What We Want and What We Need

We all want something out of church.  Let’s admit it.  Some want the fellowship of good friends who share common values.  Some want moral instruction for their children.  Some want spiritual guidance for their teenagers.  Some want answers to difficult questions.  Some want easy steps to happiness. Some want consolation for life’s troubles.  Some want an energetic worship service with music that makes you want to dance.  Others want just the opposite – worship that is solemn with music that leads to meditation.  Some want a sermon that speaks to the intellect.  Others want a sermon that speaks to the heart. 

I hope it is obvious that no one can have everything they want in a church.  There are too many competing expectations.  How do we manage to have church in the midst of all these differing desires?  Perhaps because we realize, somehow deep down in our heart of hearts, that church is not really about what we want at all, but about what God wants. 

Jesus says, “take up you cross daily and follow me.”  And the more we seek to put aside what we want out of church in order to take up our daily cross the more likely we are to be a church that satisfies our souls.  We sometimes discover that what we wanted was not nearly as important as what we needed, and God always provides what we need as we follow Jesus in this life of daily cross-bearing.

Oh, churches still have squabbles.  And sometimes we have knock-down, drag-out confrontations.  But the more we bear the cross the less we’ll sweat the small stuff and the more likely we’ll find common cause. 

Take a look in the mirror and be honest with yourself.  You want something out of church.  What is it?  Then ask yourself, “What does God want from me?”  When you get in the habit of seeking the answer to that second question you will be closer to helping the church be a gateway to the kingdom of God, and you may find exactly what you need, if not what you want, out of church.