No One Wants to Say It {the uncivilized truth}
In Blog, Jesus, truth 50 commentsJul 17
There are times when consuming convictions call for really raw words, and this is one of those times.
And I would offer: forgive me in advance for what I will write, but I find no need to apologize for words that aren’t rants. {and believe me, I know the difference because I have at times, ranted.}
But my heart is brimming over, and my disdain for my own comfortable life is starting to produce tremors.
I fear…that with each cup of morning coffee, trip to the mall, picture posted on Instagram, tv show watched about nothing, the civilized life has once again, won.
I want to use words like God is messing me up about it but I’m not sure popular Christian phrases house adequate words or if there even are any.
{There is something, first, you should know.} In the midst of this personal struggle to fight the spiritual numbness, I get a phone call from the friend who has just started fostering kids. I immediately hear it in her voice: she is the latest casualty of unkempt Jesus work, has seen the darkness of the world and the goodness of God and it has altered her, and all I can muster to say to her is this:
“congratulations…you have officially become wrecked.”
I hang up the phone, look around my well-groomed kitchen, and I long to be wrecked with her.
Because the truth is: I’m in a very civilized ministry world where people get famous, wealthy and idolized over talking about The Great One. And I would be lying to you if I said that didn’t keep me up at night many times over, trying to make that make sense.
No one wants to say it. But it’s true.
Just like no one wants to say that we, believers, take mission trips sometimes for the wrong reasons.
No one wants to say that we’ll jump at the chance to go to seminars, conferences and conventions but will find every excuse in the book not to pray or read the Word.
No one wants to say that we want to be a believer on our terms, which includes doing just enough to satisfy the tag. Ask us to do more, and we will show you our busy, busy calendar.
No one wants to say that we are so spiritually fat, most of us, that if an unkempt Jesus work fell into our hands we wouldn’t know what to do with it.
And this all may make us cringe and we can flash our spiritual resumes and pull out the Matthew 7:1, but I’m personally tired of touting grace over conviction and using Jesus to make my point.
I believe, friends, that radical Jesus things start with an internal uprising for more….the opening of the eyes, the admission…the saying things that no one wants to say because it is truth and popularity isn’t a consideration.
I don’t know if this post will turn you off or stir your heart to fight the spiritual numbness.
But if not, please pardon the construction that is going on in mine. I’m not sure what it’s gonna look like when this is all through.
But…God willing, it won’t be as civilized.
*Conversation: What does being uncivilized for God mean to you?
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[...] No one can make you (or I) feel unworthy except yourself. If God thinks you’re worthy, you’re worthy. I know in cliquish churches the feeling of unworthiness can be smothering, (horrible evil spirit) but you must remember that GOD CALLED YOU! Jesus says, “you are worthy of my love.” In fact, Jesus feels you are so worthy of His love that He died on the cross for you, bore all your sins on His shoulders, carried them to hell (Hades, Sheol…), beat all those horrible demons up for you and rose from the dead – JUST FOR YOU! Isn’t it fabulous! Change happens when we move forward boldly with belief in the promises of God. Believe. Step. Change. Lisa Whittle [...]
Yes. This. Lisa…you write the words that can’t find….can’t even respond right now beyond…yes my friend. Yes. This.
Blessed by the connection and grateful for the Great Connector, Wendy.
Yes, yes, yes!!! I am there. Becoming more and more repulsed by this neatly kept, comfortable life of mine. There must be something more…..
I believe this is where it starts, Rachel. Grateful for discomfort in the comfortable, if it drives us to Him.
There is an urgency and groaning that is bubbling to the surface.. the only way that I have found to describe how I feel is that the scales have been removed and I realize how spiritually (intellectually) fat I have become and how anorexic I have become with truly serving Him.
Thank you for this post Lisa. It’s exactly what is happening in my own life as well of several around me. May I be broken, wrecked and completely uncivilized in following Christ – not what our Christian culture has made of following Christ, but what Christ commanded of us.
I’m still in the midst of becoming completely aware of my own depravation and need for Him. It’s sickening.. all that I’ve chosen, but incredibly grace-filled and merciful to understand what truly awaits us all.
yes, Dedra. So yes.
Oh Yes Dedre!!
I long to live an uncivilized, unconstructed, unabashed and imperfect life…i long to walk the line that says – struggle to become better. I hate discomfort…but I wish to thank you for reminding me that in my discomfort…and in my questions – I know I am not alone…
no, not alone, Bethany. I’m so with you…so are many others…Jesus, most of all.
My husband (an Englishman) and I (an American) live in a remote and very poor part of Latvia known as Latgale. We were told to “Go, wait, listen and encourage.” The story is long and complicated but we hope that the message to our neighbors communicates the Good News through our lives, we do not speak the language. It is a hard place but O, how He blesses. You are on target, Lisa.
Kathleen, thank you for coming by here and sharing this. You are doing the good work, the hard work, the Jesus work. Thank you for inspiring me, today. I’m going to pray for your work!
Yes, my heart echoes yours, dear sister!! Your boldness and desire to push us past the “numbness” is why I am so excited about you coming to share with us at ReNEWed on Aug 11th.
God has been convicting me of my comfortable Christian lifestyle for some time now. I want to live out the call He has put on my life, to be Christ in the flesh. And I desire to prompt others to do the same. He is stirring something up in the lives of His believers…and I can’t wait to see what that looks like lived out.
Keep pressing on!
can’t wait to be with you, Rachel! may God continue to do in and through you a good work.
Believing our Jesus doesn’t do things that always make sense or look civilized!
yes, amen!
i’m in such a time .. have been for a while. too long in my thinking but God has His reasons and i can do nothing but lean in deeper, deeper into His Word, His bosom, His leading. i’ve grown .. am growing.
growth is good, Jane. really good. stay in the journey.
YES YES!! This is what my husband and I have been talking about for about 2 yrs now and this is what we do……When we see a need, we stop right then to pray and talk about it before we volunteer or not… I know everyone is full of good intentions but I would rather make sure it is God’s Will for me before doing something because I see a need. You know? And of course, it is not always understood or the most popular in the eyes of others but I always say.. I live for the LORD not for others. He directs my path not others. God’s truth is all I need.
Yes, Melissa. See a need and pray. What would happen if we would all do this, all the time? Thanks for the good word.
Lisa;
Being uncivilized for God means dying to self. I am a single woman, never married and never had children (not my choice, but God’s plan) and have spent the past four weeks caring for my nephew who has special needs while his mother is away on a teaching project.
Never did I expect to have to die to self every moment of every day so that his needs would be met as they should. I knew there would be sleepless nights, but not sleepless weeks. I never expected to have to plan every action around his needs and desires and I never expected to be spent. I now understand what the Apostle Paul meant when he talked about being spent for others.
My prayer has always been, “Please, God use me in Your service like You used Paul and Mother Teresa.” Be careful what you pray for! The answer will not come in your comfort zone.
A life of devotion to Jesus really does cost us every bit of the comfort we have only because the God of all comfort gives us comfort so that we can comfort/care for others. That comfort is not ours to keep. Neither is perfection or recognition.
I read a quote yesterday that said, “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” How true this has been. To minister for God as I have asked Him to let me do, has taken me completely out of my comfort zone. I am no longer at my own beck and call, but at His for His sake. To be who He created me to be, I must be uncivilized, recklessly abandoned, the opposite of the civilized.
Thank you for this post and challenge.
Be blessed,
Monica
As always, I LOVE your heart, Monica. In total agreement with you. You are doing the Jesus work with your nephew, and this inspires me.
Wow, wow, wow! I feel like you’ve been reading my mind… Excuse me but I’ve been so sick of the religious bull lately that I just want to puke! I’ve been simplifying my life to the point of putting my house on the market. I want to live like Jesus on this earth. That is my greatest desire. We are supernatural beings living a temporary human existence and I need to start acting like it. LOVE THIS POST and I hope you don’t mind but I quoted a tweet you made in my latest blog post…. THANK YOU and have a fabulous day!
With you. And always grateful to have connected and to inspire enough to share. Thank you!
Beautiful post Lisa. I want to be totally “ruined” for the sake of God. I have already been “ruined” by experiencing his promises in my life and I hope to never forget that! I love what Steven Furtick says, “If the vision you have for your life isn’t intimidating to you, it is probably insulting to God.”
Thank you for speaking the truth, no matter how hard it may be to hear!
See you in a few days at She Speaks!!
Thank you so much, Michelle. I won’t see you at She Speaks this year, but know of my fondness towards you and gratitude to have met in the past!
Ouch. And thank you. Guilty as charged.
And with the responsibility and awareness, friend, comes the Father’s help to become better. Glory.
Matthew 5:22-23 has been rolling around in my head for weeks now…God is up to something and His wrecking ball is getting momentum!
yes, amen.
Lisa, Lisa, Lisa…I want to shout. From the core – the very depths of my heart – I say, “Oh glory! Woo! Thank you! Yes and amen!” This is timely, relevant, and in-your-face teaching. I appreciate your courage and your truth.
Being uncivilized for God means living fully exposed for His glory. If you’ve ever been raw or naked before God, you know what I mean. It is an uncomfortable state, but nonetheless, it brings forth that which is holy and real. To be honest, that’s what it takes to get my big head, big pride and big ego out of the way.
This I know (unwaveringly), I want to be wrecked, ruined, uncomfortable, exposed, and radically transformed in Christ. I want to be disentangled from living a typical, safe, comfortable life of religiosity. Praise God that I am being set free daily.
Girlfriend, I shout with you! You bless me so. I tried to email you back but to no avail. I’m not sure what happened but I am so glad you came here to let me say a big thank you to you for such sweet encouragement. Sending you a HUGE cyberhug.
Thank you for writing those words. I am where so many of you that have commented are….
Recently, I was convicted of unbelief in my life! Unbelief!??? Really??? I’ve been in the church how many years? Nooooo, not unbelief! Sad, but yes it was true….I repented. So grateful for a God who forgave me (again)!
My God is alive, working, and I am excited what He is doing in this uncivilized, messy journey of life! Some christian family and friends are uncomfortable with a few of the changes….that is OK
….it is ALL about Jesus!
Yes, Cheryl. He is ALIVE and WORKING. Love those two words spoken together. Thank you!
Wow…just wow.
I have been reading ‘The Pursuit of God’ by A.W. Tozer, and there has been SO much wisdom in it. Especially in the latest chapter I just read (Chapter 3). I have to read this book SO slowly because every sentence is full of meaning.
He talks about a veil that we keep in our hearts, the veil of our ‘self-life’, which prevents us from fully entering into God’s presence. He says “This veil is not a beautiful thing and it is not a thing about which we commonly care to talk, but I am addressing the thirsting souls who are determined to follow God, and I know they will not turn back because the way leads temporarily through the blackened hills.”…and then about the process to ‘crucify’ our self-life to remove the ‘veil’…”Insist that the work be done in very truth and it will be done. The cross is rough, it is deadly, but it is effective. It does not keep its victim hanging there forever. There comes a moment when its work is finished and the suffering victim dies. After that is resurrection glory and power, and the pain is forgotten for joy that the veil is taken away and we have entered into actual spiritual experience the Presence of the living God.”
And to that Crystal I simply say wow back and amen and PREACH.
It was a group of civilized christians many years ago that shredded me emotionally and spiritually in name if God.They pronounced that if my faith was better all my pain would be gone.I vote for the uncivilized christian who truely seeks God and doesnt use his name for their own agenda. Lisa may we all be under construction.
Good one Lisa!
God wrecks our perfect to bring on the impossible. And we are never the same.
What used to work, What was enough, doesn’t and once you’ve tasted love, Nothing else satisfies but love.
“Uncivilized for God” you ask? For me it means being willing to get down and get dirty and minister to those who need it most – the hungry, the sick, the lost, the abused, the addicted, the pregnant teen with a teen dad who’s suddenly run away, the child who is left to die because his parents don’t believe in medical care . . . and on and on and on.
It means we give up, turn over, let go of, surrender all we have to be REAL Christians, not just Sunday morning Christians who put money in the plate and then go home until next Sunday. It means we don’t turn our backs on the hurting world we live in. It means so much more . . and I feel a rant coming on so I’d better stop here.
But I’m with you, Sister in Christ!
This so resonates with what God is saying to me. This morning I was meditating on James 1:22 “But prove yourselves to be doers of the word, and not merely hearers, who delude themselves.” I asked God to break through my delusions and show me where I am merely hearing and not doing. Then I sat at the computer and read your blog. The delusions are fading, God is breaking through. Thank you Lisa
I love that you can look into my mind and say what I don’t want to admit. You’re exactly right! The wrong reasons are sooooo much easier to use! I love to serve – but why? Is it because I want to help those that need help? maybe. Is it because I see a need and I’m outraged and moved to action? maybe. Is it because “my” people see me serving and tell me how great it is that I serve? probably. Is it because I see people I want to be my friends serving and I want to make a good impression? yes.
In the eyes of the world, the ends justify the means. But God sees my heart and although I’m sure He appreciates that people are getting served, He doesn’t recognize that I’m doing the serving, because in God’s the ends don’t justify the means. In God’s eyes – the motivation is just as important.
My prayer is that God would wreck me too – shake me up, interrupt my fat lazy cozy life and just absolutely ruin me.
This post resonates deep within me. To be spent for Christ, isn’t that what we Christians truly need to be fulfilled? We may get caught up in the materialism of our culture and believe the lie that we should always be entertained, life should be trouble-free and we deserve to live in nice houses and drive fancy cars. But the Son of Man had nowhere to lay His head.
Recently my son won full custody of his two girls, ages 4 and 5. I’ve moved in to watch them while he works. I’ve got Chronic Fatigue so this is especially challenging for me. I have to keep reminding myself that this is a ministry, and that I need to do everything that I do as unto the Lord.
I have many writing projects I’ve had to put on hold, and sometimes my heart yearns to be free of my new responsibilities so that I can work on them. But then I realize what an important position I am in to be a Godly influence in the lives of these girls, and I am humbled anew. The writing will get done, or not, as God wills. The girls are here, right now, needing love and guidance and much affection. Who better to give them that than their nana?
Thanks for a great, thought-provoking post. There is something exciting about being spent for Christ, to give one’s all with no thought of praise or reward. We must die to self in order to be spent for Him–halfway sacrifices are no sacrifices at all.
May you continue to write truth!
Ahhh Lisa, you go girl!! Stand on that chair and yell out YOUR truth!
I am a serious rebel against THE NORM, the blase’, the in-thing, and yet… I find myself slipping into those patterns so easily that I don’t notice until I am there. Yikes! Since when do I like the Mall? And when was the last time I went to church? The actual building not the online ministry that I sing with and journal to and pray with. That is not bad but I should meet up with actual people once and a while.
I see a shift in the culture, a new “free to be me” way to express yourself. And though I like the concept – I am fearful of where it is heading. I want to focus on a Free to Be a Jesus Girl expression and wrap myself in that. Express myself from that place.
I want to put on the camel hair coat and eat the locust and Yell out for Jesus and I want to do it as my messy self.
Thanks for always lighting the fire!
Be Well,
Lina
seriously, this could’ve been titled, “reasons why brittany is struggling to write.” thank you for putting my heart into words. perhaps i can take this & move forward in the “construction”, too.
Wow! What a great and convicting post. I love your writing, which is why I loved your book {W}hole so much.
I have no intent to be critical or contrarion but I can’t help but notice, in so much of what I hear and read in Christendom, the guilt and/or shame motivation involved in relationship with God. The Holy Spirit’s conviction is not synonymous with “found and condemned guilty” but rather with freeing convincing that there is another reality that we have moved from – resting in loving and trusting God and allowing Him to direct the mind changing repentance that allows seemingly risky, unnerving adventure confident in the One that goes with us.
I’m not talking about “easy gracism” which allows for excuses and explanations, but rather renewed wonder at all that Jesus “finished”. All sins are forgiven and lack of trust is simply what we are choosing to miss out on. Opportunities to love through service are ultimately for the recipient and us as Jesus lives His life in and through us. The deceiver throws obstacles up, but also just engages in misdirection.
“Civilized” is such a perfect description of man implemented rules and norms that allow for a structure within which to judge ourselves and others rather than living in the messy wild. I have to trust to make it in the wild unknown because I know I can’t do it on my own because control is not possible.
Not to knock the organized church, but organization can often lend itself to a goal of civility. As an example, I have often advocated for good counselling services in our church, but it seems programs are far easier to implement to meet our needs for “meeting requirements of offering relational fellowship”.
No lie, last time hiring trained counsellors was brought up at a business metting to assist the numerous broken people, the moderator uncomfortably stated that it would result in lineups that would overwelm any such attempt. That was the end of the conversation/consideration.
Walking with each other is relationship is messy, challenging and can be discouraging, but these dynamics can drive us to dependance on (and interaction with)the very One that is the source of life itself.
Thanks for this encouraging reminder to stay engaged in trusting reliance of/on God and move toward the messy uncertain rather than running away to the safe predictable and civilized norm.
With what I have been learning this year and with what God is doing in the lives of those I am around daily, I agree whole-heartedly! We have to be willing to do what God wants us to do not matter what. Circumstances change and people grow (or not) in their relationship with God! Praise God that He is directing our paths and in control!
And thank you for saying it! We should always be
“under construction” the different seasons of
Our lives means different ways to serve God.
You are speaking to me. Thank you.
There is a song Casting Crowns sings “Jesus Friend of Sinners” and one of the lines says “break our heart for what breaks yours”.
Everywhere I turn I keep hearing or reading the same message. Thank you for being so brave as to say what many of us wouldn’t even begin to know how to put into words.
Lisa.. I absolutely love the way you speak/write the raw truth! You are such a blessing.. Thank you for your obedience and honesty! Shine on!