An iceberg is a large piece of freshwater ice that has broken off from a snow-formed glacier or ice shelf and is floating in open water. Most icebergs have 10-20% of their mass exposed above water while the remaining majority of it mass is concealed ‘beneath the surface’ of the water.An inverted iceberg Christian is one in which 90% of their Christianity is what others may see . . . 90% of their worship occurs in the church service, 90% of their Bible reading is done in the church service, 90% of their prayer life occurs during normal church service times.
Joel prophesied, ‘let the priest weep between the porch and the altar.’ For years, I have referred to the porch as that which is public and the altar as that which is private. Too often our altars (private Christianity) are dwarfed by our porches (public Christianity). It’s far to easy to be over-fruited and under-rooted.
Many failures in public ministry were due to a highly charismatic leader not having the character to support his gifting. Reverting the iceberg places the Christian in his/her right orientation.
The Titanic never touched ‘the tip of the iceberg’ . . . which, by the way, was the portion of the iceberg that was seen. No, it was what’s beneath the surface that caused it to sink. When a Christian is rightly oriented, focusing on internal spiritual growth as opposed to external emphasis, they possess the ability to ‘sink Titanic-sized’ problems while appearing to be completely un-moved, unscathed.
Let’s keep what’s ‘behind the seen’ deep and wide . . . let’s keep what’s beneath the surface attractive to Christ so that we will live lives that are pleasing to the Father and productive on earth.
Pastor Clifton LeJeune
