There’s this thing called the remnant mentality.
In this thinking a sect of the church claims to have the full rights on God’s revealed truth in His Word. They have it. They know it. If anyone seeks to tell them otherwise then it only highlights how they are a part of a dangerous and misguided set of goats in sheep’s clothing whose compromised ways will lead to destruction. Meanwhile the righteous – who happen to be the elect few who hold onto their firm grip of exclusive and comprehensive truth – keep plodding away against the on-rush of the mainstream.
My view on the remnant mentality is that as with a number of biblical sounding concepts with good intentions, it gets easily warped and distorted and has a tragic reflection on a vital element of truth.
What’s very clear about the remnant mentality is that they only do dialogue on their terms and conditions and are not open to other perspectives as it could be just the seed of compromise needed.
I can write about this mentality, because I used to have it. True story. Although I didn’t know the scripture, I felt confident that my lot had the handle on it, and anyone else was more or less a heretic ensnared by the wiles of the enemy.
That phase was very defensive in approaches to believers not of my persuasion. Defensive, cautious, sceptical, wary and alert for the tiniest doctrinal error to pounce on it as proof of compromise.
Thankfully I grew out of that thinking when Jesus informed me that He would not be returning for a particular denomination, or sect of the church. He was returning for His Bride. His Body that has lived and reflected Him so well on this earth – these are they who He is returning for.
This was the beginning of a great sea-change in my way of thinking. A sea-change that lead to me engaging with Christians I never thought I’d ever engage with, and not only engage with them but learn from them and get a richer appreciation of who Jesus is and His purpose on the earth.
Such a change allowed me to share some really great heart-shaping, faith-building, God-honouring experiences. To the point where for me the criteria for engagement is not the ticking of all the doctrinal boxes in my book. It is however to have a commitment to doing Jesus business.
By that I don’t just mean things with ‘nice values’. I mean exploring who Jesus is, what His Father’s kingdom is all about, how that impacts every day living and how it can create communities of Christ-followers committed to growing in knowing Him and living for Him.
That does not make me someone who’s not bothered about doctrine or discerning or being faithful to the Word. This does make me someone who can no longer continue in a remnant mentality. This makes me someone eager to see those from different streams of Christ-following traditions do their thing and celebrate it as it brings us closer to loving our Lord.
I had another of those episodes recently. The conversation the gentleman and I engaged in was so refreshing and enriching. It was so full of Jesus and what He’s all about and how he heals, rearranges and maintains the New Life in people. I left the conversation tremendously blessed and grateful to God that He allows those wonderful moments of learning to love Him all over again through different followers on the same journey.
It’s this approach that enables me to be blessed by a lot of the good stuff that is available online and come across some terrific writers. My hope this will continue and expand and others will get a glimpse of how the fullness of Christ is found in the Body of Christ – and that goes beyond some of our perspectives.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 