"I Love The Church"

I love the church! Do you? The reason is because Jesus loves His church. To be in fellowship with Jesus is to love what He loves and commit to what He commits to. One major part of the commitment to Jesus is His commitment to His church because it is His body. No one ever hates his/her own flesh, do they? Take a close look at Eph. 5:28-29 (it is speaking of the relationship between Christ/church). Do you find disdain and hate for your children? Jesus our Lord does not hate His own flesh, His body either! He loves us, nourishes us and cherishes us because we are members of His body.

The church is not some place you go! We need to change our thinking and the way we speak about spiritual things. We assemble as the church to worship our Lord and God! It is the church, the body of Jesus whom He loves, coming together and letting our Father know we love Him. The church is a relationship with Christ. Did we get that?

I hear it all the time. Someone gets upset in the church with another. I am not speaking about teaching/preaching that is false and ungodly. I am speaking to those who get offended for some reason, or they point their finger because a leader in the church practices immorality, or someone steals something and the list goes on, only to proclaim the whole is guilty! I wonder what Jesus thinks? There are those in our midst who are involved with Satan! There are those who could care less about the righteousness of God. There are selfish members, weak members and those that criticize every little thing decided. There are elders who have no business being elders. Deacons who are not faithful in their service. Preachers who speak one thing and act another way. Yes, there are hypocrites in the church. BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN THE CHURCH HAS GONE BAD! The church is the body of Jesus. He loves His body, just like we love our body. When things go awry, He does something about those individuals. You might not see it with your visible eyes, but something has/is being done. He has to keep the gangrene out, the decaying parts separated so the whole is not affected. There are still plenty of faithful, loving, caring brothers and sisters dedicated to the Lord!

Don't separate yourself from the church. If you do, you have to separate yourself from Christ first! You leave Christ, you will leave His body. You leave His body, you leave Christ. It's that simple. You love the Lord, you will love His body, the church. The one who loves the Father will love the children of the Father (I John 5:1). And that love is expressed when we respond to one another the way Christ does. He nourishes and cherishes. Do you? I love the church...