And now for a serious attempt at blogging...

I am preaching through Malachi this summer. My pace is a little too fast for me, I'd like to take side trips down word study lane, repeat myself by repeating the themes in a pericope several times from different angles, and milk at least six months to a year out of four chapters. As it is, I will end up with a total of twelve messages, covering the book in about two and a half months.

G. Campbell Morgan has a book of outlines out called The Twelve Minor Prophets. I have been hammering home his two word theme for the book: unconscious corruption. His point is that the people of Judah were self-satisfied and believed God to be the cause of their difficulties, not themselves. They are unconscious of how low they have sunk and of God's true opinion of them.

As I think about this theme, I have also been thinking about the complaints of many against fundamentalism. Accusations fly fast and furious from the disgruntled know-it-all set, claiming all sorts of sins starting with ancient accusations of legalism and Pharisaism on to much more serious charges which I'll not repeat here.

I have tended to be reactionary to these charges. While fundamentalists have been guilty of all kinds of sins, I doubt that their guilt (proportionately) is any worse than any other group of sinners, and perhaps better than most. The evangelical sinners, for example, are not immune to scandal and there are the notorious priests of recent fame as well.

But let's pause in our reactionary mode. Truly, are we unconscious of our corruption? Who of us truly knows ourselves and if we do, how honest are we about ourselves to ourselves, much less to others?

Take this whole blogging phenomenon, for example. What is the point of the numerous blogs (which I will continue to read) and who do these bloggers think they are (and I plan to remain one of them)? What motivates blogging? Why must men publish their thoughts and invite the world to comment?

At the heart of a good deal of it, there must be ego. Are you conscious of ego in yourself? Do you realize how much it drives what you say and do? On a parallel track, how much of the 'call to preach' is simply ego? A good deal of it, in my opinion. Leadership involves ego. Very few leaders are in their positions because they are the humblest and godliest of men.

It is possible to be godly while driven by ego, but the challenge of any spiritual leadership is to find the right balance, subordinate and subdue the self, and harness the ego for godly pursuits. The challenge of the blog is the challenge of leadership. Blogging is a kind of leadership. Therefore, be conscious of your corrupt human nature as you blog. Be conscious that you are motivated largely by what you want to do. Be conscious of ego, and conquer it, subdue it, and control it in order to accomplish wider purposes than your own, the purposes of God.

Regards,
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

PS, to those whom I notified about the arrival of this blog, I especially want you to see the post "My second attempt at blogging" ... just scroll down.