One of the hardest parts about being on a retreat or some other spiritual mountain-top experience is realizing that while your faith has been changed and transformed just a little bit more than before, the outside world did not change while you were gone. When you experience the love of Jesus so profoundly and have your heart set on fire by the Holy Spirit you must cling tightly to what you experienced so that the world does not rip it away from you.
Sunday night, I got home after a retreat called CEW (Christian Experience Weekend) and opened up a few social media apps after not having opened them for a few days. Within the few minutes of mindless scrolling, most of what I saw were posts from people with comment threads arguing about what was going on in the world and other posts that are so far from Truth. And in those moments, I was reminded of just how many people are living but are not fully alive.
So many people have not been touched by the love of Christ. They have not had an encounter with the Holy Spirit. They don’t know what it’s like to experience Jesus’ love so intensely in the people around them. They don’t know what it’s like to be lifted up by the encouragement and prayers of a community. And after experiencing each one of these graces this weekend, it leaves me with a deep desire for everyone to get even just the smallest glimpse into the blessings that God pours out onto retreats and ministries like CEW.
We might ask ourselves how others who haven’t experienced what we have would be able to get a glimpse. This is where we must remember to hold onto our faith experiences and carry the love of Christ and the fire of the Holy Spirit out into the world. We must try to be a light in the world, shining into the darkness that lies before us.
My prayer is that every single person could be a part of a faith community that bears good fruit in their lives. And may the Lord help us to use that good fruit to make a difference in the world around us.
Faith and The Good Stuff 