WORKING ON THE HILL: Be a Disrupter of Dysfunction

Rarely a day goes by that we don’t see or hear about some type of dysfunction in our country, our communities, and even among our friends and families, ourselves included. Many of these dysfunctions seem so intractable they appear impossible to correct.

However, as believers in Christ, we are called to reverse this trend by disrupting dysfunction. Ideally, it is followed by a restoration of functionality.

When we look at Jesus’s ministry, He consistently disrupted dysfunction in the pursuit of order, God’s order. And we should as well. After all, God’s nature is one of order, not chaos.

“For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.” — I Corinthians 14:33 (NIV).

Unfortunately, when dysfunction exists for an extended period of time, it becomes normalized. Ironically, in these periods of normalized dysfunction, those who attempt to disrupt it are often characterized as themselves being dysfunctional.

Jesus was a disruptive force, and was seen as a threat to those who embraced the dysfunction of their society. He did so by challenging their love for Jewish Law over their personal love for God and others, and He was eventually crucified for that, and for claiming to be God Incarnate.

It’s safe to say our country, communities, and many families and individuals today have been operating in a state of normalized dysfunction for quite some time. When dysfunction becomes normalized, we settle into constant unrest which ultimately devolves into malevolent disorder.

But restoring order is not for the faint of heart. In doing so, we must carefully discern Godly order from our purely human ambitions. Our human nature seeks to accommodate dysfunction. A Godly approach shows a disregard for our fleshly nature, casting aside personal desire for power or praise of others in the pursuit of restoring order.

“Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. [25] For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. [26] What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?’”  — Matthew 16:24-26 NIV.

As we think about our role and response to dysfunction, it’s important to recognize it when we see it. To do this it’s instructive to see what Jesus saw as dysfunctional. Jesus freed people from their dysfunction, both physical and spiritual.

“When he (the demon possessed man) saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. [7] He shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!’ [8] For Jesus had said to him, ‘Come out of this man, you impure spirit!’  [20] So the man went away and began to tell people in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.” —  Mark 5:6-8, 20 NIV

They were amazed because they had just witnessed the literal fulfillment of a Scripture that was not yet written, but which captured the central reality of what it means to become a follower of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” —  2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV

As a result, Jesus was heralded as a healer of dysfunction by those freed from it, and a creator of dysfunction by those who benefited from the status quo:

“Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.” — Mark 5:17 NIV

Arbiters of what is dysfunctional are political, corporate, media, academic and religious influencers. Their positions largely hinge upon whether they benefit from the dysfunction or they have given up hope of changing it. Occasionally, they are the optimist working to change things for the better.

There are two factions who keep normalized dysfunction alive and well. First, those who are truly in need and have no place else to turn and depend on the dysfunctional state.

Second, and more problematic, are those who benefit from a dysfunctional state. Jesus was confronted with those same factions. Like Him, when we move to correct dysfunction, we may be called dysfunctional ourselves because it disrupts the regular order.

However, doing nothing has its costs.  When we accommodate dysfunction, we enable it. We do this because we believe it is better to live with it than to accept the risk of confronting it, and it nearly always involves conflict.

We see this play out on a personal level and in our work on Capitol Hill. Ironically, harmful dysfunction is praised as functional by those benefiting from it. When we have lived in normalized dysfunction, challenging it creates enormous tension.

In working to disrupt dysfunction and restore functionality, it’s easy to be overcome by cynicism which is an enemy of of God’s order. Cynicism says it can’t be done or it’s been tried before and failed. That destroys faith.

Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.

“They will say, ‘Where is this coming He promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.’” —  2 Peter 3:3-4 NIV

All of us have succumbed to cynicism in some form, including from among our leaders. Before we condemn them, our role is to pray for them and encourage them as they confront the enormous and embedded dysfunctions in our country. We and they will fail more often than succeed, at least at first.

When speaking to a group of interns, I was once asked what was is number one problem facing Washington. “Cynicism,” I immediately replied. It was surprising to identify that as the core problem, but it really is the barrier preventing a functional society.

It is the notion that something will never be fixed, that it’s dysfunction will never be made functional. And further, it will cost me as long as I try to move past it. If leaders throughout history succumbed to cynicism, we would live in a very dark world.

“I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land …”  Ezekiel 22:30 NIV

Be willing to “stand in the gap,” confront the darkness and dysfunction in and around you.  Be the light of Christ in every situation.  You’ll begin to see wholeness and healing sprout around you.

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Bret Bernhardt is a former Chief of Staff to Sen. Don Nickles (R-Okla.) and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC). He is a member of the Board of Directors of the 52-Week Ministry Foundation, of which HillFaith is a project.

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