“Church is not where Christians really need to be.
It’s not where the work happens my friends. It’s just our rest stop and our place to refuel.
It’s important but it’s not everything.
If all we do is stay in our little group closed off and pleased with our sameness, we are not doing the work of Jesus.
The real work comes when we leave our churches.
When we enter the doors of a public school.
When we go to work Monday morning.
When we’re driving our cars or walking though Target.
The real work of being a Christian is in the real world, not in the pew.
It’s in offering a hand or some grace to that young mom in Target whose kids are loud and unruly and shamelessly begging in the toy aisle.
It’s in listening to that coworker who may vote differently than you ever would and just seeing them as a person or a friend.
It’s in standing up for the person others are gossiping about even when their life choices are not ones you would make.
It’s in inviting those who are standing alone into our conversation even if it makes you feel sweaty and awkward.
It’s in letting a random driver go in front of you in traffic even when you’re in a hurry.
It’s in striving to understand and love those that see the world differently and believe different things than we do.
It’s in standing up for what is good and noble and true.
In the Bible Jesus rarely stayed in groups that were like him.
He sought out those that were different. So often he walked alongside those the world saw as living less than perfect lives.
Those that needed him and his message of love.
We are to do the same. We are to love on those that are different than us. Those that need the message of love as well as those that already have it. Those that, like each and every one of us, are living less than perfect lives.
Because if all we do is stay in our church walls and talk about how right we are, we are missing everything we are supposed to be learning there.
Out in the world my friends. That’s where we need to be.
That’s where we’re called to go.
Today we worship together, tomorrow we bring Jesus to our world.”
This story was submitted to Love What Matters by Hiding in the Closet with Coffee by Amy Betters-Midtvedt. The article originally appeared here. Follow Amy on Instagram here. Submit your story here, and be sure to subscribe to our best love stories here.
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