Living From Sunday 2 Sunday
Living From Sunday 2 Sunday
EP 182: Vulnerability: The Bridge to Authentic Community
Vulnerability stands at the crossroads of authentic community and transformative discipleship. While many of us long to belong to something greater than ourselves, we hesitate to be fully seen within that community. This fundamental tension creates a barrier to our spiritual growth that cannot be overcome without addressing the fear that keeps us guarded.
The path Jesus modeled with His disciples reveals an intimate, transparent relationship where there was "no place to hide." Peter, James, John, and the others experienced transformation precisely because Jesus saw them completely—their strengths, weaknesses, doubts, and potential. This vulnerability wasn't about exposure for shame's sake but about creating the conditions necessary for profound change. As James 5:16 reminds us, confession and prayer within community create the environment where healing becomes possible.
Creating safe spaces for vulnerability requires intentional effort. We must choose trustworthy people through careful discernment, share our present struggles rather than just past victories, and remain spiritually grounded rather than emotionally reactive when receiving difficult truths. The journey to transformation is never instantaneous—problems developed over years won't resolve overnight. Yet when we commit to consistent vulnerability with mature believers who won't judge us but will walk alongside us, we open ourselves to the healing work of the Spirit in ways that isolated faith simply cannot achieve. This week, take the challenge to share one genuine struggle with a spiritually mature person, and watch how God uses that brave step toward vulnerability to begin a powerful work of restoration in your life.
Welcome to the Living From Sunday to Sunday podcast with your host, pastor B. This podcast is designed to help you walk faithfully with God through the various trials and challenges this life presents. The truth of who we are is revealed in our lives in between Sundays. You will be inspired, challenged and equipped to live a victorious life that will bring glory to God Himself. Come on, let's get started. Hello and welcome to another episode of the Living from Sunday to Sunday podcast. I am your host, pastor B. Thank you so much for tuning in today. I believe that this episode is going to be the best 15 to 20 minutes of your day because, you know, real change happens in between Sundays. So thank you again for tuning in. Make sure that you like, share and subscribe to the podcast everywhere. Hit the notification bell so that you are the first to know when any new episodes drop on the podcast.
Speaker 1:All right, I was thinking the other day about community, thinking about discipleship and how these two things are like, how they marry and how they mesh together. And one of the things that I think about in terms of community and discipleship is that many people they want community, they want to be a part of something bigger than themselves, but oftentimes they don't want to be seen too clearly in it, and basically what that means is they would rather be a part of something without having that something be a part. There that you choose to walk in community and really walk in community with someone, then you have to make yourself available to be seen, available to be loved, available to be corrected and available to be, you know, chastised sometimes, because we really don't grow without the chastisement or the correction of those that we love. Even God says the reason why he chastises us is because he loves us so much. Right, and so, in order to be a part of a healthy community and to also grow inside of a healthy community, that requires vulnerability, and so today we're going to talk about the importance of vulnerability, right, so many times in life, one of the things that keeps us from being vulnerable is we feel that people come from a place of judgment, that people come from a place of condemnation, and so we don't want to be seen in the community because we are afraid of what people may think of exposing ourselves to those that we believe may have or may not have our best interest at heart, and that's a healthy fear, I mean. No one wants to be hurt, no one wants to be exposed. But I think whenever we enter relationships, enter community and we always have our guard up we enter from a place of defensiveness to people who are designed to help us and that are designed to be assistants, and that iron that sharpens us, that really molds us, that really forms us into the people that we need to be, that iron is hot, it's sharp, and so fear of, of the pain of relationships sometimes keeps us from really diving in to, to discipled relationships, like.
Speaker 1:One of the things about Jesus and his 12 disciples is that, out of all of the people that followed Jesus, he had close personal relationships with about 12 and maybe a handful others. Right, it wasn't a lot. He had hundreds of people follow him from town to town, but it was only a small group of people follow him from town to town, but it was only a small group of people that Jesus invested time with. Right and so in this investment of time, there wasn't really any place for Peter and James and John. There was no place for them to hide. Right, Jesus was with them all the time, and so their everyday personalities, they shone through, positively and negatively, right, and so when I think about vulnerability and, again, the fear of judgment, we often come from a place of if I let people see who I really am, they're going to judge me, they're going to disown me, and that's not how Jesus operates, right?
Speaker 1:I want to look at a scripture. It is James 5 and 16. This is what it says. It says confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous man has great power and produces great results. All right. So in order for us to be healed, in order for us to be renewed, in order for us to grow and develop into the people that we need to be, we can't do that living on an island. We can't exist in our silos, hurting and bleeding and sick, and expect us to magically get better. We need other people and specifically, we need healthy, mature disciples to link arms with us and walk with us day by day. Right, because discipleship is not just information.
Speaker 1:If we allow a discipleship program or a discipleship mentor-mentee relationship, if we allow it to do what it's designed to do, it really can transform us into the people that we need to be. Of course, not only does the mentor have to be wise and have to be honest and have integrity, but the mentee? We have to be vulnerable, we have to let people in, we have to be able to pray that God shields us as we open up our hearts and our minds, like scripture tells us. It doesn't tell us to protect our heart, but it tells us to guard our heart. So in the guarding of our heart, we are seeking God for picking the right person. But if we trust God that we're connected to the right person, then that person is a safe space for us and it is in that safe space that we must expose all of who we are right the good, the bad and the ugly all right. So let's look at three ways to create safe, spirit-led, vulnerable spaces and vulnerable relationships right.
Speaker 1:The first thing is what I just talked about we must choose safe people right. We have to do our due diligence. Do our homework right. Our due diligence. Do our homework right. Talk to other people who are associates with the persons that we want to connect with, right. If it's a relationship, talk to their family, talk to their friends. If it's a professional, get references right. Don't just run into or call someone a mentor without some proven results? Right, if you're choosing a counselor, you're choosing a doctor. You're not just going to select someone just because of what they show you on the surface. Right, and we do ourselves a disservice whenever we don't choose safe people, when we don't investigate, when we don't do background checks necessary time to ensure that the person that I'm giving my heart to, the person that I am exposing my flaws to, the person that I am really being vulnerable with that this person is a safe space. Right, that is one of the things that we can do. We can ensure that we don't just look at someone's Instagram bio, we don't look at their profile, but we really get to the nitty gritty of figuring out who these people are. Right.
Speaker 1:Then, the second thing and this is something that I'm even learning as I am talking with my mentor right now is that we must share present tense struggles, not just the past. Right, vulnerability requires that we're honest about where we are, not just where we've been. Right, oh, just, you know I can't help you if I don't know where you are today. There are receipts that prove where you've been right. There's residue that proves where we've been. However, where are you now? How can I help you today? How can I take where you are with the wisdom that God has given me, the experience, I mean the lessons that I've learned from my mistakes and my successes? How can I take that packaging and help you today? Because we can't celebrate the victories of yesterday and, you know, win the war of today. We just can't do it. We need updated information, we need today's information.
Speaker 1:So don't be so ashamed of your past that you're not truthful about where you are today, because the whole dynamic of a mentor-mentee is together to walk into a better future. We can't do that if we're lying about where we are. All right, so we're choosing safe people, we're sharing our present struggles and then, lastly, we must stay spiritually grounded, right and not emotionally reckless. So one of the things that a good mentor, a good discipleship program or a good model of of discipleship is one that sets clear emotional boundaries and guidelines. That sets clear emotional boundaries and guidelines, one of the things that my mentor told me often. He said you know there's this part of our conversation is going to hurt Because it's going to be a true assessment of where you are. It's a true assessment of where you'll need to be and it's going to take work in order to get there. Right, I need you to be honest with me so that we can give an honest assessment, and it's true that sometimes, where we are, it's not pleasant, right?
Speaker 1:However, if you get your emotions in check from the beginning and you understand, okay, this is not going to feel good. I'm really going to not like the answer to my question some days. Then that then allows the Holy Spirit, that allows the Spirit of God to work in us, to change us from the inside out, to change our perspective, to give us strategy right. And we have to agree with the word, we have to agree with the spiritual strategy that's been lined up. And when we're led by our emotions, then we do things recklessly, we do things impulsively and, whether or not we're going to admit it many times, that's the reason why we are where we are. Right, we've, you know, made choices and decisions based on how we felt in the moment, and so, if we never become spiritually grounded, if we never admit that man, I really need to not be so fickle emotionally then we can build a strong foundation to where we can establish a groundwork and a framework toward improvement.
Speaker 1:Okay, you know, vulnerability is something, again, that I've known and I've shied away from it some days, you know, because you know, from a health standpoint, I remember not wanting to admit that as I was getting older, I couldn't eat the same way. Right, that my health was in a place that I really need to get more active when I sit in front of a computer eight hours a day. Right, I'm a trainer now. I used to talk to customers all day, but now that I'm'm a trainer, much of my days now is preparation. It's it's research, right, it's um, doing lesson plans and things like that, and so that lends itself to a lot of um, um, mobility issues just not moving right. And so, as I'm getting older, I can feel the need to hey, it's time for you to get up and start doing more.
Speaker 1:But I've gotten lazy, I've gotten really, really sluggard in this particular area, and I had to admit that to my mentor. That you know I can feel myself, that you know I can feel myself slowing down. And there is, you know, there's always a level of pride that keeps us from being open. We want to say that we're being humble, but really it's just pride, right, we're ashamed of our current position and we feel that other people are going to co-sign with our shame and, rather than doing the work to find the right people, we would just rather build up a wall and not say anything. But I had to admit that, man, it's become unavoidable and oftentimes that's what messes us up, especially as men. It messes us up because we would rather wait until it gets really, really bad to admit that we have a problem, when there were many, many moments where this could be preventable.
Speaker 1:But the reality and here is the, the, the, the gold mine that I've ironed in my session with my mentor, he said it didn't take you like, it took you 10 years of bad habits to get to where you are is not going to be fixed in 10 minutes, right? So it's, it's a steady progression of improvement and you know, that type of instruction, that type of encouragement and that type of reality really just kind of grounded me with being okay, with not seeing immediate results and not giving up and not thinking that it's not working and throwing in the towel. Right, all of this is working together. We just have to trust the big picture, we have to be consistent in the daily habits and eventually things will turn around in our favor and my health will improve, finances will improve.
Speaker 1:All of the reasons why I decided to be vulnerable with my mentor is because I just you know we need life changes, but always know it's not going to happen overnight, right? So you have a challenge this week. My challenge to you is that you share a real struggle with someone who's spiritually mature. If you've been a part of this podcast the last couple of weeks, you've noticed that I've been working and advising you guys to link up with someone that can help you walk through life, because I believe, again, we're not designed to live life independently, right, but enter dependently, right. And so if you embrace the fact that you know God has set up a person in your life who's not going to judge you but is going to give you a freedom to just confess your faults so that they can pray with you and so that, with God's help, we can be healed, we can be restored, so share one real struggle with someone this week and I pray that God opens up an opportunity for you to start your journey toward health, recovery and rejuvenation, right? So thank you again for listening to today's episode.
Speaker 1:This episode can be found everywhere where podcasts are available. Please make sure that you like, share and subscribe, whether you're listening audio with Spotify, apple Podcasts or Good Pods, or if you're subscribed to my YouTube channel. Thank you so much for doing that and like, share and hit the notification bell, because you want to know the next time a new episode drops. All right, so until next week, we'll see you. When we see you, don't forget to like, share and subscribe to our channel, as well as this podcast, everywhere where they can be found. Have a great one.
