REAL LIFE! – Believe Series: Week Ten
Church of Jesus Christ
1 Corinthians 12:13 (NKJV) says the following: “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body–whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free–and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.”
The one common element in the body of Christ is Jesus. He is the cornerstone that the “church” is to be built on. We do not have to look a certain way, speak a certain way or even act a certain way. It is the broken meeting the needs of the broken. Those in the church have been transformed but we are still in need of Jesus’ everyday leadership in our lives, just as a non-Believer is in need of Jesus’ saving grace.
The question we are going to deal with in this blog is the following: “How does the church impact my daily life and relationships?”
Acts 2:42-47 speaks of the church at its very beginning. Verse 44 says, “Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common.”
There is no other place on the planet where such different people gather together and have things in common. For many, the church is a place of refuge. People may feel more comfortable in the church than they do in their own homes. Why is this?
- They are accepted as they are!
This may be a lesson we can learn for our families and close relationships. We know so much about the people in our homes, our spouses and our children, our parents, our siblings and even our close friends. Do we accept our families and close relationships as they are (in their strengths and weaknesses)?
In relationships we can have a mindset that says, “If only they would change, then…” Perhaps we can reshape the question to “How can I change?” or “What is God trying to teach me?”
Our family members, just as strangers on this planet, are looking for acceptance. How might our homes change if we simply accept our parents, siblings and children for who they are and ask God to do the changing first in our lives and then in their lives.
He knows what needs to change, we do not. That is the struggle in our Christian lives and relationships. We think we may know how the other needs to change, when in fact we are the one in need of changing.
The verse in the Bible that speaks of this is Matthew 7:3-5 (ESV).
“Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”
Accept others as they are and let God do the changing.