God Help Us!

I had a conversation with someone recently that made this remark: “If I could ask one thing of God it would be that tornados would destroy every church in our town…maybe then the church folk would work together.” I know that person’s pain. Perhaps the greatest attribute of our God is his longsuffering. God surely tears up when he sees his children…this is church folk I am speaking of…fighting and fussing with one another over utterly insignificant issues, harboring un-forgiveness and jealousy toward each other. Don’t misunderstand me, doctrine is important, as is interpretation, but more important is our ability to work together for the Kingdom. Jesus never called us to grow a church or a ministry; he calls us to further the Kingdom. Your church, my church, the ministerial alliance, para-church ministries, study groups and mission organizations are all worthless if they are not building up the Kingdom. Now, I realize there are many, many ways to do that, but we are not doing it when churches compete against each other for people or programs, or when believers debase other believers, regardless of where their church membership is, or isn’t. Now, I’ll be honest, I am not sure having all the church buildings destroyed in any one community will unite the Christians of that community…though it might stop the bickering for a moment…but prayer will. So, if you want to see the Kingdom ushered in, pray for other churches, for your church, for other believers, and pray for yourself! Pray that God would love all the other believers through you. If we would all do that, we might just see the Kingdom.