Mediocrity is an Enemy of Faith

Don’t be mediocre. Mediocrity is the enemy of spiritual growth.

I spoke at a church in town yesterday. My family and I enjoyed our time there. Before I spoke, one of the leaders led the congregation in prayer and prayed that God would help them develop a spirit of discipleship and service.

The leader commented that the church was deliberately trying to grow in some areas, so they were praying “intentional” prayers each week during their worship gathering. These prayers announced their intention to grow before God and asked God to lead them into this growth.

I really liked the language of “intentional prayers.” Setting an intention to do something helps to keep the focus on growth.

It’s so easy to lose focus.

If we lose focus, we tend to be just mediocre in our lives and with what we want to do.

I followed that time of prayer by sharing a message from the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus called Matthew (a tax collector) to follow him and become his disciple (Matthew 9:9–13).

One of the benchmarks of following Jesus (in the Gospel of Matthew) is the one called to follow actually, well, follows. Disciples leave family and work, get up, and begin a new life following Jesus.

This indicates a transformed and changed life.

It’s the same with Matthew. Jesus says, “Follow me,” and Matthew got up and followed. The evidence of his transformation was what he did next–he invited all of his friends (the “tax collectors and sinners”) over for a dinner, and invited Jesus, too. And Jesus went.

But there were some mediocre actors present. The Pharisees, who weren’t actually invited by Matthew, showed up. They were focused on gatekeeping who Jesus should eat with (according to them, at least).

So they asked Jesus’ disciples why Jesus was eating with “tax collectors and sinners.” (This was a catch-all phrase used in the Bible to describe the riffraff of society, the “worst of the worst, so to speak. It was stereotypical and offensive.)

But the disciples didn’t answer the question. Instead, Jesus overheard it and replied back to the Pharisees himself.

He taught a classic teaching about spiritual purpose that went along the lines of, If you don’t think or know that you need to grow spiritually, then you’ll never grow. It is those who recognize that they need to grow, and do things toward that end, who will find growth.

The Pharisees were mediocre. They believed they had already reached the pinnacle of growth and that is why they believed they could gatekeep for everyone else.

It turns out that they were as much in need of growth as the “tax collectors and sinners” that they denigrated.

Where are you with this? It is easy to look at the Pharisees and to say that you’re not like them. They’re an easy foil.

But do you identify with the “tax collectors and sinners”? People will sometimes balk at this. They’re better than the Pharisees, but not “as bad” as “those people” (whomever “those people” might be in your life).

But Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick,” and, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (9:11, 13).

The difference for us–whether we are mediocre in our faith or making strides of growth–is whether we actually see ourselves in need of Jesus or not.

I have known many Christians (sadly, many Christian leaders) who spoke and acted as though they no longer were in need of Jesus. That’s dangerous ground to be on, and a sure sign of mediocrity in spiritual growth.

Think about where you are, right now, in your faith. Are you mediocre? Are you growing?

What do you need to do to get on or stay on the path of growth? Will you do it today?

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