21 Day Devotional: Day 7: Go to church.

Your church family is a very important part of your growth as a child of God.  You need a church family.  You need a family that supports you, loves you, desires to help you, teaches you, and provides opportunities for you to help others.

God is everywhere.  I can just worship Him at home.

I like to visit different churches.

I’m so busy, Sunday is my only time off and I want to rest and sleep.

I don’t like church because so many people in church do bad things.

All of these are potentially valid reasons for not wanting to attend church.  But Paul wrote to us, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.  And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:23-25).  The primary reason for church is so that as members of the body of Christ, we can encourage and help one another.  We can communicate with each other, we can ask questions and get answers, we can pray for each other, we can come together and be united as God’s people.

Church is a place we come to worship.  Yes, you can, and should, worship every day whether you are in a church or not.  You certainly can visit other churches, but God does desire us to be faithful, as He is faithful, and to support our church family… after all, it is hard to be encouraging when you do not know the people you are with.  Yes, we all are tired and have busy lives and sometimes it is hard to get up on Sunday mornings and make it to church, or to come back on Sunday night, or even on Wednesday night.  And, yes, the Bible doesn’t tell us that we must attend church so many services or hours per week… 

But, think about a vehicle.  A vehicle can get you where you need to go.  But, if the vehicle is out of gas it isn’t going anywhere.  You can turn the key one thousand times, but until you put some gas in it, it won’t start.  You can press the pedal all the way to the floor, but without gas, it’s just sitting still.

We need fuel.  Sometimes we have bad days.  Let’s be honest, life is not easy.  We hurt, we get broken, we have situations in life we don’t understand.  And, sometimes we need fuel.  We need the encouragement to keep going.  Sometimes, we feel great.  Sometimes, God has answered our prayer, the situation worked out, and life is good for us.  Maybe somebody else can use our encouragement.  Church is all of us giving.  Church is all of us receiving.  Church is the gas station for our vehicles.  We come and we get fuel for our souls and spirits through music, messages, and fellowshipping together.

And, the people doing bad things, don’t think about those things.  Remember that they, just like you, are a body, soul, and spirit that needs fuel and Heavenly food.  God does not want anyone to die and go to hell… no matter how bad their life seems.   “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9).  Pray for them!

Read John Chapter 7.