Proclamation! | Spring | 2018 | Life After
By Nicole Stevenson
Father’s day is on our doorstep, and I praise God for my husband, who is a wonderful and loving father to our children, and for the godly men and brothers in the Lord whom I have come to know through doing life and ministry together since I was born again. I thank God for using them to show me how trustworthy men live with integrity and care for those around them in godly love and for the sake of Christ.
Many of us have realized that the social and religious dynamics of Adventism played a significant role in teaching us an unbiblical view of relationships. The teachings of the prophetess Ellen White and the culture of being the “remnant” who were seeking to vindicate the law and also God Himself left us feeling like we were playing an endless game of keeping up and looking good. Because of our lack of understanding God’s grace to us in Jesus Christ, Scripture’s description of Him as our Father was almost impossible to understand.
Moving from Adventism and into the body of Christ was a great shock to me. Christ’s body, submitted to the Word of God, is a place of sanctification, of hope, and of growth in the Lord. It reflects the heart of God, gives mercy, practices grace, and seeks to bear the burdens of others. Here we glorify our God and Father and begin to replace the lies of the world with the truths of Scripture while learning to practice the law of Christ.
This year on Father’s Day I will celebrate my brothers in the Lord with great joy and gratitude. Through them the Lord has shown me that relationships between men and women can be safe and knit together through the bond of the Holy Spirit. They have shown me how godly fathers patiently and lovingly teach their children the ways of the Lord and protect them. They have shown me what a father who delights in his children looks like, and they have fathered my own heart in ways they cannot possibly know. My brothers in the Lord have demonstrated gentle shepherding that speaks truth with love and grace. For these reasons I celebrate them all on Father’s Day!
Among those men for whom I thank God is former Proclamation! columnist Chris Lee, who resigned from writing this column in the last issue of Proclamation! Though I have not met you yet, Chris, you have been a shepherd not only to me but also to a great many of us. Your persistent call to live a life of integrity, rooted in the Word, serving and vulnerably loving the body of Christ has touched our lives and has encouraged us who have read your column all these years. Thank you for your faithful ministry and for your example of living the Life After to glorify Christ.
In the Summer, 2016, issue of Proclamation!, Chris ended his column “My True Father” with these words, “I’m also calling on you to be real, to support those around you, to admit life is hard, and to engage with the collective Church—His born again, adopted children.” This call may seem difficult to those of us who have left a deceptive system that did not teach us to be truthful or to trust, but I urge you to consider that Adventism is not a reflection of the biblical body of Christ. I too stand with Chris in his call to honest burden-bearing as we engage with the brothers and sisters God has given us in Jesus. It has been here in the faithful body of Christ that I have truly learned what it means to live the Life After. †
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