Addicted to the Fumes - The Deception of Manipulative Insincerity

Obtaining a "high" from inhaling vaporous fumes has been around as long as model airplane glue and gasoline pumps, but the last few years have witnessed a growing abuse of unimaginable proportions. According to a study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, an estimated 338,000 U.S. youth ages 12 to 17 reported sniffing inhalants within the 30 days before the study, and twice that many reported using inhalants in the previous 12 months. Inhalant use continues to climb, especially in third world countries. It's more than just dangerous. It is deadly and has cost the lives of men and women around the world. That is especially the case among the young.

I ask you to please forgive me for using this reference and understand that in no way am I making light of this dangerous practice as I merge the analogy with this article, but I do want to make a point. It’s a strong point and I'll use a personal story to help do so.

It was in 1997 and started with a phone call from a well-known denominational leader at the time. "Tim, I'm hearing your name as a strong possibility for being elected as the Department Director for Evangelism at the next General Convention for the denomination."

Those were the words from this individual who called me on a day I was busy working in my first appointed assignment as a State Superintendent in the denomination I have been a part of my entire life. I had only been away from my pastorate for about 6 months and was working hard to make the adjustment of giving oversight to about 80 churches. Until those words were spoken, elected denominational offices and climbing church administrative ladders had truly not crossed my mind. I was simply honored and felt very undeserving to even attend to the responsibilities I had been given. Come to find out, the caller wanted something from me. After he varnished and coated my ego with a moment of political ecstasy, he got to the point of his call which involved purchasing copies of his new book for every minister in my care.

He and I both knew that at that point in my life, I was basically unknown and unelectable; at least to the level he was speaking about. I had just stepped into the arena of the appointment and election process and occupied a near bottom seat on the denominational council. An elected advancement like the caller was referring to wasn't about to happen at that time or anytime soon. Deep down inside I knew it, but I had sniffed the glue and experienced a high from the fumes.

The Effects

For a while I was distracted. The precious people I was appointed to serve were put on the back burner for a few days while I daydreamed about giving an acceptance speech to my adoring and voting public. I let my mind dwell on living in our denominational city and walking the hallways of the denominational headquarters as I moved about to high level meetings. No, I wasn't stoned but admit I had a little electoral buzz going on in my head. It is human nature and naturally human that some people experiment and eventually become addicted to the intoxicating power of what I call "the glue." Oddly enough, being qualified for the job or being able to be effective at it, never crossed my mind. It was all about arriving at a lofty destination.

Now, for just a moment, let's extract everything we’ve ever assumed about being "called to administration." For a second, let's remove our genuine desire to "pour into others from our vast experiences." Let's just deal with the human nature and ego part of it. When I sniffed the glue that day, it was a temporary escape from of the grind of the hard work I was doing. It was a rush of affirmation and while I wouldn't admit it then, I'll tell you now, it largely fed my ego.

The truth is, God-ordained service at any level of church ministry should never be about a person's desire for boosted ego or power, rather, it should arise out of a servant's heart to meet the needs of the people they represent. If this is truly your motivation, God will get you to the place where helping others can be effectively accomplished. Jesus modeled this when He washed the feet of His disciples and when He said that the greatest in the kingdom of God are those who serve. (John 13; Mark 10:43).

But what is worse?

Sniffing the glue or peddling it to others?

Since the day I first sniffed the proverbial glue of church politics, l have an automatic caution light that illuminates within my spirit anytime I get near it. Detoxing from it took a while, and since that time, I can spot a "pusher" a mile away.

We all appreciate sincere affirmation and appreciation for our work when it is well deserved. Most of us are honored that anyone would think we could lead anything at any level. But please, just save the contrived platitudes and the less than honorable motives.

Yes, I have spoken into other people's life before. There are those I knew God has touched for special purposes and it's easy to see.

But I won't peddle the glue. Yes, there have been some who desperately wished for me to make promises, prophesy, predict and prognosticate but I just can't do it.

I won't do it.

Here's what I will do, however. I will urge any person to submit themselves to God in prayer. Hide away with your feelings and even your ambitions and let God ripen the fruit of your leadership capabilities. I promise you, when it's time, He will make the way. God will build the platform and promote you to His perfect will.

The Rest of the Story

Years went by and I was never elected to the department that was spoken of by the man who called me that day. However, at another denominational convention long before I was elected to our denomination's guiding committee, a precious woman who is now with the Lord, stopped me in a hallway, and with brokenness and tears, began to speak to me and my wife. I have her words etched in my heart to this day. She said, "Tim Hill, you will serve our church someday at levels of its heaviest responsibility. Not today, but some day. You will be praised, and you will be broken. You will be applauded but you will also be crushed. I pray that you will use these years as a season of preparation and making ready for what is coming. "She then took my wife's hand and almost apologized for what she had said, but we knew she had touched a place deep in our spirit.

What a difference between the two individuals who had spoken into my life. One was a fine man but yet, a peddler of the glue while the other was an anointer to my spirit. By the time she deposited those words in us, some hard knocks and maturity had made a difference in me. There were no fumes of egocentric flamboyance in anything she had said to us that night. She was most sincere and used of God to bring me to a place of very sober thinking.

There will be times when multiple opportunities will arise and abound for upward movement in various arenas of service. When that happens, there is a temptation to be verbally expressive about many things to a lot of people. Like an addict longing for a fix, some are hoping that you say what they want to hear. They'll even fish for it and lead the conversations in that direction. But be careful to heed Paul's words in Ephesians 4:29, "Let no corrupt talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear."

As transformed by God's grace as I believe I am, I am fully aware that like the Apostle Paul, there still remains in me some Saul of Tarsus that must be controlled by the Holy Spirit. If I give control to the Holy Spirit, the air is cleared and the aroma that remains is the fragrance of love, peace and unity. Being addicted to the intoxicating hold of

ecclesiastically, political fumes will control your life and make you live to please the people who gratuitously and frequently supply you. For myself, I'd much rather be captured by the sweet fragrance of the Rose of Sharon any day.