Looking back, he was unsure how he ended up here. He was working too many hours in a career he didn’t respect, with people of questionable integrity, but he was one of the privileged few. He had worked his way into the inner sanctum, but now that he had some time to get outside of himself, he began to question why he wanted it in the first place.
He used to love working as an administrator at a Christian preschool. It was work he found meaningful; it also paid the bills, and he could get home every night with his family by five o’clock. However, the school was part of a larger consortium, and though he loved his job, he never felt like anyone special. He watched from the outside, and the consortium’s leaders seemed to have their own little community, which also had significant power over the 23 schools in their group.
Without realizing it, he wanted to be part of that group because they were the inner cabinet in the small world of school administration. They commanded the respect of others, and he admired that. He intentionally ensured his work crossed their desks to get their attention. His work was impressive, and they began to learn his name.
They had their own lingo, and he began to learn it after circling the group for a year. In situations like this, there is no official inauguration once you are in. They simply start using words like “us” and “we,” which include you when they speak of themselves. They had invited him in, and he accepted. Once in, they asked him to change jobs and work with them.
Being part of a group like this is little fun if it is not exclusive. Once you are in, you grow wary of anyone else circling the group. He had to find his way in, navigating a gauntlet of unspoken political shibboleths; everyone in the group wanted to make sure others ran it as well if they had any hope of being allowed in. Most were not.
Once in, he realized there was another group that was even more exclusive. This group had one foot in the government and another in the consortium world. So, he began his climb.
Getting into both groups required promoting specific values and political stances. He didn’t necessarily agree with them, but it was worth it if he could become someone special, so he played the game and entered the sacred circle.
This new group enjoyed looking down on others. Their favorite people to ridicule were those in the group he just left. It was one of the benefits of being a part of it. Like the rest, he had managed to be talented and politically savvy enough to rise in exclusivity. The others were not, so looking down on them only seemed natural.
He had been neglecting his family with long hours away to maintain his newfound position, and his wife finally laid down an ultimatum. She required that he take three weeks away to spend with them on vacation over the summer. Seeing the seriousness in his wife’s eyes shook him, forcing him to look at his life.
Not only had he been neglecting his family, but he also no longer enjoyed the work he was doing, and he was required to spend longer hours doing it than his original job. As part of the agency, he made decisions for schools that did not necessarily help the schools but helped the agency maintain its prestige.
He had become successful by becoming someone he disliked, and it all started by wanting to belong. It was a group centered around itself. He had taken the bait.
He wondered if the same thing had happened to others in the group that had happened to him. It was as if a vortex had opened in the collective weakness of human nature, and they all began swirling around it.
These kinds of groups are all around us, and they lure us daily. You will see them if you look around you with eyes wide open. They are in your school, at your place of employment, and they even group on the internet. They even exist in churches and theological subcultures.
Not every group is like this; some are legitimate friendships that revolve around similar interests, skills, and beliefs. But others are built on pride. We should examine ourselves as we stay on guard against the world, the flesh, and the Devil. Is there any group you are trying to win favor with, not because you naturally align with them, but because you want to be part of the privileged few? That is where the trouble begins.
-D. Eaton
The Fight of Faith 