The "Inner Circle" Mindset

It's wonderful to have friends and those who encourage us and whom we encourage, but striving for 'inner circle' status to the exclusion of others creates division and sects in the Body of Christ. In fact, this will stop the operation of the Spirit of God in our midst because it squelches His love and humility from operating through us.

The disciples had this mindset at times. Though they loved God, and loved the Son, they guarded their 'positions' carefully and saw themselves as the experts in the things of God. They were so guarded that they tried to stop miracles from happening because the people performing them in Jesus' name weren't in their group (Mark 9:39).

But Jesus told them not to stop others from acting in His name – on the contrary, they were to encourage them. There was a time when the disciples didn’t understand that praying for others , driving out demons and performing miracles are done through a heart of service to others. They didn’t see that it’s the compassion of Christ that moves us to draw on His power, through faith, to extend healing and freedom to the sick and captives. They didn't grasp that this great grace and compassion of God requires more than 12 men from the ‘inner circle’ if it is is to cover the surface of the earth with His love.

Jesus said there are “many sheep” that we don’t know about (John 10); those whose hearts and minds are set on Him. They may not be in our inner circle or even agree with us entirely in doctrine. They may even be sitting within a small group of people in someone’s home, but they most likely are more concerned with glorifying Jesus Christ and loving others than impressing us.

There can be no exclusiveness in the Body of Christ. If we love and serve God, He will use us at His discretion to bring about His will. Those outside of our ‘inner circle, or those belonging to a different local body, are no less loved. Nor do we have the keys to the kingdom and they need to come to us to see God’ move – it’s to Christ we all must go – His heart is the ‘inner circle.’

If we let the character of Christ reign in our lives we will disregard exclusiveness and stop striving to show others how gifted or privileged or wise we are. We will have our eyes opened to see that God is doing great things amongst many different people and we alone do not house His glory.

Let it be so, Lord Jesus!