01/08/2021
You know what Iām thankful for? GRACE! Donāt let anyone make you forget about this beautiful sacrifice! Thats like telling Christ His sacrifice was for nothing. You donāt have to prove s**t! Christ loves you no matter what you do. Iāll tell you what He is not, the spirit of shame! You donāt have to feel shame if you donāt attend church and whoās to say you arenāt in fellowship with other Christians who understand this. Christ is the spirit of rest, peace and grace!
When the word āchurchā comes up in conversation, the first thing we think of is a building. We have this mindset that church is a place we go to on Sundays. As we get our family dressed, fight through traffic and get a good seat, itās easy to lose sight of the fact that we arenāt just going to church; we are the church.
In 1 Timothy 5, Paul describes the church as people dedicated to doing whatever it takes to reach out and help others. We have a responsibility to serve and help others in need as the church. Caring for each other as well as those outside of the church is the quickest way to see Jesus change lives. Too often, we see a need and wait for the pastor or someone on staff to take responsibility. But thatās not the way church works.
Each of us has been given skills, abilities and opportunities to serve. In Timothyās church, for example, the women ran a widows ministry (1 Timothy 5:16), and elders directed church affairs while others were devoted just to teaching and preaching (1 Timothy 5:17).
In the Bible, church is always a reference to people, not a place. The church is a body of believers that live out the Gospel in their words and actions. The church is at its best when people inside the building take Jesusā message outside the building and serve those they meet.
https://newspring.cc/devotionals/1-timothy-an-11-day-devotional/the-church-is-not-a-building
