The Church Bit

“The wallpaper fell off the wall,” Margaret said.

She was following-up on what her husband Jim had just said: “If you really want to test out this church bit…” The measured cadence of his words, along with Jim’s wisdom about church life, silenced everyone.

He added, “What does church really mean to me? Am I just taking it for granted?” So Jim told how he had tested “the church bit.”

He simply stayed home. Would he feel any different? Would he miss church? Did it have real meaning in his life?

He and Margaret put up wallpaper on one of those stay-home Sundays. As previously reported, it ended up on the floor.

The Bible says, “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know Him better.” Who wouldn’t want this—to know Jesus better? Through wisdom and revelation. And then a few verses later it says, “And God placed all things under His (Jesus’) feet and appointed Him to be head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way.”

These scriptures are saturated with the profound importance of the church. To the point of showing that the church is: “His Body.” The Body of Jesus. Wisdom and revelation from the Spirit of Christ caused Jim to embrace this truth; not fallen wallpaper. Trial separation from the body, the Church of Jesus Christ, proved beyond a doubt to be harmful.

“…taking church for granted?” Jim’s question resonated deep within me. For granted?

No…not me.

I’m grateful. God allows me to be a member of His glorious body. It’s not “the church bit.” It is the way this world will see Jesus.