The inspired writer of a thousand proverbs once said, "Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding" (Prov. 4:7). "To know oneself is great knowledge. True self-knowledge leads to a humility that will open the way for the Lord to develop the mind, and mold and discipline the character." An understanding of one's nature and an appreciation of the drives and inhibitions of mankind give strength to courage and meaning to reserve.
As a youngster I admired the driving ability of a young man in our neighborhood who had an eye like an eagle. There was a tall woven-wire fence around our property. It had a metal gate that was barely six feet wide. The young man I admired drove a Ford car and he drove it with vengeance. He would come down the road in that Ford forty miles an hour, and shoot through the gate with hardly an inch to spare on either side. We boys would gasp in amazement. Bill knew where his fenders were and never so much as gave them a scratch.
I've thought of that experience many times and have thought of the practical implications of Bill's dexterity—even though the way he used it was unwise. The distance between us and those about us may be spoken of as a human buffer zone. Particularly those with whom we interact, we need buffer zones as much as Fords need fenders.
As a part of an experiment Horowitz describes a group of servicemen who submitted to some testing. Each man was asked to step across the room and approach a hat-rack. The distance from the point at which each stopped to the hatrack was noted. They were then asked to approach a man who was standing about the same distance away. There was observed to be a narrower buffer zone between them and the inanimate object they approached than between them and the the man, an animate object.
Similar experiments were performed repeatedly using other objects, animate and inanimate, including a young lady. Men of varying personalities, mental attitudes, and age were tested. It was found that individuals tend to keep a characteristic distance between themselves and other people. It was also found that the distance is shorter with nonthreatening inanimate objects than with men. Stable persons who felt secure appeared to require narrower buffer zones than did those possessing less confidence. In short, it was determined that the degree of mental health enjoyed by an individual could be ascertained by his relationship to both animate and inanimate objects and the width of the buffer zone he required.
In, but Not Of
The maintenance of a proper human buffer zone is of tremendous importance in developing an effective pattern of service. It was Jesus who said, "I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil" (John 17:15). In other words, the secret of successful ministry is to remain in the community, mingle with people, come close to them, and narrow that human buffer zone right down to a minimum. But while so doing we must keep the evil of the world and the sins that are typical of mediocre standards out of our life. 'While actively serving in this capacity the minister functions as a catalyst. He enters into the reaction, accelerates it, and at the end may be recovered from it unchanged.
This type of activity in the field of international politics has been labeled brinkmanship. There may be some similarities. However, the ministry lacks many hazards that political brinkmanship implies. Nevertheless, one may be in jeopardy unless he is fortified with moral strength, determined to keep himself unspotted from the world, and is dedicated to a cause that galvanizes against temptation.
Members of your congregation or those with whom you counsel may insist that you play a surrogate role. Their persistence may be intense. You must understand them and know how to help them without becoming involved. Never yield to flattery or emotional appeals, or allow them to affect your judgment.
A determination to follow in the footsteps of the Master coupled with a dedication of heart, mind, and body, provides the trained Christian worker with a basis for unlimited opportunities as he wisely relates to his fellow men. It provides empathy, understanding, and genuine love. It engenders a desire to serve, to relieve suffering, to lighten burdens, and to bring comfort. Interacting on any other basis tends to be selfish, cynical, unsympathetic, and ultimately unacceptable.
Narrow the Gap
A narrow human buffer zone in your service is essential. This principle was taught by the prophets of old. James admonished: "If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well" (James 2:8). This does not imply self-abrogation. As a matter of fact, the tenor of the chapter indicates that a high level of personal worthiness is expected. But James clearly states that our regard for our neighbors, our fellow men, should be equal to that held for ourselves.
Much has been written during recent years on interpersonal relationships. We like to discuss various methods of influencing or helping people, particularly those who are spiritually and emotionally ill, those who need help most. The presentation of techniques may occupy many classroom hours in modern curricula of learning. We find that to help others we must accept them with all their neurotic tendencies, their differing philosophies of life, their repugnant attitudes and undesirable traits. We must bring them the sweet fragrance of Christian love, tempt them with a glimpse of life's true potential, and stir them with the prospects of abundant living —without absorbing any of the world's wickedness. Identification with the Master steels one's soul against the power of evil as armor protects the gladiator in combat.
Buffer zones make service more acceptable and genuinely appreciated. One feels safer in riding with a pilot who has never had an accident than with one who has and attempts to comfort his fearful passengers by saying that he knows how it feels to crash for he has successfully survived several. The fundamentals of a happy home are much more meaningful when described by a well-adjusted husband or wife than when extolled by a divorce. It is not necessary to have the illness, to grovel in misfortune, or to make the same mistake in order to sympathize with one who has. One need not endure the pangs of difficult labor to understand the needs of an expectant mother. Dedicated service to our fellow men requires sympathetic understanding, it requires empathy, but it does not require an affiliation with the problem.
No Other Gods
As hearts are warmed by new-found light and the love of Christ burns within their souls it is not unusual for affections to be focused upon the one who showed the way of life. Without the minister's realizing it he may be brought into a situation where he is playing a substitute role. The new convert sees in him her new-found salvation. She may even hold him up in the place of Christ; to her he becomes her savior. Adoration is frequently followed by adulation. Emotions are deceitful, consequences may be catastrophic.
In studying the life of Christ we observe that He mingled with the throng, He healed their diseases and bore their sorrows. He sympathized with them in their misfortunes, He groaned under their burden of sin. Nevertheless, He never allowed their habits or their tarnish to rub off on Him. He retained a buffer zone between His life of dedicated ministry and theirs of emergence from sin. Let your heart, like His, be touched with man's infirmities, the woes resulting from a violation of God's laws, but never identify yourself with them. Compromise is failure, participation is defeat. By 'maintaining a proper human buffer zone, a minister need never fall into the trap of playing a surrogate role at the expense of his happiness, his career, and perhaps his eternal salvation.
1 White, Ellen G., Counsels to Parents and Teachers, p. 419.
2. Horowitz, Mardi J., Duff, Donald F., and Stratton, Lois O., Body-Buffer Zone, Archives of General Psychiatry, vol. XI, No. 6, December, 1964, p. 651
