QUIT IT!

The church is not confined to the walls of a building or to a specific "clique" of people. The church extends beyond ourselves. The church is the "bride of Christ." We need to start thinking that way. If you can't, start reading the bible more and find out for yourself. Life in Christ is not about you or me. Life in Christ is about bringing people into relationship with Him. Life in Christ is about service, not to you but to Him and others. Did Jesus not say that the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, mind and strength? Oh wait, and He also said the second was to love your neighbor as yourself?

(For those who think this is not loving my neighbor, think again. Because if we went around not wanting to offend someone, that's not loving someone. That's catering to and God doesn't cater to people, He pushes them to their limits and makes them re-think their decisions. Scripture is full of examples, say Jonah).

So stop hacking down one another when a church decides to do something different. If someone doesn't want to follow the leaders appointed and led by our great Creator, let them go. Either God has led them in a different direction or they aren't following Christ in the first place. Stop being a naysayer and stop being a gossiper and stop threatening. LET IT GO! You are ripping apart the bride of Christ and it pains God to see that happen. It's like watching a family destroy itself.

We have to trust that the leaders of every "part" of Christ's church are doing as they feel God has led them. It doesn't take committees to run a church. It takes people after God's own heart. It doesn't take votes to run a church, it takes the vote of one person: Christ and that's it. Done. Over. Finished. If something is biblically wrong with a church, (i.e. the pastor preaches that it's okay to live together and not be married because marriage is a heart commitment), by all means speak out, and loud. But just because a leader decides to move the church, or change the wall color, or decides on a certain message series that we don't agree with, it's time to search ourselves for the real reasons why we follow Christ. Is it for us or for Him? And for those who want to question the motives of those who might decide to leave, search yourselves too..........and hard.

When we focus on the wrong things, we take our focus off the real things: if you can't figure out what the real things are, you are not following after Christ. And I ask that you search your soul deeply.

Please do not respond or comment on this entry. Just think about it.

Something like Jesus in the Temple right now,
Jesus Freak Out!