Hello, friends. Something on my brain I can’t leave alone.
Didn’t plan a post today but, hey, I don’t really plan them anymore, anyway. 😏
No. Instead, I find it best I wait on God to tug at my shirt sleeve a few (Ok. Sometimes several, depending on how stubborn I feel.🙂) times.
Ok. So…I have been reading an awful lot in recent times about an awful lot of well-known people who once claimed or still make attempts at a claim to Christ using the word “deconstruction” in regards to their faith, the latest being Kevin Max, formerly of my beloved mainstay, DC Talk.
Not that this sort of thing is new. I must recognize this has been the sort of statement he has been edging forward in more and more over the years, especially following the DC Talk years.
But, this most recent was perhaps the most discouraging yet. To say I am sad is an understatement.
Now, this sort of thing isn’t exactly new in any faction of society-just read Paul’s epistles if you think it is-but the recent rash of it seems to be becoming more and more inflamed.
Perhaps the 24 hour social media barrage does it.
Perhaps it’s the innate hunger of humanity to be heard on every last thought, or should I say to renounce every last thought that does not fit the cancel culture du jour…🙄
At any rate, it can dismay the soul to the point of weariness when each news cycle seems to spring up with another in the body of Christ extracting themselves from the fold either blatantly or through the subtle lies of “progression”.
Especially when several of these folks are dear to me, either through music I was uplifted by, sermons once preached, or wisdom once imparted in the written word.
To hear that all that has gone before is now being shrugged off in the name of deconstruction?
It’s extremely deflating.
Now, I am no stranger to deconstruction-literal or spiritual.
As to literal, in his business, I have seen my husband take sledgehammers to walls, saw an ancient tub in two to unwedge it from a miniscule bathroom, gut entire kitchens, bring down (carefully) whole ceilings.
All in the name of making something new.
But, what he never does in remodeling is rip out the solid foundation.
Similarly, when it comes to faith, I have had to participate in my share of knocking out faulty walls and yanking out poor plumbing, for sure.
Growing up in the false doctrine of the charismatic church, there was a lot of stuff built up that had no business there!
And once I found those faults, took them to the Master Contractor, and questioned them, really questioned them, there was no turning back from total gutting of the mess made.
Deconstruction. No. Rather, reconstruction.
Complete rebuild of faith. It happens. It should happen-when it needs to happen.
But, the one thing He never said must be done away with is the solid foundation of Christ and Him crucified.
The core of faith, the Word and the truth there must remain for Him to rebuild upon. No compromises.
Because, you know what a compromise in construction is? Something that endangers the stability and durability of the whole structure!
And I think in there lies the difference between what the Lord did for me and what is happening with so many public figures in Christianity.
I will never ever regret taking those doubts to the Lord and letting Him have His way. I shudder to think what I might still be in the grips of otherwise.
So…we all have doubts. I will never knock someone for admitting to them.
But-it’s what we then do with them that counts!
For, what is happening to so many of these folks, as well as many not in the media, is a removal from the foundation the Lord intended for us.
It brings to mind 1 Cor. 3:11: “For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
Sometimes, it is an abrupt shift away following a period of relative obscurity, at least in our eyes, as we stumble on yet another article we thought we’d never read.
Other times, it is a very willful, in-your-face statement. Those often include not only the word “deconstruction”, but the word that I cringe at every time-“progressive”.
(Read: moral ambiguity, approval of all manners of sin, sexual and otherwise. Iffy on scripture. Path to salvation. Whether we should even talk about one way to heaven or the reality of hell.)
Oh, friends, this should not be! Progressing in that manner is not progressing at all!
In fact, whatever is built on such a foundation is doomed to fall!
So…what do we do? What is our part?
Well, firstly, a firm renouncing of such a “Christian” walk. That is a given, even if you thought this person was cool or taught you something valuable at one time.
Let people know that that “progressive” version of “following” Christ is not the Biblical version.
That following that “cool” person in the media down that path will only lead to a deconstruction that will devastate them in the end.
But, as you navigate that, you better make sure you don’t do it from a high horse or neglect recognizing your own failings or desperate need for a savior.
We must, even as we disavow certain things, do it humbly and prayerfully.
And keep these who have shifted from the foundation fast in our hearts, in hopes that they will find their way back.
Because I have to pray that Kevin, in all his introspection, will remember the words he once sang: “there ain’t no disguisin’ the truth”.
May we all remember this truth-of Jesus Christ and Him crucified, the only path to salvation, the only covering for our sins, and the only way to live FREE of those sins.
With this our foundation and God our Master Contractor, what is built in us will stand the test of time. No deconstruction necessary. 🙂
Thanks for reading, dear friends! Blessings and prayers!