Cloud and Fire

At a past camp fire church I chatted with a woman who had given up on normal church and who had developed ideas that were questionable, debateable and non biblical. She also was angry about her previous church and I could tell she was hurting too.

It was hard to know what to say, it was hard to listen to her, and so I had to walk away from a group conversation and refocus, and listen to the sense of God’s Spirit. I felt I had to just keep things simple, and focussed on Jesus, who is ‘the way, the truth and the life’.

As we chatted once more, but now one to one, she said to me ‘I just want to create a Jesus I can believe in.’ My response was that you either discover who Jesus is or he makes himself known to you, you can’t create him. I suggested that this woman start again with another church, and I let her know that for me  Jesus was the only gateway to faith in God; so perhaps she might try a new church with a clean slate. We chatted some more, and finally before she left the BBQ she thanked me for our chat…

There are times when it is so easy to shy away from hard conversations, but if we just ask, then at the right time and in the right place, the Spirit of God will give us the clarity and confidence we need.