Often I hear people say they don't go to church because of the way people act who go to church. I was guilty of this for awhile because of how I was treated. Once you've been the topic of the church gossipers and backbiters and felt like you were being stared at when you go to church, you don't want to experience that again. You feel judged, like everyone is looking at you under a microscope. In some cases you are judged and talked about and wonder how it's different from any other place. You can go to work or school and get talked about. You can go anywhere and experience situations where there are people who smile to your face but all along think they're better then you and talk about you behind your back, even telling lies on you and slandering your name. You see people who are religious. They remind you of the Pharisees and Sadducees you read about in the Bible. They keep traditions of men, not God. They worry about what they look like on the outside, but inside they're full of evil. They care about their position, money, and bringing lots of money into the church but their community suffers. You don't know of any good they do for their community or citizens of that community. You wonder why bother when you can watch preaching at home, after all, your relationship with God is between you and him. BUT I'm here to tell you, church is a beautiful thing when done according to God's Word. If you study the Christian Church in the New Testament you will see that no sin is condoned and people who stir up strife, lie to the Holy Spirit, or are religious are put out of the church. I don't mean ordinary people who are trying to live right and mess up daily because we all do, but people who pretend to be perfect and talk about others or look down on them. Satan sends into the church people who on the outside appear like lambs but on the inside are ravenous wolves. They are there to destroy your faith, to cause conflict in the church, and to stir up strife. Whether you realize it or not, stay home on Sundays or go to church, fellowship with other believers or stick to yourself, YOU are in a constant spiritual battle between good and evil. How can you look at all the evil in the world and not believe in God, because all that evil wants to destroy all good in the world and all good people. When you separate yourself from church and the assembling of other believers you cut a vital lifeline to your spirit. Your spirit struggles to win the good fight and tires from the daily battles. Church services and like minded believers build you up and help prepare you for those daily battles. Yes, there may be a wolf in your midst at church, the Bible says to test the spirits to see where they're from. Find out if there's good or evil in their heart. The best test is that of looking at their character. The Bible says you can't get salty water and fresh water from the same source. If a person appears to be good and evil then you know they're evil. Church is a community in itself and the members support one another, lifting one another up, encouraging one another, helping one another, and by being that honest friend who calls you out when you're wrong so you can get straightened out and be a doer of the Word, not a hearer only. Churches are a pillar in the community because the church organization gives to causes and helps other organizations who help people, and helps individuals in need, and supports people and organizations to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ so that other people can be saved. Yes there's churches who don't. They hide behind the church to get rich. So know them by the fruit they bare or don't bare, and don't affiliate yourself with them. Don't cut out a huge part of your life and privilege as a child of God by cutting church out of your life. Find a church where good seeds are being sown in your community and the lives of regular people like you and me. Test the spirits in the church keeping in mind that the powers of darkness want you to fail, to feel condemned, to feel like you're not good enough, to feel like you don't belong. When you go to the grocery store you don't buy everything, right? And you look at the expiration date, you want fresh, healthy food. There's a lot there you don't want but you go to get what you do want. Go to church to get what you need and want. Be clear about your intentions. Are you going to church to be closer to God, to serve the Lord, and to form new godly relationships with people, or for some other reason. Do everything you do as unto the Lord, not people. Don't be a people pleaser. Be a God pleaser. The benefits of being a member of a church far out weigh any opposition you may face. Expose the wolves. Keep the church.
Lisa C
