A wonderful and challenging insight from Connected (see earlier post).
The church is not just like a body it is a body. It is, in fact, the very body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27)… [This amazing truth] means that what we do to one another in church, we do to the body of Christ…In any church there will be some who have virtually nothing to do with the rest of that body of Christians…
I’m thinking of those who come regularly and think of this as their church and yet make minimal effort to get to know other people. At our own church, they are those I have to race to the door just to greet them before they disappear. Every church has them. You might even be one of them.
If that’s you, then I can’t stop you behaving that way. But I can tell you that each week when you snub your church family, you are snubbing Jesus himself. You may be theologically sharp as a pin. You may be very disciplined in your devotional life. But if you are not interested in your church family, then your relationship with Jesus is very poor indeed. Your attitude to them is the true guide to your attitude to him. Ignore the church by all means, but please don’t pretend you love Jesus.”
(from Connected, 129-130)
True and challenging words for us all.