Church Character

 

    Church character is comprised on many things like spiritual gifts, God's children, and obedience.  However a big part of that is God's people coming together to worship Him.  Worship is more than the singing part in the church service. It is an attitude of submission, love, and respects that pours over into how a Christian behaves.  Worship is believing and declaring God's greatness.  It is a good response to what God has done in your life.

    God is working in your life right now.  You may not feel like it.  You may not see Him being obvious, but He is working in and around your life.  He is in the details.  When you respond to honor God's greatness with appreciation and respect you are worshipping God.  It becomes a part of your character in how you make decisions, attitude, actions, how you work, and how you spend your free time.  

    If you are a Christian, then a typical response to God is a desire that becomes a practice to spend time in His Word.  You invest time and energy to become more like Jesus.  You want to spend more time with people you can talk about Jesus with, so church becomes a place where you eat, teach, talk, and pray with other believers.  You are open to correction if you are understanding things incorrectly.  You give your time and money for God's causes.  .

    Church is not perfect because it is full of imperfect people including you.  That means that it can get messy.  There can be dysfunction, but the point is to see church for what it is and what it could be.  Pray over it.  Seek wisdom on how you can help, solves, or stay out of issues.  The point is to not give up.  You may find the worst hurts come from church people, but remember hurt people hurt others.  Pray for them and give God time to change theirs or your heart.  

    If a church you are attending does not represent Jesus as a whole, then you do not need to stay.  If the pastor does not preach the complete Bible truthfully, then you should leave.  You can continue to pray, but you do not need to deprive yourself of what you need in God's people to be a martyr for people pretending to be God's people.  

    The character of the church is supposed to represent God's grace to the world.  It is supposed to be community that supports, loves, and lives each other like Jesus did with his apostles.  It should be a stable place in difficult times.  It should be a place of forgiveness and encouragement.  Acts of kindness is the mark of Christianity.  

    If you are not kind, then you are not representing God well.  Church is not about you and what you like.  If you make it about your agenda and desires, then you are part of what makes a church unhealthy.  Make sure that you reflect God's love instead of your personal desires.

Acts 2, Romans 12:9-13, Galatians 5:13-15, 6:1-3, Ephesians 4:31-32, Philippians 2:3-4, & 1 Thessalonians 5:9-11