It is a little too easy to be planted in church, involved in volunteering, serving, leadership and spending most of our time with people who are doing exactly the same thing. They are our friends, of course we want to spend time with them, but…
When we start to live in the Bubble that is Church it can lead to Trouble.
In Church, life is relatively safe. Marriages and families are generally healthier, or at least on their way to health. We are somewhat aware of our need for change and growth. Our lives are growing and flourishing and so they should.
From the safety of our protected Church Bubble we can start to think everyone lives this way. This is Church Bubble Trouble.
Church Bubble Trouble is a wrong perspective of what life is like for the multiplied millions of people on the planet who don’t know Jesus. If we live in this bubble we stop seeing people. We stop seeing their gargantuan need. We stop having grace. We stop being moved with compassion Matthew 9:36. The bubble is comfortable and can make us spiritually lazy. Our comfort blinds us to the needs of others. This is Church Bubble Trouble: blind tot he needs of others.
If we are comfortable and safe, if there is not a cost to our serving Jesus, if there is no risk to our faith, there will be Trouble ahead, because we’ve stopped doing something about the Trouble in the world.
If we start to see people again, really see them, we will see their need and we will be moved to get up and do something about the Trouble they face.
People are facing all kinds of Trouble and they need to know there is a way out.
People need to know they are loved and cherished and beautiful. They need to know there is hope for a much better future. A way out of their addictions, deliverance, and healing. People need to know they can live a significant life. That God has a great plan for them. That there is unending grace and forgiveness for them. People need to know Jesus and be connected to His church.
To do that we have to put our safety and comfort aside. We have to be willing to get a little messy, face some danger, count the cost, do some hard work, get a spiritual-back-bone and then, we will reach people.
Nowhere in the bible does God ask us to do anything safe, easy, predictable, or comfortable. It’s more along the lines of great cost, radical faith, passionate persistence, trusting God when we don’t understand and can’t see the end. Sometimes we don’t even know there will be an end but we determine to trust and obey God anyway.
When we step out and do something about the Trouble in the world, God promises to keep us safe–not out of Trouble–but safe through it.
As we meet others needs, He gives us everything we need and more Matthew 6:33.
