Hey Reader!

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I hope this finds you experiencing the love of God this Thursday. Sometimes it's just the simple things. A walk in the woods. A enlightening conversation with a friend. A great cup of tea on a cold day. A new hobby. A surprising worship song. Here's hoping the Lord is interrupting you in the sweetest possible ways this week.

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Here are some pics I thought you might enjoy.

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Below is one of my Lenten art paintings.

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“Rescue me from the mud; don’t let me sink” (Psalm 69:14a).

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Here in North Texas in the suburb we live in, we are plagued by clay soil. So much so that I have to buy dirt, which messes with my thrifty sensibilities.

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However, if you’ve ever been slurped into a clay mud hole, you know what I mean. It grabs on, adheres to your shoes, making the bottoms like Frankenstein shoes, and is reluctant to let you go. It takes great effort to extricate yourself.

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In life, there have been many times I’ve felt stuck in the muck and mire. Way too many to count. That’s when I cry to the Lord to ask him to rescue me.

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He made the mud (and the clay), and he best knows how to rescue me (and you).

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Way:

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(NOTE: this article came from my new Substack account. If you'd like this kind of long form essay content on a weekly basis, you can subscribe here).

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I looked at the picture, shaking my head. Is this what a pastor is? A seemingly sculpted man with a smirk? Who has many followers, is constantly “right,” and harms those he leads?

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Since when did swagger become a fruit of the Spirit?

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What about service, kindness, humility, patience, and gentleness?

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Jesus made it pretty clear that our fruit matters. In Matthew 7:15-23 he issues a stark warning, particularly to leaders:

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“Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions. Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’

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This rebuke is for false prophets. Prophets are people who speak for God, so a false prophet is a leader who may say correct Christian wording—even from a pulpit—but their actions (fruit) denies their beliefs. What they say and what they do is incongruous.

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Last week I mentioned these people by sharing 2 Timothy 3:5. “They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!”

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And yet? We tend to put these kinds of hard-driving, rightness-smirking leaders on a high pedestal. Those Paul warns us to avoid, we, instead, applaud.

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What’s an average Christian in the pew to do?

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We must become fruit hunters.

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Simply put: fruit is necessary in the life of a leader. Good fruit is the outcome of a faithful, connected life with Jesus. The spectacular (signs, prophecies, miracles) is not an indication of spiritual effectiveness. Big numbers don’t necessarily point to spiritual success either, particularly when the fruit is bad (broken relationships, coercive control, underhanded practices where the ends justify the means).

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No amount of oratory gifts or institutional prowess can compensate for a fruitless personal life.

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And pride is never a fruit of the Spirit. Arrogance either.

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Why is it that we gravitate to leaders who bend more toward those traits? Is it that we feel safe when someone has so much puffed up confidence? Are we so uncertain that we need a leader who has the audacity to verbalize unsavory things? In a chaotic world, is it easier to hitch our wagon to a person who has all the answers, possesses charisma, owns a nice house, and stirs things up?

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Perhaps it’s easier to relegate our spirituality to someone with certainty. But it’s not good for our souls. We must become like the Bible-literate Bereans who tested what people said by the Scriptures. Theirs was an active faith. And they longed for truth that squared with the Bible.

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We must be discerning. We must stop being wooed by outward gifts performed by inward wolves. It’s to our peril that we platform leaders whose integrity doesn’t match their reach.

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There seems to be a cadre of leaders like this—they tend to run together in packs, playing off one another, stroking each other’s egos. It’s a fraternity who

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• Eliminate, silence constructive criticism
• Cherish their own authority
• Pontificate about politics and their “right” views
• Are on each others’ “elder” boards in order to keep their power
• Preach for each other in lucrative speaking deals (trading pulpits for profit)
• Circle the wagons when one of their brothers is attacked
• Copy each other’s messages
• Spend a lot of time curating their public persona and their brand
• Decry some women as Jezebels
• Lead privileged lives with expensive hunting vacations

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Of course this is no exhaustive list. But I keep seeing the pattern. We certainly watched this with Mars Hill in Seattle (with the exception that I don’t think Driscoll copied sermons, and I’m not sure he hunts).

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We hear a lot of talk about toxic masculinity these days. I don’t have the bandwidth or scholarship to address that. But I will say this: Jesus was a human being—a male—who was the most amazing person who ever lived. He was not a bro. Look at how he did things differently. Jesus

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• Engaged in conversation with his critics (and, to be fair, his words were pointed, but loving).
• Emptied himself of his privilege.
• Spoke to crowds about an upside down kingdom that didn’t chase power, but saw the weak strengthened, the poor fed, the broken welcomed.
• Decentralized his ministry by pouring into twelve, and a larger crowd around him.
• Was not paid for his preaching.
• Did not retaliate with words on the road toward crucifixion.
• Spoke original words, tailoring them for each group he spoke to.
• Went out into the wilderness to connect with God, particularly as his popularity grew.
• Preserved the life of a woman caught in adultery, spoke to the woman at the well with compassion, allowed Mary of Bethany to take the position of a disciple (there is so much I could say here).
• Had no place to lay his head, though he owned the universe.

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The church needs leaders like Jesus who shepherd others. I believe the Lord is calling to account those “pastors” who are building their own empires to the detriment of God’s people. They are being found out. But they won’t go down without a fight, a proud commitment to their own rightness, and a whole lot of compensation.

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As I read the words of Matthew 7:22-23 (above), I can’t help but modernize them for these so-called pastors:

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On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We built giant followings in your name and demonized those who disagreed with us in your name and went on many famous podcasts in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’

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Lord have mercy.

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Play

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I'm so excited to share my client Tera Elness's 365 day devotional with you! Isn't it lovely? It's now officially released and would be a perfect Mother's Day gift.

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"Starting your day with Tera through her journal-thoughts-turned-words in this 365-day devotional is like sharing a cup of coffee and conversation with a trusted friend who simply “gets” you. Written through the lens of who God is through insight and wisdom gleaned from over a decade spent in God’s Word, Tera has the ability to bring the Bible alive in a way that will leave you encouraged, empowered, and inspired."

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Pray

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Jesus, please bring new friendships Reader's way this spring. Help Reader find you in the cacophony of life. Empower Reader to test everything by Scripture and not be harmed by wolves in sheep's clothing. Enable Reader to retrace your path of faithfulness in Reader's life and live in gratitude. Bring hope this week, I pray. Amen.

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I'm glad you're here, Reader!
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Warmly,

Mary

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