Why do we attend worship services? To be seen? To see our friends in Christ? To serve the church? To satisfy a habit and a ritual?
Sarah Young in Jesus Calling has this to say today: “Come to Me with your defenses down, ready to be blessed and filled with My Presence. Relax, and feel the relief of being totally open and authentic with Me. You have nothing to hide and nothing to disclose, because I know everything about you already. You can have no other relationship like this one. Take time to savor its richness, basking in My golden Light.
One of the worst consequences of the Fall is the elaborate barriers people erect between themselves and others. Facades abound in the world, even in My Body, the church. Sometimes, church is the last place where people feel free to be themselves. They cover up with Sunday clothes and Sunday smiles. They feel relief when they leave because of the strain of false fellowship. The best antidote to this aritificial atmosphere is practicing My Presence at church. Let your primary focus be communing with Me, worshiping Me, glorifying Me. Then you will be able to smile at others with My Joy and love them with My Love.”
There are many advantages to worshiping with God’s people in His church, whatever and wherever that may be. Perhaps it is in the livingroom of your home, with a televangelist, although I wouldn’t advise this unless you’re unable to worship with His people. Perhaps it is in a gymnasium setting, used on Sundays as a worship center. Perhaps it is in a beautiful cathedral where architecture and organ music help your mind ascend to new heights. Perhaps it is in the place where you were baptised, and your habit is to be in the same place you’ve always been because it is the same practice you’ve always known. Each of us is different. However, it is imperative that if we are Christ’s own, we worship with the Body, His Church, so that we can join our voices with other Christians in song, in Scripture, and in the Word, the Bible. Fellowship with others is important; listening carefully to the sermon where His Word is explained and made practical for our lives is vital. Unless we are under the care of a local church, we are like little sailboats sure to be tossed about in the currents of life which assail us on a daily basis.
Here is a favorite hymn, from a Psalter in 1912 and still true today: “It is good to sing Thy praises and to thank Thee, O Most High. Showing forth Thy lovingkindness When the morning lights the sky. It is good when night is falling of Thy faithfulness to tell, while with sweet, melodious praises songs of adoration swell./ Thou hast filled my heart with gladness thro’ the works Thy hands have wrought, Thou hast made my life victorious, Great Thy works and deep Thy thought. Thou, O Lord, on high exalted, reignest evermore in might; All Thy enemies shall perish, sin be banished from Thy sight./ But the good shall live before Thee planted in Thy dwelling place. Fruitful trees and ever verdant, nourished by Thy boundless grace. In His goodness to the righteous God His righteousness displays; God my rock, my strength and refuge, just and true are all His ways. Amen.”
May we cause a revival in our personal lives and in the lives of the nations and His church as we join in worship of our Lord this, the Lord’s Day, and may we pray for mercy on this world which so needs God’s guidance this day.
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