Have you ever noticed the little under layer of church standards?
The church maturity charts, church guidelines (the kind never spoken directly,but always felt.)?
The church presses upon their young aspiring adults and even young 20 somethings that they are not complete until________ ,but yet continuously tell them that they will be growing all their lives.
We hold people to a standard, we judge, and we develop opinions.Some biblical views, yes. Some are just because we've always done it/ that's the way its always been.
Take this story for example;
"A young woman is preparing a pot roast while her friend looks on.
She cuts off both ends of the roast, prepares it and puts it in the
pan. “Why do you cut off the ends?” her friend asks. “I don’t know”,
she replies. “My mother always did it that way and I learned how to
cook it from her”.
Her friend’s question made her curious about her pot roast
preparation. During her next visit home, she asked her mother, “How do
you cook a pot roast?” Her mother proceeded to explain and added, “You
cut off both ends, prepare it and put it in the pot and then in the
oven”. “Why do you cut off the ends?” the daughter asked. Baffled,
the mother offered, “That’s how my mother did it and I learned it from
her!”
Her daughter’s inquiry made the mother think more about the pot roast
preparation. When she next visited her mother in the nursing home,
she asked, “Mom, how do you cook a pot roast?” The mother slowly
answered, thinking between sentences. “Well, you prepare it with
spices, cut off both ends and put it in the pot”. The mother asked,
“But why do you cut off the ends?” The grandmother’s eyes sparkled
as she remembered. “Well, the roasts were always bigger than the pot
that we had back then. I had to cut off the ends to fit it into the pot
that I owned”.
Growing up in the church I have seen this in the various denominations I've visited through the years.
So much tradition they lose focus on why they are doing it.
Then you have the churches that are trying to be so different the stray away from things God intended to be in the church. They are trying to be the opposite of the non-legalistic church of their fathers and drawing in a crowd.
The church has become a weekly occurrence in our lives. It has become a part of our
life in the sense that its on the list with soccer practice. We know the
drill,we know the line up, who's going to be there, who's 'not a team
player', who's 'up there' in the Jesus stats.
We put people up against a spiritual measuring stick, to compare like they are competition.
We have the church stick of life that puts youth on standards of where they should be in life.
When they are completing different modules, marriage is a great example of that one.
Way to many churches put unmarried mid-upper 20's adults on the down low vs. a married 25 yr. old because marriage completes you somehow?!
So the hunt pressure is on because its the next phase of completion in the eyes of those in church.
(disclaimer: marriage is not better or worse then single living, God has called everyone of different paths and each one opens different doors and grows us in different ways. Point being marital status doesn't define someones maturity just their experience. )
We have lost focus. Our prayer meetings are filled with
information and requests, not intercession. We pray like we aren't
LITERALLY at the feet of King of Kings crying out in His sons name.
We pray like the power of prayer is a tug on a rope and not a power that's pulling in the catch.
We
lost the fear,respect,the awe of who He is.
Tired of the passivity.
Tired of the normalcy.
Tired of the mundane vibes of church.
Tired of the 'measure up' expectations.
Tired of the judgement and lack of accountability.
Tired of the lack of joy.
Tired of the lack of passion.
Tired of church and missing the dwelling place of God.
I want to see Pastors behind the pulpit, not because they are preforming their duties,but behind the pulpit excited to share His word, be preaching with their whole heart because its truth.
Truth needing to be spoken not watered down.
I want to see Pastors growing and learning not just the congregation.
I want to see the church flourish. Like a wild fire that cannot be put out because the church is confident in the power of His name and are a walking in truth.
I want to see broken people healing, I want to see people worshiping because God is holy worthy of all praise, I want to see no fear of judgement as we as a congregation lift up His name, I want to see people pouring out and being poured into because of Jesus not because its their church life! I want to see the older challenging,encouraging the younger. I want to see people yielding to the Holy Spirit, following scripture, I want to see the fruits of a life striving, purging out the bad because the more of Jesus going in causing to push out the unwanted garbage.
I want to see Paul's walking in obedience,Daniel's walking in boldness,
David's chasing after Gods heart even when they stumble, they will humbly confess and keep running the race.
Being transformed and not conforming to the world.
Fighting the fight.
You cannot fight a fight if you aren't in the ring.
I am tired of seeing people being a church goers and not Christ Followers.
I am falling out of church standards and expectations.
Because its not what church is about.
