That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:17-19, New King James Version

 

No church is perfect if by perfect we mean free from conflicts and inconsistencies.

We still have plenty of growing up to do until we become fully mature in our unity of the faith and in the knowledge of Jesus (cf. Ephesians 4:13ff). There is a fallacy amongst believers that they can have a relationship with Christ without any relationship with His Church. Often, they allow their disappointments and hurt to justify their leaving church and not coming back. This goes against the grain of the gospel that teaches us to do everything possible no matter how difficult or painful to stay connected with other believers (cf. Hebrews 10:25).

While certain situations require the need for a change of church — they, however, do not warrant us to stay away from church. Simply put, if we choose to be “on our own” without any godly fellowship, we will find ourselves making up our own rules or doing what seems right in our own eyes. When we choose to see going to church as an option and not a priority, we make church about us instead of God. In doing so, we have become consumers because we have forgotten that we are citizens of God’s kingdom. After all, church is not a location or weekend event, but rather it is the community of saints.

The Apostle Paul prays for every believer (which includes you and I) to "comprehend with all the saints" to fully feel and understand how wide and long and high and deep the love of Christ is (even though it is beyond all knowing) so that we are all filled to the fullness of God.

What is the fullness of God?

Because God is love, and because we are always filled with His fullness to love Him and others (cf. 1 John 4:11), there is little or no reason why we cannot learn to walk in love unless we just refuse to do so. Paul says that if we say we love God and can’t love God people, our faith is nothing but "a clanging gong or a clashing cymbal" (1 Corinthians 13:1). This makes us out of sync with the gospel.

Don’t give up on God’s people. Christ didn't. Neither should you.