It is so true that we are all "works in progress". That is a really good thing to come to terms with. Scripture sometimes says that we are "perfect" in Christ. The important part of those verses is the "in Christ" part. We are not perfect, neither will we ever be perfect on this earth, of our own selves. It is the sacrifice of Jesus that is and was perfect. And it is when we acknowledge Him, and receive His grace and Spirit into our hearts that we enter into that perfection of what He has done on our behalf.

The purpose of the Church, it seems to me, is to help us come to know God so that we can have a relationship with Him, and to help us show God to others (by imitating Him and becoming like Him), so that they also can have a relationship with Him.

I am reading a book about "Ephesians" by Marcus Barth. One of the things he said that I like is, "God made Himself known to men by the salvation of sinners in Christ." I think if we really think about this, it makes God so much less of a mystery than we think. It is easy to get false ideas of what God is like; there are many things we hear that can cloud our thinking of what God is like. But in the end, the truth is that God must be good, because He sent us a deliverer to save us and give us hope. People often blame God for bad things that happen to them. They think God is mad at them, or doesn't care for them. None of this can be true; if it was true, He would not have sent His Son, Jesus, to die in our place, and to take the penalty for our sin upon Himself. People often say that they don't believe in God because of all the suffering in the world. God has given to us all we need to be restored. He has only done good and reached out to a world that rejects Him, and then blames Him for the evils around us. He has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. The problem does not lay with God. The problem always has been found in mankind himself. The existence of the Church in the midst of a crooked and perverse world is God's witness. The Church bears the testimony of God's love, because without His love, the Church would not exist.

Marcus Barth writes, "To receive and to convey the knowledge of God's mystery, this is essential to the Church." "She is not only the privileged recipient, but also the chosen instrument of the manifestation of God's will, grace, and might.The Church is the first-fruit of God's revelation. She knows already what is to be known and acknowledged universally. Until all in all is filled with the fullness of God, only the Church is called 'the fullness of Christ' (i.e., that which is already filled by Christ). Only the Church had 'heard and believed the work of truth, the Gospel of salvation."