So, I’ve had about a week to process through most of which we talked about at the Awakening. I apologize in advance that this post may be random, long, and all over the place. I learned a lot about God’s heart for the world and am being challenged in aspects of my life that I thought I had down pretty well. Crazy how that tends to
happen 🙂
Let me begin by talking about something that seems simple, loving people. How is it exactly that we can effectively love people? We can spend money on someone and buy them material possessions, but sometimes that simply says “here’s some more stuff, I hope it makes you happy.” We can love people through our words, but even those can come to seem empty and meaningless to people that have been mistreated. We can love people through our actions, but catch us on an off day and actions can misrepresent our true hearts.
So what do we do to genuinely love people? We have to accept them for who they truly are; bruises, baggage, life experiences and all. We have to meet people where they are; in depression, addiction, alcoholism, vanity, selfishness, hopelessness, greed, and whatever other struggles that they may face. If I’m not able to recognize that each person needs to be loved in a different way, then how can I relate to them on a personal level and show that I truly care? I’ll end up being one of “those people” that throws out the sinners prayer in hopes that they get scared enough to say they believe in Jesus. Rather than offering the option of grace and a love that covers all sin, sometimes we communicate condemnation in a pretty harsh way.
Let’s move on to talking about grace. In order to meet people where they are in their walk of life and genuinely show them love, I have to wrap my mind around the fact that they need to be shown grace. We talked a lot about how many Christians try to assess a person’s life by their behavior, which in turn means that we try to fix a person’s behavior before offering them grace, rather than showing them grace and love even when they are still lost in their sea of sin. Often times we think that the root of their issue is the need to fix the behavior that they partake in, when in reality they just need to know that there is something much more fulfilling than any addiction could ever offer.
Anthony Chapman, whose words tugged at my heart during the Awakening, compared the church to a hospital. The members, who were once in need of the doctors’ care, are still lying in the hospital bed receiving treatment, when in actuality they should be out of the bed telling people how awesome the doctor was that healed them. Instead of embracing the love that we’ve been shown and pouring that love into others, we continue to get treatment for ourselves and ignore much of what is going on outside of our own life. Although we know the love and grace of Jesus, we are so stuck on ourselves that there are no hospital beds left for those that are dying from sin in the world. We are supposed to be welcoming the sick into the hospital so that they can be healed, but we become exclusive and forget the very essence of what the church should be. (I do realize that I’m being very straightforward, and I hope that you see the love behind what I’m saying…because it’s truth. You can imagine why it took me a week to think all of this through),
I’ve heard a million talks about freedom since I’ve been on the World Race; freedom from law, freedom from religion, freedom from bondage…you name it. But, one thing that resonated within my very core was Anthony’s talk about the church offering bondage rather than freedom. A person that is engulfed by sin may know that something is missing because of an emptiness they feel, but they think they are experiencing freedom because of a lack of guilt. In reality, that freedom is simply the choice between living above sin where it no longer affects us and we are not tempted by it or allowing it to overtake our lives.
I titled this blog “The Yoke of Freedom” because that is what we tend to offer people when we tell them about Jesus or invite them to church. Many Christians haven’t fully accepted or understood the freedom that Christ offers, because we are still focused on many rules and the perceptions that others have of us. We are bound to our good intentions of praying for people when sometimes it’s simply a reason to gossip, or it could be the complete opposite when we are trying to save face and pretend that we don’t need the community of the church to support us because we don’t want to seem weak.
If the church is a hospital, then why are we so scared to become sick in it? Isn’t it better to treat a sickness in a hospital where there are doctors readily available rather than attempt to diagnose the symptoms on our own? If I’m ill, I’m always comforted by the familiarity of my primary doctor. I feel comfortable being honest with him so I don’t feel a need to hold anything back about my symptoms; I know he has my best interests in mind and wants to see me fully recover, which should be the same view of the community of believers.
I know there is probably room for some of what I’ve said to be misinterpreted; I truly believe that God gave me these revelations for a reason and felt the need to share them with you. I realized that I have had a mind-set my entire life that is debilitating to my true desire to love people with grace and unselfishness. Thank you for your continued prayers and support. Love love!
