What do you think of when you hear the word "church"? Do you think of a place? Do you think of a day and time? Does sleeping in come to mind? It's unfortunate that the word "church" actually has two meaning. It has come to mean a place, but it was meant to communicate a group of people. A people called "the gathered together" family of God. It really doesn't matter where we meet. When a group of believers gather "church" happens whether it's a meeting in a restaurant, a bar, a hospital or a home. Location is never considered when this word is used in the bible. I wish we could get back to that definition. Today I was in "church" as I met with a group of ladies from our church family. We ate together, told stories and I shared with them for about 15 minutes. It was great. These dear people are some of those I get to spend eternity with. I am so excited that I will get many more opportunities to spend time with, get to know and fellowship with all those people I only get to speak to briefly now. I can't wait for that great day when I will be able to say, "why don't you come over for 1,000 years and let's have coffee and visit a bit." It will be amazing to have time to really see all that God has done in the lives of his people.
Thanks Mike for visiting us yesterday. I just got home from "church" ... a meeting of six of us in a home where we pray, have lunch together and discuss a book (Crazy Love by Francis Chan) that we are all reading. We always have a GREAT time together in one accord with our Lord. We all agreed that your comments yesterday were not only timely but very encouraging to us. You did good, my brother!
ReplyDelete