The Missing Blessing In The Church's Presence

A member of my church once became angry with someone on his committee and made the statement “I’m through with this church.”  My dears, what foolish statements we make amidst our anger.  For in our rebellion, we do not hurt the church, we hurt ourselves.  And we do not injure God, we injure ourselves.  We are not shutting God out from ourselves, but we are shutting ourselves out from God.  For God is not blessed because he knows us, but we are blessed because we know him.  So the blessing that is being missed is not our presence at church, but the blessing that is being missed is the church’s presence in us.