The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse, Chapter 19: Recovering Right Focus

We continue our Thursday series blogging through “The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse.” The first post in the series is here.

This chapter is about our focus. Spiritual abuse tends to leave people self-focused. They become preoccupied with doing things right and keeping those in authority happy. Recovery calls for resetting our focus back to God, what he has done, and who we are because of it. (from p. 202)

Just as we received Jesus as Lord through faith, we ought to continue living each day in him. We did not begin our relationship with Jesus on the basis of good behavior or hard work, nor will our hard work be the means of our completion. Our Christian walk began with taking him at his word (faith). It continues day by day the same way: by faith. Not on the basis of good behavior or trying harder.

They were overdressed: The chapter opens with an amusing anecdote of some overdressed firefighters. The firefighters were called to a potential house fire (at one of the authors’ house). Eventually they were seen, six of them, all decked out in their protective gear, crowded around the furnace (specifically, around its malfunctioning blower motor, which had overheated and filled the house with smoke and a burning smell) in a tight crawl space. One of the biggest guys in the group was holding an old ice cream pail filled with water and was sprinkling water by hand to cool off the hot motor; they were all gathered around watching it hiss and spit as it converted the water to steam. The author took in this scene of helmets, axes, tanks, boots, slickers and ice cream pail and observed that for this particular job, the men seemed a little overdressed.

We are overdressed: Scripture claims that we have Jesus Christ on our side. He is Lord, friend, brother, shepherd, and physician, the God of the universe. Jesus defeated the enemy for eternity on the cross. The Holy Spirit gives us spiritual gifts and spiritual fruit. We have a personal value and acceptance with God that is a settled issue in Christ. All of this “equipment,” and we as a church are sometimes guilty of focusing on buildings, committees, attendance pins for kids, making sure that nobody has watched any movies and that everyone’s hair is the right length. Overdressed, just like the firefighters in all their equipment, gathered around a small blower motor in a cramped crawl space, we find it deceptively easy to focus on those things while overlooking the wounded souls who have been hit by physical, sexual, emotional, or spiritual abuse.

We are ambassadors: An embassy is located in a foreign country; it is a safe place that is the sovereign territory of the ambassador’s home government. (Does this remind anyone of Argo?) We are ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:10) in a place that is not our home (Philippians 3:20, 1 Peter 2:11). Our true home government is where the King sits on the throne of grace. Here in this land, the church is meant to be a safe place, like an embassy for people seeking refuge. Here they should find no rotten words proceeding from our mouths, but edifying and helpful words that minister grace (Ephesians 4:29).

Helpful reminders:

• God loves us a great deal (1 John 3:1)
• He is extravagant with his grace (Ephesians 1:6–8)
• He can be trusted (Hebrews 10:23)
• We have been made entirely new (Romans 6:6, 2 Corinthians 5:17)
• We are blameless in his sight (Ephesians 1:4)
• We have a major inheritance (Ephesians 1:11, Romans 8:16–17)
• God is not keeping track (Hebrews 10:17)
• He does not have a problem with our struggles and pain (2 Corinthians 1:3–4)
• We do not need to improve on what he has done (Colossians 2:10, Hebrews 7:25)
• When we fail, Jesus defends us (Hebrews 7:25, 1 John 2:1)

The stream of thought from here moves to consider what it means when we miss the mark with God. Let’s look at that separately next week.

Click here to go on to Chapter 19, Part 2