It's easy to follow a man because of fame and not particularly the message. In fact one guy there coined the phrase that we were being 'Chaned'. Everyone laughed, including Francis, but it hits on a real danger that we face. If we come away talking more about the man than the LORD, there's a serious problem.
I'm not so sure its easy to do this with Francis as the Holy Spirit seems to take the message in powerful ways and strike deeply.
But as I thought about this issue i remembered a story Chan told in (i think) his church a while ago.
He told of how, when he was younger, he visited China. Everyone he met there would say "Wow, you so tall!" Francis, if you see him, isn't really that tall, but i guess in China he seems rather tall. He pointed this out and said that it wasn't really to do with him being tall, but rather most people there being 'so small'.
The lesson is that these 'famous' guys, or Christians who seem to stand out, are perhaps not that spectacular when measured against Christ. The focus should perhaps shift from their 'spiritual tallness' to our 'spiritual smallness'. Perhaps they seem so big because we have let slip and made the normal expectations so little.
Just a thought!
One of the things that Francis mentioned in passing was that in every generation it seems that only a few men and women follow faithfully with their all.
Oh that Christ would call us, equip us, and lead us among the few in our age who will tread the narrow road.
Interview with Francis (This is a few years old now)
