Caleb, the defender of the living room!
When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. – Colossians 2:13- 14
At our church in Kansas City they have spent the last few weeks preaching through the book of Colossians. In our community group the week after this passage from chapter 2 was preached we had a good discussion about sin in the church and our attitude towards it. We talked a lot about the benefits of “confessing your sins to one another” and what it means to be truly, vulnerably honest with each other and what that contributes to keeping each other accountable. We also talked about the passive and unintended effects of keeping things secret, things like “I’m the only person here struggling with this so I won’t bother them with it.”
The statement made by one of our pastors that has stuck with me since then was “Don’t despise your neediness.” The starting point of the gospel is that there is something wrong with you that needs fixed, something which you have no power to fix yourself, which is why we need a divine savior. If that is our beginning, why is it so hard to admit later? To admit that I need help with this sin.To admit that I need help with my kids. Help with my bills. Help with my inability to make friends. Help with my loneliness. Help with my anger. Help with my addiction. Our temptation is to say “It’s not that big of a deal” or “They might judge me” or “I won’t bother them with it.” Sometimes we’re tempted by the need to keep up appearances or persona and don’t want to take the risk of showing our faults. That is despising your neediness. The body of Christ shouldn’t be a place where our struggles become harder, it is a place where we can freely bring our struggles, acknowledge our faults, and find help and restoration for the shortcomings which we freely admit because Christ has already accomplished for us the redemption for which we’re striving!
We’re still here in Kansas City. Still doing the counseling process. Still not hearing much from Lohutok because nobody is around to help us communicate with Paul or Teresa or anyone else. Still waiting forGod’s provision and timing, but we’re far from unique and far from the only people having the same struggle during this season. Thank you for standing with us and praying for us. As always, we love hearing back about how we can be doing the same for you!
Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and Caleb
He's actually focused on reading today!
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