The Problem with “Letting Go and Letting God”

22 05 2012

Tuesday Re-mix -

Step 3: We make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God.

[I am using these Tuesday Re-mixes for a few weeks to think (again) about addiction to self-reliance and how that addiction is one of the biggest challenges to genuine community which we face in the American church culture.]

Applying step 3 to our particular addiction (the addiction to self-reliance), feels a little bit like comedian Steve Martin’s simple process for becoming a millionaire…Step 1: go and get a million dollars.

For those of us who are addicted to self-reliance and independence, “turning your life over to God” has always been a bit of a troublesome concept.  Oh, it’s easy enough to say…and it was easy enough to do when we were 7 years old at children’s camp and our “life” consisted of  a bike, a broken G.I. Joe and an annoying little brother, all of which we would gladly “turn over to God” in exchange for Heaven.  Moreover, even the concept of turning our “will” over to God seemed like a small price to pay at the time, given the reward of spending eternity in Heaven with all the donuts and sports we could ever want (what? you didn’t get that promise in your package?).

But it didn’t take long to start growing up and watching our “stuff” and our wills expand to cover a great deal more territory.  Then, the desire for the applause of men and the insecurities which were beginning to haunt us caused us to turn more and more inward and to take more short-cuts and to work harder to control the environment around us in order to survive.  The more we strove to control our environment, the harder it became and the deeper our “addiction” became.  Interestingly, the better we got at being independent, the worse we got at actually relying on God…and now, when we hear preachers and church friends talk about “letting go and letting God”, we nod politely as if agreeing, but we don’t really get it.  Not really.

We don’t get it because we just have a hard time really trusting God (or even more so, God’s people) to meet our pressing physical and emotional needs.  Spiritual needs, sure…no problem there.  But the more practical things like finances and health and children and jobs and success and sexual desires and ambition and…well, you know the list…all those things we would rather handle ourselves.  We will gladly give God our Sundays (at least a few hours of them), but turning to God otherwise is a last resort for us.  It is what we do when there is literally nothing else we can do.  We know (intellectually) that God loves us and has our best interests at heart, but we just are not sure we wouldn’t rather handle these practical concerns ourselves.

So, for those of us in this particular group, step 3 in the 12-step process is more than just a next step in the recovery process…it feels an awful lot like the complete cure for our addiction!  No small step.  Forgive me, then, if I scoff a little at this “next step”.  I haven’t yet found the secret to really nailing this one down.  Have you?  Care to share?

© Blake Coffee
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on this website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Blake Coffee.  Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: © Blake Coffee. Website: churchwhisperer.com

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Categories : Anonymity Anonymous

The Two “Higher Powers” in a Christian Addict’s Life

15 05 2012

Tuesday Re-mix -

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. Hebrews 12:1-2a

Step 2: We come to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

[I am using these Tuesday Re-mixes for a few weeks to think (again) about our addiction to self-reliance and how that addiction is one of the biggest challenges to genuine community which we face in the American church culture.]

For pretty much anyone following this blog, step 2 in our recovery from addiction to self-reliance seems like a no-brainer.  I know that all of you believe in a power greater than yourself and that you would call that power God.  You don’t need me to point that out to you here, nor to find some creative way of showing you that truth.

Instead, I want to challenge you to consider another higher power.

There is a higher power in our lives which co-exists with God, in fact, it exists by His hand and is ordained by Him and empowered by Him…even indwelled by Him.  It is a higher power which He has determined to use as a Spiritual authority in our lives and, without it, we simply cannot overcome our addiction to self-reliance.  It is a higher power which is absolutely critical to our growth, our ministry, and our very purpose in this world.  That higher power is…Christian community. Without it, we are rudderless in the chaotic seas of this dark world.

The simplest and most convincing evidence of this truth is this: you cannot think of a single hero of our faith who has been used by God in the age of the church and who lived and grew Spiritually outside of the church.  None.  I believe that fact is significant, don’t you?

Since the Day of Pentecost described in Acts 2, God has made a choice which He is both content and resolved to make: that all of his church will be grown and nurtured and will find meaning and ministry within the context of Spirit-filled community.  All of us.  Period.  You can search the scripture through and through and you will not find any evidence to the contrary.  Simply put, the community of believers is to be a “higher power” in all of our lives.

And to bring application to our specific support group, I suppose it goes without saying that we are powerless to overcome our addiction to self-reliance without learning to lean into community with other believers.  It has, after all, been God’s plan all along.

So, who are the heroes of your faith?  George Mueller? Corrie Ten Boom? C.S. Lewis? Dietrich Bonhoeffer? Brother Lawrence? Oswald Chambers? Mother Theresa? The entire cloud of witnesses who have come before us…all of them…every last one of them…testify to this truth.  They would never have found significance in their world outside of the influence and accountability of Christian community in their lives.  It served as a critical “higher power” through which God would mold them and shape them.  And that same God Who is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow insists on those same terms with you and with me.  We need only buck up and deal with it.  There is no plan B.

© Blake Coffee
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on this website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Blake Coffee.  Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: © Blake Coffee. Website: churchwhisperer.com

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Categories : Anonymity Anonymous, Christian Accountability, Genuine Community, Spiritual Formation

When I Am the Rich Young Ruler

8 05 2012

Tuesday Re-mix -

Step 1: We admit we are powerless over our addiction and that our lives have become unmanageable.

When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”   When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy. Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”  Luke 18:22-25

I am using these Tuesday Re-mixes for a few weeks to think (again) about addiction to self-reliance and how that addiction is one of the biggest challenges to genuine community which we face in the American church culture.

You want to know another reason why it is so difficult for me to admit that I am powerless over my addiction to self-reliance and that my life has become unmanageable because of it?  It is because I am an American Christian…in other words, I am the “rich young ruler” to whom Jesus says, “give it all up and just rely on me, then we can talk.”

We, the church in America, are SERIOUSLY wealthy, not only in material things but in human resources, giftedness, skills, abilities, ingenuity, innovation, strategic thinking, and in almost everything else one might imagine to be helpful in building any organization.  Moreover, we have virtually all the freedom in the world to build our churches and to thrive, free from government interference or persecution.  We have entire libraries full of books written by our pastors.  We can flip to any of hundreds of radio stations and hear our choice of preachers.  And I can spend a lifetime (and HAVE) studying the church and learning strategies for building it and measuring which of those strategies works best in which environments.  We are really good at doing church.  I am really good at doing church.  How easy it is to carry on as if I do not need any help at all when it comes to being a good churchman.

So it hits me like a splash of cold water for Jesus to say to me, “You’ve done pretty well Blake…now go and get rid of everything you think you know about church and about conflict and about peacemaking and about the Bible and about my people…give it all to me and just come and rely on me.”  It is what He demands of me.  It is not safe and it is not popular.  In fact, it is not even reasonable.  It is utterly and profoundly radical.  And it scares me.

It requires such a level of childlikeness and humility so as to make me entirely uncomfortable.  I would much rather just rely on the things I know.  After all, I know more than most about the church and the Bible and about God.  Isn’t that enough?  It is certainly safer…and more predictable.  Of course, I may be wrong from time to time, but I will take those odds most days rather than give up all control and rely completely on Him.  That is the truth.  It is especially true when I am operating in an area of strength for me.  But Jesus says, “Go and give up that strength…put it all in my hands…stop relying on yourself and your wealth of resources and just rest in me.”

*sigh*

That is really, really tough.  And it is so much more than just a one-time event.  It is a constant, moment-by-moment deal.  And I suspect that I fail more than I succeed at it, which is why I find myself here in our Thursday support group for people addicted to self-reliance.  I need help!  I truly am powerless to do this alone.

© Blake Coffee
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on this website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Blake Coffee.  Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: © Blake Coffee. Website: churchwhisperer.com

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Categories : Anonymity Anonymous, missional

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