The Church: God's Plan, God's Mission

Over the course of this week, we are going to take a closer look at the
beauty of this amazing organism that was created by God: the church!

The Church: God's Plan, God's Mission

This week's devotions are written by my son-in-law, Jeffrey Samplaski, Student & College Pastor at Great Hills Baptist Church.

- Pastor Danny

We live in some pretty interesting days! I was recently thinking back on all that has happened in the world over the last few years, and I remember one thought that just seemed to stand out to me: "The world looks different now than it did just a few years ago." If you really think about it, it is actually pretty remarkable how much has changed in just a few years.

Currently we are still navigating a global pandemic, which has quite literally affected every aspect of our lives and caused all of us to pivot, to some degree or another, in order to adapt to the new normal. Along with that, we have seen unrest around the world at a level that many have never seen before in their lifetime. There are many more examples that I could give, but I get the feeling you know exactly what I am talking about.

In the midst of difficult seasons like the one we are currently in, it is all too common for us, even as Christians, to get so overwhelmed by our circumstances that we wind up taking our eyes off the faithfulness of our God. On a personal level, this same thing happened to me about three months ago...

About three months ago, I contracted COVID-19 while I was out of town on a mission trip. (Many of you can probably relate to this as you have had your own experiences with COVID.) As is pretty common with COVID, my symptoms started out pretty mild. However, over the course of about two weeks my symptoms intensified and eventually landed me in the hospital for a few days with COVID Pneumonia. Further, once I got home from spending three days in the hospital, my wife (Hannah) came down with COVID, and the whole process started all over again for our family. It was quite the experience, to say the least!

As I mentioned above, throughout the course of that experience, I became so overwhelmed by the difficulty of our circumstances that I took my eyes off of the faithfulness of our God, and as a result, I found myself fighting for joy. And the most interesting part was, I didn't even realize it.

As this season went on, there was one main thing that God clearly used to pull my feeble heart out of that rough patch: He used His church! The church is the very family of God (John 1:12; Romans 12:5) that was purchased and bound together through the blood of Christ (John 1:13; Acts 20:28; Ephesians 4:16) for the purpose of displaying the brilliance of God to the universe (Ephesians 3:10).

Throughout my COVID experience, my family and I got to see the beauty of the church in action. We had many gracious people from our church who dropped off meals, texted us Scripture, cut our grass, stepped in to help with other responsibilities, etc. It was through the church, the Family of God, that God began to lift my eyes out of my circumstances and set my gaze back on Himself. Throughout my experience with COVID, God has graciously deepened my love and sense of wonder for His church.

Over the course of this week, we are going to take a closer look at the beauty of this amazing organism that was created by God: the church!