By David Ramos
Yesterday I had the pleasure of speaking to a dear brother and friend of mine pastor, prophet, entrepreneur and social engineer—Jose Humphreys. He jokingly said that he and his colleague dreamt about starting a ministry called, “It Ain’t About You Ministries.” We both laughed and moved on to another topic. Later that evening as I thought about our conversation I thought about how “right on” this idea was.
In our post-modern turn we have deified the Self. Accelerated contextual theology seems to have turned into “you make it and bake it” ethics. Seeker friendly initiatives writ large has turned into church shopping. The “preaching moment” has turned into the “preacher’s moment.” Individuation as portal to self-actualization is almost a doctrine and there doesn’t seem to be any abatement to the permeation of the cult of Self.
While Christianity does not purport self-annihilation, it definitely does exhort us to put Self in check and to sacrificially serve others. There are times when it seems that we need to create a new ministry in the church for some of us leaders that are suffering from a debilitating case of “cabeza-granditis,” perhaps we can call it, “Megalomaniacs Anonymous.” I don’t know what the attendance would be like but for now I think we should all support Jose and his “It Ain’t About You Ministries.”
“For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.” Matthew 16:25
Devo,
LOL, I’m cracking-up over “cabeza-granditis”. you know i need to use this one…
jose h.
Jose,
Ain’t it the truth?! Thanks for the inspiration.
I like that term as well. Definitely one to use. You guys are a snap. But let me say that many start off KNOWING this truth but get side tracked because they start to ‘believe the hype’. It takes our amigos/amigas that can dish it and take it to keep us on the keep it real route.
Liz,
you’re totally right we do need hermanas/os who are going to keep us in check, so-to-speak. i’ve become sober enough to know that “cabeza granditis” is often a matter of when, and not if. so it’s a constant-like brother ice cube used to say-“checking ourselves before we’re wrecking ourselves.”
Liz & Jose,
The bond of authentic friendship is what’s going to get us through difficult times. (Wait, let me get my tissues, I LOVE YOU GUYS!) :o) LOL
We definitely must give each other permission to ask the tough questions. Like in Johari’s window, there are definitely areas that we are blind that others can not only see but could help us with.