Full disclosure, compassion and empathy are not my strong suits. I have been thinking about it a lot lately and we have spawned a culture of self. It is perpetuated with offence, hurt and drama.
The world thrives on it and the church has picked it right up. Instead of being a rock solid symbol of stability, we have traded deliverance for counseling, offering little more than the bartender down the street as the pathway out of our troubles.
Everyone is a victim, everyone is wounded, everyone is offended. Everyone is hurting…More people are on anti-anxiety meds than ever before, as we treat the symptoms instead of the cause.
Do we have to walk through our lives overwhelmed and defeated? Is there not a God in heaven sitting on the throne? Is there no balm in Gilead? Am I a slave to my feelings? Is my worth dictated by what others think or say of me? I told someone the other day, Pastor for a few decades and you will become immune to hurt, and impossible to offend!
Of course there is legit pain in our lives, that’s not what I’m talking about. We all have had our share of hurt. But I personally know people that have been through mountains of unthinkable circumstances who spend their day helping others negotiate the little speed bumps that are destroying any hope of happiness in their lives. You would never know their story cause they’re not talking. They have long since given it to God and are now busy reaching and helping, not complaining and feeling sorry for themselves.
In 2Cor 11:29 Paul says, “Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?” He says he has every right to be hurt and offended, that he could match story for story, yet It does not own him.
I believe we are called to a higher place of ministry. I believe there is a place of spiritual maturity where we rise out of the ashes by the grace of God and Learn to stand amidst a world that is falling apart. Lies, gossip, meanness, and accusations roll off us like water off a ducks back. That’s called the grace of God. When I don’t have to live up to your expectations or jump through your hoops… When I’m not crushed every time I am slighted or attacked…. When I see it for what it is, broken people in various stages of spiritual immaturity, trying to pull you into the mire. For them, the only way up is to pull you down. Well I’m like Nehemiah, there’s a church to build and I’m not coming down. Get thee behind me Satan!
A good 50 % of my time in ministry is dealing with hurt feelings, he said she said, nobody loves me, I’m depressed drama. No wonder we are not seeing revival, people look at us and say “I can get the same thing in the world, why would I come to church?”
The modern church knows little about victorious living. We need to be coddled and petted till the cows come home. We have trained the ministry to laud on the sympathy and nurture our hurt instead of nurturing us, and challenging us to grow in Christ. We think of God as some genie in a bottle, waiting to dote over all our wishes and commands.
Alas, the pastors lament, from one who has sowed the seed and desires to see the harvest. From one sometimes stuck in the same rut, yet how I long to see a fully functioning church that is setting its world on fire with real revival. Every time I think we are nearing that goal, I find we have not journeyed as far from the broken mold as I thought. Still in need of the milk, and not ready for the meat.
We have answers, we have found what works, we know the power of a holy God and the strength of His Spirit…. give us wisdom to share it with the souls around us.