Leaving Beyond – Grounded In Scripture

Written by: April J. Buchanan

A cup of coffee, an old book, a crackling fireplace, and a fluffy friend. Comfort.

Many want comfort and peace and are willing to maintain them at all costs. But what they convince themselves is peace that pleases God is often peace in opposition to God.

They are comforted with shallow, self-centered words spoken gently, wrapped in spiritual language, and delivered in soothing tones that quiet the ache of guilt, fear, or shame. The message reassures them: it is not your fault. You are special. You are anointed. Anyone who threatens your peace is too small to walk with you into what God has for you.

And so the accusing thoughts are silenced. The heart ache subsides. But this is not peace, at least not peace from God.

These words do not deal with sin. They baptize it. They take real-life situations and spiritualize them in a way that makes the woman the hero and everyone else an enemy of her destiny, her calling, her anointing. They tell her that God is waiting on her, that He sees her potential and will move once she is ready.

This creates an impotent god. A god who cannot act until she does, whose plans are stalled until she cooperates, who is dependent, needy, and limited. That is not the God of Scripture.

Yet this is the god many women now worship. A god formed from the ashes of their broken lives, shaped by motivational speech and divorced from sound doctrine. They do not know the God who reveals Himself in Scripture. They know a god fashioned in the image of their own desires.

The cost could not be higher: souls, families, relationships, and the truth itself.

Because this god bears the name of the God of Scripture, he is worshiped, trusted, and served. He always knows what to say to make her feel better, reminding her how special she is, how anointed she is, how the enemy is threatened by her, and how those who confront her simply cannot go where she is going.

It is arrogant. It is proud. And it is profoundly deceptive.

Much of what passes for theology in women’s groups, studies, and conferences is not merely shallow. It is divisive and evil. It exploits pain and brokenness, speaks to the flesh, and cloaks anti-Christian ideas in Christian language, producing what can only be called beautiful monsters.

Yes, these women often rise with confidence and renewed purpose, but not from the Gospel. Not from truth. Not from sound doctrine.

They will do whatever it takes to protect their peace, their calling, their anointing.

They are not called to see themselves rightly before a holy God. They are not shaped by doctrine as the Spirit conforms them to the image of Christ. Instead, their mess becomes the message. Their test becomes the testimony. And everything that threatens their comfort becomes proof that they are important.

Think about that.

We already have a perfect message, one that exposes us honestly before God, saves sinners, humbles the proud, and transforms hearts. When her story replaces His, Christ is no longer central.

She looks for meaning in everything except Christ, His Word, His work, His sufficiency.

It is all about her: her power, her peace, her gifting, her praise.

And when hardship comes, it is still about her. When truth confronts her, it is labeled an attack. Her peace was never in Christ, but in a distorted version of Him.

She has a Jesus, a gospel, a spirit, and a word, but it is not the God of Scripture.

Dear sister, not everything that sounds gentle, confident, and affirming is good. Some counterfeits are beautiful and full of death.

Grace and peace, y’all.
Soli Deo Gloria