 |
Another week, another article: welcome back to the blog and if you are new, welcome. For today’s article, I thought about bouncing back from Less is More, using a few more stories from the Bible that I like but at the last minute, I just switched. I switched because although less is more speaks directly to some of the situations I am going through right now and to the posture of my heart for 2018, the topic that I want to discuss today has been one that I am still learning to apply into my life. Today we will talk a little bit about church hurt and some of the key things you have to understand in order to hopefully recover from it and if not, at least be on your way to recovery.
Walking the walk of Christianity is one of the most difficult thing you will ever do in life. It will be difficult because of the nature of the walk, the efforts and the sacrifices it requires, but more so because it has two components: a personal walk with your Lord and Savior Jesus as well as a walk as part of the body of Christ. So not only are we talking about the Church body of Christ but also the church as a community. So to open this article, let’s first dive into a story that I like a lot and that was not long ago brought up from another angle by Pastor Charles Metcalf from Transformation Church. Let’s look at the story of the good Samaritan in Luke 10: 29-37
“ Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road. By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side. Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’”
Although I mentioned the whole story, here I am only interested in verses 33-34. When pastor Metcalf preached on this beautiful story, he revealed a truth that I had never perceived before in this story. He revealed the truth of the church being the Inn the Jewish man was left at. When we come from the world to Jesus (the good Samaritan), we come with all kinds of hurt and not necessarily Church appropriate behaviors/personalities that He started soothing, bandaged but that have not healed yet. And sometimes, when we do not carefully manage ourselves or if someone does something inadvertently, the wounds can reopen and start bleeding again. Let’s consider that we are all in that Jewish man's condition: we carry all kind of “hurts” and “sicknesses” that are being taken care of and some of the inappropriate behaviors that are being displayed in church can be categorized as such. The first step in overcoming or attempting a recovery from church hurt is understanding that we are all “sick” as we are all being checked-in at the Inn. Being sick and/or hurt might not be physical: it could be an emotional and/or psychological trauma that has altered our vision and perception of ourselves and others, leading us to display inappropriate behaviors and say inappropriate things that hurt people. Jesus said in Mark 2: 17
“Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”
So being all gathered at the Inn, we are waiting to be visited by the doctor. When you go to the doctor or the emergency room, even if another patient in the waiting room misbehaves and upsets you, knowing the person is in pain just like you should diminish the intensity of your response. It will not excuse it or justify it but at some point you might catch yourself saying : “well… maybe if I was in that much pain or in that position, I would react that way”. Sometimes people say "but they do it for no apparent reason" or , "they’re just jealous", "they’re just envious, evil, liars…" remember those are all heart and/or mental conditions and both qualify as sicknesses. Another thing worth mentioning is that just because you can’t see someone else’s disease doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Sometimes there is a disease but it takes time to figure out what it is so give it time and be understanding and above all do not judge them. So when you know you condition and other people's condition at the Inn (aka the Church as the Body of Christ AND the community), you really can’t be mad at someone who is acting out of their illness. So the first step to overcome/ recover/ attempt a recovery from church hurt can be summed up in this : we all have some kind of illness (emotional, behavioral, psychological) and we all at the Inn, with our respective conditions to be taken care of and some people (more than others) are most likely to act out of their illnesses. Don't take it personally.
The second tip that I have found helpful in overcoming the hurt and the spirit of offense is keeping your eyes on Jesus the author and finisher of your faith (Heb 12:2). Another story I really like and enjoy reading in the Bible and that really speaks volume about the importance of keeping your eyes on Jesus is found in Matthew 14:22-31. It is the story about Peter walking on water. As long as Peter had his eyes on Jesus he was fine. The minute he started looking at everything happening around him, his faith started to fade and fear kicked in: he started sinking. The walk with Christ is a personal one which value is accrued by being around other Christians. But being in community will bring a lot of frictions and tension sometimes because we are all coming from different cultures, traditions or background and [again] we each one have our own conditions. If like Peter, you start (and keep) looking at those things and you let your gaze go left to right, noticing every single wrong doing happening and looking at every single detail of inappropriate behaviors around you, your walk toward Jesus will be hindered. The result will be that you will start sinking. Getting caught up in the mundane behaviors and things that happen in church will only pull you down if you meet people at the level a which they come to you to hurt you, frustrate you, humiliate or break you. Overcoming hurt and the spirit of offense calls for your ability to keep your eyes on Jesus so that you can rise and stay afloat. When you keep your eyes on Jesus you don’t have time for distractions. You don’t have time to look into people’s behaviors. And if you don’t have time for this, your faith and commitment to Christ or the Church (the Body of Christ) cannot be crushed or threatened because you are there for Jesus only and it’s all that matters. But how to you keep and sustain your gaze solely on Jesus? You pray and ask God to help you keep your eyes and focus on Him because if you rely on your own strength you will fail and go from church to church or abandon faith/ your walk with Christ altogether. After asking God for strength, you surrender your heart, mind and emotions to Him and as you do the two above you stay rooted into the Word of God. The more you exercise yourself to these things, the more your spirit will grow and the less you will feel tempted to throw a brick at those coming to you with stick and stone. The more you will practice those things, the more you will allow for the love of God and his Spirit to fill you. When the love of God fills your heart, you have no space for anything else, for no other feelings that is not attached or rooted in love. Being a lover of God and His Word is where it all starts.
The third tip (which is more like tip 2b) is this one : stay in your lane. Recently, I took some time to meditate on the Gospels and study them a little bit and I came upon that verse in John 21:20 which was in a sense a clap back from Jesus *😱*. Jesus had appeared to a few of his disciples for the third time and after eating they were casually talking. And Jesus of course was talking of things to come regarding some of the disciples He was with. And then Peter looked at “the disciple Jesus loved the most” and asked Jesus:
“What about him, Lord?” Jesus replied, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? As for you, follow me.”
In the Black Living Translation the equivalent would be : MIND YO’ BUSINESS and STAY IN YOUR LANE. Major clap back from Jesus HIMSELF?! When you are busy doing what the Lord has called you to do, invested heart, mind soul and spirit, you will not have time to clap back at people because you are too busy with God stuff. You got your eyes on the author and finisher of your faith and you know where God has called you to be. So no matter what people do, if you go to God saying “but what about them? What about what they did?” God’s answer will still be the same “ Stay in your lane. Do what I have called you to do” and you better trust and believe that when you will be busy serving God, doing what He has called you to do, STAYING IN YOUR LANE despite the hurt, humiliation brought onto you, God will clap back for you! He hasn’t called you to clap back. He has called you to do his work and be who he wants you to be. People’s actions say a lot about them so you clapping back and doing them the way they do you says nothing about them but more about the kind of person that you are. So are you like the people who hurt you? Or are you becoming the person God wants you to be? And if you are, are you going to trash all that in order to let anger and pettiness win? It will not turn out well.
When you know God. When you know He is the one to right every wrong. When you know that He is the one who said :
The second tip that I have found helpful in overcoming the hurt and the spirit of offense is keeping your eyes on Jesus the author and finisher of your faith (Heb 12:2). Another story I really like and enjoy reading in the Bible and that really speaks volume about the importance of keeping your eyes on Jesus is found in Matthew 14:22-31. It is the story about Peter walking on water. As long as Peter had his eyes on Jesus he was fine. The minute he started looking at everything happening around him, his faith started to fade and fear kicked in: he started sinking. The walk with Christ is a personal one which value is accrued by being around other Christians. But being in community will bring a lot of frictions and tension sometimes because we are all coming from different cultures, traditions or background and [again] we each one have our own conditions. If like Peter, you start (and keep) looking at those things and you let your gaze go left to right, noticing every single wrong doing happening and looking at every single detail of inappropriate behaviors around you, your walk toward Jesus will be hindered. The result will be that you will start sinking. Getting caught up in the mundane behaviors and things that happen in church will only pull you down if you meet people at the level a which they come to you to hurt you, frustrate you, humiliate or break you. Overcoming hurt and the spirit of offense calls for your ability to keep your eyes on Jesus so that you can rise and stay afloat. When you keep your eyes on Jesus you don’t have time for distractions. You don’t have time to look into people’s behaviors. And if you don’t have time for this, your faith and commitment to Christ or the Church (the Body of Christ) cannot be crushed or threatened because you are there for Jesus only and it’s all that matters. But how to you keep and sustain your gaze solely on Jesus? You pray and ask God to help you keep your eyes and focus on Him because if you rely on your own strength you will fail and go from church to church or abandon faith/ your walk with Christ altogether. After asking God for strength, you surrender your heart, mind and emotions to Him and as you do the two above you stay rooted into the Word of God. The more you exercise yourself to these things, the more your spirit will grow and the less you will feel tempted to throw a brick at those coming to you with stick and stone. The more you will practice those things, the more you will allow for the love of God and his Spirit to fill you. When the love of God fills your heart, you have no space for anything else, for no other feelings that is not attached or rooted in love. Being a lover of God and His Word is where it all starts.
The third tip (which is more like tip 2b) is this one : stay in your lane. Recently, I took some time to meditate on the Gospels and study them a little bit and I came upon that verse in John 21:20 which was in a sense a clap back from Jesus *😱*. Jesus had appeared to a few of his disciples for the third time and after eating they were casually talking. And Jesus of course was talking of things to come regarding some of the disciples He was with. And then Peter looked at “the disciple Jesus loved the most” and asked Jesus:
“What about him, Lord?” Jesus replied, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? As for you, follow me.”
In the Black Living Translation the equivalent would be : MIND YO’ BUSINESS and STAY IN YOUR LANE. Major clap back from Jesus HIMSELF?! When you are busy doing what the Lord has called you to do, invested heart, mind soul and spirit, you will not have time to clap back at people because you are too busy with God stuff. You got your eyes on the author and finisher of your faith and you know where God has called you to be. So no matter what people do, if you go to God saying “but what about them? What about what they did?” God’s answer will still be the same “ Stay in your lane. Do what I have called you to do” and you better trust and believe that when you will be busy serving God, doing what He has called you to do, STAYING IN YOUR LANE despite the hurt, humiliation brought onto you, God will clap back for you! He hasn’t called you to clap back. He has called you to do his work and be who he wants you to be. People’s actions say a lot about them so you clapping back and doing them the way they do you says nothing about them but more about the kind of person that you are. So are you like the people who hurt you? Or are you becoming the person God wants you to be? And if you are, are you going to trash all that in order to let anger and pettiness win? It will not turn out well.
When you know God. When you know He is the one to right every wrong. When you know that He is the one who said :
“ I will take revenge; I will pay them back. In due time their feet will slip. Their day of disaster will arrive, and their destiny will overtake them” (Deut 32:35),
no matter how long it takes, you KNOW that YOUR GOD will clap back for you and vindicate you. So you ain’t worried about seeking revenge because God will do that for you. Instead what you do is pray to release the hurt and frustration by surrendering it unto God and you keep moving forward leaning on God for the strength to carry on.
Church hurt is very real but so is God and so is His love and healing and his ability to clap back in His own time. So if you are going through, have been through that, just know that God is there. We aren’t perfect and friction happens but if you are truly doing God’s work with all your heart, giving your all, know that one day no matter how long it takes God will reward you for your good deed and also reward those who did you wrong for their deeds (if they are bringing sorrows your way purposefully). To you God is saying “As for you, follow me”. So keep your eyes on Jesus and follow Him and let nothing come between you and Him because at the end of the day, each one of us will stand for him/herself before God, and the only actions/deeds we will be accountable for are our own. So don’t let someone else’s “illness” or behavior make you stumble.
Hope this helped and encouraged someone.
Until next time,
The Happiness Fairy 👸
Photo credit
Be First to Post Comment !
Post a Comment