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The Deficit
Delusion
by Michael Ruhl
Author Tom
Rath in Strengthfinder 2.0 refers to
a "misguided maxim" which deceives people and deludes organizations: "You can be anything you want to be, if you
just try hard enough." This humanistic delusion leads people to conclude that
the pathway to "success" is by overcoming deficits. Our culture is obsessed
with books, motion pictures, and folklore, which are packed with narratives of
the "underdog" who conquers unbelievable odds and emerges in triumph. Even now a host of football fans are waiting
for an "athletic underdog" to rise up by its own cleat-straps and topple the
New England Patriots.
Can you
think of a single culture that does not embrace the "deficit delusion"? One
study in the United States
revealed that 77% of American parents think that a student's lowest grades deserve the most time and attention.
How ironic that many parents celebrate excellence in their children with
apathy, but instead concentrate passionately on wanting to "fix" their children's' shortcomings
and weaknesses. Rath cites the example of the legendary Michael Jordan, who
incarnated the giftedness of raw talent on the basketball court, but was not
able to become the incarnated champion of baseball or golf. The tasks of
baseball and golf were not in tight alignment with his (God-given) strengths. All
too often, that humanistic assumption (You can be anything you want to be, if
you just try hard enough) leads to the "deficit delusion".
So what
does this have to do with MIssio Dei --the
great gospel imperative of Jesus to His people and His church to go and make disciples of all the nations
(people groups)?
The Holy
Spirit imparts to Christians and to congregations through the Word the burning
missionary burden to reach unconverted people with the good news of salvation
by grace and through faith in Jesus Christ.
And the best stewardship of mission is to express and develop that
mission on a local level by aligning our God-given gifts and strengths with the
missionary purpose of God in the world.
Avoid the trap of assuming that, "until we focus and fix our
weaknesses", we are unable to have missionary impact. That is simply yielding to the "deficit
delusion". Instead, build mission
momentum and impact by aligning and deploying personal, corporate, and God-given
strengths (spiritual gifts, ministry competencies, unique talents) to make Gospel connections with those who do
not yet know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Let the missionary
people of God declare: We cannot
be anything that we want to be -- but we can be a lot more of who our God has gifted us to be!
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