One of things I like about the Bible is how real the people in it, are. You’ve got to love Moses, right? We can see ourselves in him: the self-doubt, the questions he had for God, his mis-steps, his anger …. I can relate to such a guy. I can even relate to a person like David (not in terms of his military might, or with all his accomlishments) but rather, I can relate to the character flaws, the mistakes and miscues that God’s preeminent leader exhibited. Why do we, in the church, all seemingly want to be Nehemiahs, Joshuas or Pauls and the like? Why can’t we just be our remorseful selves and champion the things that we wish we had done or said, better? Not to stay there in “rut mode”, but not to downplay our life-sized goofs and gaffes either, for how they have made us a more relational person in the world. Relational to what, or to whom, you ask? Relational to the average Joe or Jane in life (in and outside the church)!
Why are the majority of Christians so afraid to be honest about who they really are? Why do a great number of us make a habit of wearing beautiful disguises, when we know we are only masquerading to avoid our real identity? As earth-bound Christians, though we are -redeemed, we are also thoroughly wrought with sin, and undeniably mistake riddled. Like you, I too have met and still meet Christians who are genuinely happy in their dispositions, and it shows by their countenance. But let’s not be afraid to be real, at the same time. The command of scripture (1 Thess 5:16) to be joyful “always” is compatible with our surface realities (circumstances) as humans. Though the top of the waters of our lives can be tossed about, we can yet have a spiritual stillness (a quiet, calm joy) in the depths of our lives, below the surface, as a result of our faith. If we can truly look and feel that way (joyous) despite challenging circumstances in our lives – that is wonderful! What a great testimony!
However, all I’m saying is: let’s not try to produce something or manufacture something (false happiness, joy) if it isn’t there! We’re a spiritual work in progress, and we never know who we’ll be able to commiserate with (and minister to), who just might need to see and hear a little honesty in us, ex: ”I know what the Bible says about not being ruled by our circumstances, and to be prayerful and patient in trials, and even joyful in them, but I feel the furtherest thing from that, right now. I am struggling but I am keeping my eyes on Jesus.” The reality is: we’re not always going to be in joyous moods, nor in our ”happy places.” Let’s just be real by admitting it! I find it hard to swallow when some believers say, “I’m great,” or state the overused: “It’s all good,” when referring to how they are doing, when they are really not doing “great” or ”good,” but feel they have to feed us a line like that just to come across as godly or spiritually-correct. God gave us emotions and allows us to show them and be honest about them, even though the promises in His Word ultimately put our emotions and trials in their proper perspective (spiritually realigns them). The presence of hope and faith in our trials (the Christian stance) should never at the same time, deny what we are feeling (reality: the stance of pain). If we want non-believers to get real about their sin, let us first, as God’s people, get even more real about not coming across as religiously phony. We still need to relate to a lost world, not just sound spiritually mature to fellow believers! We need to balance human reality with biblical possibilities and encouragements (when engaging both the believer and non-believer).
The average person we bump into everyday: professionals, blue collars, the homeless, the single mom: all of them, have their own fears and doubts. The last place the average person wants to be when their lives are less than okay, is in the church. I wonder why? Is it because only people who seem to have it all-together, are in the church, or go to church? No way! How spiritually erroneous such a view is! The systemic problem, however, is that in many circles outside the faith, that is the prevailing view of evangelicals. Given that reality, many find it too daunting to penetrate the impenetrable walls of the faith culture, many believers are erecting and cultivating in the church. Have we some how given the iron-clad impression to the world, that we are all “okay” in the church? I think they know better, and so we in the church must do better in terms of relating to the watching world.
The thing is, we as believers in Christ, are anything but, fully “all together” most of the time. If our lives always seem to reflect a resounding story of success, where all our trials and troubles get wrapped up in a nice bow after they have plagued us, with a tag that says “Here’s how I did it”, I wonder if there are times when in our attempt to bring glory to God, we are actually making others feel worse, in wishing that they could scale the heights of where we have landed? Again, let’s celebrate our victories in Jesus’ name, but at the same time, let’s not pretend that that is where we are at - all the time. Many believers go to their graves wondering and questioning about the faith – and we may very well be one of them, so let’s not be afraid of leaving room for spiritual reality, even more, faith, where and when needed when we share about our lives. I challenge you to rove the banks of your memory in order to recall at least one, maybe even two, testimonies that you have heard from any Christian, who put a great emphasis on personal failure and left the microphone on that note, instead of ending on a success, or a “happy ending”? Good luck my friend.
What I set out to do in My Fanatical, Regrettable Tour of Ministry, is to remove any semblence of a mask on my part, as a man and as a pastor/leader. If people can’t accept that about me or my particular experience in the pastoral role, then they can’t handle the truth. It’s hard to handle the truth about ourselves as sin-marred people; it’s even harder to face the truth that the majortiy of us – are just getting by day-to-day -spiritually, by massaging our theology and trying to stay close to our Saviour, while harbouring continuous questions about the unsolved mysteries of life.
And I too, by the way — love the Lord, and wake every morning resolving to know Him more, and to make Him known!
I end on a great quote from Phillip Yancey: ”Modern churches tend to feature testimonies of spiritual successes, never failures, which only makes the struggles in the pew feel worse…Yet delve a bit deeper into church history and you will find a different story, of those who strain to swim upstream like spawning salmon.” (Reaching for the Invisible God p19)
I rest my case!
RM
