I assume that every believer has at one time experienced the sentiment found in the first two verses of Psalm 22:

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.”

Psalm 22:1–2, ESV

Life comes at us and sometimes it comes at us hard and with evil intent.

As I indicated in my previous post, the frustration can even come from within the church. We wonder how or why God would allow events to go down the way they do.

When the hurt comes from the church, it is tempting to walk away and give up hope that the church will ever get it right. I have felt that temptation as a result of how I and other good people were treated at two churches in particular. I mention the other people because if I were the only one treated badly, I would look first-and-foremost at myself as the root of the problem.

But when I am tempted to give up, I remember that Jesus experienced the same feelings of abandonment as he hung on the Cross. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed to be relieved of the responsibility he was undertaking.

Remembering this is crucial (pun intended) because it was the Cross and the subsequent resurrection upon which all our hopes depend. We learn from the resurrection that the evil which appears to be the victor, is actually defeated.

For believers, the wounds that are suffered at the hands of church leaders are difficult to overcome and the only chance of overcoming them is to look beyond those leaders to the Christ that the leaders claim to follow.

I am experiencing this right now. I am trying to find the balance of pointing out where the error lies without allowing my own sin to contribute to the chaos. I have seen God’s people abused by self-interested “ministers” who care more for their power and influence then the do for those they are called to protect.

In short, I have seen too many shepherds that have mutton breath.

I choose to believe that God will lead me into a situation where I can use my gifts to further the kingdom without experiencing the heartache of manipulative leaders pushing their personal agendas.

But ultimately, I need to continually remind myself that I am a sojourner and not yet home.

If you are encouraged by this post or would like to make a comment, please use the comment form below to offer your feedback. I enjoy hearing from you.

Call me simplistic, but I think that when we talk about church culture, we seem to have gotten off track somehow.

For me it boils down to two choices. Either we have a church culture centered on the gospel or we have something else that looks like the church but is not.

The gospel tells us that we are saved by the grace of God and by His grace alone. In response to that salvation, we are called to fulfill two great commands. We are called to love God with everything we have and we are called to love our neighbor as good or better than we love ourselves.

I say that the commands are in response to the gospel because the Apostle John tells us that we love because God first loved us.

We don’t need a “woke” culture. We don’t need a social justice culture. We don’t need to gin up friendliness to visitors. We don’t need spectacular worship performers. The list of things we don’t need is endless.

What we do need is leaders and people who recognize their need of a savior and grateful that Jesus came to be that savior.

Certainly how we live out the gospel is many-faceted. Also, in each location living out the gospel will likely look a bit different because the people to whom we are called to minister are different and have different needs.

But, if we lose sight of our central purpose (individually and corporately) we will get sidetracked into all sorts of nonsense.

Focus on the gospel. Get that right and I have a feeling that everything else will fall into place as we seek God for how to proceed.

If you are encouraged by this post or would like to make a comment, please use the comment form below to offer your feedback. I enjoy hearing from you.

I read in Proverbs:

“for the devious person is an abomination to the Lord, but the upright are in his confidence.”

Proverbs 3:32, ESV

When churches experience division in the leadership, I have observed that one significant cause is one or more parties practicing backroom politicking to push their agenda forward.

This is a behavior that should have no place in the church. If there is division in the leadership over a particular issue, they should pray and examine what Scripture says about the issue. They should not move forward until the Holy Spirit brings unity on the issue.

But alas, the church is not immune to hiring devious people. Ordination vows have been broken, sometimes by well-meaning, but misguided leaders. Other times those vows have been broken by those who intentionally undermine the structure within which they vowed to operate.

Men may think that they have gotten away with it, but God says otherwise.

Men may seem to be getting away with it, but the writer of Proverbs warns us that such deception does not go unnoticed by God.

Deception is, and always be, an abomination to The LORD.

If you are encouraged by this post or would like to make a comment, please use the comment form below to offer your feedback. I enjoy hearing from you.

As you might guess from my previous post, I have been in need of some encouragement. While some aspects of my life have gone very well, and I am grateful for God’s blessing on me and my family through the COVID-19 crisis, God has allowed me to experience frustration with regard to churches in the area where I live.

This morning, I read this verse in Deuteronomy:

He humbled you by letting you go hungry; then he gave you manna to eat, which you and your ancestors had not known, so that you might learn that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

Deuteronomy 8:3 (CSB)

As I read these words this morning, I am encouraged by them.

First, I am challenged that the hunger I have felt for a healthy church fellowship should teach me humility. Rather than grumbling to God about my lack, I should realize that God has promised to sustain me until the end. And, I as I learn humility, I also learn that not all my ideas of how church should happen are correct. Perhaps some of my ideas are unrealistic and need to be abandoned.

Hunger teaches us that most of life is beyond our control. Realization that this is so should teach us humility. The fact that there is any church at all is a work of God’s grace. The church is the manna that God provides for our hunger for fellowship and encouragement.

Secondly, in Scripture, I have the very words of God that have been given to teach us the way to go. Also, the Apostle John teaches us that Jesus himself is the very Word of God. I have Scripture and I have Jesus.

As recorded in John 6, Jesus claimed to be the bread of life, thus indicating that the mana that the Israelites ate in the desert was a picture. Manna is to our physical hunger what the Word of God is to our spiritual hunger. Jesus and the recorded words of God in Scripture are sufficient for our spiritual nourishment.

I am encouraged that when I look to Jesus (and take my eyes off the train wreck around me), I have enough.

If you are encouraged by this post or would like to make a comment, please use the comment form below to offer your feedback. I enjoy hearing from you.