10 Truths About Church Life

1.  The big question in the life of the church is not, "What can we do so that everybody is finally happy?"  The big question is, "What does God want?" 

2.  The most spiritual people in any church may not necessarily be the people in church leadership roles.  They may be…but not necessarily.  Don’t underestimate the other godly women and men who have a rich walk with Jesus.   

3.  Sin is often (usually?) enjoyable.  Many people continue to sin and do not wrestle with guilt feelings.  Pretty dangerous…

4.  Immature people (no matter what the biological age) can be allowed to drain the energy out of churches.  They have a way of getting a great deal of attention, until everyone is focused on alleviating their "pain" instead of maturing in Christ.

5.  Very often, people behave in ways that have little or nothing to do with the situation at hand.  They may be reacting out of their experiences in their family of origin or other seemingly unrelated relationships.

6.  Many people are not peace-makers (as per Christ who died that we might have peace with God).  Rather, they are peace-mongers.  They are willing to sacrifice most anything in order to keep people "happy".

7.  There are people have a great knowledge of the Bible and are even able to understand complex theological truths and yet are emotionally immature.  Consequently, they are dysfunctional in their relationships.  Their past is littered with a long trail of broken relationships.

8.  People sometimes sin when they make seemly small but poor decisions that end up culminating in a big, wrong decision.

9.  Satan will often come at you through your family.  One of his favorite schemes is to tap in on your boredom or unhappiness and convince you that you have a right to be happy.  it is just another attempt to drive a wedge between you and Jesus.

10. "Doing church" really should not be this complicated. We have made it far too complicated.  Moving toward Jesus each day of your life will increase the simpliciity of your life.  Ironically, while simplicity increases, your life also becomes rich and profound.

Maybe you are aware of other truths about church life.  Maybe you have never experienced some of these truths.  What is important is that we describe reality as it really is and then live faithfully as a Christ-follower in such a world.