The Perfect Church

Acts 9:31

“31 Meanwhile the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was built up. Living in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.”

There is something beautiful about this verse. It sounds as if the early Christians lived in perfect intimacy with God.  But in the letters of Paul, he routinely addressed problems that involved conflicts, divisions, heresies, false teachers, and bad practices.

I wonder if the people who described the early church to Luke painted an idyllic picture and left out the problems, much the same way that we would describe the church we attended when we were young or the church in which we raised our families.

Despite any problems they may have encountered, the church continued to grow.  What really matters, is that the people were striving to live according to the teachings of Christ and were listening to the guiding and leading of the Holy Spirit.  They were a people of prayer, worship, service, fellowship, forgiveness and above all, love.

The perfect church does not exist...but our perfect redeemer does.

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)