Hope for Life Blog

I opened the door to my hotel room, heaved a sigh, and thought to myself: “All hotel rooms look alike.” Immediately, the correction came to mind: “No, they don’t. You’ve stayed in a wide range of hotel rooms.”

That second thought, of course, was correct. I’ve stayed in some very nice hotel rooms. I’ve stayed in some that were a bit frightening. I’ve stayed in filthy hotel rooms; I’ve stayed in luxurious ones. I’ve had entire suites to myself; I’ve stayed in rooms that would have been dwarfed by my dogs’ house.

So why had I thought they all look alike? It didn’t take long for the answer to come to me: a hotel room is just space. It can have a couch and a television and a bed and a desk… and still feel completely bare. When I’m by myself, a hotel room feels empty, no matter how elegant it is.

Humans were made for relationships. When God created the world, He saw that the whole creation was good. Until He noted one thing: “It is not good that the man should be alone.” (Genesis 2:18) What was the first thing that was out of place in creation? Loneliness.

We were made to be in relationship with one another. We were made to be in relationship with God. In fact, God’s plan is that we be adopted into His family. The first chapter of John says, speaking of Jesus, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12–13)

The apostle Paul wrote, “You are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (Galatians 3:26–27) Jesus opened the door for us to become children of God, to have a permanent relationship with our Creator.

The apostle John saw that as something to be celebrated: “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1)

In this world, we can sometimes feel alone. But we never have to actually be alone. We have a loving God who wants to be our heavenly Father, who wants to make us His children. He wants to make it so that we are never alone.

One of our favorite stories in the Bible is the story of Noah and the ark. God decides to cleanse the world and start over. He chooses Noah and his family to carry on the human race. Noah is told to build an ark, a huge wooden boat. He is also told to gather representatives of all the different kinds of animals and to load them on that ark. Together, they are saved from the flood that God would send to cleanse the earth.

I remember seeing pictures of Noah’s ark in my storybooks when I was a child. The animals are on the deck with Noah. They’re smiling. Noah’s smiling. His family is smiling. Everything is clean and shiny.

Whoever drew those pictures hasn’t spent much time around animals. I like animals. I have three dogs and a cat. But I also know what it would be like to be trapped on a boat with a bunch of animals for more than a year.

Can you imagine the noise? Can you imagine the insects? Can you imagine the smell? It would be4 enough to drive you crazy.

Is it any surprise that the first thing Noah did when he got off the ark was kill some animals? “Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it.” (Genesis 8:20) I don’t know that sacrificing an animal was a pleasant experience, but if anyone ever enjoyed it, I bet Noah did.

So why would he put up with the noise and the smell? Why would he live that long in the middle of a bunch of animals? Because the only alternative was death. The ark was where life could be found.

Like it or not, the church can be that way. It’s not always easy putting up with other people. While the noise and smell may only be figurative, life in the church can be exasperating at times. But we have to remember that, like it or not, it’s in the church that life can be found.

When you think you can’t take it anymore, remember Noah. When the donkeys are braying and the stalls need shoveling, think about what the alternatives are. If we can put up with the hard times, we may find that the sun shines again and the rainbow comes out.

If you haven’t found an ark, I mean a church, in your area, let us know. Choose “Contact Us” from the top menu, then fill out the form, indicating that you would like help finding a church.

I’ll confess it now: I don’t like to read poetry. When we had to read poetry in school, it was the rare poet who appealed to me. One that did, however, was Robert Burns. One of his poems that stands out in my mind is one called “To A Louse,” with the subtitle “On Seeing One on a Lady’s Bonnet at Church.” The poem addresses a louse which is crawling around on the head of a young lady.

The real point of the poem, however, is the vanity of the young lady. She, noticing the looks and pointing directed her way, vainly thinks they are admiring her and begins to toss her hair. The last stanza, in modern English (Burns wrote in Scottish), says:

O would some Power the gift to give us
To see ourselves as others see us!
It would from many a blunder free us,
And foolish notion:
What airs in dress and gait would leave us,
And even devotion!

It’s a brilliant thought, and I could certainly do worse than write on this idea. Yet my thoughts are turned a different direction. I can’t help but think how many people are like this poet. They go to a church service and spend their time focused on the people around them. How many times do you hear people say, “I’m not interested in being part of a church… they’re all a bunch of hypocrites”?

I think we need to raise our vision. We need to accept that churches are made up of humans, with all their flaws. When we become part of a group of believers, we are seeking more than human interaction; we are admitting to a belief in something above and beyond those people. Attending a church service should be more than seeing and being seen; our focus should be on the One who is unseen.

If you think that church is full of vain and shallow people, like the young lady in this poem, let me invite you to look again. Look beyond the people. Church isn’t mainly about us; it’s about the God that calls us together.

If you haven’t found a church home, I’d like to help you do so. I’m in contact with Christians around the world; I’d love to connect you with some of them. Just fill out the form under the Contact tab at the top of the page. Hope to hear from you!

I sometimes talk to people who say they believe in Jesus but do not attend church.  Or if they do attend occasionally, they are not involved.  Their reasoning is that they are able to worship God anywhere, or that the churches they have attended have not met their needs, or they have not felt connected.  While there may be some validity in these viewpoints, it is possible they are missing the point that church is more than worship, what I need, or how I feel.  Church is not a building, nor is it just about how we worship.  Church is a place to be part of a community of believers.

A glimpse of the purpose for church is seen in the book of Hebrews:

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 … (Hebrews 10:24-25)

Meeting together as a community is where we inspire and motivate each other to love and serve in this world.  Even in the early days of Christianity, there were those who did not see the need to meet together.  You need to be an encourager.  You need to be motivated.  That happens in community.  We show unity as we share in the supper of the Lord, engaging again in his death.  We are inspired by singing together.  We petition and praise God together.  We listen together to God’s Word.  We build relationships over weeks, months, and years of worshipping together.

Church is a place for us to help each other, not just a place to receive help.  It is a refuge in times of trouble and sickness.  It is the place to find help in battling the evil One.  It is where people can confess their sins to you and know you will pray for them, encourage them, and help them.  It is a place where you can confess your sins, receive encouragement and know you will be helped.

But you cannot give – or receive – these things if you are not part of community.

Blessings,

steve

What do you think of when you hear the word “church”? Do you think of a grand cathedral with awe-inspiring architecture? Do you picture a quaint white country structure with a bell in the steeple?

Or does “church” for you mean something that a group of Christians do when they get together? Phrases like “Church is at ten” or “We had church under a tree” come to mind. For some of us, that’s what we think of when we say “church.”

Maybe you tend to hear “church” with a capital C, imagining a large bureaucratic organization with a central headquarters and representatives in countries around the world.

Or do you think about a group of people? The Bible never uses the word “church” to refer to a building or an activity; it’s always talking about a gathering of Christians. “The church in Ephesus.” (Revelation 2:1) The church that meets in your home. (Philemon 2) Those are the sorts of phrases we read in the Bible.

Whereas “church” is something of a contrived word for us, it wasn’t that way in Bible times. It was a common word to refer to a gathering. In the New Testament book of Acts, we find the same word being used to describe a gathering of citizens in Ephesus. The Greek word for church, ekklesia, merely means assembly. It comes from two words meaning “called” and “out,” with the thought of people called out for a purpose.

So, in its truest sense, “church” merely refers to a group of people. That’s why the Bible often adds a descriptive, like “church of God” (Acts 20:28), “churches of Christ” (Romans 16:16), or “church of the firstborn” (Hebrews 12:23). These phrases aren’t used as names; they are merely descriptions of who the assembly belongs to.

In the end, the church is the group of people that belong to God. Other meanings may cloud our understanding, but we need to see that that’s what the church is. That’s why we can’t talk about loving God and not loving the church, or being a Christian but not being a member of the church. Those things make no sense. God called his people to be together, to be a part of something larger than themselves: the church.

If you’re not part of a gathering of Christians, I’d like to help you find a place to belong. Contact me at tarcher@heraldoftruth.org or click on “Contact Us” in the top menu and mark that you’d like help finding a church when you fill out the form.

Several years ago I started swimming at the YMCA because I was out of shape. A few weeks later, I stopped swimming at the YMCA. For the same reason.

As I churned my way from one side of the pool to the other, I was keenly aware of the other swimmers. As I reached the edge of the pool, I would latch onto the side, fighting to catch my breath. They reached the edge, performed picture-perfect flip turns and continued their swim. Lap after lap. My workouts were painful to perform and even more painful to watch. The others seemed to glide through the water with no effort, their trained bodies moving gracefully from one end to the other. In other words, I was embarrassed. To be honest, none of them cared what I was doing. But I was shamed into retreating to the safety of the treadmills and recumbent bicycles. “Once I get into shape,” I told myself, “I’ll return to the pool.”

Many of us feel like that when we go to church or when we think about going to church. Everyone else seems to be so perfect while we’re painfully aware of our inadequacies. Some don’t even want to think about God for the same reason. We want to somehow get our lives together, and then we’ll go to Him. If you’ve felt that way, you need to realize that church is a place where people go to straighten out their lives. At the time of Jesus, many said, “Become worthy, then come to God.” Jesus’ message was just the opposite: “Come to God, and He will make you worthy.” God is in the business of fixing broken lives. Jesus said, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” He’s looking for the people that need help spiritually, not the people whose lives are already perfect.

If you don’t feel “good enough” to swim in God’s pool, let me invite you to get back in the water. God wants to help me get into shape spiritually, and He wants to do the same for you.

I’m a bibliophile. A book lover. I’ve always loved to read. My sisters taught me to read before I started school, and I’ve been an avid reader ever since.

Books can teach us a lot. There have been books that have changed the course of history, both for good and for bad. Books can have a lasting impact, far beyond the lifetime of the author.

Maybe because of my love of books, I used to think that God basically said, “OK, world… here’s a book that tells you everything you need to know. Read it and do what it says.” Then I actually read that book, read the Bible, and discovered that that’s not what happened at all.

God never just sent a book. He always sent people. When He wanted to give His Law to the people in the Old Testament, He didn’t just drop a book out of the sky. He called a man named Moses, interacted with Moses and the rest of the people, then gave laws to Moses for Moses to teach the people.

When God’s people strayed from that Law, God didn’t send books or letters to correct the problem. God sent men, His prophets.

When God was ready to bring salvation to all men, He didn’t do it through a book. He did it through His Son, Jesus.

When Jesus wanted to pass on His teachings, He didn’t write them down. He told people and had them tell others. Those first followers of Jesus did write books, but the emphasis of their ministry was on people talking with other people.

From the beginning, that’s how God has worked. He works through people. We now have the Bible, a book which God’s people didn’t have in the beginning. We can learn about God’s nature and learn about His will for us. Yet God continues to work through people, people in a community of believers that encourage one another.

Even the times in the Bible where we see people reading God’s Words, we always see them doing it in the presence of others, helping one another to understand what is written.

God gave us a book. We should read it and learn from it. But we must never neglect our need for other people, our need for God’s church.

If you aren’t a part of a church, I’d like to help you find one. God never intended for you to try and go it on your own. You need His Word, but you need His people as well.

I am not a very good golfer. I would like to be better, but it is not easy for me. I do not have a natural swing, I do not understand the strategy, and I do not even understand the terminology sometimes. But I enjoy the game. I play with great enthusiasm. I consider myself a golfer. My son, on the other hand, is a good golfer. He hits the ball well, and he scores well. He wants to hit the ball right at the hole. I want to be near the green.

We got to play together recently for my birthday. To make things fun and competitive, he gave me two strokes. Not two strokes per nine holes, but two strokes on each hole. My goal each hole was to hit my second shot well enough that I would be near his first drive. His round consisted of hit the ball, drive around till we found Dad’s ball, watch Dad hit it a few times, then play his next shot. I can only imagine how frustrating that would be. Except that we had had a great time. He was patient, never made me feel inferior, complimented my occasional good shot, and gave me really good advice when I asked.

By the second nine, I was playing better. Just being with someone who was good helped my game. His encouragement helped. I knew he wanted me to play well. And, of course, he loves me. We are family.

That is how church works. New Christians do have a lot to learn. They are not as experienced in the Christian life as others. But they are family. They are loved. They are not inferior spiritually. Their new Christian family wants them to grow spiritually. New Christians can ask for help and advice, knowing they will receive it from people who want to help.

And we all enjoy the journey together. We become community. So if you have wondered about how it would be to live life as a new Christian, let me assure you there are people who will help you figure it out.

Blessings,

Steve

In high school, I was a member of the National Honor Society. We met once to elect officers and once to induct new members. That’s all we did.

I am a member of a warehouse club. This allows me to make purchases at this store. I have no idea who else is a member, except that I can assume that other people who shop there are also members.

One of the credit cards I have calls me a member. They even run ads saying that “membership has its privileges.” If I’m going to be honest, however, I don’t feel any more a part of that card’s business than I do other cards that call me a client.

I’m a member of a group health insurance plan. I know some of the other members, for they work with me at Herald of Truth Ministries. But our ties don’t come from being members of this health plan, but from working in the same office.

I’m a member of the church of Christ. Not just the local group that has a sign out front saying “church of Christ,” but Jesus’ church around the world. The problem is, I have to figure out what that means, whether it’s like an honor society, an insurance plan, or something completely different.

The apostle Paul explains what it means to be a member: “Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” (Romans 12:4-5) In fact, Paul says that we are members of the same body in several other letters as well. When we say that we are members of the church, we are saying that we are members of the body of Christ.

Like your hand is a member of your body. It’s not optional. It’s not unimportant. It’s an essential part of what the hand is. A severed hand ceases to be a living hand. In the same way, if we are truly members of the church, we are part of it and it becomes the definition of who we are. We are members of the body of Christ or we cease to be alive spiritually.

The many ways we use the word “member” can make us lose sight of the fact that we were called to be an essential part of the body of Christ. We’re not called to join a spiritual club. We’re called to be part of something much bigger, a vital part of a living organism.

I want to invite you to become a member of Jesus. Part of his body. Part of his church. Don’t join a church club. Come form with us the body of Christ.

If you aren’t sure if you are a member of Christ’s body or need help finding a local church, we can help you with that. Leave a comment or click on Contact Us at the top of this page.

I really enjoy the World Cup of soccer (or football or fútbol or however you choose to call it). I never have particularly enjoyed the different soccer leagues around the world, but there is something special about international soccer. It has an excitement that the regular games lack.

I remember the 1990 World Cup. I was living in Córdoba, Argentina. My colleagues and I had an office downtown where we would talk to people about the Bible and Christianity. Like good foreigners, we chose to keep the office open during the World Cup games, even though the streets were virtually empty of traffic.

On July 3, Argentina played Italy in a semifinal match. Since no one was coming to the office, I decided to slip into the coffee shop next door to watch the game. The tiny shop was packed with people, but I managed to find an empty chair. We watched as the two teams battled back and forth, ending regulation in a 1-1 tie and neither team scoring in the extra periods.

Then came the penalty kicks to decide the winner. The teams traded shot after shot, until the Argentine goalie came up with the stop that ended the game. The coffee shop exploded in cheers. I found myself hugging everyone around me, even though I didn’t know anyone. We weren’t strangers… we were part of the team that was in the World Cup final!

It’s interesting to see the bonds that sports can create. People who have never met treat one another as long lost friends because of their common loyalties.

During his ministry on earth, Jesus spoke to his disciples about something similar. He told them: “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age” (Mark 10:29-30)

I’ve found that to be true. God has given me the chance to travel widely, and around the world I’ve found that I had a home and I had family. People who hadn’t met me before have offered me a bed to sleep in, given me a place at their table, and made me to feel like family.

The sense of community I felt in that Argentine coffee shop was short lived. The euphoria faded, and we went our separate ways. The family ties among God’s people never goes away. Christians aren’t perfect, and our dealings with one another aren’t either. But we are family.

You’ve been invited to be a part of this community. God wants to adopt you as his child, making you a member of his family.