Have you ever been hurt by someone in the church? It is a situation that sadly happens more often than we would like. People who have a relationship with God can sometimes feel they have the right to speak in place of God for the church. It is one thing to speak from a place of love, scripture, and wisdom. It is a completely different thing to speak from your heart and tell someone what you think out of emotion or anger or disapproval. I have heard story after story about how so and so isn’t in church anymore because someone hurt them by what they said. A lot of times, what was said was a judgement. I want to talk about two points on this topic today and hope to help someone who may have been hurt by someone in the church or to someone to has hurt someone.
The first point I would like to touch on is this: we do not go to church because of the people, we go to church for God. Yes, I understand that the people we see at church are a huge part of our church experience. If we walk into church and see friends and people we feel are as close to us as family then we walk into church feeling loved, invited, welcome and comfortable to be ourselves. If you walk into church and feel that you have no one who understands you, you get looks that are unkind, or you feel judged in any way, your church experience won’t be as wonderful as it could be. But you could walk into a church and feel God and no matter what look you get, how many friends you have, or what conversations you have, if God is there you can get fulfilled and leave feeling blessed. I want to say that I hope that everyone’s experience is like the first one I described because everyone deserves to feel at home with their church family. It is important that the church body makes each and every person feel welcome and loved. That is just basic scripture that we can see in the bible. Love your neighbor, Mark 12:30-31. Give to those who are in need, 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. Do not judge, Matthew 7:1-5. These are things we learn in Sunday school. God wants his church people to always show kindness to his sons and daughters. Go to church in order to feel God’s love. Go to church to experience him in a way that can be felt when 2 or 3 are gathered together. Go to church to feel the anointing power that falls down from Him. We go to church to be with like-minded people and to be unified one with another in one place. Do not be the one who is sending division into the church.
The second point I would like to touch on is this, it is not our place to cast judgement on any person, either lost or saved. The Bible tells us this in Matthew 7:1-5: “Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” God calls those who judge other hypocrites. We judge without seeing our own faults, our own sin. This would be my advice to every individual in the church, be the one. Be the one kind person someone looks forward to seeing at church. Be the one to make conversation with the person no one is talking to. Be the one to smile their way. Be the one waiting with a hug. Because we do not know where they come from, what background, what type of family, what they have gone through to be at service, but God has called us to be his hands and feet. He called us to reach those that no one else can. So be the one who does just that in someone’s life. Our job here on this earth, once we have been saved ourselves, is to begin to reach those who are lost in the world and point them to God. Point them to His love and His light. To lead them and guide them from the darkness in their world to the light of God. To teach them the truth we find in the Word. Each and every person on this earth has a soul. That soul will end up somewhere when they die, heaven or hell. God calls us, His people, to help as many as we can get to the point of salvation so that they may make it into heaven. But God does not call us to cast judgement as we see fit. In the end, we all meet before God and receive judgement. He has the final say. We do not judge and turn the lost away.
I hope to remind everyone who reads this that God loves each one of his children equally and wants all of us to be with him one bright morning in heaven. Be his child that loves and reaches out to those that are lost. Be his hands and feet.
He gives us Roots so we can Fly. Roots and Wings.
