For the past 15 years, I have been in a “watching and waiting” set of circumstances. On 2/16/92 my husband and I made the hard decision that the church we were part of had crossed the line into becoming a cult. That’s a story in itself for another time. We stayed in it longer than we should have mostly because at least that group had provided us with good opportunities for trying to bring others into faith in Jesus and a relationship with God. The reason we left it in the end was because that very goal of the group caused it to evolve into a very human and authoritarian, ultimately cultic organization where the pressure to convert others in great numbers undermined the ability of members to act from the heart. We were unable to use our God-given freedom in Christ to make choices based on our own conscience and understanding of God’s will from our knowledge of his Word.
That said, in spite of many ways that group went beyond Scripture wrongly, we are thankful for the experiences we had of being in circumstances where the norm was to have confidence that others could be converted to faith in Jesus if they were open to being exposed to God’s Word in a small, home-based, informal Bible study group. There’s no feeling quite like getting to watch God work in someone’s heart and mind and life, seeing them realize either for the first time or in a greater way than ever before that God’s will is not only understandable but that it is truly good news.
At times when I have had no group like that to invite people to, as has been true for many of these past 15 years, I feel frustration at having no natural way to broach the subject of Jesus’ teachings. Inviting people to come to worship services is not real workable, partly because I live 35 miles from where we attend services and partly because so many people are already settled into their own Sunday morning commitments.
I have had good experiences of witnessing God at work, drawing people who have been either seekers already or at least who have been open to learning more of his will. I long to have more good experiences, and I long to find others who are eager to seek seekers along with my husband and me.
Filed under: Good News, Treasure | Tagged: Bible, Christian life, seeking God, seeking truth, spiritual life | 1 Comment »