In Any Language

Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ. - 1 Peter 5:14

When we first began to live overseas back in 2009, my wife and I would take a car to a local church in a city where we might possibly be the only Americans in attendance. We would then listen attentively as every prayer, comment, song, chorus, hymn, Scripture, every word was delivered in another language. We would do our best to understand and, after about two and a half to four hours, we would greet (finally) each and every person who had been in attendance. It was often exhausting, but with this (repeated) experience came a vital understanding.

Though we looked different, sounded different, and in some obvious ways lived different, we were still united in Christ. One Lord, one faith, and one baptism defined us and combined us to fulfill His mission until He returns. That, my friends, is "hallelujah," in any language!

One hundred religious persons knit into a unity by careful organizations do not constitute a church any more than eleven dead men make a football team. The first requisite is life, always. - A. W. Tozer