Last month’s Urbana 12 taught me a few things — for example, on a panel of three people, it takes a long time for each panel member to answer each question from the audience. The more important lessons, though, were reminders more than anything else. Three lessons, in particular, have been helpful to me as I’ve been processing God’s messages to me through Urbana 12.
Every person serves God in a unique way.
There is no one career that all Christians have to follow. Since I’ve been going to Urbana, I have seen powerful testimonies and performances given by lawyers, missionaries, rappers, actors, dancers, poets, painters, and even professors. All are serving Christ in unique ways through different professions. In the past, this has been a difficult message for Urbana to convey, since the featured speakers have so often been cross-cultural missionaries involved in full-time evangelism or church planting. The Emerging Scholars Network works hard to communicate the message that becoming a professor is also a way to serve God, though we are also quick to affirm that it is only one way of many.
Further, each person’s journey is theirs and theirs alone. Academics, like many other professionals, are often tempted to compare themselves to others in the same field. This can lead either to despair — “He’s two years younger than me and already has three books published?†“She and I graduated together, but she already has tenure?†— or to arrogance — “That’s right I have three books published. What’s your hold-up?†“I earned this tenure through blood, sweat, and toil, and don’t you forget it.â€
Comparing yourself to others is an easy way to go crazy. Each of us has different gifts, abilities, and responsibilities that enable us to serve God in different ways. Public recognition for these efforts is fickle and ultimately meaningless, like “chasing after the wind.†Further, Mark Washington (who leads InterVarsity’s MBA Ministry) reminded me that so many people put forth a public image that bears little resemblance to the turmoil in their real lives. The appropriate measure for our lives is our relationship with God and our relationships with other people. Are we loving God? Are we loving our neighbors? Those are the important things to measure. [Read more…] about What I Remembered at Urbana 12