Sunday, September 9, 2018

We all have Something

Now that I’m not in vocational ministry I don’t read anywhere near as many articles about church and church culture as I used to. The articles from various blogs still appear in my newsfeed, and a few days ago, this one jumped out at me.

It reminded me of an illustration I did with a lot of the young adults at my last church and resonates with me far deeper now.

Now, I’ve got a big something.

I’m divorced.

That is my thing.
That is the thing which I should keep hidden from others in church.

And, as the article mentioned, everybody has a thing.

It might be something in their past...
It might be something they are entwined in today...
It might be something they fear will spring up unexpectantly in the future...

An active porn addiction.
Regular drunkenness.
An abortion.
Sleeping with their partner.
Having depression.
Being on anxiety medication,
Having a miscarriage.
They are a victim on domestic violence.
Being abused as a child.
Taking drugs.
Engaging in casual sex.
Being deeply unsatisfied with their career.

While you might think these are extreme examples, they are the reality for a lot of people.

This is their something.

And they feel like they can’t share about it to anyone. 
Especially those in church.

We need to remember, no matter how good we might look on the outside, a haunting something might be lying under the surface.

Something they are ashamed of.
Something they struggle with.
Something they want to remain hidden.

The church should be a place where your “something” is welcome because God doesn’t reject you because of your “something” and can even redeem your “something” in order to reach others.

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