And let us be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works, not staying away from our worship meetings as some habitually do, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day drawing near. Hebrews 10:24-25 HCSB
Now I have often times invited people to church and had them take offense with me. I get comments like, “I don’t have to go to church to get into heaven”. Now they are right, there is no place in the Bible that says you have to go to church to get into heaven. Just as there is no place in the Bible that says that you must do good works to get into heaven. But I do have a little news flash for you, if you are truly saved and love the Lord, you will want to be in His house. You will want to meet with others who share your love for Him. You will want to do good works and serve Him. Before I committed my life to Christ, and I mean truly committed my life to Christ, church was optional for me. I would go the obligatory one or two Sundays a month, but there were times when I would decide that I needed to sleep in, spend the day on the sofa, or maybe go to my office and “catch up” on my work. That never worked out so well for me. It took me a while to figure it out, but my whole week went better when I started it off in church on Sunday morning. If I really wanted it to go well, I would start each day with a devotion and prayer. And if at all possible, I would return there on Wednesday night for what I began calling my midweek recharging. Now I hope that you are a lot smarter than me and that it doesn’t take you as long to figure this out as it did me. I am hoping that if you aren’t going to church that you will take my word for it on this one.
We are very fortunate to live in what they call the Bible belt(which is the southeast and south central region of the US). You see we literally have a church on just about every corner around here. We also have bars on just about every corner. That’s an interesting combination isn’t it.
You see you have to make a choice. There are any number of bars where you can hang out on Saturday night which will probably prevent you from being able to get into any one of those churches on Sunday morning. Now I know that there are religions like the Catholics and non-denominational churches that meet on Saturday evenings and even our Baptist church has a Sunday night service, but I am talking about your devotion to Christ. Which corner will have more appeal for you?
I have also had people tell me that they don’t go to church because there is nothing but a bunch of hypocrites in church. Well, if you say that then you are a hypocrite, seriously! So why don’t you just go right on in there and join them. As my former pastor used to say, “there is always room for one more”.
Now I have never lived more than 20 minutes away from my parents. I loved my parents, they were good parents and they were good to me. I trusted my parents. For this reason, I visited my parents at least once a week, often times 2-3 times a week. I wanted to be around them. My Dad has gone on to be with his heavenly Father. My mom lives with me now and I cherish the time I have with her. I have good friends that I visit with often. So I ask you today, do you consider God a friend? If so, when is the last time you visited with Him in His house? How often do you visit with him? Is it the obligatory “every now and then” or is it the dedicated “every time the doors are open”.
I don’t know what your religion may be, but I know that it is not about the religion, it is about the relationship that you have with your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
If you have been “laying out” of church for whatever reason, then I encourage you to return to your heavenly Father’s house today if you are physically able to do so. Find a good bible teaching church that welcomes you into their congregation. Be sure that the pastor’s sermons line up with the Word of God. And find your place in God’s family.
There is no shortage of churches in our country today, just a shortage of congregants. Won’t you do your part to change that today. I promise you the benefit will be all yours.
Have a great day!