I remember the times when I have been hurt by the church.
Those were not good feelings. It destroyed my self-confidence, and it made me fearful and angry. As time went on, I became more and more withdrawn and reserved. To be honest, I began asking God what the church was for.
As an introvert, I tend to be more independent, and I like to spend a good amount of time by myself. When I realized I was getting more introverted as I got older, I began to wonder if I really did need help from others, especially those in the church.
I thought I could do life by myself. I was wrong.
Through this time, God taught me some lessons on why I need fellow Christians in my life. Here are a couple of the things He taught me on why we need the church.
We Were Not Created to be Alone
Ever since the beginning, God has made sure that human beings were never alone. When He created Adam, God made sure to create Eve, so that he wouldn’t have to be alone. And ever since then God has made sure that there have been people around us, so that we wouldn’t have to do life on our own, by ourselves.
With people around us, especially other Christians, it is better for our lives and the way we live it. When we are alone, we’re more likely to sin, get lonely, and get discouraged. When we work together and are around others, it can have the opposite effect.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 says this: “It’s better to have a partner than go it alone. Share the work, share the wealth. And if one falls down, the other helps, but if there’s no one to help, tough!”
God created His church so that we wouldn’t have to do the journey by ourselves.
Church is All for His Glory
The second thing God taught me about the church is that He is using it for His glory. Whenever I have been hurt by or angry at the church, God showed me that I was only thinking of myself, I was only being selfish. He taught me that the church was not about me, but that it was about Him, no matter what happened.
In our culture today, we tend to hear this quite a bit: “The sermon really spoke to me” or “I didn’t really enjoy the worship.” I think there is a lot of church-goers who are guilty of saying something like this, me included.
The truth is, the church is not about us. It’s not about what we thought of the sermon or if we liked the worship songs. Church is not about seeing our friends or that boy that goes to your youth group. Don’t get me wrong, the sermon, the worship songs, and friends are all great, but they are not the center point of why we go to church.
God is.
So as the Body of Christ, let’s stop thinking of ourselves, our likes, dislikes, and preferences, and let’s make God the focus of our worship within the church. Let’s love and lead like Jesus did for us, for His glory.
No One is Perfect
The last thing God taught me about the church is that no one is perfect. The church is made up of a group of human beings, people just like you and me. And just like you and me, every one of them messes up sometimes. No one is perfect. They are human too.
In the past, I have been so caught up on how people in the church act and what they do wrong. God showed me that everyone that is a part of the church — pastors, leaders, greeters, kids — all have their faults. Our job, as Christians, is not to judge others, but to love them.
As I have gotten older, I have began to realize that I would not be where I am right now if I didn’t have the support from my church.
I would not be writing, going on mission trips, and leading like I do now if the people from my church didn’t believe in me.
That is why it is so important to get involved, so that we can grow into who God wants us to be.
This article originally appeared on TheRebelution.com. Used with permission.
Kelsey Moore is an 18-year-old senior from Hoschton, GA. She enjoys reading and writing, and she loves all things that have to do with Africa, missions, and ministry. She looks forward to seeing how God will use her to show others His love in the future.
Image courtesy: Unsplash.com
Publication date: February 22, 2017