Have you ever heard of the Pareto Principle? It’s also called the Principle of Factor Sparsity, or the Law of the Vital Few, or quite simply the 80/20 Rule. These all refer to the same idea, which suggests that 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes. (https://www.simplypsychology.org/pareto-principle.html)
It all started with land survey in Italy by an economist named Vilfredo Pareto, which found that 80% of the land was owned by 20% of the people. Astounded, he surveyed land around the globe and found the same results. It has since been used as a proven formula in just about every industry and social construct (computing, engineering, logistics, distribution, healthcare, etc.). In healthcare, for instance, 80% of the total expenses come from 20% of patients.
Have you ever worked a job and noticed that there are only a few people actually doing most of the work? This can be frustrating, right? Why are the great majority seemingly okay with just being part of the herd?
Guess where else I found this principle at work? The church! Wait, what? Is this right? Are we saying that only 2 out of ten people REALLY believe what they say they believe and the other eight are just punching in and out on the eternal timeclock? Maybe it’s true. When I consider my time serving in church leadership roles, I only see a small number of the people who attend church that even go regularly, let alone are also giving of their time, talent and finances. Ask most any Pastor and they’ll tell you.
Jesus did say “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Mathew 7:14). And again, during the sermon on the mount He said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and, in your name, perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” (Mathew 7:21-23). Wait a minute! These were people doing ministry, not just weekend service attenders. Does this mean that even the pastors and church leaders don’t get a pass? I believe so, but I am not the final judge of the heart. He is. If our faith is shown by our fruit, as it says in the Bible, then many of us are at risk of travelling down the “broad road”, if we’re being honest.
Are we the lukewarm that Jesus speaks of in Revelation chapter 3, when He says “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:15-16).
It would seem that there is actually something to this. Then I heard a quote from Billy Graham and apparently, quite a few other Christian leaders have said something very similar. “I would be surprised to see 15% of the people I reached in all of my time in ministry, when I get to heaven”. Yikes! You mean that out of the millions of people that Billy Graham reached through his years of ministry, the great majority will be turned away? But, some of them raised their hands in an emotional moment with God, or answered an altar call, or got baptized. I thought the rule was “once saved, always saved”. This is causing me to really reflect on where I stand with God.
So, I sought out some data through Barna Research and Pew Research to see if there was any merit to these claims and tried to gauge the faith of the people who make up the church. Well, what I found suggests that Billy Graham and Mr. Pareto are optimists when it comes to percentages in the church.
We have to figure this out. Salvation of all things, can’t be left to the “Pareto Principal”, can it? That’s not good enough. Now, ask yourself this question and really take a moment to sit in it. Do you really believe what you say you believe? Let me challenge you while you are considering your answer so quickly. If you do, then everything about you should look different than those around you. Your marriage, your family, how you treat others, how you treat those who may be against you, how you spend your time, what you spend your finances on, etc. It should all look totally different and stand out from those around you, according to the Bible.
Confession time: I was “luke-warm” in my faith and it was actually exhausting. What does “luke-warm” faith or being part of the 80+% look like? It was me attending church and high-fiving other dudes each Sunday, but never actually going deep enough with God or those same dudes to make a significant difference. On the outside, I was a Rockstar, but the real story was very different. Heck, I was even in a small group. It also looks like me hearing a good message or worship song and thinking “that’s what I want” and then getting angry before making it out of the parking lot because some other Bozo doesn’t have my same Fast and Furious driving skills.
It became clear that my faith and all of my relationships were no more than surface level. Let’s be honest, if a friend or even family member made me angry or offended me, I didn’t have a whole lot of trouble with just walking away from them and starting over with someone I liked better at the time. I kept God at a distance also. I really liked Him there. I could commit what parts of my life that I was comfortable with and keep a firm grasp on the rest, since I had them under control, mostly… Plus, I didn’t think that He would really want to get tangled up in the messy parts. I could sort that out soon enough and then I would get real with Him. Until then, we could have our select moments during that good worship song or something. As long as it fit into that hour or so on Sunday because I was really busy trying to be super awesome in front of the world the rest of the time.
The problem is, surface-level faith and relationships are definitely the wide gate. They seem way safer and appear to give us way more control, so we are naturally drawn to them. Going all-in with God and with other people is hard work and risky, even if the payoff is real joy, lasting peace and salvation!
So, let’s say for a minute that I do decide to go all-in. What gets in the way of this for me and you? There is a huge disconnect between our head and our heart, and closing the gap here is what makes the difference between being part of the 20% or being part of the 80%, in my humble opinion.
When I considered this, I remembered that I actually became good at finding the 20% when I was in the corporate world, but I didn’t realize the similarities in the Christian family of believers right away. For example, when I was going to hire someone in one of my previous leadership roles, I had a recipe that came from what I saw in the top performers. It was only three things, which made it simple. Knowledge, skill and desire. That’s it! Finding someone with all three was basically like the human resources winning lotto ticket for me. They had knowledge of the space, the products, the customer base, etc. They had the skillset for the job I was hiring them for, whether it was sales, account management, operations, etc. And, most importantly, they had a burning desire to work for this company, on my team and in this very role.
It was really hard to find all three in one candidate, believe it or not, so I had a backup plan. They could have two out of three and it would be okay. And, some people could even get away with having only one of three if they were super impressive. But whether they only had one or two of these prerequisites, the one that was a non-negotiable in the mix was desire. I could provide them with knowledge, and I could teach them the skills, but I could not and would not try to give or teach them desire. That one, you simply have, or you don’t. It’s on you and it better be downright contagious if that’s the only one you show up with!
Guess what I’ve learned since then? Avoiding “Luke-warm” faith actually requires the same combo. You need to have a solid knowledge of who God is and who He says that you are. You also need to have the skills to live out the Christian life consistently because it is a battle. And, most importantly, you have to bring the desire to go all in, or the rest will be for nothing.
The challenge is that too many times, the deep level of desire that’s required, does not manifest itself until we come to the end of ourselves, unfortunately. Most of the Christians that you meet who are absolutely sold out for Jesus have experienced enough devastation to cry “uncle” and arrive at the end of themselves, finally realizing their need for Him. It’s a shame that many times it takes this option instead of just unselfishly choosing Jesus on a good day because He is who He says He is. That’s the easy way, and I myself have proven that I like to do things the hard way, apparently. I come from a long line of stiff necked, prideful, I’ll do it myselfers dating back through the Old Testament days. Don’t be like me.
Let me paint a picture for you to help illustrate this idea. Think about someone who is diagnosed with an illness and they’re told that there is an 80% chance they will die an early death because of it. What do they do? Well, they start by consuming as much knowledge as they can about the illness and every single cure for it. Then, they begin learning and using the skills that the doctor says might help the most. They are totally dialed-in! The desire part is pretty much no problem on this one, right? Everything else in their life comes to a screeching halt, and they begin the journey of becoming a sold-out victor over this disease. All of the sudden, the right diet, exercise and habits are no problem to stick to. They want to be part of the 20%. Look at the people closest to them also. They too become major advocates for their loved one and conquering this disease when it comes so close to them. They go on every social platform and scream from the roof tops about this new passion of theirs. Do you see the similarities between these folks and the 20% at work that succeed? What about the select group in the Christian faith that are really having an impact? Some of us could get the award for top 20% as fans of our favorite sports team, but hardly anyone knows where we stand on our faith. Why don’t we have this same level of commitment to God?
When you think about that sick person, what happened that made them make such a drastic change from everything they previously stood for and everything they’re willing to do now? It was the fact that their whole story changed in an instant, right? What if Jesus showed up right now where you are? Or, you get accidentally run over by a septic truck as you leave this place and judgement time comes way earlier than expected for you? Are you ready for that moment of truth? Are you ready to reconcile your place on God’s team, in the chance that you are in the 80%? Will He recognize you? What’s stopping you from getting completely serious about your faith? From being totally sold out for Jesus? Where He is both your Lord and your Savior (two totally different heart conditions here; surrender & obedience)? You are fully surrendered in all of your ways and making yourself an offering to His plan for your life (spoiler: which is much better than your plan)? You are able to see and love others, the way that God does?
Which one of the three aforementioned attributes is the only one you need to land the job with Jesus? Might God be using the same strategy? No need to wait on the knowledge and skills to be in place. He only wants your heart in order to begin (desire was the correct answer, in case you missed it).
Okay, this is where we begin to explore the narrative that makes up your version of the story of God and the story of you. Because, if the knowledge is wrong, it will be very difficult to practice the skills and near impossible to have a desire that does not fade according to circumstance. And if you are using skills but lack knowledge and real desire, you are also running in place spiritually and those skills are misplaced, with all due respect.
Remember the disconnect between our head and our heart that I mentioned before? Well, it’s wreaking havoc on your story and is solely responsible for the cycle that you feel like you can’t get out of. It is the difference between being “luke-warm” or being on absolute fire. The way to close the gap is a familiar formula; knowledge, skill and desire.
Here’s what that looks like practically: You need to intimately KNOW God’s story, before you can REALLY believe what you say you believe. Not just know OF Him, but actually know HIM, ditching the gaps that come from what we learn from the rest of the world. We can help with this. You also need to know the “God-edited” version of your own story. Your version is lame compared to His, I promise. We can help with this also. You need to understand the skills that are required to have a real relationship with God and others that goes way beyond the surface level. We totally love helping with this. Finally, you must have the desire to REALLY pursue a relationship with Jesus. This part is on you. However, this begins with a simple choice to bend your will towards God’s will. If there is a willingness to do that, you can invite the Holy Spirit into your heart and your Heavenly Father will fill you with an immense desire. Boom!
If any or all of this speaks to you, and you have a genuine desire to experience the not- so-easy work, but real joy and lasting peace of the “narrow road”, then we would like to link arms with you and continue the journey together. The storyMission Online Course and weekend retreats are designed to facilitate an authentic experience with God as you navigate His story, your story and how the two were always meant to fit perfectly together. We will provide the simple knowledge that fills in the big gaps most people struggle with. We will take some time to look back at your story through a different lens, as well as look forward in order to see what God may have for your next chapters. We will talk about the skills needed to have a real and active relationship with Jesus. And God will do the parts that only He can do in order to make it all super personal to you, providing a Holy Spirit infused desire to your heart and closing the gap between your heart and your head. Welcome to the fire!
You can find additional information about the online course and the retreats on our website at www.thestorymission.org
My prayer for you today is this: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13 NIV)
Chris Wasman
The storyMission
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