Have you ever heard statements like, “You are the product of your environment” or “You are what society made you”?
I would often cringe every time I’d hear someone say that. I would think, “That can’t be all true. My decisions matter to my development. I can control my destiny. Only I am responsible for my behavior.”
However, we might agree that there is some truth to the fact that our surrounding environment plays a significant role in our outlook on life and ministry.
As a teenager, I spent about five years on the mission field with my parents. I look back at that time as some of the greatest years of my life. Learning a new language, experiencing a new culture, and being a part of foreign missions were wonderful experiences. But I don’t think it would have been that way had my family not first spent two years under the ministry of Lancaster Baptist Church.
Growing up in rural Wyoming, I never really had the opportunity to experience “ministry” outside our small-town church. While the church was moving forward, it didn’t offer me a perspective on what God could do with my life. Had I gone straight to Romania from Wyoming, my story could have had a different outcome.
Being immersed in the ministry of Lancaster Baptist Church, I experienced what God could do in and through my life. I had many role models to follow and God completely changed my perspective on ministry.
I truly believe that your environment matters. In a day and age that emphasizes security, careful planning, and calculated risk, we are often led to remain in an environment we know is spiritually unhealthy or simply complacent. In other cases, we are tempted to leave environments where our lives and our families can be spiritually nurtured and grow.
Perhaps you’re a young person considering Bible college and ministry. What factors are shaping your choice of a college? Price? Proximity? Online? Accredited? Ministry emphasis? I ask you to pause and simply consider this: your environment matters.
Perhaps you’re a family making career or ministry decisions that involve moving locations. Your environment matters.
Here are some ways your environment can influence you.
- Comfort often breeds complacency.
When you stay put or move merely for the sake of comfort, you invite a spirit of complacency. Once you’ve secured comfort, what more do you need? That was the attitude of Laodicea that led to the church’s lukewarm complacency.
While there is nothing wrong with comfort, God’s best for your life often requires a healthy dissatisfaction with the status quo. Comfort isn’t a satisfying goal, especially since you often have no control over the circumstances in which you find that comfort. You must desire to seek God’s best regardless of the immediate level of comfort it provides.
- Security can hinder you from surrender.
When Jesus confronted the rich young ruler telling him to sell all he had to follow Christ, the young man went away sad, “for he was very rich” (Luke 18:22-23).
I’m often reminded that God is not interested in my surrendering to a specific place or work that he miraculously reveals to me. He’s more interested in my living in a constant state of surrender. Wherever, whenever, whatever—that is true surrender.
Making a choice to stay or go based on security reveals a heart that would rather live secure than with the presence and power of God. May I remind you, friend, that there is no safer place for you to be than in the center of God’s will?
- Vice can cloud your vision.
We know the story of David and Bathsheba. We’ve all heard preachers elaborate on his idleness when he should have been at battle. We all have our vices, and idleness is the devil’s workshop.
Often a decision to stay when God leads you to go leaves you susceptible to temptation and the wiles of the devil. When we continue in those sins, the devil then clouds our vision with guilt, shame, and defeat.
God wants to use you. God CAN use you. Sometimes you just need to get out of that environment, get right with God, and let Him show you the amazing life He has to offer.
- Familiarity rarely challenges your faith.
Abraham was called to leave his home without knowing where he was going or what it would be like. I admit I would be afraid to propose such a move to my family if I couldn’t demonstrate my carefully laid-out budget and plan.
So often we settle for something familiar and never seize the opportunity to stretch our faith. Without faith, though, it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God.
What have you been avoiding in fear that you ought to engage in faith? Let me encourage you to break out of the familiar and start dreaming BIG for what God can do with your life. William Carey said, “Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God.”
- Duty often replaces development and discipleship.
How regretful Martha might have been to realize all the work she was doing “for the Lord” was inferior to the worship Mary was offering at His feet.
All too often we measure our ministry effectiveness in what we do. I’ve spoken with a number of young people already so involved in doing ministry that they cannot conceive leaving to go to Bible college. Sometimes pastors and parents who are more concerned with the work that needs to be done than the life that needs to be developed encourage this mentality. If there is systematic mentoring and discipleship for these young people, then praise the Lord. But if there is just work to do, I fear we are elevating duty over discipleship.
Bible college students often resent the hard work of study and ministry preparation because they just want to get out and DO something. Your passion is commendable, but be patient with the process. Moses got ahead of God’s process and ended up killing the Egyptian guard. It took 40 years of desert preparation before he was ready to lead God’s people.
Lay a strong foundation of discipleship and personal development on which you can truly build a great work by God’s grace and for His glory.
- Immobility limits inspiration and imagination.
When we lock down to a location or a ministry setting and never take time away from it, we are often limited in our vision and imagination of what could be. Not only is our vision limited, but we also limit our sources of inspiration that can fuel the fire of our passion for the work God has called us to do.
That is a great reason to attend conferences like Spiritual Leadership Conference where you can get away from what you know, hear from other ministry leaders, and return inspired and equipped for your church and family.
This is also one reason why I strongly encourage students to consider at least one year at Bible college. When you take yourself out of the context of all you know, you have a wonderful opportunity to look at it from the outside, shape your values, and get a vision for what matters most. You gain inspiration to go back and engage in the things that truly matter.
Your environment matters. Rather than making your decisions based on comfort, safety, or familiarity, find a place and surround yourself with people who inspire faith, vision, discipleship, and total surrender.
