Is It Possible To Grow Up In The Church?

 “Go and make disciples”, Jesus said. “Teach them everything I have taught you.” I think sometimes we get a little confused about this. Sometimes it appears that we are more interested in enforcing a law than to teach Father’s love. There is a pretty big difference between the two considering that love, not law, is what empowers us to obey Jesus. We teach simply to help people understand what the Spirit is doing in them with what the Father implanted in them the moment they said “I believe”.

I know we want to explain about repenting and throwing off sin and all the rest of it but sometimes we move past teaching into manipulation. It’s like we forget that the job of conviction belongs to the Spirit. Yes, in our enthusiasm we forget we are the witnesses of who Jesus is and we try to take on the role of the enforcers. But Jesus has no interest in forcing anybody into anything. He offers an invitation.

So, we are the witnesses and when someone expresses a desire for more of what we are demonstrating, then we disciple them by teaching them what Jesus has taught us. This means we better be constantly growing and learning ourselves. You know, you can disciple someone before they believe and hopefully as you demonstrate the Kingdom to them they will encounter the reality of Jesus and move from curiosity to belief. Of course we continue to walk with them, discipling them so they can understand the lifelong transformation that is happening to them. This is that mustard seed that is growing in them so a day will arrive when they will be able to offer fruit and shelter to others.

That’s the messy part, the journey toward maturity. This is where most of us mess up, where the Church fails and we move from life to law. It is so much easier and less messy to teach a list of rules then to allow for maturing in relationship. This journey is not a light switch. We don’t shed the old and put on the new overnight. We do it step by step, as the Spirit convicts and we respond. It is a whole lot of learning, growth and transformation. What we do not want it to be is conformity to a bunch of rules that will leave us with a lifetime of guilt and failure.

I have a friend who made an observation about his university experience. He told me that there are a lot of good teachers who are good at teaching the beginning stuff. There are also a lot of good teachers great at teaching the end stuff. But there are not a lot of teachers who are great at the in-between stuff. 

In the Church we have a lot of people who are great at the beginning stuff and they are getting even better at it. Helping people discover Jesus is a very exciting thing. We also have a lot of people who are very good at teaching what a mature life in Christ looks like. A lot of the epistles have sections that give us lists of what this looks like. What we seem to be lacking are those with the patience and longevity to walk with a person from the after birth stage to the mature stage. In fact, a lot of churches don’t even make allowances for this very trying and messy stage.

The Body has not been good at building a thick skin for the many failures in the journey to maturity. Some Spiritual Parents are all too ready to kick that spiritual infant out of the house because he keeps making messes. But messes are what we are all about. The Strong are to bear with the Weak, because the Weak are on a journey to become one of the Strong. The Spirit is responsible for conviction and we are responsible for modeling relationship. We who journey with those on the road to maturity model what relationship looks like, both with our King but also with each other. This, after all, is Father’s purpose for the Body, that we would work out our salvation daily as we encourage and build up one another.

We need those who introduce people to Jesus, to see that come into this relationship through belief. We need those who can teach what maturity looks like, what we are moving towards and why. But we are also desperate for the spiritual mothers and fathers who will commit to years of patience and suffering to fulfill the role of those who teach through example the in-between stuff. We need to get better at this.

Does The News Have You Stressed Out?

 No matter what anyone tells you, none of us are hardwired for stress. It doesn't matter how much of Jesus you have, if you don't know what stress is and how to say no to it then you will face the consequences of it.

We are certainly tough and we can get through a lot of stuff but it doesn't mean we get through undamaged. Some of us say, "Well, I have Jesus", and yet we don't even know what that means or what to do with it. Many people, as much as they love Jesus, have never learned to surrender things to him. Even though he directly taught us to not worry, we worry. So understand this:

Stress can rewire our brain and cause illness in our body, without even mentioning what it does to our emotions. It will overwhelm our systems so that we can't even make simple decisions. Sure, we can make it through and survive small amounts of stress but even then it has effects on us. However, we should never try to live through prolonged amounts of stress, just shrugging our shoulders at it.

We do not want to learn how to manage stress because even managing it is only helping us to cope with it short term. We need to learn how to face things without provoking stress, and if it does get provoked, how to send it packing. The solution has a name and that name is Jesus. When we are relationship with him, a daily trusting relationship of dependence, we learn how to surrender everything so we can keep on keeping on. Why do you think he promised never to leave us? We were never intended to do any of this on our own. But there is more than just surrender.

We are in partnership with Jesus. He does his part and we do ours. Our part is to understand how our bodies work. Just like we learn what foods are best to keep us healthy, we learn what attitudes and actions help keep us stress free. Sometimes we live as if like takes no effort and that is not what Jesus said. Certainly, we do not need to strive but we were designed for work. Life takes work.

 

The first thing you should learn about yourself is what provokes stress in you. When you learn this you can avoid it. If you can't avoid it then you know enough to surrender it as it begins. But you can also take actions so you can shed the stress before it can take root. Let's consider a few things that can cause stress in this pandemic and some things to shed it:

1. Too much news. Limit your news intake to a couple of times a day.
2. Dwelling on or fixating on the problem. We need to occupy ourselves with a balance of things and also how to surrender things to Jesus.
3. Fear. We will get past this pandemic just as we have gotten past every other mountain in our past. Do what you need to do to protect yourself (stay distant, wash your hands, wear your mask) and then ... live life to the fullest, or at least as full as the protocols will allow. Live it with joy, peace, laughter, and trust.
4. Don't keep reminding yourself of what you can't do. Accept where we are at this point and consider what we can do instead of focusing on what we can't.
5. Don't worry about other people. You do you and don't worry about the neighbours. Distance yourself from people who don't take this seriously and be friendly with those who do, but you just take care of you and yours.
6. Be kind. It is amazing how therapeutic it is to do kind things for other people.
7. Be kind to yourself. You can't help other people if you are not looking after yourself. Take those bubble baths. Have that glass of wine. Take that hour to read a good book. Go for a long walk. Do some exercising. 

It's good to be aware of the big picture but don't focus on it. Focus on the small daily steps in your life. Focus on what is for supper tonight, what you need to pick up at the store, whether you should vacuum today or tomorrow, helping the kids with their homework, calling to check on a friend. Sing. Dance. Pray. Worship. Laugh. Then laugh some more.There is a lot of life to live every day.

The news will eventually chase us down, it's impossible to get away from it. But it does not need to occupy our day, our thoughts, or our emotions. It is what it is and we trust Jesus. You worry and stress won't help. You have very little impact on the news except for prayer, so don't stress about it. Take a deep breath, thank Jesus and then decide on supper.