After you’ve been on vacation for awhile, it is hard to come back to reality and get back in the swing of things. But isn’t it always nice to be back sleeping in your own bed? And maybe back to your pets, your yard, your workout schedule or your DVR? Just being back to your routine … and all those things that make home, home to you.
Did you know that for a Christian, church is home? It too should be a place we long to be. It is where we hear the preached Word of God and worship Him, but it is also where we connect with other Christians. And believe it or not, we cannot grow without the church. It is more than important; it is absolutely necessary. All Christians need their home, the church.
This may surprise you. Not that church is important, but that it is essential to your Christian growth. The cultural value placed on our independence has effected how we relate to God. God is great, as long as He fits in to our schedule. If it’s inconvenient to go to church one day, we think no big deal. Maybe we’ll just watch a service on the Internet later or have an extra quiet time.
I am not suggesting we don’t have a personal relationship with God, but that doesn’t mean it is to remain private. Christians have been recreated as one united body. And though individually we are all very different, our love of Christ connects us in a deeper way than in other relationships.
In Ephesians 2, Paul calls us a family; members of God’s household. Think about how a family home should operate. It should be safe, where all individuals feel accepted, loved and respected. It should be a place of grace where we experience forgiveness, not rejection, when we sin. It should be a place where we seek to listen, understand and help one another. It should be a place where we let our guard down and have fun with one another.
These characteristics and responsibilities are to be present in the church family, too. We must share in each other’s joys, pains and sorrows. When a member is going through a trial, we enter it with them. When we see an ugly side to someone, we learn to deal with each other’s faults accepting the bad with the good. When we sin, we confess and forgive.
In addition to being a family, Paul tells us we are being built into God’s holy temple with Christ as the foundation. He is the only solid foundation, the support and strength necessary to grow in grace in a fallen world. Living our messy lives out with each other is hard, and we often fail. But Jesus at the cross stands in the center as our hope.
This truth that Paul is telling the Ephesians and telling us about the church is crucial. You need the church. You need a place that will be home. You need to be a part of the Christian family. This takes involvement; floating in and out on a Sunday morning and taking up space on a pew is not enough. Just like in a family, you must spend time together, sharing in one another’s lives.
If you do not attend church- find a “home”. If you go to church, but have missed seeing it’s vital necessity- go invest in your “home”. We need each other of all ages and stages in the church. God has given us the gift of others to help us see more of Him, and uses us to show more of Him to others.
If you are one of my local friends looking for a church home, our church is moving to a new location THIS Sunday and we would love to have you. Message me or comment and I’ll get you the information!
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