Thoughts about the church

Written on 27 Jan, 2005 (Friday)

Few things on my mind this Friday morning...
The church- is there such a thing as the perfect church? Of cos not! Why not? Cos the church is made up by a group of believers, whose sin has tainted them so much that it's impossible for even believers in Christ to be in perfect unity with one another... I mean, in the ideal state, Christians should be in perfect harmony with one another because Christ has died for us to reconcile us back to God and with one another. Shouldn't we, therefore, as Christians, strive to be in harmony? As much as I will love to believe in that (esp when I am one who hates conflicts and confrontations), we see how it has NOT worked throughout history.
Throughout history, the nation of Israel, even with God leading and guiding them, seems so fallible... we saw throughout church history how people fight over doctrinal issues (sometimes right and wrong, sometimes wisdom issues), we saw how churches split because of differences... we see how sin is played out in the Christian community, one supposedly to be redeemed by the blood of Christ. Guess it shows a few things:
1. Man's sin is so real and man's heart is so deceptive. YET, God chooses to save us and make us His own. What a mystery!
2. Despite man's sin and the depth of hurt and hatred in this world, God is still sovereign and in control of all things. Despite the imperfections, God still uses man as His instruments to bring the gospel to those who have not heard. And the miraculous thing is, people do respond to the the message that fellow sinful humans who are saved bring to them! That in itself is another mystery...
3. It shows another thing... that it's tough to live as a Christian in this world... try telling that to a non believer and he will probably look at you strange. Haha... but honestly, we are called to be different from the world, but yet, many times, we're not all that much different, looking at the way we handle things and treat one another. Just pray that as we try to work out our salvation, that God will show His grace towards us.
THings to think through... sigh...