Individualism is misunderstood.
View all responsesTrue individualism isn’t pride and self-focus. It’s inner hunger and thirst for meaning, purpose, and a fulfilling life. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” Progress is whatever brings you closer to deep meaning and a worthy purpose for your life.
Unity is individualistic. The more people are individually connected to the risen Jesus, the more they’re connected to each other. As individuals are led by the Spirit the government of God is revealed. “The kingdom of God is within you.” The Sunday morning silence of God’s individual sheep, who aren’t allowed to make an unprogrammed peep, has gagged and divided Christianity.
History shows that Christianity grows when persecuted. Perhaps the real threat to living and thriving faith is programmed religion, not persecution. When Christians are trained to be silent in church, they are being trained to also be silent about Jesus in their daily lives.
The body of Christ is built on ongoing heart-connections between individual Christians, not on programmed religious services. Each individual member of the body of Christ has a God-given voice that needs to be heard. “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.”
The kingdom of God grows as individuals listen to and obey the risen Jesus. It’s not mass produced by a religious institution. The center of Christianity is the risen Jesus, not a building, or a preacher, or a Sunday service. God created you as an individual so you can have an individual relationship with Him. Institutional Christianity isn’t enough!
True Christianity isn’t institutional. It’s individuals staying connected heart-to-heart with the risen Jesus and with each other. Let God deinstitutionalize and individualize your faith. Fully surrender your heart to the risen Jesus! Christianity that isn’t built on the rock of the individual revelation of Jesus is a house built on sand. Do you hear Him?
Institutionalized Christianity presents passive, mass-market (one size fits all) religious services. Jesus calls individuals! Follow Him! Without individual revelation of the risen Jesus, institutional Christianity is just a formalized religion.
For Christians to be built together in unity, it requires individual brokenness. “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” “O wretched man that I am.” Get in touch with your own brokenness and humbly open yourself up to other people. Then together you will begin to regularly experience the kingdom of God.
True Christian unity comes from individual heart-connection to the risen Jesus, not from group management or human organization. Living stones can’t be built together unless they individually surrender their will and their desires to the risen Jesus.
Christians aren’t called to be church clones. They’re called to be individually Christ-controlled. Follow Christ! Be Spirit-led with Jesus as your Head! Daily live the Bible that you’ve read. You can be continually fed by God’s new wine, the Spirit’s rivers of living water, and Jesus the living bread.
The first Christians didn’t meet around a service, a program, or a building. They met and connected heart-to-heart around the risen Jesus. Let Jesus permanently incarnate in your heart and embed His presence within you. Keep your heart wide open to Jesus. Let Him be your Head and your Master. Be Spirit-led, not spiritually dead! “Wake up sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (Ephesians 5:14.)
Let your disappointment be Christ’s call to a life-long, moment-by-moment appointment with Him. Where do you connect heart-to-heart with members of the body of Christ? Let Jesus lead you to those places.
Let Jesus ever flow
From deep inside of you
So you can truly grow
In Spirit and in truth.
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