I have seen a
wonderful ministry take place because people came together in honest admission
of their “slavery” and a desperate cry for deliverance. The people “cried out
for help”, “God heard their groaning”, and led them to freedom.
I have also
witnessed these kinds of ministry shut down, fall apart, come to an end,
because one person does not want to admit his/her true condition. They sabotage
the work of God by changing the focus from a church coming together to admit
their poverty of spirit and cry out to God for help, to a church that revolves
around proving that one person has no problems that require the church’s
ministry.
While that
whole generation of Israelites cried out to God in their slavery, they experienced
the mighty activity of God working to deliver them from Egypt and take them
into the Promised Land. As soon as these same people believed the ten doubting
spies instead of the LORD their God and his two witnesses (Joshua and Caleb),
they became the generation that wandered in the desert for forty years until
they had all died.
God then led
the new generation into the Promised Land, along with Joshua and Caleb leading
the way. The people who doubted God because of the words of man were gone, and
the next generation trusted God and followed him where he was leading.
Right now, we
are either admitting our true Soul Condition to God, and to some gathering of
believers who are the body of Christ in our lives, or we are denying our true
Soul Condition to both God and his church. Those who share their poverty of
spirit together, end up hungering and thirsting after the righteous things that
God offers them by grace through faith. Such a hunger and thirst that cries out
to God for deliverance, always receives the gift of grace that sets people
free.
On the other
hand, when people prefer the law-based approach of trying to put on a public
display of how good they are, and so discouraging people from facing their
poverty and finding deliverance in the riches of God’s grace, they end up with
a “good girl” or “good boy” façade that grows more fossilized with age. They
become like the rock-solid figure-heads of Mount Rushmore, a tourist attraction
for people who love religious sculptures.
Sadly, such “good
Christians” never become the living witnesses of faith who line the race track
of grace and surround those still running the race with all the encouragement
they need to press on to the finish line with all the whole-hearted faith that
is growing within them.
I believe that
pastors are to call together the poor in spirit to present to Jesus Christ the
true condition of our souls, so that he will be glorified in giving rest to our
souls, no matter how much he uses the body of Christ to bring this about. The
more we are like those two blind men crying out to the Son of David for mercy,
the more we will see his rich answers to prayer. The more we are like the
Pharisees denying anything is wrong with us, the more we will see self-contented
churches that Jesus is about to spit out of his mouth.
I know that I
need Jesus too much to think I am good enough the way I am. If you need someone
to show you how facing how bad we are leads to the greatest good we can know, I
would be happy (and heartbroken) to help.
From my heart,
Monte
© 2013 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good
News Publishers.)
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