SuperChristian

When did doing what God has called us to do via His word become something that set us apart as some special tier of believer?

This morning I was checking my phone and saw five minutes worth of audio messages on Instagram from one of my dearest friends. In them he shared how he was being put on a pedestal at work (he works at a Christian organization) because he spends time in prayer and Scripture each day.

He was grieved.

Hearing it, I was grieved too.

This dear friend is devoted to Jesus. He is heavily committed to making disciples of Jesus and building the Kingdom of God where he lives. He fasts. He prays. He dives into Scripture. He tells others about Jesus. He disciples.

And because of this, other believers treat him like he’s special. And he doesn’t want to be. Like Paul, he knows that he’s the worst of sinners that Jesus came to save (1 Timothy 1:15). He longs for others to devote themselves to the things of Jesus.

If you’re reading this, chances are you’re seeking to live for Jesus too.

If you’re reading this, chances are you’re like me.

Your love for Jesus fades over time.

You drift away from Him.

And you look around to those who are intimately close to Jesus and see them as special or super.

However, there are not such things as SuperChristians. These men and women around us have simply held fast to Jesus, as the Bible has taught them to do.

In the book of Hebrews, we are called to hold fast to our Savior over and over again. The book of Hebrews is considered by some to be the most overlooked and neglected book of the New Testament (see Adrio Konig’s {what a name. geez.} book on Hebrews: Christ Above All).

Consider this provocative but weirdly enough encouraging verse:

Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. – Hebrews 2:1

None of us drift toward Jesus.

That’s not a thing.

All of us drift away from Him.

And this one verse tells us how not to.

Pay attention to what you’ve heard.

Those of you who are followers of Jesus, you’ve heard the gospel. You’ve heard the call to get to work for the Kingdom of God where you live. Are you paying attention to that message? Are you digging into its implications on your life each and every day?

If, like me, sometimes the answer is no, there’s likely one of four things causing you to drift (Michael Kruger’s book Hebrews for You talks about these).

1. Busyness

I will share first the one that seems the most harmless. What does a schedule full of activities have to do with growing or not growing in our faith? The answer is, a whole lot.

The most dangerous thing in the world to my spiritual growth is my busyness. In this current season of my life, I am working super long days. I’m commuting an hour both ways for work, and due to the nature of student ministry, it has lead to 12-14 hour days over and over again. And unfortunately I’ve fallen hook, line, and sinker into every pitfall of the enemy. Drifting from my Savior day by day. It was only in this study of Hebrews I’m on that I was reoriented. And I can praise God that I started my day today in His word and presence.

2. Suffering

Our suffering causes us to drift. In the face of real and raw pain due to living in a fallen world, we find ourselves pushing God away. It is our knee-jerk response. I don’t know what it is that you are facing at this moment in regard to suffering. I know that we all have our fair share. My prayer for you is that you would cling to Jesus. I don’t have all the answers to all the questions I have regarding my own pains, but I am seeking to cling to Jesus all the same.

3. Opposition

Christians in America in 2022 are facing perhaps for the first time in our lives exactly what the church has historically faced throughout all of time. Opposition. Here’s what happens when we face opposition to the ways of Jesus. We do what is prevalent in our church culture today: we take an us vs. them mentality. We fight. We petition. We vote. We try all we can to take the lead in society.

Or we drift from Jesus because it’s hard.

There’s a better way fyi. Us FOR them. The church should enter into the world with goodness, kindness, and beauty. But that’s for another time.

4. Sin

Lastly, sin. My sin will separate me from intimacy with Jesus. My lustful thoughts. My anger. My fear. My pride. My desire to get the glory. These things will keep me from remaining close to my Lord and Savior.

Brother or sister in Christ, fight the drift. It takes intentionality and focus. It takes us waking up to the fact that we’re further from intimacy with Jesus than we thought we’d be.

Let’s go back to the friend I spoke about at the beginning of this post. I can promise you his heart isn’t that more people were like him in that they read Scripture, prayed, fasted, made disciples and all of this on a daily basis. His heart is that more people experience intimacy with God through these things.

There’s no such thing as SuperChristians.

We’re all the worst of sinners and we’re all in danger of drifting.

But my prayer is that more people would become like my friend. They would encounter God by pursuing God and making much of God.

Cause in the words of Syndrome, “if everyone is super, than nobody is”.

In His Name,

Nate Roach

Practice Vulnerability. Pursue Community.

Vulnerability. 

The word itself is enough to make most of us cringe. We often are scared of it and, if we’re being honest, being vulnerable with a friend is usually the last thing on our agenda. We assume that it will make us look weak, that people will judge us for the things we confess, or that any number of negative outcomes are possible. So, instead of stepping out in faith, we choose to be silent. 

However, most of us desire community. And we should. The Lord calls us to pursue community and it is so vital to our spiritual growth. But, when we are asked to be vulnerable, we shy away, we change the subject, or we remove ourselves from the conversation instead of diving in. 

Friends, this doesn’t work.

I have learned that you cannot have community without practicing vulnerability. 

The Lord has been so gracious to bless me with some God-ordained friendships that have radically changed my life. I am so thankful for these relationships, but they require work. They require honesty. They require trusting that the Lord has placed the right people in your life. They require vulnerability. 

Vulnerability is not comfortable and it is rarely easy, but I have seen firsthand the fruits of my labor, of my pursuit of vulnerability. I won’t tell you that being vulnerable is easier for me than the next person, but I have learned that it is essential and vital to the growth of God-ordained friendships. 

I would love to tell you that vulnerability is easy when you engage in deep relationships with the people that you know God has intentionally placed in your life to be your community. However, to tell you that would be a lie. My heart still beats a little faster, my hands still start to shake, and I still laugh nervously every time I prepare myself to be really vulnerable.

I don’t know what vulnerability looks like for you. Maybe for you it simply means expressing how you feel about something to a close friend. Maybe it means confessing a sinful practice in your life that you need to be held accountable for. Maybe it means discussing your past struggles that you haven’t healed from or your anxieties about the future. This deliberate choice of vulnerability may feel like the hardest thing you have ever done. But, I can tell you that it is so worth it. 

This, however, is not a guarantee that you will not be hurt. We are all human and we all, whether purposefully or not, let the people we love down. We speak before we listen. We don’t bite our tongue when we should. We say things we don’t mean. We are human. It happens in every relationship, and a God-ordained friendship in which you consistently practice vulnerability will not be void of these things. 

BUT, it will push you to be better and do better. It will push you to grow in your faith and to pursue the Lord more fully. It will teach you how to love yourself, the Lord, one another, and others better. 

When we choose vulnerability instead of silence, instead of surface-level relationships, we learn how to point each other to Jesus more. We learn how to hold each other accountable in our sinfulness. We learn what Biblical truths our friends need to be reminded of a little more often. The Lord can use others to pour into us much more when we are practicing vulnerability than when we choose to sit silent. 

Pursuing deep, God-centered relationships is one of the hardest things I have ever done. It takes effort. It takes discipline. It takes energy and so much heart. And it takes courage to be vulnerable. 

The Lord will use your vulnerability to grow relationships in ways that you could never imagine. He will supply you with just the right people in the most unexpected of times. He will do what only He can do, but the Lord cannot make us trust that He has put people in our lives for the purpose of vulnerability. He cannot choose to put in the work and the effort to grow and build a God-ordained relationship for you. He cannot be vulnerable for you. We have to do our part. 

The Lord calls us to be in community and we cannot do that without practicing vulnerability. 

My challenge to you is to look for the people that the Lord has placed in your life. Look for those people that God wants to give you a relationship with. It may be a person that you have known your whole life. It may be a person you have known for two months. The Lord loves to surprise us with beautiful things when we choose to look to Him, when we choose to look for His people. Look for and pursue those God-ordained friendships. When you find them, hold tightly to them. Practice vulnerability. It won’t be easy, but it will always be worth it.  

– Mackenzie Knox