You might have heard people say, "I love life. It's people I can't stand." Or "I love Christ. It's the church, I could live without." It is impossible to truly love Christ and not love what He loves. Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her (Ephesians 5:25). If we love Christ we must love the church (1John 3:14; 1John 4:20).

The church is not yet perfect. One woman said recently, "My husband is not perfect. But he is perfect for me." It can be said of Christ's church, that although it is not perfect, it is perfect for us. Why? Because it is there that we will be perfected. Christ is committed to His church as a husband is committed to His bride. His energies are focused in preparing her to be His eternal companion.

I caution people who are complain about the imperfections of Christ's church: "If you are looking for a perfect church, and find one. Please, don't join it. You'll ruin it."

God has the perfect provision for imperfect people - the church; for these are the people He is perfecting. God has seen to it that the church is given all that it needs to become what He has already made it to be in His sight-- "a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Ephesians 5:27).

Christianity is not a solo sport. We believe to belong. The church is the family of God. A Christian disconnected from the church is like a child without a home, a soldier without a platoon, a football player without a team, a tuba player without an orchestra, or a sheep without a flock.

The apostle Paul uses a more potent image. The church is the body of Christ. A Christian disconnected from the church is like a disembodied member. It is tragic, and not a pretty sight. For an individual member to be detached from the rest of the body deprives that member from ever fulfilling their God-given purpose. They will never be what they were meant to be. Without that member participating in the life-functions of the body, the church is crippled in its ability to healthfully manifest the life of the head, Jesus Christ.

The Bible tells us in the Book of Beginnings: "It is not good that man should be alone." We are not designed to live in isolation. We are created in the image of a relational God who in Himself exists as 'a community of oneness'- Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The only way we can truly manifest His nature is through loving relationships in a community life.

When I first realized this truth as a new Christian, I put the words to music: "He's given us a song to sing together." Oliver Wendall Holmes once wrote, "Most of us die with the music still in us." I wonder how much of that is because we don't have others providing the encouragement, counsel, and accountability that will draw the music out of us. The notes that provide the necessary harmony to ours will only be heard if they are given voice by other singers. If we are to sing this song of Life as it is written, we must sing our part and we must sing it together.

In restoring us to a relationship with God, Jesus has come to restore us to a relationship with those He has redeemed. "Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." (1Peter 2:10).

The effect of a living faith is meaningful membership in the body of Christ. The effect of believing is belonging. In the Book of Acts, those who believed "were the more added to the Lord" The English word 'church' is derived from 'kuriokos' meaning 'belonging to the Lord'.

Don't miss out on what you were created to be. Don't die with the music still in you. Commit to the community in your locality that functions as a body fully expressing the life of the Head, Jesus Christ. Become a part of a fellowship where each member is encouraged, equipped and held accountable to be a ministering member, a vital organ, of the body of Christ.

Committing to relationships that draw out His redemptive melodies in me,