You Can’t Afford to Miss!
Recently I had the opportunity to visit with a young lady who was struggling with some life issues and some choices she was making. She was also struggling with some of the people in her life and trying to decide whether she needed to separate herself from them or not. She told me flat out she was not going in the right direction. I started asking her about what church she attended and how that was going, and she said she hadn’t been to church in two weeks. At that I looked at her and said, “You are not the kind of person who can afford to miss a single Sunday.” She looked back at me in silence. I began telling her that she had not traveled far enough in her walk of faith to have the leisure of missing a Sunday sitting under the preaching and teaching of God’s word and being surrounded by God’s people in fellowship. I then looked at her and said, “You might think I’m being judgmental, but listen, you can tell me the same exact thing.” What’s amazing is that even though this young lady was silent at my first statement concerning missing church, she said, “You’re right.” She wasn’t offended because she knew the truth about her life.
Do you know the truth about your life concerning your relationship to the gathered body of Christ, called the church? Do you think that Hebrews 10:24-25 applies to you?
You can afford to miss the hunting trip or golf tournament and you can afford to miss the trip to the lake on Sunday. You can afford to miss the ball game and the concert and a huge list of other things people do on Sundays, but you personally and me personally cannot afford to miss when God’s people come together. The truth is, we—including myself—can’t afford to miss a gathering on Sunday because we are not as spiritually mature as we think we are, or as spiritually grounded or spiritually strong as we think we are. In addition to that, God has so uniquely gifted you that you have something the church body needs to be all it can be in Christ and for the world. God, help us love the church You sent Your Son to die on the cross for, and help us to show up every Sunday to consider others and get ready for that Day that is coming!
You Can’t Afford to Miss! Read More »