Last week in my rant I went on (and on) about how the world needs a strong America.  This week I want to expound on how the world needs a strong Church.  I will go so far as to say that if the church does what it is supposed to do, the role America would play would be less necessary.  Of course, what makes the Church strong, would be stronger Christians.

Frankly we have all the answers.  Jesus is all the answers (poor grammar, I know).  He made every single human being on this planet, and has gifted us with abilities.  These abilities are limited to be certain, but they are also designed to work with the abilities of others around us.  When we function in our abilities, and others around us are properly using theirs, there is almost no end to what can be accomplished.

There is a problem however, the world does not work the way it should – people don’t work the way they are meant to.  You can blame the world, the flesh or the devil if you wish, but the fact is we are not what we are meant to be.  It is not your responsibility to point out the failures of others, you cannot change them.  To be honest, you cannot even change yourself, but you are responsible for yourself.  You are responsible to seek God first.  He is the one who created you and He is the one who looks at you and sees what needs to be done.  He will point out the things in your life that need “improvement”.  Friends, family, and your church can help (we are supposed to), but the work is up to you.

When I was (much) younger and working out with a partner, my partner would encourage me and when the weight got really heavy, he would tell me to do one more and when I did it, he usually responded by saying:  “it’s all you.”  If I just could not get the weight up, he would grab it and put it in its place.  He would not start lifting until I absolutely needed him to.  It does me no good for him to do reps “for me”.  A good spotter is vital to a hard workout.  We are vital to each other as we work out our salvation.

This is why we need church, face it; you can go online and hear a lot of really great sermons (and read my rants at the same time).  If that was what church was all about, sure just skip it.  But church needs to be much, much more.  It needs to be a place of discovery – who we truly are meant to be.  For that to really happen we need opportunities to use our gifts and to succeed (and to fail).  We need a place to be honest in our struggles, to be encouraged and to encourage others.

The world needs a strong Church – the church needs a strong you!