"You are Such a Downer"

"That guy is a real downer."

No one likes to be around people who are downers.  I mean, it's hard enough today without having someone around who points out the flaws in my plan, my business, or in me.  I need encouragement, advocacy, cheer leading, unbridled enthusiasm, energy.  And by the way, does it really matter whether or not I'm wearing any clothing? I need positive people who will get behind me, thick or thin. I have a dream and its not going to happen unless the people around me get on board and get in step.

I deserve that, right?  After all, those people work for me.

There were these guys in the Old Testament who held Kings and entire nations accountable called Prophets.  But I like to call them real downers.

• Nathan - called out King David, the most powerful man around, on his adulterous affair and for being a murderer - downer.
• John the Baptist - called out King Herod (an insanely paranoid megalomaniac) on his incestuous relationship with his brother's wife and niece - downer.
• Daniel - tells Nebuchadnezzar (a particularly nasty king) he will go insane for 7 years because of his pride - downer.

These downers lived a long time ago, but I think God places prophets in our lives today.  You know, the ones who might not always think "you're all that and bag of chips."  There the ones that aren't afraid to ask questions like:

"Are you serious?"

"What were you thinking?"

"You messed up; now how are you going to fix this?"

"Are you on dope?"

"Can we swim back to reality island?"

My tendency is to avoid being around downers at all cost; they're just not very fun and quite often, they just get in my way.  

"Attend my launch meeting?" Ugggh.  

"Meet for coffee?"  Please God, anything but that.

I just dread it.  

The Bible says that there are false prophets and that they should be killed. I recommend you do that (figuratively, of course.)  That means I need to distance myself from the false prophets and figure out who the real prophets are in my life.  Here are some of the qualities of the real prophets I've experienced:

1) They're pretty good people, they lead pretty good lives, they love God.

2) They care about me.

3) They care a lot about my "kingdom" (my family, my business, my church, etc.)

4) Speaking into my life gives them little to no direct personal gain (the best prophets are the ones that know they could lose their heads, but they speak up anyway.)

5) They don't really enjoy being my prophet.  (that is they don't derive pleasure from watching me squirm.)

Time with a prophet can be a real downer, but I still need them because I know I can't be everything God wants me to be without them.  And sometimes, I need to have the love and show the courage to be one for someone else.