You are needed

I recently was listening to a podcast by Francis Chan of Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, California. He shared a story of an encounter where he met a man on an airplane who started telling him about the spiritual journey he had recently been on, a journey that was causing him to feel disillusioned by the hypocrisy he was seeing and experiencing from people who call themselves Christians.

 

Francis said, “The more I listen to you honestly the more angry I get. I just get so angry when people do that, and you’ve got to understand that those are the exact people that Jesus just couldn’t stand. When someone comes under the guise of being a religious leader and then takes advantage of someone else or uses someone else, man it is so so ugly in God’s sight. You’ve got to see the way Jesus just reamed on these people who did that.” The man proceeded to say he was done with it. Francis’ responded, “You can’t do that. Don’t do that. The church needs people like you. You are the exact type of guy I would like to have in my church because you are real and you can’t stand the hypocrisy. You can’t stand someone coming in and putting on a smile, and a lot of us have done that. I have done that. You can’t stand the dishonesty and you want to confront it. Those are the very people we need in the church, but what happens is those are the people who get frustrated with they church and they go ‘forget the church they are a bunch of hypocrites’ and they leave. But you are the one that I want to stay, and let’s get the hypocrisy out, because that’s the stuff that Jesus couldn’t stand either. “

 

Jesus did hate the hypocrisy that was found in the religious leaders, religious activities, and the unfaithfulness of those who claimed to be like God. If you are disappointed, frustrated, and grieved over the brokenness of our Christian circles and churches you are not alone. There are some leaders and churches out there that are honestly seeking to be faithful. They will have times they don’t hit the mark, but they need those of us who have been hurt, disillusioned, and are fed up with the lies and hypocrisy.

 

Don’t give up! Hang in there and keep sharing your heart and your story. You are a voice that God can use to call people closer to him and who he can use to call out the hypocrisy and unfaithfulness in his Church. Let him use you!