Take-away #2 from Rob Bell

“When you live a life of obedience to God, you will not want anybody else’s life“

• If I am obeying God, and walking the the path that he has set before me, I will not want anyone else’s life.  I will be satisfied knowing that I am doing all that God has called me to do, whether it is in a church of 50 or 5000.
• When I am living a life of obedience, I will be satisfied with what God has called me to do, and therefore I will not question the motives or seek to criticize someone else for what they are doing in their church or ministry.  I will be content, knowing that God has placed me where I am.
• Because I will be content, and because I will not criticize other people’s ministries to try and minimize their success (and God’s blessing) and lift up my ministry, I can celebrate with others when they achieve great things for God, and be happy that the Kingdom is being enlarged through their work (and God’s blessing!).
• This frees me up to be who I am, who God created me to be, and keeps me from trying to be someone else just because of their size and influence.
• This also will give me a team mentality.  The church down the street is NOT my competition in any way. If they are preaching the Gospel, they are my team mate, and as such, I will do whatever I can to help them reach people as well.