Can I be honest about something? Also, let me know if you have felt this too now that we’ve survived 2020.
I Don’t Have The Energy For Fellowship
I’m so burnt out on the bad actors that have infiltrated the Body of Christ, especially this past year, that it’s really testing my ability to trust others.
Like, I feel like I don’t want to talk on the phone to even people that I know because I just feel fried. I don’t want to open up, even to others who haven’t done anything wrong to me, because I’m burnt out on sinking hours and hours into fellowship with people who turn out to be bad faith actors.
“Christians” Sound Like Cain
Since about the last half of 2019, and of course definitely through all of the craziness of 2020, there are so many people who I’ve met or spoken with because of this channel who have shown their true colors. There is no love in them for their neighbors, and definitely not for the lost. They’re like Cain who said, “am I my brother’s keeper?” I guess it’s better late than never to find this out, but it still is disheartening.
It’s frankly scary how many people have this mask on that they care about Jesus’ sheep, but in actuality, “Jesus” is just the word they throw around to get people’s guard down so that they can use them to begin grifting or promoting whatever pet issue is their actual religion (which never has anything to do with Jesus.)
Do They Not Fear God?
Why isn’t Jesus enough for some people? Why are so many people comfortable using entire congregations of Jesus’ sheep? Do they not fear God?
I don’t know. It’s like, I always want to give others grace and the benefit of the doubt, but I feel like that is no longer a prudent way to go about life in the ministry, and that sucks.
An Age Old Problem
I know that Paul wrote often about bad actors in ministry, so this isn’t a “woe is me, why does this only happen to me” thing, it’s a “false brothers really put a damper on fellowship, and always have & always will.” I’m realizing that it’s not until you’re in ministry that you can empathize with a ton of issues that the prophets and apostles complained about in the Bible. The issues they faced are very much relevant today.
Crack Your Bible To These Verses
- ⭐ “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.” – Ecclesiastes 1:9 NIV
- ⭐ “Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery…” – Galatians 2:4 ESV
- ⭐ “Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, ➡️ danger from false brothers; ⬅️ in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?” – 2 Corinthians 11:24-29 ESV
- ⭐ “For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” – Jude 1:4 ESV
