Let me tell you two things I believe about the church.

First, the church is filled with spots and blemishes. That’s a biblical way of talking about imperfections in the church. It describes sheep who had spots and blemishes. The Bible describes a day when Jesus will present the church in heaven without spots and blemishes. This, of course, means that we have imperfections now. Any half way observant child knows this to be the case.

In order to live as part of the church, we must accept the reality of imperfections.

Second, I believe the church is the hope of the world. What we do as the church will make an eternal difference. It certainly did in my life, and it has happened in the lives of millions of other people.

But, there are things that should never happen in church.

First,  you should never let yourself be a conduit of Satan to harm the church. Satan is a murderer and a liar. He does not seek to build anyone up; he desires to destroy and kill.

He particularly seeks to destroy the witness of the church. You and I must make sure that we resist Satan and seek to let Christ and Christ alone work through us to bless others.

Second,  you and I must not let ourselves become a stumbling block to others. Jesus said: “If anyone causes one of these little ones–those who believe in me–to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea” (Matthew 18:6).

While we all get this at one level, we seem to miss it at the deepest level. Lost people only know about Christ through our words and actions. They do not have the testimony of the Holy Spirit. They generally don’t read the Word of God. Therefore, they only get their impression of Christ and the church from church people.

Let us make sure we are not keeping others from Christ.

Third, make sure you are not the one who grieves God’s Holy Spirit. The apostle Paul warned us about grieving the Spirit by our egregious words and deeds (Ephesians 4:30). .

Paul made that warning in the context of a paragraph that describes both words and deeds (Ephesians 4:25-32).

None of these three things should never happen in church. They should not be how we live or how we act.

Let us be those who love Christ and his bride – – the church. Christ loved the church enough to die for it. Let us love it enough to live righteously.

If you would like to receive each of my daily devotionals, please sign up below. It is a quick and easy subscription and completely free.