Articles
Food for thought
Three couples got together one night after services. As they started to talk, the conversation soon led them to the problems they had with the local church. One couple expressed how disappointed they were with the lack of spirituality the church had. They felt the brethren just don’t seem to want to spend time with each other. Others in the room seemed to agree. Someone even went on to say that everyone acts like they want to get away from Christians as fast as they can.
After a moment another couple stated how they were not happy with the level of personal work the brethren were putting out. They had hoped that the church would grow in numbers and that more Bible studies should be underway. Everyone seemed to agree with that too.
The last of the three couples sat quietly for a moment while the others waited for them to come up with some sort of criticism. When they finally spoke, they simply asked, “Haven’t we been through this before?” “Didn’t we utter the same complaints 5 years ago?” “And didn’t we leave that problem infested church, to start one with our three families?” Everyone hung their heads and agreed. It dawned on them that the difficulties were not left behind, they brought them along.
This fictitious story was used to illustrate that sometimes problems follow people because they are part of the problem. As members of the body of Christ, we all need to do what we can to help the church do its job effectively (Eph. 4:11-16). It’s easy to spot a problem, it’s another matter to do what we can to help fix it. As we have often stated, problems are not so much the problem – it’s not handling the problem that is the real problem.
The apostle Paul made it clear and plain, “Now you are the body of Christ and members individually.” (I Cor. 12:27). It is impossible for the church to do anything if the members are not doing anything. Let us all be workers and set the proper example to help others become workers.
