Minute Meditations

The United Presbyterian Church made a three year survey on why people stay away from church. Their findings were interesting.

It seems that most people stay away because they do not feel any need to go. Very few of them are atheists, they say they can feel just as close to God without attending church. A great many say they prefer their own personal religious philosophy that fits no particular creed. A great many resent the holier-than-thou attitude they find in churchgoers who, they feel, have reserved heaven for themselves and hell for their neighbors. Some avoid church to save money since so much emphasis seems to be placed upon giving and giving and giving.

It might be well to determine just why we go, and if we find that our attendance at the Memorial Service or the public lecture or the mid-week Bible classes leaves something to be desired, then let us also determine what excuse we give others, and especially to ourselves, as to why we were unable to be where we ought to have been.

Let’s hope that we do not stay away from any Christadelphian function because we do not feel the need to go. If Christ is in our midst when two or three are gathered together in his name, surely we cannot say that we do not feel the need to go. We can feel close to God anywhere and at any time but we are commanded not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together and almost always when we do not go, that same time is not spent in quietly worshiping Him in private but rather in activities far removed from Him.

Surely we do not miss meeting because of the holier-than-thou attitude of our brothers and sisters, for even if they had this attitude it would not be just cause for staying away. Even though some of the followers of Christ do not meet his high standards this is no excuse for us to stop following him. The twelve apostles were not perfect. How foolish to jeopardize our salvation, using another’s weakness as the excuse for our wrong doing. At the same time let us be sure that we are not guilty of any holier-than-thou attitude ourselves. We remember the scorching rebuke Jesus gave the Pharisees for this, and he dislikes the Pharisaical attitude today just as much as he did 1900 years ago.

For anyone to say that they prefer their own religious philosophy is foolishness and makes as much sense as to say that we prefer to have two and two equal five. Solomon tells us that ”there is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” There is only one way to worship God and that is the way He has said.

Certainly as members of the Household of Faith we do not avoid the meetings to save money because we of all people should realize that all we have has come from the Lord. As Job said, ”the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.” Since Paul tells us that the Lord loves a cheerful giver, let us count it not only our duty but a pleasure as well to give generously for the work of the Lord. Just because we do not place the same emphasis upon money that many do is no excuse for us to be stingy with this world’s goods when the Lord’s work needs support. Let us remember that we are not laying up our treasure where moths and rust corrupt and where thieves break through and steal.

What else can we use as an excuse for not attending the meetings? We can always say we are tired but Christ and Paul and all the worthies of old demonstrated that we ought not to please ourselves. They gave up their rest and even the time it would take to eat to devote themselves to the work of the Lord until their followers were concerned for their health and would urge them to take food. Jesus replied, “I have meat to eat that you know not of.”

When his disciples failed to understand what he meant, Jesus went on to explain, “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to fin9ish His work.” If this is also our meat, to do the will of God, then we shall always be present when His word is being preached and studied. No one then will ever hear from our lips the trite excuses used by so many as to why we were not there.