Ruthless!

Ruthless. Doesn’t sound like a Christian word does it? I’m reading a book that has it in the title. It’s a Christian book too! It’s encouraging me to be ruthless. I have to say it’s not a notion I’m particularly comfortable with if I’m honest. Thing is, ruthless always conjures up images of nasty people. People who are ruthless are people who don’t care about others. Ruthless people are people who don’t stop to think about how their actions affect others. Ruthless people don’t care about how their words might hurt or crush another. Ruthless people are all about getting the job done. Ruthless people are focused, assured, determined, single minded and don’t get side-tracked by minor distractions. Ruthless people are successful people. Ruthless people don’t worry about the decisions they make, they just make them. They don’t look back. They don’t suffer fools. They don’t like weakness. They can’t abide vulnerability. At least, in my mind those things are true. And I don’t want to be like that. Mostly. I say mostly. There are times when I really, really want to be like that. But…I’m a minister of a church so I can’t, can I? Sometimes it would be really useful not to care! No, really it would, I think. But here’s the thing. I’m wondering if, maybe, there’s another way of thinking about it. Could it be that to be ruthless is profoundly Christian? Stay with me. What about Jesus? “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” (Mat. 4 v 1) The devil, cunning chap that he is, tries to knock Jesus off course by offering him a short cut to fame and power. We call it the temptations of Jesus. And rightly so. But in order to resist, couldn’t we say that Jesus had to be ruthless? There was no room for error or deviation here. One wrong move and the whole thing comes crashing down. Jesus, ruthless. There’s a thought. But I think it’s powerful. He was ruthless. There was no other way it could be. He had to ruthlessly refuse to be tempted away from God’s call. And that’s where I start thinking ruthless might be ok for me, or maybe, essential. I have a weakness. Actually I have lots, but I’m only going to tell you about one! I am always comparing myself to others. I know, it’s embarrassing and unbecoming of a minster. But, it’s true. And, on my dark days, it’s crippling. I’m a flawed human being (just in case you hadn’t worked it out) and it is a constant struggle. People say I’m competitive, which is only partly true, because for me it’s all about comparison. I’m competitive because I’m always comparing myself to others. And, mostly, falling short. Lockdown is not helping. Not at all. I am finding new ways to compare myself to others and falling short. By the way, this isn’t a cry for sympathy (although you can always send chocolate). It’s an explanation of why I must be ruthless. I must ruthlessly refuse to compare myself to others. I must. Because God has not made me anyone else, he’s made me, me. He doesn’t want me to be anyone else. He wants me to be me. He’s not comparing me to others, so neither should I. And, since he’s the master craftsman, maybe I should take that to heart. What I need to do is learn to be the man God created me to be and ruthlessly refuse to compare myself to anyone else. Ever. I’m working on it. Slowly. Maybe you should too. Become ruthless that it is.