Bona Fides

It's really great having an intelligent father you can go to for sage advice, until he tells you what you don't want to hear. That's where I've been lately, in that awkward place where what you need to hear collides with what you don't want to hear.

Last week I was in the midst of a good old fashioned pity party, doubting decisions I had made, because things hadn't turned out as I expected quite yet. The problem is that I know where I am, and I know roughly where I'm going to end up, I just can't figure out how to bridge that gap.

In the midst of calling myself everything from stupid to selfish, dad cut me off. He said, "you are earning your 'bona fides'. Old cops used to say rookies were 'earning their bones'." Of course I gave him a death glare because that cleared up nothing other than a rough reference to the term "bona fide". He went on to explain that this simply meant you have to pay your dues first, and once you've done that, it can't be said that you were handed anything.

Of course I had to do some research and surprise, surprise, pappy was right on his definition. "Bona Fides" comes from a Latin phrase. It means "information that establishes a person’s reputation or credentials." "Bona Fide", without an "s" was at one point a legal term meaning "without fraud". (grammarist.com) Basically, earning your "bone fides" means establishing credentials to prove you are the real deal.

So why the need for the grammar lesson? I have to believe I'm not the only minister who has felt this way. I can't be the only one who has looked around at my present situation and said "how am I any good to anyone? How could this be part of the plan that God called me too?" I know I'm not, because I've watched multitudes of young preachers quit the race because halfway through earning their bones they couldn't see what was going on.

I'm gonna blame this, in part, on the way we were taught the most basic bible stories. We were taught that if God called you to something He would place you right in immediately, you would see fruit of your labor, and be fulfilled in every way. We were taught the "instant gratification gospel". We were told that God took David from the fields, he somehow defeated a giant, and rose to fame. We were told that Moses went from stutterer to revered leader over night. And we were told that Abraham became the "father of many nations"simply because God's favor was on him.

Here's the problem, all these men "earned their bones". David earned his by killing bear and lion. Moses earned his by listening to God even when it meant being mocked and repeatedly turned down by Pharaoh and criticized by the very people he was trying to lead to freedom. Abraham earned his by a series of events in which he followed the leading of the Lord in everything from leaving his homeland and family to nearly slaughtering his son. In fact, in the case of Isaac, the bible plainly states that God was "tempting" Abraham when He demanded Isaac's life be sacrificed (Genesis 22:1).

Yes, God could take you from obscurity and place you on a world stage without all the proving ground in the middle, but He won't. The reason is simple: He loves you too much to set you up like that. In these times of trouble and confusion, take heart! He is letting you earn your Bona Fides now so that when bigger things come down the road you can point the haters back to these moments and say "God trained me on the lion so I could face the giants!"

What if David had let his fear keep him from defeating the lion and bear? What if he said "clearly God isn't on my side because I have to face these terrifying situations"? The course of scripture would have been altered. Don't fear the proving ground. Don't doubt what you face today, you are just earning your bones!