews said regarding the greatest people of faith?\u00a0 \u201c\u2026 none of them received [in their lifetimes] what had been promised.\u201d (Heb. 11:39b)<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s at least part of the struggle \u2013 Impact is a highly pragmatic thing, which is fraught with opportunities for compromise.\u00a0 Intimacy, on the other hand, is a personal, relational matter in which all that matters is the relationship to the other person (in this case, God).<\/p>\n

Pursue impact and you\u2019ll never rise above a performance-based intimacy, even if outwardly successful.\u00a0 If you produce you will matter \u2013 or at least you\u2019ll think you do.\u00a0 But this is anti-grace; it is pro-works.\u00a0 It is self-righteous.\u00a0 It is thus anti-gospel.\u00a0 Pursue impact and chances are you\u2019ll miss out on intimacy.\u00a0 But pursue intimacy and you may just make an impact.\u00a0 Any such impact may not be immediately detectable.\u00a0 In fact you may not even be able to take an accurate impact-reading before you\u2019ve left this life.\u00a0 But if you do make an impact by pursuing intimacy, it will be God\u2019s doing.\u00a0 If you do, it will be by grace.\u00a0 If you do, it will be to God\u2019s honor and glory, not your own.<\/p>\n

But there is a certain danger in both paths, isn\u2019t there?\u00a0 The danger of pursuing impact is in the pragmatics<\/em>.\u00a0 I will do whatever it takes to produce \u2013 perhaps even things that will diminish my intimacy with God (not to mention my intimacy with the others He has put in my life).\u00a0 The danger in pursuing intimacy is in the subjectivity<\/em> of it.\u00a0 When am I authentically intimate with the Almighty?\u00a0 When is He genuinely intimate with me?\u00a0 Many along this path fall victim to false voices, ideas and promptings.<\/p>\n

Characteristically, Jesus made the matter of intimacy simple and clear. \u00a0He declared that He is intimate with the one who is obedient to His Word!\u00a0 \u201cWhoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him<\/em>.\u201d (John 14:21)<\/p>\n

All of this reminds me of Paul\u2019s great concern for the Christians of Corinth: \u201cBut I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.\u201d (2 Cor. 11:3, nasb)\u00a0 I think often of that last phrase \u2013 \u201cthe simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.\u201d\u00a0 That sounds like a life of intimacy.<\/p>\n

I want desperately to be used of God.\u00a0 I want\u2014even more desperately\u2014to walk closely with Him, even if there is no apparent outward impact from my doing so.\u00a0 For I believe that any impact made while not walking intimately with Him is negative impact\u2014no matter how spiritual it may appear on the surface.\u00a0 And I am equally convinced that a life of true intimacy with Christ will never be without radical and lasting impact\u2014regardless of what the temporal, time-laden readings may say.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Which should we, as followers of Jesus Christ, aim for more: impact or intimacy?\u00a0 Should we strive to be used of God?\u00a0 Or should we strive to know God and to be known by Him?\u00a0 It is not an entirely either\/or proposition, I admit.\u00a0 But too often it is an unexamined question.\u00a0 Perhaps we\u2019ve never […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2-corinthians","category-gospel-of-john","post-preview"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgYGxX-7T","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=489"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1600,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489\/revisions\/1600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}