I'd Like To Bury My Testimony

We've heard it hundreds of times. 

"I'd like to bear my testimony. I know the church is true..." 
We train our kids to say it. We train ourselves to say it. 

And now, I'm training myself not to.

Because "the church" isn't what's true.

Picture this: Let's pretend that the church is like a large company, and God is the CEO. The CEO has this perfect vision of how he wants his business to run. He organizes it, he plans everything out, and he hires managers. He trains those managers so they can run the business while he manages his CEO duties.  He's there when the managers pick up the phone and ask questions. He drops in when he has time, but for the most part he trusts his management team to run the company while he does his own job. 

Now...the department managers are great people who have good intentions. They try their best to follow the CEO's instructions exactly. BUT...no matter how hard those department managers try, they will never envision things exactly the way the CEO does. As much as they want to be like him, they are not him. They will make catastrophic mistakes.

What's great about it, though, is that the CEO knew that these mistakes would happen. He didn't plan on the business being perfect. He trusted those department managers anyway, because he knew that they would be better people if they learned from making errors. He knew they would be better managers if they brought their own unique talents to the table. Perfect or not, it's still the CEO's company.

God knew that the church wouldn't be perfect. He knew our leaders were going to make mistakes. He knew that the church would HAVE truth, but not BE true itself. And it doesn't matter, because whether or not the church is true, God is. 

I'd like to bury my testimony that I know the church is true, and be forever planted in the testimony that God is what's true. And God isn't only at church. God is everywhere. 

The church doesn't always get it right, but we can have peace in knowing that God will make it right someday. God may be the CEO of the church, but he can't control the way his management team does things (and he promised he wouldn't). The best we can do is trust that God trusts us, trust what feels right, and ask God to lead us through the path that works best for us to get through this life..and through our church membership.

It's okay if you don't have it all together right now.
(or ever, really...)
Newsflash: the church doesn't have it all together either! 




Comments

  1. StineJanuary 17, 2024 at 8:48 AM

    This is beautifully said. Truth is found in God. The rest of us are working on it.

    ReplyDelete

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