This post is one in a series of posts called “Glimpses of God” which I am writing as part of the Write31Days blog challenge. You can find the other posts here: 31 Glimpses of God Blog Challenge (#write31days)
I have been intrigued by another blog involved in the 31 day challenge. In this other blog, the writer is chronicling her “break-up with Jesus.” She says that she was raised in a fanatical religious cult, then converted to Catholicism, but has become frustrated with the church and is now ready to get rid of all her fantasies and see if anything real remains.
Anger, hurt, and disillusionment come jumping off the screen as I read her words. I find myself praying for this person I don’t know and wouldn’t recognize if I bumped into. Yet, I keep thinking that if not for this blog challenge, I would never even know about this lady. That probably sounds like a rather dumb statement, but what I mean is that I am very guilty of staying safely tucked in my “holy huddle” of Christian friends. I love my holy huddle. I feel safe in my huddle. And my huddle is necessary for my Christian growth and encouragement. But there is a world of hurting broken people outside of my huddle, and if all I do is stay around my huddle-mates (is that even a word?) then I will never see those people.
I tend to gravitate towards people who look like me, act like me, and think like me. But what if Jesus would have done that? How many hurting people would have remained in their broken hurting state? The world, outside of my holy huddle, needs to know that it is the person of Jesus who heals, not the religion of men.
It is the relationship with Jesus that restores the broken, not our membership in a certain church.
It is the love of God in the form of a man who willing allowed His body to be broken to die the death we deserve that allows our sin to be forgiven, and not our adherence to a bunch of rules.
It is the power of God’s Word that changes our hearts, not the route forced memorization of it.
This world is lost, broken, hurt, disillusioned and angry. Politics can’t fix it, gun control can’t fix it, the economy can’t fix it, not even the pope can fix it. This world needs the person of Jesus, the all consuming love of Jesus and a relationship with Jesus. Only with Jesus can true hope and real healing begin.
My holy huddle already knows that, so I need to begin asking the Lord to show me who He wants me to share Him with outside of my huddle. I must confess though that praying that prayer scares me. As an introvert and a people pleaser, stepping out of my comfort zone and my huddle sounds about as fun as a root canal without medication. But I keep thinking that if Jesus never stepped out of Heaven to come to dwell among sinners, I would not be on my way to Heaven.
And so on this third day of the challenge, God has allowed me to see my need to share Him beyond my holy huddle. What does that mean exactly? I don’t have a clue yet. For now, I will pray for the woman who is searching for truth and aching for the love of the real Jesus to overwhelm her soul. And I will keep my eyes open to where God leads next even though that kinda scares me.
I will end with a quote from a beautiful song titled, “Be Born in Me” by Francesca Battistelli:
“I am not brave, I’ll never be. The only thing my heart can offer is a vacancy. I’m just a girl, nothing more. But I am willing, I am Yours.”
See you tomorrow,
Jen
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[…] Day Three: Seeing Past the Holy Huddle […]
“Huddle-mates” – yeah, I like that even if you did just make it up – ha! But you’re right. It’s so easy to do. Trying to join you along the way of breaking out of the holy huddle.