FEAR RANT
What makes mJa member Sam Callum boil with rage...

I HATE it when I see fear ruling people’s lives. Take fear of rejection in relationships: people are so scared of offending others and being rejected that they no longer take risks; they “play safe” – and relationships stay shallow.

And fear stops us being free to express the life of God when we meet as a church – or even wider than this, in everyday life.

Jesus loved all kinds of people and lived fearlessly; He didn’t give a monkey’s what people thought of Him, and He wasn’t held by boundaries that dictate what you can and can’t do.

If we want to be anything like Jesus we have to be the same – otherwise we wear a Christian “label” but we’re just a bunch of liars.

We can build our church strong by having the kind of trusting relationships with each other which aren’t afraid to go deep with each other and speak out what we really think and feel – even when that means vulnerability.

It grieves me when people break trust, and when you tell someone something and by the end of the week it’s gone round the church. I hate gossip. It breeds insecurity and if you do it you help Satan damage the church.

I want challenging friendships. I don’t like the idea of being just “nice” – or church being filled with nice, sappy, polite, fearful, weak men who call themselves Christians and claim to follow Jesus. I want to be friends with those who are going to be honest with me; friends who will point out my selfishness and my old nature even when I don’t want it; friends who will stick together in tough times and not be scared to love each other.

If we can’t do any of that we are no different from the world around us – but if we can, we will build a strong church, with brotherhood that’s solid as a rock.