Are you late to church?
Every week before service, I look around to see who is sitting where and if the front seats have been filled. Seeing a lot of empty seats makes me wonder who hasn’t come yet. The atmosphere before service usually determines the kind of service we are going to have that day. If there are a lot of late-comers or if people continue to wonder around, I struggle throughout the service.
You can tell a person’s spiritual state through their attitude towards the Sunday service. There are people who have only recently become a Christian but attend church regularly, sing along during praise and worship and focus on the sermon and you can see their faith gradually grow. And they prefer to sit at the front, rather than at the back. On the other hand, those who struggle to mature in their faith are usually those who have trouble focusing on the sermon. And I am waiting, hoping that one day they will learn to genuinely enjoy the service. I also see people who have been a Christian for a long time yet are habitually late to church and struggle to concentrate during service and this frustrates and saddens me. And I believe God has placed these thoughts in my heart. If they were going somewhere they knew would be beneficial to them, they would get there even before they were due and wait. If we pray and say that we trust God yet we are habitually late to service and don’t give our undivided attention to Him, how is God to understand our tardiness and our lack of attention? God says through prophet Isaiah, “stop bringing meaningless offerings, even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening, (Isaiah 1:12-15)
I pray that our service is not one in which we bring meaningless offerings. I pray our service doesn’t become a burden to us. And we need to start by being punctual and being prepared for our service. When our service becomes alive, I believe our lives also will become alive. Ask yourselves this question; am I late to church?
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김지나 2017.04.08 20:51
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Every week before service, I look around to see who is sitting where and if the front seats have been filled. Seeing a lot of empty seats makes me wonder who hasn’t come yet. The atmosphere before service usually determines the kind of service we are going to have that day. If there are a lot of late-comers or if people continue to wonder around, I struggle throughout the service.
You can tell a person’s spiritual state through their attitude towards the Sunday service. There are people who have only recently become a Christian but attend church regularly, sing along during praise and worship and focus on the sermon and you can see their faith gradually grow. And they prefer to sit at the front, rather than at the back. On the other hand, those who struggle to mature in their faith are usually those who have trouble focusing on the sermon. And I am waiting, hoping that one day they will learn to genuinely enjoy the service. I also see people who have been a Christian for a long time yet are habitually late to church and struggle to concentrate during service and this frustrates and saddens me. And I believe God has placed these thoughts in my heart. If they were going somewhere they knew would be beneficial to them, they would get there even before they were due and wait. If we pray and say that we trust God yet we are habitually late to service and don’t give our undivided attention to Him, how is God to understand our tardiness and our lack of attention? God says through prophet Isaiah, “stop bringing meaningless offerings, even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening, (Isaiah 1:12-15)
I pray that our service is not one in which we bring meaningless offerings. I pray our service doesn’t become a burden to us. And we need to start by being punctual and being prepared for our service. When our service becomes alive, I believe our lives also will become alive. Ask yourselves this question; am I late to church?