Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
I have had the same best friend since the first day of sixth grade. This is a guy that I know super well. We've been best men at each other's weddings. We both got to grow our families together and watched our kids start to build relationships. We've served in churches together, done ministry together, and just lived life together. For all of the wonderful things that this amazing person has done for me, there's one thing that I will be forever grateful for—and that was helping me understand the beauty and the power of the Body of Christ.
In high school, I sort of had a crisis of faith. I wasn't sure what I actually believed. I had thought that I was so in love with God and I couldn't give that up. But then I started to read my Bible and didn't see people living it out, and it caused me to go—is any of this real? Does any of this matter? Does anybody take this seriously? I stopped going to church at that time.
A Friend Who Kept Planting Seeds
He just continued to love on me. He was never mean, never forceful. But he kept planting seeds, kept talking about all the things that were going on at the church he was at—the wonderful ways that people were worshiping, the ways that they were loving one another. He just pushed me to really consider: maybe not every church is the same, and maybe there was something that I was missing out on. I thought, I wonder what makes his church different than any of the other groups that I've been a part of? Maybe you've wondered that too. What makes the church different? Well, our Verse of the Day helps give us some insights into why that is.
It comes from Ephesians chapter 4, verses 15. It says: "Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of His body, the church."
What Sets the Church Apart
Think about all of the different reasons that groups in your local area might meet. Maybe it's a sports league getting together to play a sport. Maybe it's friends you've made at the gym. Maybe it's a group of people at the local art center gathered together to make art. All of these groups gather around some sort of shared interest or shared hobby. But this is where the church outshines any sort of gathering. We don't gather as the body as just some interest group. We gather around the Lord of lords and King of kings—the head of His body, the church—as one community of faith, all worshiping, praising, and serving one awesome God. Ephesians is a great place to help understand why that's so important. In the context of the rest of this book, Paul is addressing some false teachings and some opportunities where people might be tossed to and fro—like waves being pushed back and forth by different winds of teaching. All of that has the potential to cause disunity in the body. What he says here is, hey, you guys need to stick together.
Speak Truth in Love, Keep Your Eyes on Jesus
He starts by saying you need to speak the truth in love. We need to be centered around the truth of God's Word. That was something I had missed in my first church experience. I understood that the Bible was important, but I didn't see people devouring the actual sustenance that God's Word offers to us. I didn't know truth in the way that God wanted me to, and I certainly didn't hear people speaking it in love to help correct the body when it was being pushed to and fro.
Secondly, we need to keep our eyes on Jesus. It's really easy to be in a setting with other imperfect people and want to point out all the flaws. Me and my buddies sometimes joke around and say, "You know what? Church would be so much easier if it weren't for all the people." But then it wouldn't be church. That's why we can't keep our eyes on other people to point out everything that's wrong. We need to all collectively keep our eyes on Jesus, the head of the church, so that we can follow and pursue Him together.
A Place for You in the Body
I want to read one more verse—the verse that follows our verse for today. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 16 is so good: "He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love." How beautiful is that? The whole body fits together. If you don't know this, or you need a reminder, let me be the one to give it to you: there is a place in the Body of Christ for you. It's not one that's just going to magically open up. It's one that God has set aside for you, a unique role that He wants to put you into so that He can help you grow in your faith. At the same time—this is what blows my mind—He actually wants to use us to help other people grow. We all fit together, and as we pursue Jesus, He will raise His church to be one healthy body of believers. I want to encourage you: don't miss the opportunity of joining together with a local body of faith, because the church is beautiful and the church is powerful when we center our lives on Jesus.
