Church Reflections....

During the past year or two I have grieving the loss of my church home. The church I went to is still there, still full, but with two less people in it. I guess you could say it changed direction and I decided I didn't want to be swept away in its current. It's all good....they all seem to be happy with the changes, but I just didn't want to go in the direction they were going. Suffice it to say that each time I have gone back after the "change" I felt like I had just been given a slick presentation and pushed out the door with a side-ways handshake. It always left me a little dazed.

So the other day I was getting ready to go to the church close by my home. I have been going there among other places off and on since Christmas. Honestly, I wasn't very excited about going. I catch myself "comparing." Once you have had that ideal "relationship" you can only go down from there.

Once again, God pulled me up short as He has many times before. It happened while I was in the bathroom getting ready; He seems to speak to me more in the bathroom; either that or I just listen better there. He said to my heart, "Just be obedient and go, did I promise that you would be excited every time?" Immediately the joy of the truth flooded in. Okay, I get it Lord!

I had to remember once again that it's not all about the music, teaching, friends, and all the rest of what I think I need in a church. (Just when did it become all that anyway??) It's about serving God and serving others! Logically I know this, but I obviously needed to relearn the lesson. Inwardly, I was missing that church "experience." The warmth, the fellowship, the presence of the Lord, and He was saying, I'm still right here! "Just be obedient and go."

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you." Matt. 6:33

What a wonderful privilege we have to be able to worship God in spirit and truth and have the freedom to do so. How dare I be so flippant and choosy about where I go as long as I get solid Biblical teaching! I am thinking about the persecuted church all over the world right now; some of them giving their very lives for the church.

A wise Pastor friend said in one of his messages not long ago, "We are the church, and we need to be the church to somebody else. We spend so much time trying to get people into the church when maybe we should be going to them. " (Thank you Will)