Passive guilt complex- Donald Miller writes about his interview with a surgeon whose opinion was that evangelicals are motivated by guilt. This came from Don asking the surgeon why he does what he does. The response was “because it is fun!” This shocked Donald and me. The surgeon could have said, “Because I help save people’s lives” or “because I have an obligation to give back to society.” I would accept that answer and even think it noble but is it the best answer?
Don is a proponent of joy in work and ministry much like the church in Acts. This interaction with the surgeon pushed Don to stop engaging in the “ought to.” He says that we should get in touch with services or ministries that “come out of our skill sets and passions”. Donald Miller poses the question that I would ask of your ministry, do you live with a feeling of “ought to” in your life?
In cohort we talk a lot about duty, a lot about potential threats, a lot about things to avoid, but we also talk about leading out of our particular skills and particular likes and dislikes. If we aren’t motivated by passion and joy, what then are we motivated by? My fear is that when we are motivated solely by “ought to” we end up creating a performance based leadership not a passion based. I wonder if we lead out of a sense of “ought to”, would we wake up one morning in a place we don’t want to be in?
