Belonging to a church does limit a person’s choices in some ways but it also enhances his or her prospects to actually grow in covenant faithfulness. Not being committed gives people an illusion of freedom, control, and excitement but ultimately leaves them empty. As in free love, which is a short-lived worship of personal freedom, an individual can be joined to “any” or “many” but the deep longing of heart and steady discipline of mind will be left unfulfilled. The freedom to shop daily for experiences that titillate and weekly for entertainment venues which enthrone personal desires, will absolutely retard knowledge of the God who compares his people to “tree(s) planted by streams of water...” His children will flourish because they are rooted in streams of His presence and planted by Him into the ground of His grace.
In the seventies a common phrase among Christians was, “bloom where you are planted.” Today we may want to change that to say, “you will bloom, if you are planted.”
