Safe Because You’re Guilty

As part of my message yesterday morning, I quoted the following lines from a Relient K song, released around 10 years ago: “’Cause we’re all guilty of the same things; we think the thoughts whether or not we see them through.” I shared these words because as Christians, we don’t need to “go it alone;” we can have genuine community with other followers of Jesus. We might think we can’t or won’t or shouldn’t reach out to others in Christian fellowship, but we should make a decision to step out and seek authentic relationships with other followers of Jesus.

Reaching out in this way is risky and scary, but we all have something to hide, so how dare we condemn and shut out others who are only doing the same thing we are? How can we not be safe people to share with? I’m no better than you and you’re no better than me, not in God’s eyes. There’s too much at stake—for ourselves, for our Christian brothers and sisters, and for a world that desperately needs us—to “go it alone.”

We were created for relationships, and to quote Michael Dye, “It is experiences from hurtful relationships that caused your wounds, and it takes new experiences with safe, caring people to bring healing.” Of course, it can be extremely difficult to trust people once you’ve been wounded, but it’s possible if we make the church a safe place for hurting people. And doing that begins with you, and it begins with me. Broken lives will be restored when one person invests in another person by means of a relationship. Will you help me? I will help you, and together we can grow and love and serve in a church that functions the way Jesus intended.
 
Troy Burns