My "past" with the church

 

This morning as I was praying and reminiscing on my "past"with Churches, God gently took me to this scripture. 

I am not overstating it when I say that the man who caused all the trouble hurt all of you more than he hurt me. Most of you opposed him, and that was punishment enough. Now, however, it is time to forgive and comfort him. Otherwise he may be overcome by discouragement. So I urge you now to reaffirm your love for him....... I do so with Christ’s authority for your benefit, so that Satan will not outsmart us. For we are familiar with his evil schemes. 2 Corinthians 2 

What came to mind first was "I am not overstating it when I say that the man who caused all the trouble hurt all of you more than he hurt me."

My trouble that I caused was my rants against the organized church which was a reaction to me being  a new Christian 18 years ago and being thrown out by my local church. From there that started my coming and going, joining and leaving of church. 

What I did not realize was that the Church is made up of humans who WILL let you down, and they WILL hurt your feelings. I had a false security.  My security was in people not Jesus. 

So why the public apology? Because of the second part of this verse .."however, it is time to forgive and comfort him. Otherwise he may be overcome by discouragement. So I urge you now to reaffirm your love for him, it is time to forgive and comfort him. Otherwise he may be overcome by discouragement. So I urge you now to reaffirm your love for him."

So as I have grown in faith, I have also been gently reminded by God that I needed to do this last part because if I have done anything to make someone run away from the body of believers, I am sorry and as this last part says "otherwise he may be overcome by discouragement".

There are churches out there and they will offend you and they will hurt your feelings, but what is the motive?  

Did they offend you because you are living in sin and they showed you Gods truth.  

Did they hurt your feelings because they showed you scripture and your actions and words are not matching up to Gods word? 

For me it was neither,  it was humans reacting in a human way to a situation and because I was a new Christian I associated that with all churches and Jesus.  

So I will leave you with this:  don't be discouraged by the church. It is made up of humans that will let you down, they will hurt your feelings.  If you find a church to be a part of don't leave just because your feelings were hurt or you didn't like something.  Get involved and find out why or be apart of the solution. 

BUT heed this warning:  if your pastor, minister or preacher thinks he IS God, then run....run as fast as you can. Find a church that has a servant leader who teaches Gods word not Mother Theresa's. Find a Bible believing church. A church that has as it's first and final authority the word of God.  Not a church that uses the Bible plus something else as they same weight of the scriptures. 

And if you find the PERFECT church DONT join....you will mess it up.  We are ALL messy people who need authentic relationships with Jesus as the core to make it through the rest of the time here on this earth. Because the end of this verse says..."so that Satan will not outsmart us. For we are familiar with his evil schemes".

Satan did not want me to post this (the first draft was deleted as I went to hit publish) and he definitely does NOT want healthy churches.