April is a great time to hit that reset button. As we start a new quarter and break into spring, it is a great time to put the past behind and press on to the goal. I cannot change what I did or didn’t do last year. All I can do is focus on what I will do this year and, specifically, what I am doing today.
Many times in my life, I have failed. Many times I have hit that reset button. When I fail, I typically look for someone around me to encourage me and lift me up and make me feel good about myself, but often what I really need is someone to call me out. I don’t need someone to pat me on the back and tell me how awesome I am. I need someone to work with me and help me make the changes I need to make.
Often, we look to our churches for the same thing. I go to church on Sunday wanting to be told how great I am and how awesome life will be if I just keep doing what I’m doing. Sometimes that is good, but what we often don’t want to hear is the message of the gospel. We don’t want to hear the part of the message that says to “repent”. The message that says to stop doing what I am doing and change. I would much rather be told I am awesome than to be told I need to change. The truth is, we are all sinners. We all need to change. We all need help.
Many look to our local churches to entertain us and to help us feel better about ourselves. What we don’t want is to go someplace on Sunday morning and be told how bad I am and that I need to change. When I walk away from a church feeling like that, it is usually because I know there is something I need to change and I don’t want to. Now, I’m not talking about teachings that berate me, put me down and tell me what a horrible person I am. I am talking about Biblical teaching and study that convicts me and stirs something inside of me that tells me I need to change. The gospel is something that pulls us toward change and inspires us to a better life. But, the gospel is also a message the convicts us and corrects us when we are wrong.
Our churches need to be a place of Bible teaching. A place where we are encouraged to repent… to change our ways and follow Christ. Not a place where we constantly tell people how awesome they are. Not a place where we constantly tell people how horrible they are. But a place where we search the scriptures to work together to live the Biblical life God is calling us to live. To encourage and build each other up, and to hold each other accountable. While I enjoy a good music set and an inspiring sermon, the most important part of church has nothing to do with what happens on the stage. The most important part of church is the relationships I build with other people. The people that will encourage me and the people that will hold me accountable. Not because those people are perfect but, just like me, they are working every day to figure out what it means to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.”
So… what are you looking for in a church? If you are looking for a perfect church, it does not exist. If you are looking for a group of people that have it all together and do everything “the right way”, it does not exist. Maybe you are not looking for anything in a church, but just want to check off that “I went to church” box on your to do list so you feel good about yourself. What are you looking for? If I am in a room with 100 people or more and I don’t relate to any of them, maybe it isn’t the other 100 people. Maybe it is because I don’t want to relate to them because I am comfortable being by myself and doing my own thing. I don’t want to let anyone else inside my life so they can see the mess I am. I don’t want anyone else to hold me accountable. I can figure this out, and I can do it by myself. Maybe we can, but that is not what we were made for. The church is a group of people who work together, each person with their own gifts. Life is about relationships and serving other people. I need the strengths of others in the church who see things differently than I do. The church needs me because I see things differently than they do. We all have our own strengths and gifts that God has given each of us, and the church needs every one of them.
This year… this month, find a church that teaches the Bible. Find a place that will encourage you and challenge you. Find a church and begin that slow, sometimes painful, process of building relationships. I like being by myself. I don’t really talk much and generally, I would just prefer to be left alone, but I know I need those relationships to help me become the person that God wants me to be.
