The Bible is simplistically clear: the foundation of authentic life is not found in the true church but in the head of it...the Savior of it. The church that Jesus is building is a glorious entity, but itself is not our saving grace. Jesus is. We have long strayed from the very Truth we proclaim by substituting preferential regulation of religious habit for explorational heart connection to the Adventurous Leader. Jesus broke the mold and breaks the back of a system that became nothing more than same ol' same ol' deadening practices.
The above would be a significant part of why the world rejects those among us who do what one can to display a lively faith. Sadder, this is why communities are loaded with former church attenders. It offered a routine that seldom pressed for individual growth. Rather, we developed a format that kept the "church people" content without ruffling our highly touchy feathers. This is an unwritten doctrine in many of our well-established congregations.
Such a trail disrupts every generation when focused on tradition rather than exploration of increased faith. To be clear from personal experience, vast amounts of Christians will assemble today to see that the order of worship doesn't include anything "out of the ordinary"; in others words, our controlling tradition of "the way we like things". Our comfort has never been His goal. The Cross may be key here.
The truth of the matter--or the Truth of the Matter--is that we are deeply engaged in an ongoing battle to break from personal hesitancy and hiding at the cost of risk. Safety, once again, has been the religious mantra ever since that escapade of denial in the Garden.
The church is to be a marvel of God. It is to be outrageous in its faith, its reach, and its remarkable distance....going into all of the world. For we believers, there will always be the call, God's call, to abort the self-security of hiding within the framework of seeing that church is done right for sixty minutes.
As remarkable as the true trek of Jesus is, the Word of God calls for us to duplicate it. We are to believe deeply, serve mightily, and bravely approach unexplainable possibility. This develops a joy and a needed excitement within the hearts of every generation for, regardless of age, we are to be new day by day.
Today there will be millions gather for "church" possibly under the guise of "doing church right". This strain is embedded within all denominations as well as the many who broke from the tight reigns of denominationalism...only to eventually develop as very similar independent habit-forming, self-satisfying deadening doctrine. This is the trait of routine religion of which killed the Master as he insisted that it be broken up.
The marvel of the church is that we are forever learners who hold tightly to Jesus while he takes us places we could have never imagined; in worship, in service, in vision, and in outreach. The rejection of the true church, while so many parade such a stance with pride, is that our church habit can be found to strongly replace spiritual flexibility.
The Good News is...and there is always such a facet...that every individual can transition from rejection to marvel as quick as a heartbeat. When we choose to enter the vast and glorious unknown of Kingdom potential by cutting the habitual ties anchored to safety, we will have entered the terrain of the working God.
Go. For. It. Best. You. Can.
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