Wednesday, January 25, 2006

 

Doing Our Part

 

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of the Lord.”   —Psalm 122:1

 

I think one of the reasons that so many churches are ineffective or falling apart is that they have strayed from God’s original plan.  There are clear principles found in the church as Jesus originally set it up and as the believers applied it, and as a result, they turned their world upside-down.  The church began and was maintained by His power, and it worked through His principles.  It was the Spirit of God working through the Word of God in the hearts and lives of the people of God.

 

Yet many people today don’t want to be a part of the church.  It’s not something they are really interested in.  It doesn’t seem to be addressing what they are facing or helping them.  The messages don’t make sense.  The music seems to come from another era altogether.

 

But I don’t think the church has to be that way.  I think it can be vibrant.  I think it can be exciting, powerful, and enjoyable.  Yet at the same time, it can be thoroughly biblical, imparting knowledge and truth and changing our lives.

 

Every one of us has a vital and important part to play in the church.  And a question we should ask ourselves is: What would the church be like if everyone was just like me?   If everyone attended as often as I do, shared the gospel as often as I do, worshipped as much as I do, or gave as much as I do?  If everyone basically behaved as I do, what kind of church would it be?

 

We are all part of the church.  And that affects what it will be and how it will impact this world.

 

Copyright © 2006 by Harvest Ministries.  All rights reserved.

 

Scripture taken from the New King James Version.  Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.  Bible text from the New King James Version is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions, P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214-1000.

 

More by Greg Laurie: http://www.harvest.org/devotional/index.php/5.html