Gospel
Church has always been a major part of my life. But that, in itself, isn't enough. I have been exposed to just about everything you can experience in church. The good, the bad and a lot of the ugly, but it still falls short in the overall scheme of things in God's plans. Sadly, it took me nearly 34 years to realize that it wasn't about allegiance to the church or a denomination. I could tell you some pretty bizarre stories and may do so in the future. A lot of these things shaped my life and personality from an early age.
I learned to play the "church game" and was pretty good at it for many years. There was no consistency in my life. I could do all the outward, legalistic stuff but I had myself deceived in thinking that since I was faithful in church and doing things, that this was evidence of my spiritual condition. I was sadly mistaken. The church game fell apart in 1998. I won't go into the details but I can tell you that all the church functions and faithful attendance couldn't have saved me from myself that year. It was a turning point for me. I realized more than ever that it wasn't about "doing" things, going to church more than the average person or abiding by the legalities of a denomination; it was all about Him! Jesus Christ. Until that year, I never truly understood the concept of a personal relationship with God outside of the church. It seems rather odd and a little embarrassing to admit this now but it was true. I realized that it was never about what I could do for the church or maintaining an appearance before others around me, it was about a personal relationship with my Savior.
Up until that time in my life, my whole week was co-dependent upon the pastor's sermon on Sunday morning. If he didn't preach a good sermon, then I wasn't much good. I based my relationship with God on what happened at church. If we had a good service, I was up. If it was totally boring and dry, I was down. The Sunday service was a gas station but I would often need another fill up each week. Although I put up a pretty good front, I was spiritually shallow the rest of the week. Naturally, I volunteered for positions in the church thinking if I padded my resume with some good positions in the church that it would score me some big points with God as well as some pats-on-the-back from my peers. The aspiration for a title overshadowed what my true desire should have been all along. A heart that was after my Savior, not a fancy title given by man.
God just wanted one thing: me. Not what I could do or how good I could look. He wanted my undivided attention. Let me tell you, He is very capable of getting your attention! In my situation, I think He just stepped back and let me fall into a calamity of my own doing. (Proverbs 1:24-26) He will do that sometimes. Not because He doesn't love us, but He does it because He DOES love us. We come face-to-face with ourselves and realize that we are an empty shell without an almighty God.
We often think we have done our service to God if we go to church every Sunday. A perfect church attendance is not on God's priority list. He would prefer that we spend more time in the closet instead of coming up with more programs at the church to keep us busy. God wants a relationship, not our religion. He could care less about what denomination we are affiliated with. (Matthew 7:20-23) When we get to heaven, there won't be a Baptist heaven and Methodist heaven. Heaven is going to be where God is. He's the only one that will get the glory. You and I will be in such awe of His presence that it won't really matter to us either. No more segregated congregations or divisions. One God. One Heaven. We might as well get used to that idea now. A denomination is not the only way; Jesus is.
To avoid being labeled an extremist here, I am not implying that God doesn't care about us going to church and fellowshipping with other believers. In fact, going to church is important to our spiritual health. We are encouraged to gather together. (Hebrews 10:24-25) It is vitally important that we strive for balance in our Christian lives. Everyone needs regular contact with God individually AND as a group. It is also encouraging to see others who are serving God and running the race with us. Your presence in church reminds others that they aren't alone. Sure, we have God but when we see each other in church, we are reminded that there are other people, just like us, who are living the life too. We have gotten the whole thing backwards. Instead of gathering together to gain strength for our individual lives from our church attendance, we should be bringing the strength from our individual relationships with God to the church house so that together this will bring a stronger anointing and presence of God. It's time to reverse the flow!
If you study the life of Christ, you will see that He really didn't spend a whole lot of time in the synagogue. Where did He spend His time? He is constantly ministering to people who needed help. He was about His Father's business. There was a mission. His mission was our freedom from sin. He came to earth to reconcile us to God. (2 Corinthians 5:18)
Occasionally, I still encounter people who are still stuck in the church religion thinking. In fact, I had one who recently questioned me why our church didn't have service on Sunday nights. The Sunday Night Service issue seems to be a hot debate around these parts. While I'm not opposed to going to church on Sunday night, I don't think one has to feel less of a Christian if they don't go to church twice on Sunday. I don't know. Maybe it's just me but the dependency should be on Christ and not another church service. In the past, those kinds of issues would have bothered me but now I just go into my prayer closet and spend time with my God throughout the week. Sometimes I have better times in the closet than I do in church. It's great! I wish I had discovered this earlier in my life.
Some people thrive on establishing their ministry. One that they can pin their names upon. I understand that it is necessary for people to do this to preserve their legal rights in print and television; however, it isn't about OUR ministry. We are all called to be ministers. I'm not implying that we all should be in a pulpit somewhere. The pulpit ministry is not what it's about either. We all minister daily to others. How effective are we being? Are we sharing Christ with others? Jesus ministered to tax collectors, prostitutes, sick and dysfunctional people everywhere. (I'm sure we all know a few dysfunctional people around us.) Jesus didn't have a church so He could have a pulpit to preach in and just expect them to come to His church. That's what WE would do. We think: "Build it and they will come". The Bible says that if Jesus is lifted up that He will draw all men unto him. (John 12:32). Are we lifting up our ministry, denomination and religion or are we lifting Christ in all that we do? In the end, it will all be about Him.
Let's have the attitude of Paul when he said, "I count all things but loss for the
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord." (Philippians 3:8) There's nothing more important than Christ. We're not good enough and we'll never do enough to deserve His love. Everything else is loss compared to our relationship with Him!
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This article brings a lot of truth to the surface, causing us to evaluate our own hearts as to why we really serve Him. Thanx for sharing it. Debbie Medina
There is much truth in this article, Milton--and it's well written.
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