Continuing with observations from Luke’s gospel, my friend and fellow church discipleship coach shared with me what the Lord told him from Luke 12:

And [Jesus] said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all kinds of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (Luke 12.15)

“All kinds of covetousness” – Ray said that when he read that, he asked the Lord, “What kind of covetousness am I guilty of?” And the answer came immediately: “Ministry envy”

Pastors are always comparing church sizes. Those of us in more relational disciple-making ministries compare the numbers of people we are working with and their quality. “Ministry envy.”

One mega-church pastor who didn’t finish well was once urged to seek out a mentoring relationship with a particular, more experienced pastor. His response? “He can’t teach me anything. My church is bigger than his church.”

Ray has had some health problems recently, and a friend loaned him some books to read. One was about Alaskan sled dogs. The author said that often at the beginning of a race, one is tempted to look over at the other guys’ dogs. “Wow. He has a better-looking set of dogs than I do.” The author then wrote that the #1 motto of sled dog drivers is this:

You can only drive the dogs you have, not the dogs someone else has.

That’s a good word…for pastors, for disciple-makers, for anyone who leads a team. Ray’s daughter once played basketball at the college level. Her team didn’t do all that well, partly because her coach didn’t know how to build a team around the strengths of the players she had.

And [Jesus] said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all kinds of covetousness…” (Luke 12.15)

For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. (2 Corinthians 10.12, NKJV)