Too Many Details Hide What is Most Important

I am STILL working on whittling down a chapter of my DMin project from 32 pages to, well let's say, LESS than 32 pages.  It is a chapter that is taken out of Reformation history, a back and forth exchange between Luther and two fellow reformers.  But I am finding myself stuck in the details.  Ever feel like that?  Stuck in the details of all that is going on around you?  Unable to dig deep and get to what really matters?

Well, three informal submissions later, my advisor still says, "Get down to what is really important!"  (This is really interesting stuff, he says, but get to what really matters here!) In other words, stop trying to impress everyone with your knowledge base. . . it's not about that!  All the details don't matter and very few people would even be interested in all of that anyway!  So, now I labor away once more, I've printed it on paper so I can see it in black and white rather than on a screen.  The red pen is coming out!

Know why it's so hard for me to do this?  Because I am too emotionally attached to it!  I admit it: I don't want to sacrifice the work I've put into it.  I don't want to cut it or prune it or throw any of it away.  It's almost painful in a way. . . Sounds like a little bit of idolatry doesn't it?

How often do we get stuck in the details in our churches?
How often do we need someone to say to us, "Get down to what is MOST important!"  We are afraid of losing something. . .
*Losing the work we've put in to it.
*Losing a part of us and thinking that it never really mattered. . .
*Losing the legacy of our grandparents and great grandparents.
*Losing status. . . the fancier the better, the more important and more impressive we will be to those who don't know us yet.

We have some illusions that need to be crushed!  We have some idols that need to be crashed!

Sometimes we think that more and more information will solve our dilemmas.  If we could only just get more documents, more statistics, more experts weighing in on things then we would surely be just fine.  But I think we know what to do . . . we know how we've been called to serve, and live, and share the good news.  We simply have to be able to free ourselves up from all the baggage, data, facts and figures and get busy doing what God has called us to do.  Obedience, again?  So often it comes back to that, doesn't it?  In order to do what we are called to do we need to focus on the basics-- what is most important?  Oh, and stop worrying about our own egos, our own status, our precious reputations. . . none of that matters!  What matters is Jesus Christ and him crucified, risen and ascended.  Oh, and the promise that he will come again!
Amen!