A Different Focus

For you are still carnal.  For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?
! Corinthians 3: 3

My friend David brought something up to me this past week.  Lately I've gotten in the habit of reading a good number of books out there that give due dillegance to pointing out the imperfections of our modern church.  I admit that there are a few good books out there (Andrew Farley, Bill Perkins and Steve McVey to name a few)  In fact, we have so many books out there among us on the state of the modern day christianity that a new christian may well assume that it is a religion full of self righteous, money loving hypocrites.  I wouldn't blame anyone for coming away with this opinion, for this is often what we project to others.  However, there is one excellent book out there that has been around for quite some time now that tells of a different view of christianity than we see today.  This book is all about Gods love, grace, forgiveness and mercy.  Some have called portions of this book "The Greatest Story Ever Told."  If you guessed that I was talking about the bible, you'd be correct.  My friend Chuck once described Gods word as his "Love Lettter" to us all.  We see throughout scripture Gods love and mercy for his creation.  In fact, God  had even forseen the fact that mankind he created would eventually fall away from relationship with his creator, so he sent his son to bear the sins of all mankind.
So, knowing this to be true, what should our focus be?  Shall we focus on what is wrong with the modern church, or should we instead be focusing on the message that our Lord has given to us.  One thing that David told me rang true, WE KNOW that the church today has more than a few issues, institutions created by sinful man can never be perfect.  So, instead of focusing on something that we cannot change, our focus should be on the one constant, Gods written word.  As the scripture says, Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever, he DOES NOT CHANGE.  I would guess the only thing about a church created by man that never changes is that, like it's builder, it is imperfect.  It disturbs me that people see what is going on in the modern church and draw conclusions about all christians but, again, it's something we cannot change.  These people all have access to Gods written word as we do.  And there lies the truth, we can either choose to spend our time in Gods word, or we can stay on that merry-go-round and rehash the imperfections of the church.  Thank you David.

~Scott~