You will be hurt in church/ 2

Relationships don’t grow without honesty. If something is done wrongly, you and I have the responsibility to handle that in a manner that will cause growth. “The church” is still in the maturing process. Sometimes it backfires. When it does, when things get difficult, we are to live it out even as uncomfortable as that could be. We cut the process short- we bail out. We are to see how God can turn things for good but too many times, people don’t stick around to allow this to happen. I commend those who pushed through and did not leave until they could do it in a decent attitude. For those who have been stuck in a surreal situation, I hope it can be resolved or dealt with soon. Leaving in the pain is natural. But LIVING in it, is not the plan you or I were ever meant for. Pain was meant to pass. Not stay. It is not a sin to watch live-stream services and read our Bibles at home! It is not a sin to take a break! But if that break breaks everything that the Lord was accomplishing in our lives, deteriorates all good feelings about other Christians, poisons our speech, and becomes a permanent state of being, then we know it was not the right choice.

1. Some people leave something because they know it is time or believe it’s the right thing to do. 2. Sometimes we/they just become unwilling or uncaring. 3. A lot of people leave jobs, marriages, relationships, locations, callings, and churches because they don’t know what else to do. Maybe they are overwhelmed! The worst thing about leaving churches is the person walking into church to find God, could also be leaving God when he/she is done with the church experience. That moment of decision can easily become the moment of devastation on levels that are exceptionally hard to understand. The church building is not God but it sure ought to be where we can find Him and learn how to fulfill our destiny. The church people aren’t God either but we walk into a church differently than we walk into Walmart. Our senses and our emotions are sort of laid bare and can cause us to be much more vulnerable to offenses. It’s easy to blame “the church” then for the turmoil at the moment because we relate church people to God, perfection, and expect non hurt. We all have issues before ever entering a church building. We all have work to do. We all have challenging things to face. I think in sharing, there is a way to fuel healthy life instead of fueling hurt.

There have been multiple hard yet healthy conversations about this topic since last week’s blog post. Please continue this series with us. This is an attempt to better “the church” instead of bashing the church. This is not judgement; this is mentoring. If you don’t know about our Facebook group, check it out. The Monday Mentor 2021 is where we share courage to live the Christian life. The Monday Mentors are men and women getting personal stories and great truths out to the world. We are changing hearts and lives by sharing God’s powerful Word. We’ll meet ya here next Thurs.