Power Perfected in Weakness...In The Church

I have attended or visited several different churches over the years and have yet to find a perfect one. God is perfect, yet people and churches fall so short.   

In both history and our present culture, there have been leaders and members of churches who have sinned horribly and have even used their position in a church to harm others.  And even those who aren't engrossed in sin still aren't perfect people.  It can be hard for me to see God in some people and churches who claim to follow Him.

But when I look to people for perfection, I am looking in the wrong place.  Perhaps the principle of "power perfected in weakness" (2 Cor. 12:9) applies to churches as well as individuals.  After all, it's individuals coming together that make up a church, and each individual is imperfect.  Several imperfect people together in a church results in an imperfect church from the very beginning. And as the saying goes, "If a perfect church existed, it wouldn't be perfect anymore if I went there."  In the light of my own flaws, how could I expect any church to be perfect, much less hundreds and thousands of churches around the world?

A church sign says, "Messy People.  Real God.  Changed Lives."  I think here we find an expression of God's power perfected in weakness in the church.  It is the beauty of the gospel.  Because of people's sinful choices, people and churches are "messy".  But Jesus loves us anyway and died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins.  He did this so that we could be forgiven and made right with God, and to live forever in perfect fellowship in Heaven.  When someone's heart is truly open to the gospel and allows the real God to work in their life, life change happens.

Messy People.  Real God.  Changed Lives.