Before you stress out on one more thing, take time to read the story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead in John 11:1-44. Jesus didn't respond to a situation like we would - a situation that appeared to be a clear emergency.There are significant differences between emergencies, crises, and stress. Take an auto accident. All accidents are stressful, some are crises, and some are emergencies.
An emergency is any situation that demands an immediate decision. In other words, emergencies demand that you stop everything else and handle the situation. If the person in the accident has life-threatening injuries, you must stop everything else and manage the injuries. If you don't, the person will die.
A crisis is any situation that requires a decision. It's not just stress. It's a stressful decision that you have to make a decision about. Emergencies make the decisions for you. Crises force you to make a decision. If the car is totaled but the driver isn't hurt seriously, decisions must be made. How will the driver get home? Out of an abundance of caution, should he go to the ER to get checked out?
Stress is any demand placed on the body - emotional, spiritual or physical. Sometimes we treat a stressful situation like an emergency or a crisis. If the car isn't totaled and the driver isn't hurt, she can drive on to work. She may have to decide what car repair shop to use, but no decision has to be made on the day of the accident. It's not life or death.
What made the difference between the three situations? Why is an emergency an emergency, a crisis a crisis, and stress stress? It's not the situation. It's the priority that precedes the situation. In the car wreck scenario, the value of physical life is the priority that determines if it's an emergency, a crisis, or a stressful situation.
The priorities of your life will determine your reaction to every situation you face. Some of us are on high alert all the time. We see every situation as crisis at best and as emergency at worse. Flat tires, rejection, and bullet wounds elicit the same emotional responses from us. Why? We have the wrong priorities.
Pastors have wrong priorities. I've totally lost it over a broken air conditioner at the church property. Why? Sometimes it's because of my fear of lack of financial security. A/C repair is expensive. The money required for repairs may not be there, that threatens the ministry of the church, and that, in turn, threatens me. Money to make expensive repairs is stressful, but it's not an emergency. It's not life or death.
Churches (church people) have wrong priorities. Sometimes we get in a panic over the least important things like when the air conditioner isn't working on Sunday morning. That is clearly stressful, and it is somewhat of a crisis, but it's not an emergency. It's not life or death. Sometimes the situation seems like life and death. Some churches totally panic when their pastor resigns and moves to another church. They honestly believe they cannot do the work of the ministry without a pastor for any longer than a week or two. That is a stressful situation. It is also a crisis. The situation requires decisions. It is not an emergency. They have to act, but it's not life or death.
There are some clear life and death situations in life that require us to stop everything else that we are doing and attend to them. There are some clear crisis situations that require us to make decisions about future actions. We need to make sure we have our priorities set according to the grand scheme of things in order to differentiate between the two.
There are three clear spiritual priorities in the Bible. The first is that we are to love God. No matter what is happening, loving God by faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, is a life or death situation - eternal life and eternal death. The second is loving others. No matter what is happening, loving our neighbors as we love ourselves is more important than car accidents, A/C repairs, and staff changes. Each of these is fleshed out in the third priority that we call the Great Commission.
Preaching the Gospel, leading people to saving faith in Jesus Christ, and then making them into a disciple who does the same is the third priority. These priorities help us determine how to react to car accidents, A/C repairs, and pastoral changes. The Great Commission is a life or death priority.
Treat the love of God, the love of others, and the Great Commission like the priorities that they are and you'll be able to triage all situations in your life much more effectively. Most emergencies will take on a new light. Many crises will become nothing more than decisions that have to be made. You will no longer be stressed about things that really, in eternity, don't matter. It's not that they're not important. They're just not life or death.
No comments:
Post a Comment