WHY DO WE GO TO CHURCH?

It’s early in the morning as I prepare to leave for Church.  I am very conscious of time for I do not want to miss a seat inside the church. Where I fellowship when you are late by ten minutes you cannot get a seat.  So my desire is not only to secure a seat but also to be able to concentrate, listen and actively participate in the service. Its 6:30am when I leave my room. On the way I can see brethren walking fast. No one wants to be late for the church service. Why are we going to church in first place? I can’t speak for everyone but know why I am going to church. Am sure we want to Praise, Worship, seek God and finally listen from Him.

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I walk past many people because I am faster than many of my fellow pedestrians. By 6:50am Am in church and fortunately I have a seat. If you thought I had come early you are wrong. My seat is in the middle of the church. Meaning that all the seats after me had been secured. The intersession is going on and am getting ready for the church service. I have neighbors, a lady on the right and a gentleman in the left. The service starts and we are all worshiping. We all concentrate. Some are carried by the worship and others are praying. Within no time am also immersed in prayer.

The following sessions go on well until the speaker is introduced. As he starts the sermon am very keen and deep within me I feel the urge to hear from God. I am listening to each and every word that comes from his mouth.  I am jotting down the important points and the key verses for reference. The speaker decides to make the session interactive, or so I thought. The man of God tells us to say hi to our neighbors. I turn left and said “hi” to my neighbor. This take him by surprise. He did not hear what the speaker had said. As he struggles to inquire what had been said, I peep on his phone and I can see that the Facebook account is open and he was probably chatting with his “friends”.

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 I thought about it but I could not understand. He later tells me that the preacher was boring and he was trying to keep himself busy. It’s very unfortunate that we can waste our time to go church and fail to get a portion of the bread of life. Why would I remain in church if am not concentrating to what is going on?  May be it’s because psalms 84:10 tells me that a day in God’s court is worth a thousand days elsewhere. It’s quite a wise decision to be found in God's Court but it’s more prudent to be found actively in the same court. If not so, I would not only be wasting my time but also being hypocritical.

I remember a few months ago, I met a friend after a fellowship. Since we follow the same route to our resident, we walked together. Feeling encouraged and inspired, I started sharing with her how the sermon was powerful. To my surprise she informed me that she did not hear even a word of it. She had slept immediately the speaker got on the pulpit because the speaker was “boring”. I could not understand.

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My friends are just a representation of many people whom I think do not attach a lot of concern and meaning to attending church service. It’s very critical for us to understand why we go to church. The core reason for fellowship is spiritual growth. We also have time for our prayer and listening to the word of God and most importantly honoring the Sabbath as God Himself did.