Sanctuary Trauma

When I was a teenager growing up in the church, I befriended a girl who had no voice.  It had been stolen by her oppressor...her own father.  It took about a year of friendship before she gained her voice and her cries became unmuted.   When she finally poured out her heart to me, I was forever changed by the impact of her story. 

You see, she had been systematically raped by her own father from 5 years old until she was seventeen.  Nowadays, we like to say molested instead of raped, as if somehow it shields our ears from absorbing the full impact of the assault that our children are forced to endure.

What makes the story even more horrific, is that her father was an elder in the church, and so he had unfettered access to what should have been a sanctuary to my friend.  This was his favorite place to bring her, into God's own house, to subject her body, mind and soul to the insidious lust of childhood sexual abuse, when no one else was around (or so he thought).

To compound the horror, when my friend reached out to a teacher in high school to tell her about the abuse,  a firestorm erupted in the community and the case eventually went to trial.   But instead of the father being put on trial, the tables turned, and the victim was put on trial.  The parents of my friend offered her up in the courtroom, as a lamb to the slaughter.  The case was eventually dismissed and the father got a mild slap on the hand.

The abuse that my friend suffered was difficult for me to comprehend, but the complicity of the family, the church and the community, is what I find to be the most astonishing thing of all.  It was an outrage then, and it is an outrage today!  At that time in my life I had no idea how to step into her world and make a difference.   But God did, and He has set my feet on a pathway of advocacy to rescue those who have been oppressed and cast off by society.

God himself was astonished at the absence of justice, and that there was no one to stand in the gap and fight against the oppressors:

The Lord has seen this, and he is displeased that there is no justice. He is astonished to see that there is no one to help the oppressed. So he will use his own power to rescue them and to win the victory. He will wear justice like a coat of armour and saving power like a helmet. He will clothe himself with the strong desire to set things right and to punish and avenge the wrongs that people suffer.(Is 59:15-17 GNT)

God is not silent about the unspeakable harm that has been inflicted on our children through sexual abuse and human trafficking, and Freedom's Cry is part of a movement that is poised to rid the earth of this kind of oppression. We hear their cries for justice, and we will not be silent or timid in the face of their oppressors. 

How astonished are you, and will you allow your astonishment to mingle with God's astonishment, so that this kind of suffering can be obliterated from the earth?

Competitive Mindset vs. Kingdom Mindset

Can we continue to seek our own agendas, and entertain a spirit of competition with other believers while incorporating these verses into our DNA's? I believe a kingdom mindset compels us to do otherwise:

"Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,"(Phil. 2:4-5 ESV)

There is a tension in this first verse that we need to wrestle with, because we are not allowed to do one thing without also giving consideration to the other.  Do you see that?  Paul is telling us that as believers in Christ Jesus that we are to have a mindset that is the polar opposite of a competitive mindset.

What is an agenda anyway?

According to Webster Dictionary there is a two-fold definition.  It can be a list or outline of things to be considered or done, or, it can be an underlying often ideological plan or program such as a political agenda.

What is competition?

The act or process of competing/rivalry or a contest between rivals.

Why does our own agenda and competitiveness run contrary to a kingdom mindset? 

Because in the kingdom there are no losers, only winners.  Our rival is the adversary and his minions, not other believers.  In Colossians 1:13 we are alerted to the shift that has taken place when we accept Christ as our Savior,  "He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,"

We are not only transferred into a different kingdom, but we are also given a new mind...the mindset of Christ Jesus.

There are really only two states of mind that can exist--either a competitive mindset or a creative mindset, and both of these mindsets are mutually exclusive.  In other words,  you can't be thinking competitively if you are thinking creatively...they are two totally different mindsets.

The competitive mindset is ego/flesh driven and it is dominated by fear, scarcity and limitations. It's not just thinking about its own agenda or winning, but it's about the other person losing.  The competitive mindset is a destructive mindset that completely ignores the abundance all around us, and it must win at any cost.  Other believers become disposable to this mindset and can easily be trampled over so that the spirit of competition can reach its desired end.  This pathway is littered with causalities (road kill) and there is no thought given to the interests of others.   

The creative mindset or kingdom mindset requires a completely different paradigm shift.  The creative mindset is patterned after our Creator (we have the mind of Christ-1 Cor. 2:16).  It's focus is on abundance, love and unlimited resources, not on fear scarcity and lack.  We are setting our mind on things above (Col. 3:2) which expands our capacity to be able to make room, and be concerned about the interest of others.  We have no need to trample over our brothers and sisters, because we understand that there is an abundance of provision/purpose/presence to nourish everyone in the kingdom.

The creative mindset sounds like the better choice to me...what say you?