A glorious church . . . holy and without blemish. Eph. 5:27.

We belong to the church of the living God because we believe it is more in harmony with God and His Word than any other. We hold fast those truths from Him, to confess, without scruple or disguise, our attachment to them, our preference for them; to do all in our power to maintain them and extend their influence as far as possible. We are to excel in honesty, integrity, purity, and the righteousness of Christ. We accept and strive after the most exalted ideal and Person who ever lived.

The true church is God's chosen institution. By it His truth is upheld, lived, and made known through all the earth. Without the true church the truth, unproclaimed, would perish from the earth. The church fears nothing. She recognizes the changes taking place in the world. She senses that the end is near. She does not exhaust herself on petty issues and legalistic moralizations. She is valiant for the truth.

To avoid the charge of sectarianism, the church refuses to abandon her stand on the whole Word of God. In order to exemplify the character of Christ and love everybody, she refuses to surrender her allegiance to Bible truth.

Because we belong to the church of the living God, she ought to be dearer to us than any other. We ought to take a deeper interest in her support and enlargement, to be more willing to labor and sacrifice. To allow personal pique, or injustice from another, to separate us from the church that we claim to love and to prefer, is a tragic mistake of judgment.

Bear in mind that, should you quarrel with another church member, you have no quarrel with your Saviour. The church of the living God is His sanctuary; it does not belong to the one who offended you. The fact that you find a professed church member untruthful does not mean that you should be ready to deny the truth, or leave the church.

Let us hold to the truth in love. The church is commissioned to proclaim and teach the whole truth from God. You and I are part of that. We need the church, and the church needs us.