M I S A L I G N M E N T
I N
CHRIST’S
M I S S I O N
On the global stage, this is like a crusade that draws crowds, but leaves without investing into committed disciples. Within communities, this is like a congregation promoting adoption, but never investing in the neighborhoods of the affected children. At our workplaces, this is like a believer looking to share the gospel, but not listening to hear the voice of the Spirit. In the home, this is like a husband claiming to serve, yet having a higher concern for himself.
Proclaiming the gospel without a concern for each individual person.
Positioned by the gospel without a willingness to lose privilege.
Postured for the gospel without power.
Performing the gospel having only one’s own purposes in mind.
This is misalignment that hinders our obedience to Christ’s commission.
Often, I have taken my car to get serviced and the mechanic will remind me to get my tires aligned. At times, people overlook this part of the regular car servicing, but it is absolutely crucial to how one gets to and from a destination.
A quick online search about tire alignment shows that without addressing this regularly, it can result in accelerated, uneven tire wear, overuse of an engine, unsafe handling, tire blowouts and damage to the suspension system. In other words, other parts of the vehicle must compensate for the lack of attention to this concern.
In more ways than this, when the Church is misaligned we carry more than we are called to bear—and the results are crushing.
I cannot speak for others, but I was that husband in the home—claiming to serve, yet having a higher concern for myself.
I entered marriage with a high view of Christ, the cross and commitment to His glory. However, I gradually substituted His glory for my own. I assumed Christ brought me and my wife together and that the dreams of how I might serve God were meant to be fulfilled through our marriage. Over time, these dreams were more like nightmares gnawing at my mind, invading my prayers. My requests to the LORD became demands, bolstered by loose scripture, but still founded on my own glory.
What appeared to be godly regard was actually reverence of self performed as obedience to Christ.
It crushed me. It crushed my wife. It crushed our marriage.
Now, just like misaligned tires and misalignment in the body of Christ, one can move forward, persisting for a time, without visible signs of concern—but, soon enough the issues will be all too apparent.
It was the small slights in conversation—the little quips back—then it became the offense that stewed in the mind and grew into anger-filled arguments that reflected a desire to never lose ground.
The misalignment was my undoing—yet, mercy, that was the LORD’s doing.
January of 2016, we started attending a 9-week marriage course that brought me face-to-face with my own sin. I saw how the wires had been crossed—seeing our marriage as ministry, while still holding on to my own ideals.
It was the LORD’s mercy that I saw myself rightly.
It was the LORD’s mercy that our marriage was crushed, but not destroyed.
For as 2 Corinthians 4:1-2 says:
“Therefore, since we have this ministry because we were shown mercy, we do not give up. Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful things, not acting deceitfully or distorting the word of God, but commending ourselves before God to everyone’s conscience by an open display of the truth.”
It was the mercy of God that mended our marriage and moved me to confess the truth—that now and always, I desperately need Christ.