My daughters love to draw me pictures. I have so many sheets of colorful paper it’s sometimes a bit overwhelming. They have given me pictures of baby bunnies, horrifying monsters, and structures of which I still am not sure what they are. The array of colors used is always full. I’ll get hot pinks mixed in with earthy tones. Sometimes the lines on the paper matter and sometimes they don’t. Colors bleed into one another at various angles. I have even gotten monocolored works. To be honest, most of these pictures are less than stunning, but to me, they are beautiful.

I wonder if this is how God views His church. People color outside the lines. We throw colors and shapes together in obtuse ways that honestly hurt sometimes. It never looks the same from one place to another or at one time compared to another. Most people may look at the church and not see much, but God looks at her and sees beauty amid the less than stunning scenes. Receiving a self-proclaimed “masterpiece” from one of my girls recently (and not knowing what exactly I was looking at), made me realize how often we do the same thing with the church. We don’t understand what we are looking at or what we are looking for.

There is failure to see that where any people are endeavoring to serve and honor Christ, there are also ongoing struggles.

Justin Huffman

If I know my daughter colored me a puppy at least when I look at the scribbles and blotches on the paper I can appreciate what I am looking at. The same is true for the church. But do I know what a church looks like? Justin Huffman addresses this in his article “What Does Church Look Like?“. He is not talking about architecture or liturgy. Huffman speaks more about what our expectations are when we think about church. I found the article a refreshing reminder.

READ THE ARTICLE

What about you? When you think of church, what comes to your mind? Why? Is it due to some past experience? How has receiving messy pictures of the church influenced your expectations? I appreciated Justin’s article and reminder about what the church really is and does look like, but also how beautiful God is making her. As always be with the Lord’s people on the Lord’s day (in other words – get to church, however messy it may be).

Until Next Time…