There is an old pamphlet out that answers the proposed statement by its author, “Why I Never Take a Bath.” Let me give you his conclusions:
- I was forced to bathe as a child.
- People who bathe are hypocrites; they think they’re cleaner than anyone else.
- There are so many different kinds of soap; I can’t decide which is best.
- It’s too boring.
- I wash only on special occasions, like Christmas and Easter.
- The soap makers are only after your money.
- The last time I bathed, someone was rude to me.
- I’m too dirty to get clean; I’d clog up the drain.
- I will bathe only when I find a bathroom that is exactly right for me.
- I can watch other people bathe on television.
- I can bathe on the golf course.
- The bathroom is never the right temperature and I don’t like the sound of the plumbing.
Well, if you don’t see the point to that brochure I’m not going to take time to explain it. There is no doubt that many people have stopped going to church for a variety of reasons. A lot of folks are asking, “What’s wrong with the church?” I do understand that churches can become unhealthy places. There are occasional spiritual bullies both in the pews and in the pulpits, but I still believe that they are rare.
I have a deep respect for an appreciation of the church. When Jesus Christ returned to heaven, He established an organism and an organization– an enterprise and entity– to carry on His work and evangelize the nations until He comes again.
He didn’t establish a school or a college. He didn’t establish a civic club. He didn’t establish a political movement, or a city or state or a nation. He didn’t establish a charity or a resort. He established His church. He said, “I will build my church.” There has never been an organization like it in human history and there never will be again. It has a limited engagement; it began on the Day of Pentecost and it will end at the soon-approaching rapture, and it is commissioned to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ in word and in deed to he ends of the earth.
It isn’t a perfect institution, and the churches we read about in the New Testament were fraught with problems. But it’s the church that has changed the world in so many ways. Christianity is a force for good in this world, and I believe with all my heart that when churches are healthy and functioning as God intends, they’re the most wonderful environments on earth for worshipping God, for maintaining our morale, for caring for others, for learning the truths of the Bible, for growing to be better people, for developing relationships, and for raising our families in the nurture of the Lord.
If you are not part of a church family, we invite you to visit us and see what God is doing as we “Love People to Jesus.”
