I read so many people's different forms of "Stuck" and the details of how staying stuck affects their lives. From all of those, there is one kind of "stuck" which I hadn't anticipated.
It's one that I hadn't built the course for.
It's also one of the most devious of shackles for people seeking to experience freedom through God's breakthrough.
It chains people to an unreasonable expectation that makes them doubt their own salvation.
Yet, it's a belief that is advanced by many churches and pastors.
This shackle is the incorrect expectation that if one is not experiencing miraculous change, one is not saved.
I often read about people who are so frustrated with the fact that they have not seen miracles their own lives that they doubt God's presence within them. They believe there must be something "wrong" with them if they aren't experiencing such miraculous change.
This change extends to total elimination of all sin in their lives.
Now, while this could happen and, for some people, it has happened, it doesn't mean that it is the sign and proof of one's acceptance by Christ.
This shackle is nearly impossible to break, and here's why.
First, as fallen people, even with God's grace, we will make mistakes, we will sin, we will be imperfect.
Under this false belief, as soon as one does so, they doubt God's goodness and grace in their life. As a result, without this power of overflowing love and hope, they spiral into another form of their sin.
And the downward spiral continues.
This is one of those insidious thought-patterns that gets in the way of so many people experiencing genuine change.
Miracles can happen and we should celebrate when they do.
But their absence doesn't mean the absence of God's grace.
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