Wednesday 14 Mar 2012

Wednesday Reading: Acts 2:36-42

Key Verse: Acts 2:42
42  And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.

Devotion:
What does church mean to you? I can guarantee that church has a very different meaning to men and women. Not so much as in it is a gathering of souls together where we can lift up and praise our heavenly Father through Jesus Christ, but rather more deep than that. No I’m not going to get all philosophical because I can hardly spell that without a dictionary, never mind understand it.

The church is not about the building but about the people who gather together. In the early days of the church people would meet together in small congregations, in peoples’ houses or sometimes in a real building set aside for gathering. Nowadays we almost always have set buildings which are expected to have steeples or crosses to mark them as such – that is just the way we have pushed society along. What really matters, though, is what goes on inside of each one who is gathering together.

Some people will complain that the local church is too strict, or not strict enough, too old-fashioned or too modernistic. We will not be able to please all people all of the time – because we are different. And when it comes to that, we often find that men and women look for different things in church as well. But if we start trying to seek out the perfect church for us, we are going to be looking for a very long time without getting down and worshipping God! We need to be in church where we can worship our Saviour; and we need to be there with others and not try to go it alone. Temptation is far too great an escape to be able to stand up by ourselves. God wants us to be there for each other as a church family, supporting each other, growing together with each other.

Just like a real family, our church family is not going to be perfect. Each member has different feelings and different ways of life. Not all members are male and not all female. If we had a single sex church we will very quickly find that we compete against each other instead of working together. We can see, over and over again, that there has been fighting in families since the beginning of time – more often than not between same sexes. We need each other so that we can grow in Christ together. We need that ‘help meet’ that God designed for us. Then we need God’s Word and patience to grow together in His Word. Without the firm foundation of bible teaching I have had over the last decade, I should still be foundering instead of bring your these devotions. I praise God for His patience with me when others have given up…

Points to Ponder:
Do you feel like giving in rather than building up?

Where would you be if God gave up on you?