Church

More of my ponderings. The last one I talked about was 'every member functioning'.

Today I am pondering this statement that I've said before and heard others say.

"I need to make sure that my church activity does not outweigh my involvement with my friends"

I'm thinking twice about that. And I'm asking myself why is it that in my mind, I even refer to church as being different than my friends. If my friends are believers, and the church is defined as those who are part of the body of Christ then there is no separation right?

If any of my friends are part of another "church fellowship" or local assembly, we're still not separate are we? I ask myself how I think of someone when they decide that they are no longer going to be a faithful member of the local assembly I'm part of. Do I ridicule them and say, 'oh they left our church' or 'yeah you know SO AND SO is not a member anymore'?

Maybe that's okay that they made that decision. Maybe I should send them in peace and pray for them and be glad that God is going to use them in another capacity.

Beyond that, I just have to be careful that I don't have the CHURCH so segregated in my mind.

The Lord says that we should not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. That's in verse 25 of Hebrews Chapter 10. Am I even applying that passage correctly in my mind? What does that mean?

So I go back to verse 24 and read it along with verse 25. It reads:

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

What are we doing (my husband and I) with all this pondering?

First, we're looking at our relationships with our friends and family, not as segments but as joint members of the body -- THE church.

I dare not go and do a bunch of great things with a local assembly and forsake fellowship with my dear and true friends. I don't want to be more intimately aware of the prayer needs of the people in my organization than the needs of those who I shared a fridge with growing up, those who I share Turkey with every year, the one I walked home from school with every day for years, the ones who come to my children's birthday parties, the people who stood with me on my wedding day, the ones who I started the Christian journey with but may now happen to be going on a different path (membership wise). I still love them. I want to be in fellowship with THEM. I want fellowship with them (with you - if you're reading this) -- LOL.

There's balance to all that but you get my drift.

I know the Lord will orchestrate how that plays out in our lives. In the meantime, we'll take steps as the Lord leads.

This may sound random, I know. Just more ponderings I have. Thanks for reading.