Wednesday, December 14, 2011

How about you stop dating the Church? Part 1

Jack and Grace met through a mutual friend. From day one they seemed to be the perfect match. Grace was everything Jack had always wanted. She was beautiful, outgoing, and caring - always there when Jack needed her. For the first five months they were inseparable. Jack could hardly think of anything but grace. He didn't want to look further, he told friends. "She's the one."
            Now almost three years have passed. Jack still enjoys the comfort and familiarity of being with grace, but the spark is gone. Grace's Flaws seem more obvious. He's not sure he finds her as attractive as he once did. And he's beginning to resent all the time she want to spend with him.
        One night, when she asks if they can define the nature of their relationship, Jack blows up "We're together, aren't we?" he asks angrily. " Why isn't that enough for you?" Obviously, Jack isn't ready for commitment. And it's unclear if he ever will be..."
        
The excerpt above is from Joshua Harris book "Why Church Matters"
     Have you ever been in a relationship like that of Grace and Jack? Its breaks my heart to say that there are millions upon millions of Jacks all around the word. And no Grace is not a girl she is the Church. Many people today can accept and say that they are "believers" but how many people can we really classify as "bellongers"?
       Paul in Ephisians 3:10 makes us understand that the church was an Intention of God. "His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms."  
What exactly is the Church? we may ask. So many times we think of the building when we hear the word church and forget what it really mean. To me the Church is a fellowship where men and women of all background can come together as one body and worship God. It is a body of Christ that grow day after day. For example if you were to cut off one leg off your body today will it function on it own? The answer is No and this is the same for the Church/the body of Christ. Once one member of the Church break away it is very hard for it to function alone because we do need that fellowship with one another. An iron sharpens and iron and if as much as salvation is an individual pursuit we still need one another to make the journey smooth.

    So to the ones who think/say "Oh I don't need to belong to any church I can worship God and pray on my own and at my house" I'm sorry to break it to you "No you CAN'T and it is NOT OK." It is hard to do most things alone and certainly Christianity is not an exception.  "God manifest His presence in different ways to the "living stones" of His temple when they are gathered than He does to them when they are apart" - Joshua Harris

     When we are members of the church according to Ephesian 2:19-22 " you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit."


 This is the beginning of the Church series that I shall be writing on in the next few post. Now this post post took me a little longer than I normally would take to write a post simply because this is a topic that is very dear to my heart and I can get very brutally emotional about it. I don't know if you can tell in some sentences but I had to rewrite every sentence a few times because I thought "oh snap that was too harsh and mean." My point is these next few post might sound harsh because I will no longer edit it to please my readers but rather say it as raw as it is because I believe Christ would love us to all share even the bitter truth as bitter as it is.  I pray that you all bear with me in these post. In the mean time check back for part 2 which shall be "Connecting to a Local Church."

xoxo
YSU




"If you refuse to take on spiritual responsibility you will becomes a liability"

14 comments:

  1. Many people today can accept and say that they are "believers" but how many people can we really classify as "belongers"

    What a great question...there is such a big difference between believing and belonging. Awesome post!

    joy and blessings to you,
    Alida

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  2. I love this and i agree with you, my former pastor had to illustrate with hot coals in church of what it is like to be in fellowship and how we lose heat when we leave the fold.

    Say it how ever the spirit leads you to girl and may the words we hear not stand against us as unto condemnation but lead us to eternal life.
    Thanks for sharing

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  3. You have spoken well dear.It is very important to belong to a church.As the saying goes "A three cannot make a forest".

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  4. Yellow SiSi,This makes loadza sense,Patiently waiting for the next post and please say it as it is coz you doing millions of readers alot of Good.

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  5. Hmmm.....great post. People do date the church and exemplify this by not being willing to commit and voice their need for it's presence in the life and growth as a christian...

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  7. Blessings.....
    It is so important to know ones worth. It is the key really to us not over compromising ourselves and settling "just because" we fear we won't find someone who would want what we want and is willing to take the leap of faith with us.

    There are many Jacks out there, I'll even say many Janes who expect relationships to just work the way they desire without actually doing any work, i.e. working at keeping the relationship alive and strengthening it so that it survives the transitions and transformations that is the natural evolution of living and being. To understand ones worth and value will prevent us from being in a relationship when we recognize that the person with who we chose to share our lives have no desire to commit further to nourishing and extending it beyond "dating." One has to be brave to step out when it is noted that they are unevenly yoked.

    stay blessed....
    rhapsody
    http://twitter.com/rhapsodyphoenix

    p.s.
    thanks for stopping by and best of the season to you and your family.

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  8. Funny analogy at first but made a lot of sense to me. How soon many of us forget our first love for God and the things of his kingdom. Hmmm

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  9. This is deep! Very very deep! This is the life many Christians live today. They attend church services whereas their hearts are somewhere else... Their commitment seem questionable; service is not in their dictionary. Many even come to church for what they will get... May God help us.

    - LDP

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  10. This is truly deep. "So many times we think of the building when we hear the world church and forget what it really mean" nailed it.

    Looking forward to more.Thanx for dropping by my blog and following.

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  11. For the first time in my life, I'm an active member of a local church and a couple small groups and I cannot even express enough how much I agree with you! There is a reason that there is so much emphasis on fellowship and living/sharing together in the Bible. God did not create just Adam; He created a partner for her as well! He created them both to be in communion and fellowship and relationship with one another. We are not made to experience life on our own.

    Now I can understand people who may have had negative experiences with church in the past; we can all share the blame for that, but quite frankly, I think believers who have determined that they can do this on their own and don't need anybody to do it with them/hold them accountable are being a tad selfish and maybe even a little prideful.

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  12. God bless you for your willingness to be candid on this issue. It is a lot more pervasive than folks might think. For some reason, reading this post made me think of church politics too. It seems that whereever there are human beings period, there will be politics and the church is not exempt ...

    On another note, I want to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in advance! Thanks a lot for your support on my blog too!

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  13. aww thanks guys for all the comments and different views i'm really enjoying the comments so far

    @miss fab. thanks for stopping by my blog so excite to have you back on blogsville :)

    @Relentless Builder...thanks and i wish you the same

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  14. I got what you mean , thanks for posting .Woh I am happy to find this website through google. 성인용품 할인

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