Ministry has been used as a means of powerful seduction. What was originally intended as a good thing, can be used as something terrible. Pastors, in many cases, can be notoriously distant fathers, as they can become overly focused on their ministry at church and so fail to engage their ministry at home. We see it all the time. People can use ministry to hide. People have jumped into the mission field simply to get away. It sounds to be a justifiable means of running and hiding in the eyes of others. If you just left, people in your life would call you out. Go in the name of missions, and people will struggle to see past the good in the action itself, to the heart.
Even your affection for God can be twisted. You may at first want to shirk at this, but I it's not because God is anything but perfect. It is because you and I aren't perfect. Our hearts are so wicked that even the greatest of things can be turned to harm. Jesus is called the stumbling block for a reason. It isn't because He is not perfect, but others aren't, and so many will see Jesus' perfection and it will turn sour in their hearts. You can never love God too much, or even enough. I know this probelm first hand, because I have hidden myself in God, not from satan, not from sin, which we should take refuge in Him for, but refuge from the hurt of loving others. The Irony is that God Himself is the one telling me to go out. I have used my affection for God as an excuse to disconnect from loving others, which runs counter to what loving God is. Take the verse, "love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your might," and you might think God is telling you to give the Heisman to the world around you, go on a mountain top, and meditate. People have done it all throughout history. Only things is, in the greater context of the Bible as a whole, we see that you cannot in fact truly love God without loving others. He doesn't give us that excuse we long for to hide. In fact, He tells us to not only love people we like, but even our enemies. Think about that. He is telling us we are to have an affection for people who hate us, who long to harm us. He is telling us that it is going to be messy. It isn't going to be easy. We are going to get hurt, but there is no room for us to hide, certainly not in the name of God.
We also know that satan loves to use scripture. He loves to twist God's word. It was God's word that he twisted when he tempted Jesus. Think about that. Satan used scripture to tempt God! The most powerful lies I have believed have been about scripture, hands down.
All of this to say... let us be on our guard against the lies of the evil one. He wants to steal, kill, and destroy us all, and his main weapon is lies. If he can't have us, then he wants to at the least hinder us.
All of these lies have been very present throughout my life. We all hate the most that which once ensnared us. So, as these lies have, and still sometimes do, ensnare me, I hate them all the more, and long to see you not succumb to them as I have.
Fortunately, despite all this, we know that, "all things work for the good of those who love Him, and are called according to His purpose." God is surely in control. He is surely faithful. If He is for us, then who can be against us? Surely no one. So, let us be bold with our affections, with our time, with bodies, with our gifts. May we give them all up to Christ for His purposes, which we already know are to bring Himself glory through delighting in Him.
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