Can We Do Better Than This?

I read an article recently about a church with a sign on the door that says, "No Perfect People Allowed." I have also heard people welcomed to a church with similar thoughts "Come on in, we aren't perfect, we don't have it all figured out either." If I am visiting a church, is that what I want to see and hear?

If I am struggling with addiction or have marital problems or any number of other things and I go to church, do I want to hear that church people also have problems? Oh, I see! It's supposed to make me feel like I "fit in." I am supposed to let my guard down and realize that I am not the only one in the room who struggles. OK...............but why go there if they are just like me? Where is the hope of changing?

And I can't get over that sign on the church door. I just keep thinking of this verse:

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matt. 5:48

Now why, if Jesus told us to be perfect, don't our churches expect any better than what the world has? I would think that when a visitor comes who does not know the Lord, they would be refreshed to find that God's people are different. That coming to Christ has changed us. That we are free from what now troubles them.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17

Either Christ died for our sins or He didn't. If He did, then why do we still walk around ensnared by them? Are we free or not? Shouldn't an unsaved person be able to walk in our doors and see the effect of Christ's sacrifice on the lives of the people inside the doors? Shouldn't God's power be evident in our lives?

Why are we settling for this?