By Bruce Nevin Haines
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)
I came into the room as my wife had a video on with all these different churches set to relaxing hymns. She fills the house with music like this all day long as she goes about her day. These churches were from all over the world, some were large cathedrals, beautiful and ornate; others were small country churches with charming and simple architecture. But all of them were strikingly beautiful simply because they were houses of Worship to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
The phrase that came to my mind however was, “What a beautiful Church!” Yet I also remember hearing the truth that the Church is not a building, it is the people who make up The Body of Christ. It made me wonder if the same could be said of us, as the People of God, “Wow, what a beautiful Church!” Do our words and actions reflect the character of Christ, to the degree that people see the beauty of God’s love reflected in us? This is a question we should ask ourselves whenever we relate to one another as believers.
Are we seen as beautiful reflections of Christ and His Church by how we treat one another in the Body of Christ? If we cannot answer, “Yes!” to this question for ourselves, it is time to change our hearts and love one another as Christ has loved us. Let us strive to become that Beautiful Church.
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