Church: You’re Amazing

I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first. – Revelation 2:19 (NIV)

These aren’t easy times to be the church, are they? The financial bottom line is nipping at your heels. Some group in the congregation is complaining of this or that. And you have to contend with headline-grabbers who attach the name of Christ and the church to their sorry, stupid schemes.

So here’s a word of encouragement and appreciation for you and your church. “I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance…” God is watching, and God sees that you are amazing. Really.

I get to work with all sorts of congregations all across the country. I am regularly stunned. Stunned at their incredible faithfulness, at the love I witness, at the acts of service and the amazing perseverance of the church and the people of the church. The media rarely report this. Worse, we too often overlook the goodness and faithfulness unfolding week by week in our own congregations.

But in every congregation I work with, I notice love and faith, service and perseverance. I see the poor fed, the children taught, adults seeking deeper lives, strangers welcomed, love lived, and God praised. Church, you’re amazing.

Prayer
Lord, open the eyes of our hearts to see the faithfulness and goodness right in our midst, and to praise you for it.

About the Author
Adapted from Tony Robinson’s devotional in How Can We Thank You? Let Us Count The Ways, a book of gratitude for those—in our churches and our lives—who support the work and ease the way. Order How Can We Thank You? here.