At Home in the Church

Have you ever been to a home where you didn’t really feel comfortable? You wanted to get out of that house as quickly as possible. Then there are other homes that feel so warm and inviting, and you want to be there as long as you can.

The apostle Paul prayed for the believers at Ephesus that “Christ may dwell in [their] hearts through faith” (Ephesians 3:17 NKJV).

Now, that seems like something odd to pray for people who are already Christians. When you become a believer, the Lord dwells in your heart. But the term Paul used here for dwell means to “settle down and be at home” or “be comfortable.”

So Paul was essentially saying, “My prayer is that Christ will be at home in your heart.” I think when Christ is really settled down and at home in your heart, then you’ll be at home in the church.

Many times in the Bible, the words home and church are linked. David wrote, “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Psalm 23:6 NKJV), or literally, “I have a home in the house of the Lord forever.”

I think a real barometer of your spiritual life is whether you have a desire to be in fellowship with other Christians. Jesus said, “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20 NKJV).

Of course, Jesus is with you wherever you are because God is omnipresent. But He’s saying that He will manifest Himself in a special way when His people gather together for prayer, worship, and Bible study.

The closer you are to God, the closer you’ll be to God’s people. The farther away you are from God, the farther away you’ll be from God’s people.