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Wednesday, August 10, 2011

251/365

"Why are our churches are like museums instead of emergency rooms?" -Eric Fisher

Tonight in prayer meeting Eric challenged us to genuinely be open with one another and share our needs, burdens, and struggles. Often we feel the need to go to church, put on the smile, and be "holy". While we should be happy because of what Christ has done for us, and while we should strive to live a holy life before the Lord, these should be manifestations of the work that Christ has done in our hearts. We aren't supposed to PUT ON a show.

I think of it more like this. We are all very successful athletes, and we've all done really well on our respective teams. An all-star team is established, so the best of the best come together as a "team" (though often all-star teams are made up of individual athletes playing individually rather than as a "team"). We join this team, so we try to perform the best, be the fastest, and ultimately win.

I feel like far too often this is the picture of our churches. We do our "best" and gain success on our own. "Man, we are good at this Christian stuff. We are something!" So we get on our high horse, waltz over to church (all-star game) and put on the show. We want to look better, sing better, smile better than everybody else on our "team", though in reality we are there for the complete wrong motives. We don't really care about building the body of believers-- we just want to make a few three pointers and a slam dunk. That will get the crowd riled up and then we'll really be the hero!

This was a challenge to me. Why is our church a showcase? Why isn't it an emergency room? If we get to reality, none of us are perfect. We all struggle. We don't need to go to church and confess our deepest struggles to the entire body, but why not allow a smaller group of people keep you accountable, pray with you, and interced for you? That was the intention of the body of Christ-- functioning together to pursue Christ and bring Him the ultimate glory.

Thankful for the Word and for my pastor. Thankful for transparency-- and for people who HAVE been real with me and shared struggles, and for friends who have listend to me and prayed for me.

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