Thursday, November 6, 2008

I'm done with... God not being enough for me

I’m done feeling inadequate…I will find my worthiness through God’s eyes and his word.
I’m done feeling less than others, because of a few extra pounds and acne on my face. I will see my soul as beautiful, as I am made in God’s perfect image.
I’m done letting other peoples judgments determine how I see myself. My personality is a God given gift, even if I’m sometimes out of place and make others uncomfortable.
I’m done judging others to feel righteous in my own dirtiness. I will see others as God does; broken, hurting and separated from the love and healing we all long for. I will see myself made right with God because of Christ gift alone.
I’m done with being impressive, and being impressed. I desire to see people through God’s eyes and be humbled by others loves and obedience.
I’m done feeling small, and unimportant. My place in the body of Christ matters, and I serve to be obedient to God and spend tangible time with my heavenly father.
I’m done listening to Christians who are more passionate about politics than people’s souls.
I’m done voting along party lines, and feeling silly for caring about the environment. I’m done feeling like a traitor to the Christian culture because I don’t always agree with mainstream conservatism. I wonder where Jesus would stand on the issues of politics, or would he be busy clearing out the temple, healing the broken, and feeding the hungry.
I’m done with Christians judging political agendas and social programs, and yet doing nothing in their community to serve the poor and underprivileged. When we head the call to care for the orphans, widows, sick and hurting – the government won’t need to do what his people are asked to do.
I’m done excusing the church’s actions to those who have been hurt by it; I’m apologizing for not being Christ like.
I’m done hurting others in the name of speaking the truth. It’s a clever mask I use to be right. I’ll let God’s amazing Grace be enough, and pray my words bring healing and restoration.
I’m done making small talk when people are hurting. Their pain is more important than my comfort.
I’m done with just doing community service; I desire to make an eternal impact in individual lives.
I’m done seeing my relationship with church the same as my relationship with God. My church is made up of broken people, and not an accurate representation of the perfect love of God. And that’s okay; our love is made perfect in Christ alone.
I’m done with driving new cars, using credit cards to go to dinner, spending $5 on a cup of coffee –and being unable to give to my church a tithe or send an offering to a child who will die without my help. God has given us abundance in the USA, regardless of income. I will live in contentment with what God has provided, and share the abundance I have been blessed with.

As I was writing this, and really making a declaration of independence (of sorts) I began to see situations in my life differently. I began to pray differently. Then I went to church, assuming everything would be different there too. And then a seemingly innocent interaction made me feel small and insignificant. It wasn’t intentional, and yet I walked away hurt after being brushed off. I thought of all the ‘reasons’, I wasn’t important, I didn’t matter, I’m invisible because I don’t look like the other church women, oh-it was a long list I had going. And I hadn’t even made it to the front door yet.
I got in the car, and as I drove off I wondered if Satan was attacking? Was God testing if I meant it, was he giving me a place to test out my freedom? Was God allowing Satan’s attack? As my mind circled around these thoughts, God said “It doesn’t matter why.” It didn’t matter where it came from, what mattered was if I’d react as if I was in bondage or as if I was free. Did I still care more about what other people thought than how God feels for me? Did I really find my value through God’s Grace? Or am I just saying the words, writing the declaration, and then going to fall apart if I’m brushed off unintentionally at church. Am I giving lip service? Can I really live this way? Will God really be enough? That is what it really came down to –Is God enough? Is his love and forgiveness enough to make it okay if people brush me off? Is his value of me enough that if I don’t measure up, I can throw out the measuring stick? Is his promise of eternal riches enough to be contented driving my old car? Would I be able to just let the brush off be a simple mistake made by another human, and have no reflection on how I see my own value? The answer is yes, yes, YES!
If I’m to have freedom…it’s so much bigger than being free of the inadequacy of my church, or Christianity. It’s to see my church and other Christians as broken, hurting and needing Jesus as much as I do. It’s to be done with allowing Satan to speak lies into my heart. It’s being done with giving lip service to my ideals…and instead living with a heart full of freedom and joy.

10 comments:

Christi Bowman said...

I struggle...REALLY STRUGGLE with seeing the church as broken, hurting, and needing Jesus...I can love the poor, the homeless, the widow, the orphan, the drug addicts, the prostitutes...I can love the least of these...but I am angry at the church...straight up...flat out angry!!

Please (public) don't jump all over me...I am just revealing my own brokenness. I watch my husband love the church despite their brokenness...and I see you (writer) doing it too...and I wonder what is wrong with me?

I LOVE passionately the God who revealed Himself to me and then rescued me!! And I know that God loves the church...but who is the church? I find myself asking that a lot!! What most people consider to be the church I feel is so very responsible for the hurt, and for the disconnectedness from God the broken feel. They have misrepresented the beauty of God...and that PISSES me off.

I have ALWAYS loved the broken...even when I wasn't "allowed" to or supposed to. I have always stuck up for the ___ (fill in the blank). I have always identified with these people. I have never tried to keep them out. Matter of fact I have always been embarrassed to talk about the God I used to know around the broken. That God was forced on me...but I thought the broken who didn't want that God were more free than me. I have had God misrepresented to me...God showed me who He was HIMSELF...and now I get attacked by the "church", even more, now, then I did before.

I don't see them as broken...I see them as hateful. I am admitting a big issue of mine here...HELP...if there is any!!

Jeff Goins said...

maybe we just have different gifts and callings. i dunno. i struggle too. maybe the "church" isn't your ministry niche.

AnitaO said...

Christi,
Thanks sharing, I don't think anything is 'wrong' with you. I too have felt the misrepresentation of God by the church, and see the pain that has caused others. I hate it too. However, I know I'm guilty too. Not intentionally, but guilty all the same. Yet, God loves me, uses me to do his work, and somehow his grace is enough. I came to the point of brokenness to realize that his Grace is enough, even to cover the people in the church. I define the church as the people that confess to have a relationship with Christ. The person who brushed me off, is a person. A human that is saved by grace, and doing the best they know how.

I hate to admit it- but I've brushed people off, been to busy, to preoccupied, someone more important to talk to, etc. I desire forgiveness and grace for my own selfishness. I'm the church and I need forgiveness, and the good news... I've been given it. That's why I can still love the church, because we are it. I'm it. If we don't love and forgive each other, what is the broken going to think of the power of Christ to heal?

Please don't think this as jumping all over you, I'm sharing what God has convicted me of. Again, I don't think there is anything wrong with being angry with the church and the wake it has left in people's lives. I'm humbled by your passion and willingness to be honest.

I love the comment that the church might not be your ministry niche. I think there are lots of christians with that ministry niche, but the church could use alot more people willing to serve the homeless, prostitutes, and drug addicts.

-AnitaO

Matt Rose said...

anita, the post was good, but i really, really liked the "follow-up" part! i've battled fear for several years now, and i know the joy of praying for freedom and catching a glimpse of it only to walk back outside and have the enemy snatch it up and say it was never really there. freedom is definitely a choice. the battle is already won through Jesus' blood, but we make the decision to rest in that through our faith, ignoring the lies that are screaming at us.

AnitaO said...

Matt,
Thank you for the compliment. Your so right -freedom is a daily choice. I had always been taught by the church that if I was righteous enough, good enough, had the right answers, went to service, did children's ministry, and lived 'holy' THEN I'd FEEL free. Let me tell - I did not feel free in the least. I felt fear, because deep down I knew I was never going to be or do enough, and then what? When I got the grace part - that I don't have to be or do anything to have God love me, the fear started to lose it's grip. It's still a choice to ignore the lies, to believe God's promises. And it's hard, only through the power of the holy spirit to I believe it's possible. Freedom is possible, and worth the battle.

Christi Bowman said...

I liked the comment about it not being my "ministry niche" too...I laughed when I saw it...thanks Jeff...Kevin tells me the same thing!! :)

Anita...I just LOVED the graciousness in your post...and while I was reading it I was sad that I had to admit that I do not have grace for the church.

Thank you for letting me let out my brokenness yesterday.

Anyhow, I just wanted to let you know that God used you to awaken a holy dissatisfaction in me about my attitude. You have inspired me to let God search me on this and expose why I feel this way. I am NOT going to stay in this place!!

AnitaO said...

Christie,
I am humbled that God would use me in that way... truly humbled. That is what is so great about God, in my mind. He loves us enough to not allow us to stay in pain, enough to offer healing with the grace. It's been a long road of healing from the pain I've felt because of 'church' and yet it is possible. I still have more to do, but knowing God didn't design the church the way I've experienced it gives me hope. It also gives me hope to know others are trying to heal too, and trying to work out how 'church' is really suppose to look through God's eyes.

Matt @ The Church of No People said...

Hey to all you contributors - I just found your blog and it is awesome. Keep up the great writing. Very challenging.

KaraBeagle said...

Christi, one thing that might help in readjusting your perception of the "church" is to realize that no one changes overnight. Sometimes it takes decades for old habits and thought patterns to drop away, like leaves in the fall. Our pastor says, "God is old and slow."

See my blog www.reflectionsofgodslight.blogspot.com , a new take on autumn, for a deeper explanation of this analogy.

Your niche may not be the "church" but we are all responsible for loving all of god's people, those in church and those who don't know Him yet. We are all on a journey, and if you are "ahead" of someone else, even someone who "should" be ahead of you, how best can you help them take the next step and continue on in that journey?

Matt Rose said...

hmmm...

reverence (v.) - consider hallowed or exalted or be in awe of

reverence (n.) - a feeling of profound awe and respect and often love