Loving the Church

Things have been extremely busy lately, but not overbearing, which is good. Teachers have already started talking about the end of the year which is making me even more restless. It’s not fun to think about finals, but I can’t wait until summer. I haven’t had a summer without homework since the summer after seventh grade. I guess you could say that I have a severe case of senioritis. Right now I’m trying to focus on graduation and deciding on a college I will attend in the Fall. I’m visiting Point Loma Nazarene University in two weeks which I’m excited for. After that visit I have a week to decide between PLNU and Olivet Nazarene University. It’s coming down to the wire.

The last three Sundays, instead of Sunday night service, our youth pastor has been leading a Bible study about the church, the church as a whole, not just our individual church. There have been anywhere from ten to twenty-five students there. Last night we looked at Hosea. It’s an interesting book that I had never really looked at before. It’s about the life of the prophet Hosea from the Old Testament. We looked at the first chapter. To summarize it, Hosea is instructed to marry a whore who cheats on him several times. Yet Hosea still shows his love for her. Despite betraying him, Hosea still shows his wife love, which is huge.

We can compare this to people in the church in two ways. Some people criticize the church, or aspects of the church, just to criticize it. They do not realize that they are criticizing themselves because they, too, are part of the church. Others criticize the church, or its aspects, including themselves, to help correct it's faults and wanting to improve God’s kingdom. The second way is the attitude we should take. This is something to we should consider. If I am the one being called out, I shouldn’t look at it as a negative, either. I should be glad that someone cares enough about me and the church to call me out and want to help. Hosea could have exiled his wife, but instead he showed her love. Would we rather be loved or exiled? If we would rather be loved, are we showing that same love to others?

Thanks for all of the support. I hope you like the new look of the site!

-God Bless-
Jeff