Line Upon Line

by Randall Gearhart


This is a story about God's church.

Even though this story has a happy ending, it's still quite a sad story.

It's sad because God's church is broken.

It doesn't work like it's supposed to work. It doesn't do what it's supposed to do. It doesn't even look like it's supposed to look. To tell you the truth, it's in pretty rough shape.

I don't like God's church to be broken. It makes me sad. It makes me sad because it makes God sad.

Doesn't it make you sad, too?

I've been talking to God a lot about His broken church. I wanted to know if it could be fixed. I also wanted to know if there was anything I could to help.

God said, "Yes, it can be fixed." And He told me I could help.

Wow, that makes me happy!

But God also said He'll need lots more help to fix His church.

Hey, maybe you'd like to help God fix His broken church!

If you ask Him, maybe He would let you help, too. That would be great! Then we could work together to fix God's church.

That's an awesome idea!

It's good to know God's broken church can be fixed, but it's not going to be easy.

Nope, it won't.

It won't be easy because not many people really know what's wrong with it. They mostly just know something's not right.

There are others who don't even know it's broken. Now, that's sad.

Even worse, there are some who do know it's broken, but don't want to have to change anything to fix it. Instead, they just pretend everything's o.k.

That's really sad.

God said some things will have to change for His church to be what He wants it to be and do what He wants it to do.

Yup, that's what He said.

If God's broken church is ever going to get fixed and work right, some things have got to change.

But who knows what to do and who knows where to start?

This reminds me of Humpty Dumpty. You remember Humpty Dumpty, don't you?

That too is a sad story.

“Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men,
Couldn't put Humpty together again.”

What a mess!

The king's men didn't know where to start. Even the king's horses couldn't lick the problem.

All those pieces. What goes where? Who knows?

If only the king's men could have remembered what Humpty looked like before his fall, then maybe they could have put the pieces back where they belonged.

Like Humpty Dumpty, God's church is in kind of a mess, too. It's fallen and it can't get up.

God's broken church needs help -- a lot of help!

It needs God's help.

Only God knows how to fix His broken church. Only God knows what it's supposed to look like. After all, it's His church.

If we knew what God's church was supposed to look like, then we could help Him fix it.

There's an idea!

Then God's church could be what He wants it to be, and do what He wants it to do. That would be simply wonderful. Don't you think so?

Come to think of it, God has shown us what His church is supposed to look like. He's shown us in the Bible.

Trouble is, we've been busy doing so many other things, that we haven't taken time to see what God's church is supposed to look like. If we had taken the time, we would have discovered that the church we know today is really very different from the New Testament church.

I wonder why God's church is so different today? I wonder what happened?

Do you ever wonder what happened to God's church?

Only God really knows.

By the way, I wonder what really happened to Humpty Dumpty. I wonder if he just lost his balance -- or maybe he was pushed -- or maybe he was trying to take his life.

I don't know -- do you?

All I know is he needed somebody to help him get it together again.

Likewise, it really doesn't matter how the church got broken -- we just need to do what we can do to help fix it!