WOW

I was reading Mark Driscoll's blog (Mark is the Pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington) tonight and he had met Chuck Colson the other day at a luncheon and got Colson to answer some questions. If you would like to read the whole thing you can do that here: http://theresurgence.com/chuck_Colson_2

One question in particular caught my eye. I have cut and pasted it here.

Question from Mark Driscoll: Does the greatest threat to Christianity come from forces outside the church, or from inside the church, through leaders who are more like Judas than Jesus?

Answer from Chuck Colson: The answer to your third question about whether the greatest threats are from inside or outside the church is "both." I get nauseous about some of the things that go on in the church. In fact, I'm comforted by Niebuhr who once said that the church of Jesus Christ is like Noah's ark; the stench inside would be unbearable if it weren't for the storm outside. I'm in favor of cleaning up the stench, and also navigating through the storm.

As I read that I really got slapped upside the head. As a pastor of church I often think that sometimes what is inside the church is worse than dealing with people outside the church. Sometimes Christians act worse that non-Christians. I have said for years that church would be great if were not for the people. Colson using the illustration from Niebuhr hit a home run for me. As bad as it is on the inside sometimes, it is worse on the outside.

As I work and live my life to be what God wants me to be, I need to work harder at cleaning up the stench on the inside of the place God has me. So often I think that the grass might be greener on the other side but it never has been and never will be.

So it is time for me to get on the shovel and the pitch fork and work towards making this a better place to navigate through storm.