we do not need your eloquence; we need your authenticity.

I recently got back from a retreat done by a college ministry I am involved with called Salt Company. One of the things that was said that really struck me was that as a community of believers, we ought to REEK of humility, we ought to strive to never become a big deal and how that is not the reputation of the American church. This led me to think about what hinders us from reeking of humility. What has caused this? I really think one of the biggest hinderances is our propensity to desire a false image of eloquence and “put togetherness.”

The truth is, God is not impressed with your eloquence, God is not impressed with how you can string together lofty theological concepts and put together a well-manicured exegetically sound thought especially if it is not coming from a posture of humility.

To quote one of my favorite communicators and Bible Teachers:

“You have to actually believe what the Bible says. We have a lot of people in the Church that are well equipped to handle a passage of scripture exegetically, with no evidence of them living it out historically. No wonder we have so many pastors that are abusive. We must believe what God has said about himself or we will be no different than demons.”

— Jackie Hill Perry

The truth is, we do not need a “put together” church, we are in desperate need of a broken and honest church. Authenticity carries with it its own eloquence. Our brokenness makes God’s grace all the more eloquent. When we masquerade our vulnerability with a spiritual front, we not only diminish the grace of God, but we isolate those in our communities that have a hunger and a longing in their soul for something more but see our spiritual elitism and are turned off from Jesus.

It is as if we think we need to put up a front in order to not embarrass God and make him look good through our performative demeanor. Let me be clear, God does not need your help to make himself look good, because He has been and always will be good. He was the greatest, most holy and loving being far before the universe and humanity was ever created. He is self-sufficient and does not need us but, in his love, He wants us, and he wants to use us.

We are all humans, created in the image of God for the purpose of knowing Him and being known by Him and what humanity needs is hope not pretentiousness. The streets of Dubuque Iowa, the streets of any city for that matter are not going to be reached by moral superiority or eloquent intellectual domination but through a humble, broken outpouring of love. An attitude that is not afraid to admit that they do not have all the answers, an attitude that is not afraid to embrace the reality of our brokenness and God’s ability to redeem it.

“Now all the believers were together and held all things in common. They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as any had need. Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.” — Acts 2:44–47 CSB

May our faith communities be like the church in Acts whose eloquence was seen in their authentic radical love and generosity towards one another.