Indivisible

This may come a little late, but I was just able to watch the movie Indivisible which was released last year.  The movie is based on the life of Darren Turner a Chaplain in the US Army.  The movie is basically what happens to Christians when the daunting realities of life smash apart our comfort zone, when the new found passion we have for Christ settles down into everyday life, how do we handle life?

As Christians, it is important to have a deep foundation before we go too deep in our ministry.  Don't get me wrong, I am impressed with Christians who immerse themselves in ministry immediately upon receiving salvation.  It is, however, the Pastor's duty to ensure that these newborn Christian's don't bite off more than they can chew.  Build in them a strong foundation.  The more passionate they are, the deeper their foundations must be built.

Why do I say this?  Christian churches have recently been shaken by the "deconversion" and lost of faith of popular Christian personalities.  While I do not know how deep the foundations of these guys were, I only know in hindsight that it was not deep enough.  Don't get me wrong this is not to criticise them in any way, this is just a point of reference.  They have helped more Christians grow in faith than I ever had, and I appreciate their contributions to the faith, it is just unfortunate that they reached the point where they had to renounce their faith.

I do not know what they went through to reach the point where they are in now, but I know it must have not been so trivial.  It could have been one big issue or a series of small issues or a combination of small and big ones.  I do know that as an ordinary Christian, the challenges they face and the attacks they suffer daily is more than what I am going through and somewhere along the way they lost their point of reference, which  should have been Christ.

In the movie, Darren Turner was suffering from a lost of faith, when the people he led to the Lord were taken in the war or suffered disability.  He began to question God, he began to lose himself and the people around him.  He was like Job, who lost everything he had, but unlike Job, he was also losing his faith.  He concentrated on the circumstances surrounding him, he became the centre of his world, not God and he lost it, almost permanently.

But through the efforts of the people around him, he realised that how he was looking at the circumstances around him with the focus on him.  He realised that his focus should have been Christ. And with this realisation, he was able to regain what he lost.  He regained his faith, his family and his idealism.

After saying all this my only point is that as Christians we will suffer tribulation (John 16:33) but take heart that we have Christ and we will have peace.  Being a Christian does not mean we will not suffer in life, it means we have the means to overcome the sufferings that life throws at us.

There will always be those who walk astray or backslide.  When we see these people, we should not judge, criticise or spite them, on the contrary, we should reach out to them, and pray for them because they are going through things we do not want to go through in life.  Let us be a good example, so when it us going through life's bumps and blockades there will be people who would reach out and pray for us  and with us as well.