December 26 - The Perfect Church?

 Read today’s texts first: Psalms 117; 119: 81-176; 2 John; 3 John

MAXIMize YOUR DAY

The God born in a barn is at home in our personal
failures, dysfunctional families and imperfect churches.

Over the Christmas holidays we were able to catch up with some family and friends we haven’t seen for a while. Invariably the topic of church came up and we were surprised how many people, who were once avid church participants, now no longer attend a church. The most common reason – “we just can’t find the perfect church.” Our unexpressed response – “guess what, if you did, you wouldn’t fit in!”

We don’t have perfect churches mostly because they are filled with imperfect people. Even the first church, which we tend to glorify as ideal, was far from it. The last few books we’ve read through, especially John’s writings, have focused on individuals and teachings that were tearing local churches apart. In his gospel, his three letters, and in the Revelation we start reading tomorrow, John calls us back to the simplicity of the gospel message, that Jesus was sent from God to show us how much He loves us and how we can share His love with others.

How the purity of that message and His love gets communicated on this sin-polluted planet is far from perfect. That’s what I love about the Christmas story. Jesus was born in a smelly barn, visited by social outcasts, and raised by poor parents in a disreputable town. God made sure we knew He could handle our shortcomings. We can invite him into our personal failures, our dysfunctional families and imperfect churches. Even, David, who writes in the psalms we read today about how much he loves God and His Word, had a major spiritual melt-down. And yet, he is still remembered as “a man after God’s own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22).  It’s not the imperfections of our life or our churches that defines us – it’s who we go to with our sin!

“Lord, I am grateful that You still come into our imperfect lives and churches. Some day Your work of perfecting us will be complete (Ephesians 5:17), but in the meantime we welcome you into our barns!”