The Up and Out.

Vulnerability is a hot topic. The amount of research we’ve gained on it thanks to people like Brené Brown has helped the world recognize how absolutely essential it is. We have to create safe spaces for people to share their stories. We have to become those spaces ourselves, find them for ourselves.But like anything, we also have to search the scriptures for where this important thing fits into the church, into our lives as believers, into the gospel. Jesus was no stranger to vulnerability; in fact, He may have been the first expert. He was—still is—the ultimate safe place, and we see this over and over again in the way people fell at his feet and spoke all their pain and suffering and failures to Him.There are plenty of Bible verses that speak on things like boasting in our weaknesses, confessing sins to one another, and bearing one another’s burdens. We know that man was not made to live alone, that we need each other. We were built for community; we desire the closeness of others.I used to think that those things were the hard part. That the initial act of being vulnerable and seen was the challenge. That allowing myself to be known by a community was the finish line. However, I’m not so sure anymore. In fact, I am pretty sure that might only be the starting point. I think there is something far, far harder that has to happen after everything has been said and done, something I’ve been referring to as “the up and out.”Jesus did this well, so well that I wonder how we’ve been missing it. Whenever He spoke to someone, He never left them in their story. He didn’t respond with a one-liner about how sorry he was or how He hoped it would get better. He didn’t tip-toe around the issue moving forward. He was on a mission to call people up and out of whatever they were being vulnerable about. He was dedicated to giving the gospel to people, giving them the invitation to step away from the life they had been living and jump completely, head-first into a new one. He didn’t stop to consider the relationship He had with that individual. He didn’t worry about how it would be received. He knew He was the way, the truth, and the life, and He wasn’t going to keep that to Himself when there were people in need of rescue. So why are we so quick to keep it to ourselves? Why do we worry our way out of opportunities to give someone the gospel, a new story, a new life?We are quick to let people share these days, quick to comfort, and quick to say a few kind words back. We have these safe spaces and places where people can go when they need a place to unload all that is heavy on their shoulders, which is beautiful and Biblical. However, the question for myself, for the church, for us, too, is this—when we're given the task to share the gospel, are we letting that vulnerability turn into gossip? Is it becoming a way for people to dwell on their past instead of entering into the future God has for them? Is it leaving people where they are? Do we point them to Jesus every time something heavy falls from their lips? Cause if we aren’t responding with the gospel, calling them up and out, we aren’t doing vulnerability like Jesus did.And of course, this is always always always done in love. Jesus never belittled or berated or bullied people into new life. He understood the sorrow in which they spoke. He had a compassion that moved His insides. He was gentle and kind and patient. So, I think we can—we must—still be these things while calling people “up and out.” We just can’t forget the boldness and honesty Jesus spoke along with it. We can’t forget that the love of God is saying to all of us, “I refuse to leave you where you are.” All of these things have to come together for us to be good stewards of the gospel for the people we love, for those who we don’t yet know, for those who need you to be the one to call them up and out into something greater than what they’ve known.Vulnerability of one of the most powerful tools we have in life. There is no question about that. But the thing more powerful than vulnerability, the thing more powerful than anything? That's the gospel. And what a privilege it is to get to follow Jesus’s lead, to call one another higher and higher into abundant life, to partake in the up and out for His glory.words by Jacqueline Winstead and photo by Delaney Young