It’s easy to be negative and to find fault with about anything. If you listen to most conversations long enough, you will usually hear of some complaint, some problem or something bad that someone has experienced. It’s true of our government, our neighborhood, our schools, our families, our jobs and many other aspects of life. Sometimes, we hear of it even in the church.
Of course, we shouldn’t tolerate sin or doctrinal error. We must stand firm in the faith and seek to live by the standard that God has given to us in His Word. However, not everything about the church is bad or negative. There is much good to say about the church! We should be positive about the church of our Lord, about our being part of that wonderful body and about the hope it provides to each of us every day.
There is no greater institution ever established on our behalf than the church. Christ offered His life on its behalf (Ephesians 5:25-27) that we might be added to it, to have our sins forgiven and be acceptable before God. God has organized it so it helps us grow and mature in Him and His salvation (Ephesians 4:12-16). The church encourages us to be our best individually and to reach out to our community in order to be at our best collectively. There are no better people than those within the church. Who else cares about our needs, our problems, our goals than one’s brothers and sisters in Christ? We have an eternal hope to guide us on our way and the promise of God to help us attain it. There is nothing that can compare with the church.
We cannot ignore problems that may arise within the church, for that can be destructive to our faith (1 Corinthians 5:6-8). On the other hand, we should never ignore the immense good within the church as we benefit from it every day of our lives. Let us deal with sin honestly and righteously, but never act as if that is all the church is. Let’s remember how important the church is, serve for its good and encourage one another to be positive about the church. Can we be complacent about that to which our Lord has added us for salvation? Be excited about being a member of the body of Christ. Be positive about the church!
