One of our blessings as Christians, as believers, is the local church. It is in the local church that I develop a holy discontent that is needed as I follow Christ.

God created each of us and each of us finds our purpose in His Plan – in Christ and His Church. In The church I learn of the love of God and the forgiveness He offers to the world in Christ, In the church I learn the difference between right and wrong , good and evil, and I learn about integrity. 

And in those things I believe that God develops in me/you a holy discontentment for the lost, for how things are, for the worldly things that may be creeping into the congregation. 

Now the Church is made up of believers, those who are putting into action… Yes, there are amongst the church those who are not of the church. 

 Each of us has a purpose and that purpose is found in Christ. And for most of us Christ is found in the local church, His body, His hands and feet. Very few of us would be Christians were it not for a local congregation… 

It is in a local church that God stirred me to a holy discontentment for how the world led people away from the church. How the love of God was not being lived out and witnessed to in both word and works.  

But, through being a part of a congregation I learned to forgive and what it means to be forgiven. I saw the hungry fed, the hurting healed, the lost led, and in all of that I developed a holy discontent for those that were not believers. 

Let me put it another way: I could not understand how you couldn’t put into practice the knowledge received week after week and month after month and often year after year. In that lack of understanding, on my part, God gave me a holy discontentment for those who did not believe, for the lost. 

My purpose was found in that problem, just as your purpose is found in a problem, God put you right where you are to be a part of the solution to the problem that stirs your discontentment. What is in this world that frustrates you, that upsets you, that you want to see changed because those things are often the things that upset God as well. And sometimes those things are within the walls of our buildings! 

Sometimes a congregation can become stuck, they turn inward and are more concerned over their own comforts wants and needs than in accomplishing the purpose for which they were placed where they are; which is to be making disciples. They forget the reason that they are to come together. The great commission in John’s Gospel tells that we are sent; we are to gather to go. Jesus said As the Father sent me so I send you!

Jesus was sent to seek the lost to lead them to salvation. That is the purpose of the church and yours as a part to His Church. 

We are going to be held responsible for what we did and also for what we didn’t do!

Every believer has a function in and with a congregation, just like the different parts of a body. The idea of pastors taking responsibility for all Christian ministry while the congregations receive the benefits is not biblical! Deacons, elders, pastors, and new believers are simply members of the body of Christ we each have distinct responsibilities and roles according to our spiritual maturity and gifting. That discontentment you have with what you see the congregation doing or not doing could be a holy discontentment given to you by God! 

Each one of us are to be workers with God in the message of reconciliation, with the good news of the Gospel and for the most part the congregations have failed in their purpose, they have forgotten that they are there where God has placed them to be an embassy of hope… 

We gather to learn and grow – and go. Our embassies, our buildings are to be lights in the darkness, places of safety. They may be old and run down, store fronts, pole buildings or large cathedrals or something in between. But what makes our buildings lights in the darkness is the people that gather in them. 

Without the Church, believers, every one of those buildings are just that buildings. 

I believe we need to not only give thanks for the Church but also to pray for her, to lift up the Church to God, asking for forgiveness for not doing and being what we commanded to do and be. And to give thanks that God has a purpose for each of us. 

Questions: Are you Thankful for The Church? For the congregation you are part of? Do you have a Holy Discontentment for the lost in our communities?

 Further Reading: Jeremiah 29:11, John 20:21-23, Luke 19:10-27, Hebrews 10:23-25, Romans 12:3-8, 1^st Corinthians 12:7, 12-27,