I recently read a book called Love Does by Bob Goff. While I was a little overwhelmed by Bob’s enormous capacity, a lot of the things he shared resonated within my heart. Here are a few quotes from chapter 24, entitled Lose the Cape:

He [Jesus] healed two guys who were blind, and He gave them one admonition before moving on: “Say nothing to anyone.” In a world driven by self-promotion and spin, Jesus modelled something different for us. Jesus was saying that instead of telling people about what we’re doing all the time, there’s a better way. One that doesn’t require any capes that can get snagged on something – something like ourselves. Maybe Jesus wants us to be secretly incredible instead.

Most of the time, mission statements are just a catchy sentence or two about how noble the task is,
and maybe by implication, how noble we are.

… Don’t take the bait that if we do incredible things Jesus will dig us more. He can’t. He already digs us more.

It’s people like us who can be secretly incredible and get the most done. That’s the way Jesus’ reverse economy works.

Seriously good stuff Bob. Personally, it’s an interesting tension for me, wanting to be secretly awesome, but trying to keep people up-to-date on what we’re doing. Perhaps it all comes down to motive and only God can really tell what is going on in a person’s heart. The idea of self-promotion and spin from Christians is incredibly uncomfortable for me. However, I don’t think Bob is pointing a finger at ‘famous’ Christians either. You can be secretly awesome speaking in front of thousands of people or listening to the troubles of a stranger on the street, just like you can also be secretly prideful speaking in front of thousands of people or listening to the troubles of a stranger.

No matter what I do, I want to be secretly incredible in God’s eyes. I know I already am because of what Jesus did for me, but I want my heart to be secretly incredible as well.

Love Jess xxoo