More on Church...

Well, I said I would a write a post about the church so here goes...First of al,l I want to clarify: for the purposes of this particular post, when I use the word church I am referring more to a body of believers who gather weekly as a congregation rather than all believers as a whole. However, most of this could apply to either definition of the word. In this post I want to answer the question " Why do we go to church?"
First of all, lets get to the root of why we go to church...actually let me rephrase that. Lets understand the purpose of the Christian life : We were made to glorify God and give Him honor. Therefore, we go to church to glorify God. (I could technically just stop here because that pretty much sums it up, but I feel like writing so I will expand on this a little) In Revelations 1:20 the word lampstand is used as a metaphor for the church.  This sheds light (ha ha get it ;) ) on the fact that the church is to be a light in a dark world, a place where truth reigns and ultimately a place where people can find the Light. In Matt 28:19 Christ says to "Go and make disciples.." I believe that another responsibility the church has is to bring people to a deeper understanding of God so that they can better emulate Him.  As C.S Lewis states " The Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs." As I said before, we go to church to glorify God and as we come to know Him more we glorify Him more.  The structure of a church is also important so that when a brother or sister strays from the Lord there are people around them to inact church discipline in a loving way ( Check out I Cor. 5:1-13). We also go to church to gather with fellow believers to admonish one another and spur each other on to good works (Heb. 3:13). Church is also a place where we go to worship God through praise/singing/music/prayer (Col. 3:16; Jms 5:13..and lots more verses that I can't recall right now). I feel as though there is so much more I could say, but my day of driving is getting to me so I should probably stop and call it a night. The main point that I hope I was able to get across ( although poorly written..my mom would kill me if she saw my grammar/lack of paragraphs) is that going to church is about GLORIFIYING GOD not about going to "see and be seen".

Joy

I will write another post about my thoughts on the church, but I just needed to get some words out and this blog is a good way for me to do that. Tonight, I took some time to reflect on some of the moments of my day and thank God for them. I’m not gonna lie, I came home from work in a dejected attitude. I had a rough day to say the least (or so I thought) However, now that I really think about it, my day was pretty amazing. You see, sometimes you have to look a little closer to find the good, but when you do you become overwhelmed with God’s goodness and beauty. First revealing of beauty : I got to see the cute white New Liberty ducks  ( as I like to call them) waddling across the street early this morning. Second: accessed the vein of a patient on the first try (a patient with EXTREMELY fragile veins) (If you aren’t a nurse you probably don’t understand the moment of happiness you experience when this happens). Third: it was so warm and sunny that I drove with my windows down. Fourth: I got to spend some time with a man who served our country and thank him for it. Fifth: watched the sun set from my rocking chair on the front porch while listening to my favorite music. Sixth: had the house to myself for a few hours this evening. Seventh: God gave me a sweet reminder of where my joy comes from..and that this earthly life isn’t all there is…it’s not even close.

1 Peter 1:8-9 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.