Faith and the Gap
7 01 2007So I posted here and here about some these ideas. To bring you up to speed, I have been thinking about a situation in ministry that is a common one that a friend has asked me about. That situation is where there are kids from different walks of life that are brought together by the church. In this specific case, it is the extreme rich and the extreme poor. I think this situation is so common though that it applies to many different specific situations in ministry. I have asked around and talked to people about this problem and have only come up with one solution.
Now, before you excuse this as a simple answer and blow off the idea, think about faith. I’m not talking about a one time decision to believe that there is a God. I am not talking about jumping through the hoops of the institutional church. I’m not talking about some abstract feeling that you get when you get chill bumps when something goes your way and you attribute it to God. What I am talking about here, is a faith that believes God over everything else. A faith that trusts God over what we see, what we are told to think and what Satan wants to distract us with.
I am beginning to see that my faith has very little to do with the things I was always taught in church. Faith is not about how often I go to church, how often I pray, how many Bible verses I can quote or how many people I can get to make the same decision, although some of those help my faith. Faith also isn’t about how good I can be, how little I can say bad words, or dance, or think evil thoughts. Faith is knowing that, no matter how bad life looks, that God is good and he is helping you. The Biblical reference is that some put their faith in chariots but I will put my faith in the Lord. Even the word “Lord” is a declaration of faith. How can you call someone Lord if you don’t abdicate responsibility for your life to that person?
Every teen out there, heck every person out there, is brought together in the church by faith. Unfortunately, the church does a poor job is realizing this and doing something about it. Seth Godin, a marketing guru, says that there are always two problems:
“The two problems
The first problem is the problem.The second problem is your inability to admit the problem, talk about the problem and ask for help in solving the problem.
The first problem is that your customer service is lousy, you are an alcoholic, your products are boring, you don’t treat your employees well.
None of those problems are going to go away.
None will go away, that is, if you don’t acknowledge them, clearly and loudly and often. And ask for help.
If you don’t measure the first problem, then you have a second problem.
If you don’t measure the first problem, it’s not going to go away, is it?”
We don’t teach the faith that saves people in the church. Many of you are church leaders and are right now in your head saying, “YES WE DO!” Maybe some of you are, but the living I see needed to teach faith is very uncommon among church leaders. When money, numbers and decisions drive a church and its vision, then faith is not usually on the radar. This is especially true if the leaders of the church think that they are the reason for those three things. The church is given over to being successful rather than being faithful.
If God really is sovereign, and I believe he is, then our job in the church is to be faithful, to help others live by faith (not the image of success), and to encourage each other in the faith.
I don’t think it matters how different we are if we are all confronting the lies of this life that would distract us from the glory that comes. I don’t think anyone is immune to the lies that creep up in the middle of life. We will all fail to meet the world’s measure of life - that we are to seek comfort, money, fame, sex, drugs, gossip, etc. We will always be able to believe God that those things don’t matter. And we will always struggle with who we believe.
I think that is the answer to the gap question. I realize that this is a bit of a rant and understand that some people may be offended or hurt. Please comment if you feel the need. I am glad to have some hope injected into my view of the church if possible.
let me give a resounding “Amen!!” When God leads me to share my struggles (appropriately, of course, and in His timing) along with how He is guiding me through said struggles, it only serves to give people HOPE that they are not alone; that they are not hopeless; that God does truly have answers to life’s problems. I’ve said repeatedly to “mature Christians” who refuse to share their failures as well as their successes, “why do you think God allowed those failures in your life in the first place? Was He just wasting His time? NO! God wants to receive glory through your life; if you are always “perfect” and unapproachable, then the glory goes to you, and not to God.” I’m so grateful that God is faithfully cleaning up my messes; He definitely gets the glory for everything I am and have now. (Thanks for letting me rant . . .)
Anytime Bev, Thanks for the encouragement!