Bucking the system: Shunning, submission, Jesus
Jesus grew up in a religious system God had instigated, and people had hijacked to use for their own ends. Jesus’ life shows us when and how to buck the system.
Jesus grew up in a religious system God had instigated, and people had hijacked to use for their own ends. Jesus’ life shows us when and how to buck the system.
When asked if I wanted to be ordained, I waited on the Lord. I’m still in awe! And I can encourage you: When he calls you to walk on the water to meet him – GO!
Lord Jesus, show me when the church is not the church, but instead, the world in church clothing. Show me when a system is competing with you for my heart.
“I’m Leah!” I cried. I had given myself to a church culture that had used me and used me, while profoundly rejecting my personhood, my adulthood, my worth, me.
At a crucial moment in my life, Henry Blackaby and Caleb of old encouraged me: Regardless which way anyone else is rowing, you be filled with following God.
“She cannot say that!” the woman yelled. Half a world from my home, she forbade me to invite the churched to repent. Then, we watched the Lord break through.
It’s so enticing, and so much a part of the US evangelical church culture. Yet the lure of celebrity can deceive us into agreeing with much that is not God.
“Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak.” The meaning of that quote from 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 is obvious, right? God silences women, and the inspired apostle Paul affirmed it. Or maybe, just maybe: The Lord and Paul both snort at the idea – and we have not known it.
Since childhood, I’ve treasured Jesus’ words, “the truth will set you free.” Now I see this diamond in its setting. I hear the urgency in his cry to us all.
In the church, those obsessed with manipulating, intimidating and dominating can pose as those serving God. And we can be very fooled for a very long time.