So I have a couple things to say tonight. The first is my gut reaction and some reflection to a sign I saw today. There's a church on Old Georgetown road as you're coming into downtown Bethesda that always has something on it's sign out front that makes me laugh. And honestly I don't take too much of it seriously because it's always something that seems to me be nonsense. But today it caught my attention. Today it read "The church is a hospital to the sinner, not a resting place for the saints". Simple and to the point. And my first response was something to the effect of "those bastards". It's sad that I went there and here's my initial thought behind this; that the church is there for those who need Jesus. Let me defend myself. I'm not saying people don't need Jesus and I'm not saying that church shouldn't be a place where people can come to the Lord but... I feel there is a large portion of churches that have made the church a place where people come to the Lord and not a place where Christ followers come to get feed and encouraged. I think we often let the church do the job of getting people saved and not having people get people saved. I always go back to Acts where the people got saved and then came into the church. Not came into the church and got saved.
But that's not really the point. I actually reread this a couple of times and thought about it. And actually... I agree. I think it's really sad that I went to the sinner as the unsaved and it's unfair. Because I spend most of my day sinning. As a Christ follower I sin just as much as someone who's not. And all sin is equal in God's eye. So just because I'm not sleeping with my girlfriend doesn't mean I've gotten off free for the day because I did look at that girl on the street lustfully. No one's a saint. We're to strive to be like Jesus, to achieve perfection but we all fall short of the glory of God. And so I like the idea that it's a place for sinners. People who want to get better.
Second idea of the day has to do with the way God works. Which I must say frustrates me from time to time. In a nut shell, God had answered a prayer he'd put on my heart many years previous to the answer. The answer came in the form of a friendship and relationship built on the desire to be more honest in our walks with God and a desire to learn more about him. This relationship has been in limbo for many months now and it was very frustrating to me why, because I couldn't figure it out. But I had finally made peace with it and put the situation behind me and was looking forward... until tonight. I read this verse.
"Now I am coming to you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you. I don’t want what you have—I want you. After all, children don’t provide for their parents. Rather, parents provide for their children. I will gladly spend myself and all I have for you, even though it seems that the more I love you, the less you love me." (2 Corinthians 12:14-15)
It instantaniously brought me back to this relationship which I had thought I'd put behind me. Sometimes God isn't ready for us to let things go... and sometimes I have to ask why?
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