Throughout the Old Testament we have stories about kings and leaders being confronted by “a man of God.” Sometimes we are told the person’s name and sometimes we are not. Elijah is called a man of God for example, but in stories like 2 Chronicles 25 we are never told the man’s name. At first this bothered me because I wanted to know who it was and any other stories from their life. Lately I am thinking this is the perfect way to tell the story of the Bible. Ultimately the story of the Bible is the story not of individual achievements but of God’s work in the world. The people who follow him and serve him as “men and women of God” are not the center of the story – God is.

Honestly, I think the same is true of our walk with God. We serve Him and make sure He gets all the glory. I say this for a couple of reasons. First, I came to a simple conclusion a few years ago that I will never be “matthewharris.com” or Matthew Harris ministries. In fact, I hate to even put my name on the website or on the front of the program or even on the sign out front. I made a commitment about 7 years ago that I will stop trying to build my kingdom and try to build God’s kingdom. I do not need my name in lights or even the recognition of my peers to make my life meaningful. I am a servant of the God most high.

The second way I see this played out is in my daily ministry. I do not care for people to know everything I do as their preacher. I know that sounds odd to some but to me it makes perfect sense. I do not want any ministry to be about me. It is not my youth group or my worship planning or my cleaning ministry or anything I do that makes this Church great. It is God’s ministry and we all participate in it for His glory. I really do not want any part of the local Church to be my little kingdom. I want simply to be a man of God.

My hope is that when the story of my life is told to future generations you could take my name out of the story and put in the words “man of God” and the story will have the same meaning. My greatest desire is that what happens in our Church is recognized as the work of “men and women of God” and no one individual. Sure, no one will know exactly what each of us has done, but they will know that God was at work through us. I think that is the greatest story that can be told.