When Characters of “The Office” Invade the ChurchPart 2 – Dwight Schrute
Dwight Schrute, quite possibly my favorite character on “The Office” (because he’s certainly one of the funniest characters), is a man who is all about obtaining position, power, and authority. He constantly tries his best to get his title of “Assistant to the Regional Manager” changed to “Assistant Regional Manager,” he once called corporate and back-handedly tried to take the job of Michael Scott (the Regional Manager of the Scranton branch), he argued with Andy about who reports to whom on Andy’s first day in the Scranton branch, he considers everyone in his branch (aside from possibly Michael Scott) his “inferiors,” he tried to form a secret “alliance” group in order to gain leverage for himself if the company were to pinpoint him in their downsizing endeavors, and he reveled in his power and lorded over the others in his branch when he was given the responsibility to choose the company’s health insurance plan.
There is no one more power hungry than a Dwight Schrute. Likewise, there is no one who enjoys wielding power and authority over others more than a Dwight Schrute. And just as we discovered previously with Michael Scott’s character, the same is true of Dwight Schrute’s character; there are Dwight Schrutes everywhere – including, unfortunately, in the church!
Church members operating under the Dwight Schrute mentality come in all shapes and sizes, and they can be seen at all levels (from the average lay member to paid staff), but they have one thing in common: they are always looking to seize position, power, and authority in any way that they can – solely so they can “lord over” others, feel important, and bask in their “power.” You won’t see a Dwight Schrute acting as a mere spectator in the church (or at least not for long), because as soon as a position becomes available, they’ll do anything to get it. Whether or not they are successful in getting the position of their choice, they’ll constantly be seeking ways to go after another more-powerful position or to make their current position more powerful in the meantime. All of this is done because they revel in lording over others.
Now there’s certainly nothing wrong with having position, power, and authority. In fact, people with the right motives who use position, power, and authority in the right ways can do a lot of good. Moreover, position, power, and authority are biblical concepts, and the Bible teaches that those who possess these things should be respected. But the Bible further teaches that position, power, and authority should be attained with the right motives, and the Dwight Schrute mentality is the exact antithesis of what the Bible deems appropriate in this regard.
You might remember two biblical Dwight Schrutes who asked Jesus if they could sit at his right and his left in his kingdom. They were two of the twelve original disciples, and they wanted to be more esteemed than anyone and everyone else. They wanted the highest position any person could attain, but solely because the super magnitude of the position is what appealed to them, and so (naturally) their aspirations ticked off the other disciples. That’s usually what Dwight Schrute types do; they tick off everyone around them, because nobody appreciates a power-hungry, position-seeking megalomaniac.
But notice the response of Jesus! After telling these two disciples that they were off-base in their request, he then called over all of the disciples to teach them a lesson concerning position and power. He said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:25-29).
Jesus made it very clear that the Dwight Schrute mentality is unacceptable for those seeking and/or holding power and authority in his church. Christ-followers should never be about seeking position and power just for the sake of having it and using it to pull the strings of others. Instead, Christ-followers should be all about serving others and purposefully making themselves a slave to those in their care. That’s what great people do, according to Jesus; that’s what the greatest did – when Christ came to earth to serve and to give (even his life), when he could have rightfully came to demand the utmost praise and service from us, towards himself, as the King of kings!
For those of you who have come to realize that you’re a Dwight Schrute in your church, you can go about correcting the situation in this way: (1) Ask God to forgive you for seeking position and power instead of seeking ways to humbly serve others. (2) Begin looking at your desires and talents as tools to serve others, and (if you’re in a position of authority and/or you have a measure of power and influence in the church) begin thinking of ways to use your authority and power to serve and minister to others instead of promoting yourself and lording over others. While Dwight Schrute is hilarious to watch on television, he’s downright detestable to deal with in real life …so don’t be him.
There are more character-based devotionals (associated with “The Office”) to follow in the days ahead! Your feedback is both welcomed and appreciated!
