"I
can't go back to church because of what they said. THEY shouldn't be
allowed in God's church, they weren't being christian!"
We hear this quite often from both members of the church and non-members. Sadly, it happens. We have been hurt or offended by those in our church whether they mean to or not. In one of our lessons, this was brought up by someone we were teaching. The spirit then taught me something very profound, and I relayed it to them right there in the lesson. The savior allows EVERYONE into his church. Regardless of your past sins, transgression, mistakes, rebellion, everything! His own apostle, who served with him DAILY and saw his miracles, turned on him. Jesus Christ NEVER turned Judas Iscariot away even when he KNEW he was going to betray him!
One of my favorite chapters in the Bible is Luke 22. When the Savior was administering the sacrament (For the first time ever! What a sacred experience!) he said,
"21 ¶But, behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table."
He
knew. He knew it was Judas. He STILL loved and accepted him. He STILL
let him be apart of his church and worship with the most humblest off
his followers. I have NEVER thought of this before, but it was so
clear when I was teaching.
To
be like the Savior, we are placed around imperfect people so that we
can become perfect by HELPING those who struggle. He tells us how to do
this in Matthew 5:44,
"44 But
I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them
that curse you,
do good to
them that hate you,
and pray for
them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;"
AND
GO TO CHURCH WITH IMPERFECT PEOPLE!
It was a lesson to me, a very humbling moment. I need to look past others and what they think about me, but remember the REAL reason I go to church! A member once said in a lesson, "Not going to church because of the hypocrites is like not going to the gym because of all the fat people."
