They Don't Hurt People Here

Today at church, there was a new lady. She brought her grandson. When pastor asked if anyone needed prayer, the could come up to the front and be prayed with, she began to cry. She stood up, came to the front, and had people pray for her need. When she sat back down, tears were still running down her face. As she sat down, her little grandson asked her if she was okay and if someone had hurt her. She replied, "Oh no. Grandma is fine. You can't get hurt here. They don't hurt people here."

Mam, I wish I could agree with you.

This is how it should be, yes. Church should be a haven, a safe place for both Christians and non-Christians alike. Love should abound and judgment be at a low. We should be growing, learning, worshiping, giving, serving, and evangelizing together. Our best friends and our biggest support should be found within the family known as the Church.

This is not what I see. And I am not just speaking about my little church. I mean the church as a whole. Gossip, bitterness, selfishness, anger, and judgment have crept in an infected the people that Jesus designed. The church is no longer a safe haven.

But this isn't hopeless. Even though the generations before us have failed, we do not have to. I refuse to continue this way just because that is how it has always been done. I want to make the church what God designed, and I think there is no reason why my generation can't make it that way.

1 Peter 2:9-10 

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.