I love the Church. And I don't just mean our church, though I'm quite biased and think we have a pretty awesome church! But I love the Body of Christ as a whole. I love how different churches have different focal points. They have different passions that drive them; goals and visions that God has given to that particular church. I love that not all churches are the same. How boring would that be? I love the differences that make up the Body of Christ. There are so many wonderfully amazing, Bible believing Churches amongst the Body of Christ.
That being said, can I tell you my pet peeve? Or at least one of them...I'll save my list of annoyances for a later date as surely you all will tune me right out. But gum popping ranks pretty high on said list. And the sound of clipping nails. Lily likes to list my pet peeves. Sheesh, what a great example I'm setting.
My #1 pet peeve in all the world is this: Church bashing. Drives me up an ever lovin' wall. When good hearted, well meaning people, come against the church and all that the American Church is not doing, it seriously hurts my heart. Again, perhaps I'm biased, because I'm blessed to belong to a church that full well knows we are not doing everything, but by golly we are doing something. And so are many, many, mannnnnnnnny churches in this great nation of America. I absolutely love to see what other churches are doing for the Lord! I have a few different churches I like to watch on TV; I follow many churches on facebook & I watch different churches online. Why? Because there is so much to learn from the great body of Christ! God gave us all different gifts. And I love to see those gifts in action.
Forgive me if that sounded harsh, my main pet peeve. I guess I just love the church so much on a personal level, that when I hear any negativity towards God's great body, it crushes my heart. I love the church because I would not be here in this great life I live, if not for the church. It was because of a church youth group that I accepted Christ, as a pain filled teenager. It was because of the church that I learned life skills that some take for granted, as I did not learn them in the home as a kid. It was because of the church that I grew in my relationship with the Lord. And it's now because of the church, that I get to do something for the Lord that I never in a million years thought I would be fit to do. And quite honestly, I'm not!
That all being said, I fully realize the church is not perfect. Every church has it's issues, of course. It's made of people. But what an awesome institution that God ordained for His people, the local church. He set up a pattern for us to follow. Hebrews tells us: "And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching."
We have the privilege to come together to "stir up love and good works." Isn't that what the body of Christ is about? That we should come together, regardless of our doctrinal and theological differences, and "stir up love?" Oh my goodness that's powerful. Stir up love.
My favorite preacher, aka my husband, spoke Sunday on the topic of Offense. It's been popping up in random things I've been reading this week, all the way down to my morning devotional today. Clearly the Lord is talking to me! Offense comes to everyone. And yes, it comes to the church. Which is such a bummer. But it does.
Smith Wigglesworth says this: "There are thousands and thousands of different churches, but they are all one in the Spirit to the extent they receive the life of Christ. If there is any division, it is always outside of the Spirit. The Spiritual life in the believer never has known dissension, because where the Spirit has perfect liberty, there is total agreement, and there is no schism in the body."
If we simply would live every day according to the freedom that that Christ died to give us, there would be no room for an offense to settle. Because as soon as something offends us, we would have our Spiritual eyes on, and we would recognize it for what it is: the bait of Satan. If we have on the right eyes, in that moment, we will not choose to accept the bait, but rather, we will "stir up love." The moment we allow the offense to settle in our hearts, is the moment we take the bait. And when we take the bait, as my handsome bald man says, we become an agent of Satan. As we allow offense to build in us, we begin to operate out of a very scary place. We begin to say things that we normally would not say - we make choices that we otherwise would not make - we leave churches and relationships - we give up on dreams and begin to lose our passion for the thing we once held so dear. Because we took the bait.
2 Corinthians 6:3 says, "give no offense in anything, that our ministry may not blamed." We all have a ministry. You don't have to be a Pastor of a church, an evangelist or a head of a ministry to take this verse to heart. Anyone that confesses Jesus as Lord has a ministry! Your life becomes ministry the moment you accept Christ. We have a bigger picture.
Again from today's devotional: "God wants to show us that we must so live in the Spirit that the ministry is not blamed. If your ministry is not to be blamed, how can you help to prevent it from being blamed? You have to live in love. See to it that you never say or do anything that would interfere with the work of the Lord; rather, live in the place where you are helping everybody, and causing everybody to come into perfect harmony. Remember, there is always a blessing where there is harmony. 'One accord' is the keynote of the victory that is going to come to us all the time."
There it is again, "Stir up love."
Today, I'm choosing love. Tomorrow, I'm choosing love. And when offense comes, as it will, I'm going to "stir up love." I'll even love those that have created my biggest pet peeve, coming against the sweet and precious church of my Lord. Why? Because I refuse to be an agent of Satan. No bait for me today. I'm full :)
How about you?
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