Media platforms are useful in many ways but it doesn't take much to see how dangerous they are. Providing a snapshot of our lives doesn't tell of the whole nine yards of what's actually going on. It's not like everyone who uses social media is deceptive, its just that we don't tell the whole story. Many of the false teachers and teachings offer something useful but the error is always that they don't tell the whole story. In this age we live in it is more like Inst- Abram ... just seeing the good bits of someone like Abraham's life instead of the issues.
Reporting on just good parts of something provides perfect marketing. If we did it in our own small biblical house group we could say some really good things. There's been healing amongst us, we have sweet fellowship, lovely times of worship and amazing times of sharing. Sounds great... and it is! But also we have times of brokenness, spiritual attack and oppression and real, earthy needs amongst us. What I am describing in the sunshine and rain is reality! Rather than make false promises like the prosperity gospel does, we just promise a biblical journey with all it's ups and downs.
So what happens if we only report on the good things? People would be misled in believing that we have some sort of utopia. I think it is human nature, especially us over catered for westerners, to avoid suffering. And the more I promise continual ease, the more we buy into it. Then... the problems come in churches who promise the ideal. There are several ways to maintain the illusion that all is well and that is to tell the person that they are still in utopia but they are the problem. Many Christians have been made to feel condemned, maladjusted and in some cases demonised for simply stumbling along in their walk. It is normal to falter and fail and in the ekklesia the Lord wanted, people are there to support and assist. Having a family to lean on when the going gets tough is the plan but in so many cases 'tough' means 'lack.'
If the gospel is presented in such a way that normality is constantly being swept along by the gentle breeze of the Spirit of God, any 'snagging on the barbed wire' would be seen as personal failure. Obviously wrong to see snags as failure but even worse, we have entered in to 'performance mode' as believers. It matters that we are intending a holy walk but the whole self assessment must be offset by Jesus completed work and his glorification right now. The Lord knows the potential of our weakness yet still works with us to nudge us towards transformation. So because he sees all, there is no surprise (to Him) when we falter and fail. The problem is, we do like to 'post' the good bits, the perceived successes and the impressive performance. This speaks back to us and reinforces the idea that we are not all that bad. When the snags occur we are again shocked and appalled that we are indeed wretched.
The only way to see a joyful and peaceful walk is to fix our eyes on things above all the time and attribute the good, the bad and the ugly to our risen and glorified King.
Yours in the struggle,
Gary Ward
No comments:
Post a Comment