It's Time We Hurt for Others... Our Faith Might Depend On It

Normally I'd post this either on my blog or the Seeds group... but I'm gonna put this in each place.

So if you’ve been tuned in to the ‘Christian’ scene lately, it’s hard to avoid a major shift going on that’s making Satan smile a sly grin, like someone whose plan is just now beginning to bear its rotten fruit.

Two fairly large Christian influences (Marty Sampson of Hillsong and pastor/author Josh Harris) have both come out to question their faith at best (Sampson) or renounce it altogether (Harris).

Lots have been said about these two, but just a few quick notes before reaching MY main point:

1) These two need serious prayer. Not only are under serious attack and obviously doubting their faith, but because they are both obviously very influential, those who follow these guys are in danger of being swayed themselves.

2) In the case of Sampson, he’s clarified to say he hasn’t renounced his faith but it’s on ‘incredibly shaky ground’. While I’m not really sure what that means, it tells me that while an obviously talented songwriter, his theology and Christian mentorship is severely lacking. Read his words and his clear lack of understanding regarding his faith is painfully apparent. None of this is to take shots at him. Actually, to the contrary, he’s a victim to what I’ve said for a very long time… Christians need mentors to help guide, direct, teach, disciple, and cultivate other Christians. It seems to me that in spite of all his songwriting ability and insight into the character of God, he really hasn’t been taught about the nature of God. I understand Harris’ renouncement of faith. Faith is a tough thing to hold onto sometimes in a world slobbering away at itself to take it away from us Christians. But, without obviously having a discussion with Sampson, I don’t understand how faith can be on shaky ground. Those words actually give me hope for him, in an odd way. He WANTS to have something to believe in but he’s losing his ability to see something worth believing in. While incredibly sad, that desire to WANT is encouraging. He’s seeking. He’s searching. Or at least he recognizes he WANTS to be. So if that WANT is truly there, I pray God will show someone into Sampson’s life to help him see what he’s gone blind to. Now, if he HAS lost his faith completely but is just conflicted enough to not fully admit it, then he’s in a way even more ‘lost’ than Harris. And being lost, confused, and searching is a miserable existence… whether it’s for a job, a partner, or a faith.

3) These guys won’t be the last. This world will give someone every reason to doubt faith in God when we look for the answers we want vs. the answers God provides sometimes. I have no idea why God works in mysterious ways sometimes. His ways are higher than ours, for sure. Maybe where some of us don’t understand what God is doing, someone else sees clearly what He’s done and are encouraged/blessed by it. So, we need to stop looking at the world so myopically. Our perspective isn’t absolute. God has touched us in ways that probably didn’t move the needle for others. Give God the benefit that He’s capable of moving in someone else’s life when you don’t know that He is.

4) These guys (or anyone else) renouncing their faith really doesn’t matter. It matters to them and those who love/follow them, of course. But, truth is truth regardless of who believes it. It was true before you yourself became a believer. It’s no less true should you decide to stop.

Now onto my main thought.

While very disappointing, when someone ‘loses faith’, there’s an interesting battle going on in their mind and heart. They went through a deep mindful and heartfelt process to reach a level of faith. So, to reverse that means they are still deeply going through that process… often over and over. That’s actually a good thing because if we aren’t pondering, thinking, and examining our faith, then we’re probably not taking it very seriously.

These guys do/did. They’ve just reached (or are reaching) a conclusion that their faith is unwarranted.

Without knowing their life experiences, in many ways, that is on us as Christians. We’re failing to reflect Christ so that others can see Him through us.

If we’re honest, we all face times where we question our faith. Many things give us reason to do so. Good people suffer. Bad people flourish. That abundant life we’re supposed to know often looks suspiciously depressing at times. We look for validation of our faith and when we don’t see it, we question if it’s warranted in the first place.

Maybe you don’t or never have. Share your secret because life can sometimes make you question if there’s anything good out there worth believing in at all.

But, this is where our knowledge, study, mentors, etc come in to reinforce us. That while something make have us question our faith… truth is still true, whether we buy into it or not.

I can’t imagine these two guys (or anyone) reaches a faithless conclusion easily. It has to be a gut wrenching process. And in a strange way, I admire people who go through this doubting journey. I’ve done it. Yes… most people you’d never expect have, if they’re willing to admit it. Maybe even multiple times.

Now, very often, this journey begins when we’ve let our own faith grow stale through inaction. Faith is active, folks. There may be a benchmark moment where our faith is stamped, but unless we put it to action and let God validate it, we aren’t going to see it validated in others. It’s rooted in who God is, not who man isn’t.

That said, we as Christians need to do our best to live out a living faith because we just don’t know the impact it might have now… or in the future.

I heard a story recently where a kid was saved just before 8th grade and decided to bring his Bible to school with him. Sure, he got a few funny looks but nothing miraculous happened. He never really got the opportunity to share his faith because of just that. It was just a non-event.

At the time.

Twenty-ish years later, he gets a call from a guy whose name he vaguely recognizes. The guy asks him if he could help, as he’s the only Christian he knows. “You brought your Bible to school every day, right?” A random phone call referencing a random act of faith two decades ago turned into a man who accepted Christ over a phone call. His marriage was in shambles and he just needed to reach out to SOMEONE for help. A bit later, the wife called him and asked what he told her husband, because he’s a different guy. Another phone call, another soul brought to Christ. All because of a faithful act twenty-ish years ago that felt like it didn’t matter.

The guy’s name is Ketric Newell if you want to Google him and ask him more about the story. (He was our camp pastor a few weeks ago).

But that stuck with me. But, in the same vein… is it possible some of the things we do to screw up our faith might also have a lasting impact to someone years later? That’s probably fair to assume. We need to be careful both ways.

I think maybe when people go through trials of faith-questioning… it’s indicative of a deeper heart and soul that probably ends with a certain level of depression and sadness. Honestly, and this is the main point I’ve been working toward, I think as Christians should spend more time depressed and sad than we do.

And coming from a guy who suffers from depression, that’s a big statement. One I’ll write about another time.

But, for our faith in Christ to matter as it relates to bringing other people to Christ, our hearts must hurt for them. We must care for them. And to care for others means to be vulnerable to how things currently are for them. If God’s heart hurts because people are lost, then ours should to.

I’m NOT talking about clinical depression in any way, shape, or form.

But we need to take our faith seriously enough to be bothered by the state of the world. And that ‘state of the world’ really equates to the state of people’s hearts. Lots of bad things happen and as Christians we should hurt for people. Not superficially but genuinely. The world (people’s hearts) aren’t going to buy superficial concern. They’re going to respond to authenticity and genuine care.

Harris and Sampson, for all their issues and doubts, are at least deep enough in their own thoughts and hearts to ask questions. They dove deeper into a well they found empty. That’s incredibly sad. Problem is, they dove into a well looking for something that is there but they just can’t see it.

That inability defines our failure as a Christian community as a whole. Don’t let it define your circle of influence.

I think to take anything seriously, we think and ponder upon it. If you like photography, you think about different angles, exposures, or ways to get a cool shot. If you take your job seriously, you spend time thinking how you can improve yourself, a project, or how to get more out of others. Why would our faith be any different? If we take our faith seriously, shouldn’t we examine our faith in light of what’s going on around us? If we don’t take the time and effort to ponder our faith, is it really real to us?

Now, if you start coming back with answers that may diminish your faith, talk to someone. Express your concerns, doubts, and thoughts. If you take it seriously enough to question it, take it seriously enough to allow others to show us a perspective we hadn’t considered ourselves.

That right there is where I’m guessing Harris and Sampson might have failed. Not only were they possible not mentored early in their faith journey, but they didn’t seek to reinforce a loss of perspective. And by leaving that door open, that created just the opportunity for the King of Liars to do his thing.

So, instead of looking on with disgust when someone ‘loses their faith’, pray for them and pray for reinforcement of your own faith so that you don’t ever reach the conclusion they did.

But don’t be afraid to hurt for others. Don’t be afraid to be sad that people you know aren’t saved. We SHOULD hurt for them. God does.

*I didn’t post links to stories regarding them, but Googling Josh Harris or Marty Sampson will bring you to plenty of coverage regarding all this.*

Blue Pill, Red Pill... What Is Fake and What Is Real?

“Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.” – Thomas Jefferson

Occasionally you encounter wisdom that just strikes at your core, and this one did.

Life is a journey we all experience at our own pace but at the same speed. It presses forward with or without our approval. And part of that journey is discovering who we are and comparing it against who we were and who we want to be.

If hindsight is 20/20, it’s easy to tell who we were. We can clearly look back and assign ourselves a grade on who we used to be. Sometimes it’s depressing to do that, one way or another. You can either be sad you weren’t better… or you can be sad you USED to be better. Or, for these same reasons, this can be pleasant. But, looking back is easy.

It’s even easier to imagine who we want to be because we get to make up whatever perfection we can and pretend that will be us one day. We can envision the best attributes of ourselves at their peak performance and how that can create a utopian self. This process balls up all our best intentions and brings them to fruition. Where can you be in 5 years? Well, after a better diet, consistent gym time, more time serving others, etc… this fabricated future self is as easy to imagine as what we might do if we won the lottery. It can be kinda fun too. But, deep down, we realize it’s unlikely, especially if we aren’t taking steps to get us there. But best case scenarios and good intentions create the future us we love to think about!

The hard part is, in the moment, figuring out who you ARE. This is where our flaws smack us in the face like a door too heavy to stop. Today is where we pay for the regrets of our past. In some cases, it’s where the fruits of our efforts are already tasting sweet. But today is fleeting. Our present is immediately our past. We are beings of an ever dwindling future and ever growing past. The present just doesn’t last.

We WANT to be one thing. We used to be another. But, where in the timeline of our lives do we fall today, right now?

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” The running joke is that most adults are still asking themselves that at age 40, 45, 50 and beyond. But, it’s a joke born from truth. Most of us don’t know. We’re scrambling through life hoping to make it through the best we can. We react to life. But don’t really know how to make it what we want because we don’t know how to make US what we want.

And we don’t know how to do that because often, we are searching for who we really are at any given moment. It’s elusive. What happens later today can fundamentally alter who we’ll be tomorrow, so how do you nail down the person you are currently?

Thomas Jefferson was a wise man. Read those words again.

“Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.”

In much less wise ‘Sammy-speak’… We are what we do.

I’m purposely keeping a faith-centric angle out of this because that changes (and often enhances) the dynamic I’m talking about. It most definitely comes into play, but only to the extent you believe in it. If you don’t, this journey and Jefferson-wisdom still rings true.

We are what we do.

Wanna know who you are? What do your actions say? Not your words. Words are intentions. Words are empty. Words reflect what we think. Words may reflect what’s in our hearts. But words don’t get things done. Sometimes action stems from speaking it first… but without action, words just occupy the air, polluting our hopes of what we wish vs what we are.

Do you consider yourself a caring person? What recent actions demonstrate that? Or was that all in the past?

Do you consider yourself a faithful person? How have you helped anyone else lately?

Do you think you’re a person of integrity? Are you willing to show someone your browser history?

When you’re searching for who you are… and we all do that from time to time… the first place to look is what do your actions say? Sometimes that can be a painful realization. Sometimes it can validate what we hope. But it’s essential to self-awareness. If you’re unwilling to examine yourself at this level,  you’re unwilling to know yourself. You’re content to play pretend. It’s The Matrix. Are you willing to take the red pill to learn the truth? Or are you satisfied with what is fake, letting the blue pill keep you in oblivion?

Self-awareness can be tough. It’s certainly not for the faint of heart, as it forces you away from the ‘ignorance is bliss’ dynamic of life. It’s certainly simpler to live in a blue-pill world.

But at our core, I think we ALL come to a point where we’re compelled to take that red pill and examine who we are. It can be uncomfortable. Or it can validate what we’d hoped.

Ultimately, our actions define us. We control our future by our current actions. But, in this slice of time, you are what you are doing. Or not doing.

I love to read. Or better put, I love to accumulate books that interest me that I tell myself I’m going to read but rarely do.

I intend to read them. I want to read them. Heck, I spent money because I think the growing library (not an exaggeration) will benefit me somehow. But, at the end of the day, if I’m not reading them... do I really love to read? Or did I just used to?

What I’m interested in doing is a far cry from what I AM doing.

If you’re reading this and are in the process of self-search, start there and work outward. The process of changing our actions is an entirely different topic. One probably meant for someone else to write… at least at the moment.

Define yourself by your actions, not your intentions.

As I tell my daughter when I tell her to clean her room and she says, “I will...” or “I am…”

Don’t tell me what you’re doing. Show me what you’ve done.

Everything else is just words.