Disclaimer: I am not and have never been against the regular attendance of a healthy bible-teaching church. I have simply been overwhelmed by the inexhaustible complexities of being committed to tradition and hard-core discipline, as opposed to the carefreeness of enjoying Christ and the spontaneity of the Holy Spirit.
Here We Go:
It’s been long since I last mustered up the courage to openly confess the wounds lingering in my heart with regard to organized religion, and things of the like. I cannot explain this deep disconnect I feel toward the concept of pledging some sort of allegiance to a particular denomination or even church—not that I would ever preach that doing so is wrong, it’s just that my heart is so repulsed by it. It has caused so much pain.
I know that I am not alone in terms of the amount of people who share this sentiment with me, but the fact of leaving it all out in the open really begs the question of why/how I am so burdened about the spreading of the gospel and living a life of ministry unto Christ and His people. To which the only respond I have is that, that I did not call me to do anything. Jesus called me and I surrendered. He poured all the love and mercy into my heart. He allowed me to suffer, suffer, and suffer more, to the point where I began to posses an insatiable thirst for healing, and sharing how Christ has comforted me.
Just as Corrie Ten Boom says in her book The Hiding Place: “There is not pit so deep that Christ’s love is not deeper still,” and I know that it surpasses all that I do not understand about the denominational constructs, and other theological principles. I do however know him personally, and I have been set free from myself by the mercies of his love.
Freeze:
I know what you’re thinking. This already sounds sort of sack-religious, and perhaps even disingenuous. Perhaps—you’re thinking, “she’s in some sort of spiritual haze and has lost her identity in Christ.” What I need you to understand is that what I am experiencing is quite the opposite. I feel so keenly in touch with my identity in Christ, as a daughter redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus, that everything else feels confusing, and lacking in simplicity. This is not to downplay the importance of fellowship, for it says plainly in Hebrews not to forsake the assembly of believers. I simply cannot wholly bow to a particular doctrine. I can’t do it.
What I Have Found:
The gentle whispers of acceptance, freedom and truth, that the Holy Spirit speaks to me do not frequently align with the latent messages communicated in organized religion that you have to really understand everything, and follow a rigid set of guidelines for living or else be condemned, both in this life and in the next. It’s not always explicitly stated, but I never feel more accepted, whole, or regenerated than in the presence of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps it was meant to be that way.
It is possibly my very own thorn of flesh that I do not understand why people pledge themselves to a particular doctrine and feel thus edified in doing so. I do not understand how Christians lump themselves into categories saying “these are my people, and these are not my people.” All I know is the sweet person of Jesus, the power of the gospel and the infallible word of God. I stand on it. It protects me. It is my guard, and shield from any schemes of the evil one…but anything outside of that, I do not know.
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