[278 words]
Sometimes people will ask me about my church. They assume since I am a minister that somehow I have some ownership or say over it. We do that too. We remark ‘at my church’ or ‘come to my church.’ It might just be a slip of the tongue but we need to work to correct it.
Because it is not ‘our’ church, and that is a very good thing!
The church of me wouldn’t be a good one. Oh, it might be likable enough, it could be entertaining, and it might have the community’s approval. The church of me could be growing and financially stable but it doesn’t have enough.
You see churches come at a cost. In order to have a group of redeemed, you must have a redeemer. A sacrifice to pay the cost. And I don’t have enough in me.
A church founded on me cannot save because I can’t save myself, much less anyone else. Jesus was the only one sinless, the only one with the blood pure enough to make that purchase. He said he would build his church (Matthew 16:18) and place the saved into it (Acts 2:47). That is the church you should seek.
Many have tried to steal Jesus’ church from him and make it their own. But the minute he isn’t the head of the church, it ceases to be his. If it is my church, it can’t be his. Any other church, no matter how pretty it is on the outside, is lacking the core of what matters, salvation.
I don’t want any part of my church, I only what to be a part of His!
Barry Haynes
Hope, AR