Spiritual Warfare or Misguided Saints?
Last week, I wrote about my raw emotions from the weekend prior. God has begun doing a new thing in my life. I noticed that God had begun to transform and refine a few of my friends too. It is not unusual then that when emotions are raw and God has surgically prepared the way for new growth that the Evil One tries his best to infect what has been prepared.
I had a very difficult week as did a few of my close friends. Much of the hurt that was felt came at the hands of those in the church. I am sure that for the most part, there were pure motivations in what was said or done. The issues that arose, were probably not handled in the most delicate of ways, by me or others. I also wonder, if there was not a good bit of legalism exercised by some, even me.
Add to that for me that I crossed a significant threshold in my life. Our youngest struck out on his own this weekend and we helped him move into his first apartment. This was not without controversy either. The Evil One once again struck me. While I had a great time moving my youngest into his modest living accommodations, nagging questions came to mind. "Is he really a man of God? Did you do the right things in raising him?" These questions along with others streamed through my mind and have caused me some anxiety.
Many of you know my views on this whole idea of spiritual warfare. I do believe that there is a struggle in heavenly realms which manifests in various ways here on earth. I don't, however, chalk everything up to attack on me or to some spiritual demonic force out to get me at every turn. I am not sure that my theology or a very careful reading of scripture supports that sort of extreme view.
What I do believe is that as people have a heightened awareness and hunger for the holy, that there is a sense in which we are left bare to emotions that are quite raw and questions that seem to haunt us. Hurt does seem to befall us in these times as we expose more and more of ourselves to the King and to the rest of the Kingdom known as the church. Often, instead of being a soothing balm, the church becomes more judgemental. People with pure motives in their own frailty and brokenness try to speak truth to us or guide us without having thought through the process well either. Unfortunately, even I was one of those people.
There is a fine line here. How is truth shared in kindness and love? How are we sure that we have the right message for the moment. Do we as a church just rub salt in the wound often instead applying salve on the wound? Is the church sometimes its own worst enemy? Or is this all just some type of spiritual attack that we are supposed to gut out? I admit I take a very dim view of the last assertion. Then again, maybe I am wrong.
So is the church under attack or just a collection of misguided saints who tend to mess it up sometimes? As you know, I am finding more and more that I like outside the institutional church, so maybe I am just a bit biased on this. I need your opinion.
What do you think?
I had a very difficult week as did a few of my close friends. Much of the hurt that was felt came at the hands of those in the church. I am sure that for the most part, there were pure motivations in what was said or done. The issues that arose, were probably not handled in the most delicate of ways, by me or others. I also wonder, if there was not a good bit of legalism exercised by some, even me.
Add to that for me that I crossed a significant threshold in my life. Our youngest struck out on his own this weekend and we helped him move into his first apartment. This was not without controversy either. The Evil One once again struck me. While I had a great time moving my youngest into his modest living accommodations, nagging questions came to mind. "Is he really a man of God? Did you do the right things in raising him?" These questions along with others streamed through my mind and have caused me some anxiety.
Many of you know my views on this whole idea of spiritual warfare. I do believe that there is a struggle in heavenly realms which manifests in various ways here on earth. I don't, however, chalk everything up to attack on me or to some spiritual demonic force out to get me at every turn. I am not sure that my theology or a very careful reading of scripture supports that sort of extreme view.
What I do believe is that as people have a heightened awareness and hunger for the holy, that there is a sense in which we are left bare to emotions that are quite raw and questions that seem to haunt us. Hurt does seem to befall us in these times as we expose more and more of ourselves to the King and to the rest of the Kingdom known as the church. Often, instead of being a soothing balm, the church becomes more judgemental. People with pure motives in their own frailty and brokenness try to speak truth to us or guide us without having thought through the process well either. Unfortunately, even I was one of those people.
There is a fine line here. How is truth shared in kindness and love? How are we sure that we have the right message for the moment. Do we as a church just rub salt in the wound often instead applying salve on the wound? Is the church sometimes its own worst enemy? Or is this all just some type of spiritual attack that we are supposed to gut out? I admit I take a very dim view of the last assertion. Then again, maybe I am wrong.
So is the church under attack or just a collection of misguided saints who tend to mess it up sometimes? As you know, I am finding more and more that I like outside the institutional church, so maybe I am just a bit biased on this. I need your opinion.
What do you think?
posted by Larry at 1:46 PM
4 Comments:
the church needs the same love we demand from it. If it is struggling, then we being able to see, need to show it what is needed. This year, God has told me to stop criticizing and begin living by example. Christ showed us how to love through sacrifice. The only way we can bring the church back to what it was intended to be is to love it back. Misguided saints, yes. Spiritual warfare, yes. I would say that one begets the other. I believe that what is missing is a common community of living and loving and sharing. We spend more time in our homes and not enough time together as church. So perhaps what you find outside the church as more appealing now are the brothers and sisters God has lead you to bring into his community. the best way to be fed, is to feed. The best way to find shelter is to provide shelter, to best way to effect change, is to change. To be forgiven is to forgive.
jeff,
Thanks for this. it is deep. i am not sure all what you mean, but thanks.
This comment has been removed by the author.
I'll explain what I mean to you in person next time I see you.
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