Church

As I sit in class my mind wanders to the Church. Perhaps it is because I'd rather be sitting in Dan Kreis's living room studying Jesus with my brothers and sisters. But instead I must sit and listen to a lecture about oceanography.  Growing up I when I heard the word "church" my mind automatically painted a picture of a building with 4 walls and a steeple; the place I went on Sunday mornings.  When I hear the word "church" now my mind goes to an army, an army for Christ; my brothers and sisters.  The people.  What if we constantly had this imagine in our mind, what if we lived like we believe WE are the CHURCH?  We are the Bride of Christ, we are the Kingdom. Oh the power in those statements! Why do we not grasp this? Why do we not live this way? Why do I not live this way?  I was brought to tears watching a group of teenage girls living this out last night.  As I sat and watched and listened to their words, their words of encouragement, the way they loved, how they shared scripture with one another, how they cried with one another, how they prayed for one another, how they were Christ to one another!  The joy that wallowed inside of me came out in tears. We can learn from them.  The amount of love they have for one another reflects just what Paul was talking about in 1 John 4.  They love because they have been loved by Christ, they sacrifice because they were given the ultimate sacrifice.  I long and desire to see this everywhere!  I find myself crying out to God for Him to desperately break me, to desperately break His Church, to show us what it means to love one another.  I see Him moving. Oh how I love my Heavenly Father.


I don't really know who reads this...or if anyone reads this.  But if you are reading this and you want to know more about The Church, about love or just about God in general, I would LOVE to talk with you.
For those reading that claim to be Christ followers, let this be an encouragement to love one another as Christ loved us.  Don't go through another day without reaching out and loving people.

1 John 4:
" Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.  This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.  And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.  If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.  And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.  This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.  There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us.  Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.  And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister."