What makes you righteously angry? What injustice, practice, teaching, through-process or reality gets under your skin and gnaws at your heart? Bill Hybels calls these our holy discontent. He says that there are certain things which everyone needs to be helping out with, serving, and generally doing, but there is one thing which God has given you in particular which, as my dad says, "chaps your hide".This is a fire God has placed within you, because he wants you to get on board and help bring about change in that area. For Pastor Hybels, God placed the discontent in him that he could not bring his unbelieving friends to church, because they would not be remotely interested - he barely was. So he draws from the discontent that God gave him and founded WillowCreek Community Church to be a place where people could hear about the gospel in a place they would want to come to.
Pastor Hybels tells story after story of people who have found their holy discontent and have gone on to do tremendous things to change that for the glory of God. He talks of us having "Popeye Moments" - "That's Alls I Can Stands, I Can't Stands No More!", and we can either complain about it or do something about it. Mr. Hybels believes that God has given us these moments so that we will do something about it.
What gets under your skin and itches like the devil? That discontent is holy and can be used of God to help change the world. Holy Discontent is a great book and one that leaders and lay people alike will find practical and challenging.
