From Ian: Are you mad at the church? Have you been hurt by church people? Do you not attend church regularly or even at all because youve been burned, insulted, and/or offended by an establishment made up of hypocrites? Have you looked, but been unable to find the perfect church? I have bad news for you. The perfect church doesnt exist. Why? Because church is made up of PEOPLE and ALL people are imperfect beings. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23 KJV) Thats ALL people. Not just people who dont go to church. And here is some even worse news: Once you think youve found the perfect church, it will no longer be perfect because you now attend there (spoiler alert: if there were already people in regular attendance, then it was already imperfect). The only perfect church completely empty of sinful people would be the church with no people in it at all and thats doing NO ONE any good. People are imperfect so we offend and we get offended. In fact, the only perfect man who ever walked the earth was Jesus Christ and Id venture to say that a whole lot of people living today wouldnt have wanted to go to church with Him because He offended people all the time! Jesus offended people? Surely not! Oh, you better believe it! Anytime someone tells us the truth when we dont want to hear it or believe it, we get offended. We dont want anyone to expect us to be perfect and never mess up, so why should we hold others to such an impossible goal that only sets us up for disappointment? But here is the hard truth: You NEED the church. You NEED the Body of Christ. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. (Hebrews 10:24-25 KJV) Why? Because just like a real human body, the Body of Christ feeds and nourishes its collective and individual parts. You are intended to be a part of the Body. If you were to remove a finger or toe from your body, it would survive for a short amount of time and be able to be reattached to the body and begin to thrive again. However, if that same finger or toe were separated from the body for too long, it would eventually fester and die. So, too, are we as parts of the Body of Christ. We need the lifeblood of the church to grow and thrive spiritually. If we remain cut off from the body too long, we will spiritually fester and die. Truth. In love, I encourage you, if you are hurt at the church and have been offended by church people, find room in your heart to forgive them as you would hope they would forgive you. Dont expect perfection from imperfect beings. And find a church family. :-)
Posted on: Sun, 07 Sep 2014 20:40:22 +0000
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