The Church of the Future





There are two things God says He will do, in connection with the Church, that we must remember. He says, 'I will fill this house with glory.' It may have looked in the past a bare and unpromising place, but God assures His people it will have a splendor answering to its purpose. And our Church will be a glorious place also when we bring into it everything that is dear to us, and when we consecrate all to our God. The Church is full of glory when it is full of people who belong to God, and who keep back nothing from Him; when it is full of young men and women who are giving the strength of their youth to Christ; when it is full of people who are matured in their Christian experience, and eager to help their fellow-men, and when the old people are still able to say, 'He is faithful that promised.'

Again, He says, 'In this place I will give peace.' Now, peace may seem a little gift after glory, but God knows best, and there are probably few things that do more to bring people into the house of God than just the hope of peace. And what a blessing the Church is, even if it were nothing else than just a quiet place with an open door and a call to prayer. And yet we do not get peace just by escaping from the world into a peaceful building; we never get it by trying to escape the restlessness, and worry, and sin of our common life. Peace is a gift from God. It can only be obtained from God. It can only be obtained when we come face to face with God.

I love you Mary-------Tim.