#Rethink: Changing People, Our Story, and Something New
#Rethink - July 2022
Hello and happy July! This month we are questioning how to change people, rethinking our own story, and exploring something new. I'm glad you are here.
Can We Change People by Changing Their Behaviors?
I'm concerned about a bunch of things in our Christian culture right now and they might not be what you'd expect. Growing up in my Christian cult, I experienced the desire to transform culture by imposing our beliefs and standards on it firsthand. As a teenager I felt like the whole world would be a better place if everyone followed our rules. I specifically remember wishing we could transform the fashion industry. Target fashions from the last few years would make me think we succeeded.
But I was in a cult. When mainstream Christians are doing similar things and calling it right, I get a little concerned. If we are trying to change someone's behaviors by imposing another set of expected behaviors on them, we are missing the point!
Jesus said His Kingdom isn't of this world. We will never fix this broken place by ourselves or our standards of behavior. Only Jesus will fix it. And until He comes back and reigns, the Kingdom is about restoring hearts.
It's a crazy Kingdom, backwards, inside out, and upside down. The broken found it, the social outcasts and misfits, the hurt, lost, and mistreated. But the religious ones missed it. Both side of the religious spectrum -- the conservative Pharisees and the liberal Sadducees -- missed Jesus. Are we doing the same thing again?
What if we made Jesus our top priority?
What if we focused on knowing Him and sharing Him with others?
What if we allowed the Holy Spirit to be the one to change people from the inside out?
What if we accepted the brokenness of this world and the reality that we cannot fix it alone?
I'm not saying we hide under a rock and do nothing. There is a middle way where we stay involved in the things we care about, but our primary focus is bringing people to Jesus. Not getting them to agree with us or change their behaviors. It sounds radical these days, doesn't it? Then let's be radical!
"If we cannot name our pain, it just remains a chain. If we will not name the reality of evil, we will remain defenseless to defeat it."
The Lord is My Courage, by KJ Ramsey
I've never written about the same book three months in a row before. But, partly because this is still the book I'm reading, and partly because it has been life changing for me, I'm going to keep talking about it.
I just podcasted about this quote above and it will come out tonight at 5pm. So good!
Early in the book KJ invites us to ask a new question. Stop asking "What's wrong with me?" she says, and start asking "What's been done to me?" Processing our stories, our pain, our heartache, and the things that have been done to us, is hard. But KJ's book is an outstretched hand welcoming us in, telling us that we aren't alone, aren't too far gone, or too lost, to find our way home.
I work in the Cruiser's Nursery at my church every other week. The babies come to us when they are starting to sit and crawl and leave once they are walking. It's not the easiest age, and often they hate us for a while. I have a little friend who spent a couple months of Sundays in my arms while I bounced, snuggled, and tried to settle him down and reassure him that it would be okay.
KJ talks about the phrase, "he makes me lie down" from Psalm 23 in Chapter 5. She tells us that phrase should be translated "he settles me down." All I could think about was those weeks spent bouncing that chubby, sniffling baby in the nursery. I never minded. I wasn't upset. I knew that I'd eventually convince him to settle and be okay. What if God is like that too? What if He longs to settle us down and tell us that it's okay to rest in His arms?
Every one of us has parts of our stories that are broken. Will you bring all the pieces to Jesus, ask the hard questions, name the pain, and allow Him to settle you? I'm so grateful for this book. You can buy it here on Amazon.
Keep Moving Forward.
So, that writer's conference I talked about last month? It was amazing. I wish I could tell you all the ways I saw God, or all the strange encounters I had that could only be the Holy Spirit, but it would make this section way too long.
Let's just say I was supposed to be there and found some potential open doors for writing my book! I also have work that I need to do.
It's only been a week, but I've done a bunch already. I tweaked my website to make it more user and smart phone friendly. (Clink the gray button on the end of this page.) I also moved my podcast to a host where I have my own website. (Also linked with a gray button.) I started blogging again for the first time in almost a year. And, the thing that will impact you the most: I am moving my email newsletter to Substack.
Don't worry, you will still get my newsletter and it will still be free. You will also be getting a blog post once a month as well starting in August. Expect to hear from me the 2nd and 4th weeks of the month. Substack is a new platform for writers that (among other things) allows people to search for an author or topic. My writer friends say they have had great organic growth in their newsletter which is awesome. I hate trying to convince people to sign up. I will be importing your email address so you won't need to do a thing.
Will you pray for me as I keep moving forward with this book writing adventure? It's easy to become cynical after rejection, but I want to just keep following Jesus and see where we go.
Thank you for taking a moment to #Rethink some of our religious traditions and beliefs. I know that it can be scary to deconstruct and reconstruct our faith, but finding the Real Jesus is absolutely worth it. As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts, questions, or comments.
If you know someone who would love to #rethink, please share!
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