Don't go to church! - Just A Thought #35

I have to admit I have struggled with church. When I became a new born Christian I wanted to be in church all the time. I wanted to be there, EARLY, for every service. I wanted to participate in every activity. However the "newness" wore off after a season. I originally started going to church because I was trying to learn all I could about God. However after a bit I started looking around and wasn't really liking what I saw.

I think the word I am looking for is, oh yeah, hypocrisy. That would be the one. I noticed that some people did not live out what they said they believed. Later I saw even more stuff that frustrated and turned me off. Anger, bitterness, gossip...it was all there on display. Of course I became part of the problem as I let these same attributes come out in my own life.

We were burned quite a few times and the hurt came out as bitterness and gossip. I am saddened by this today.

I then took the opposite tack and started looking into the house church movement. I wanted to find an unchurchy church.

Of course I was looking in the wrong place. I was looking at the people and at the building, not at God. I wanted to find the "perfect" church... a place to worship and hang my hat. Yet as soon as I got there the church was no longer perfect. (I was the problem!) I was trying to "do" church.

"And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near." (Hebrews 10:24-25)

The locale is not the problem. The focus is. I was not going to encourage others and to stir one another to love. I was going to be "fed" and to watch a show.

I want to encourage you: Don't just go to church, be the church. Don't just embrace the establishment, practicing religion, live your faith!

Our faith should be evident to all. Not some flashy ostentatious showmanship but something real, vibrant, alive! There is nothing wrong with attending a service in a traditional structure, or in a home or in a car for that matter. The problem is not the building...it's us. We need to get over ourselves and quit putting people on pedestals. We need to live our faith!

When someone sits across from you and tells you they are dying are you going to tell them to go to church or are you going to get down and dirty and talk to them about their faith? When someone needs a helping hand will you toss some money their way or get into the trenches and help them dig their way out? We need to be the "hands and feet" of Christ to a dying world. It's not up to the ministers...we are all ministers. (1 Peter 2:9) It's up to each of us to throw off our spiritual lethargy and to LOVE!

Color Outside the Lines - Just A Thought #30

I used to love coloring when I was a kid. It was fun to spread out on the floor, choose a picture and start filling it in with color. I always tried to stay inside the lines. I can't remember now who told me this was what should be done but I was very particular to follow the "rules" and stay in the lines.

Occasionally I would meet another kid who never even tried. They just threw color on the picture in a reasonably close proximity to the edge and if they went outside the line they could care less. One child told me they were having fun and lines didn't matter. I thought they were strange.

Strange, odd, peculiar. These are words people tend to use a lot when things aren't going the way we planned or are outside our normal way of doing things. It was also the way Jesus operated. Jesus did not do things the normal way. He totally colored outside the lines. He was not what people expected a Savior to be. He did not come with a sword to make war with Rome. He came in humility and died a King! Even in death he colored outside the lines when He did not stay dead but won the victory through resurrection!

The Bible also tells us we are a peculiar people. Titus 2:14 and 1 Peter 2:9 are just 2 such verses. What does it look like to be a peculiar person today? That is between you and the Lord ultimately. However, I do think it means we are not to conform to the standards of the world. People should look at us and see Christ. They should see a difference. Not in our "protests" but in the way we love! It is too easy for Christians today to say what they are against. However, when we love one another, when the Baptist loves the charismatic, loves the Methodist, loves the church of Christ, people will notice a difference.

It is time to be peculiar. To show we are His children by our love!

Be different. Color outside the lines!