I’ve heard lots of people – some of which claim to be Christ followers – excuse themselves from being connected to a church. Given, many churches are off the mark, and every church is full of people who are full of problems, and you going there only makes one more. But it is not right to claim to follow God, but be divorced from His bride. Saying “I believe in God, I just don’t believe in going to church,” makes about as much sense as saying “I believe in eating, I just don’t believe in food.” Believing in an idea, but not in the tangible expression of it is vain and empty. Besides, for all the faults of so many churches, the church still belongs to Jesus. I don’t know about you, but I cringe when I hear people berate another church.
I’m pretty thick-skinned. You will be hard pressed to get a rise out of me by calling me names, criticizing me, making fun, or otherwise putting me down. But you say one thing about my family, and… let’s just not go there. You got something to say about my wife and I’m likely to end up running a prison ministry… from the inside! If you’re married, I’m sure you can relate. The Bible refers to the church as “the bride of Christ.” Jesus died for the church. Jesus loves the church. Before you make a cut-down against a church, remember whose bride you’re picking on! I wouldn’t want to answer for throwing mud on His bride. Instead, live within that community. Make it better. Add your gifts and talents to the work of God within the church, and allow the gifts and talents of others to make you a better follower of Christ as well.
Blessings,
John
funny about this blog, i was at my grandmas 91st birthday party yesterday and was talking with my older brother and asked him if he and his family would like to come to church with us on saturday night and he stated why come to church if the world is going to end i’ll just sit back and let it take me to heaven. I wanted to ask him if he had given his life to christ but sometimes i feel for some people it can be awkeward and sometimes is awkeward for me too. Whats an easy way to ask someone if they’ve given there life to christ and to get them to share what i have since i rededicated my life to the lord?
That is a GREAT question, Mike. It might require more than a simple reply in the comments section here on the blog to answer adequately. SO! I think I will need to create an entire new post (or 2) on the subject of sharing our faith without feeling like a weirdo. All of us deal with it, and no one likes to get looked at strange just because we care enough to share the most important thing to us with other people. Thanks for asking the question, and I look forward to giving a practical answer to this dilemma!