Excuses, excuses...

 

Have you ever heard anyone say, “I don’t go to church, but I love God. And besides, it’s not a sin to not go to church. I can meet God out in nature.”

Technically, it is not a sin to miss church. And, indeed, God communes with us through nature.

The problem with such statements is that they are utterly self-centered.

If I belong to a family, I can claim that I get family fellowship simply by watching family YouTube videos or chatting on Facebook. We have no need to be together in person. I know what they look like from their profile pictures. And that isn’t completely inaccurate. I can know a lot about my family through social media, and they can know about me. But, there is no substitute for personal contact. Hugs, shared jokes, shared work, shared play, shared stories. These all build a family.

A church is a family. I can say I love God, but I don’t want to hang around with His loved ones. I don’t want to come to family reunions or weddings or funerals.  I don’t want to be present to help with chores, like pulling weeds or taking out the trash. I don’t want to be there when I hear of a financial need that I can help to meet. I don’t want to be there when someone is grieving or rejoicing, so they can share that emotion with me.

Seems to me that God loves His family and He expects us to be present in that family and be part of the day-to-day functioning of that family.

The idea of maturity, or growing up, means we go from being completely self-centered, as infants, to becoming increasingly more and more other-centered. We become aware of the needs and wants and limitations of those around us and we begin to learn how to “do our part” to help accomplish a goal.

To say “I love God, but I don’t attend church” seems to be boasting about remaining a self-absorbed child within God’s family. It seems like bragging about remaining irresponsible, insensitive and selfish.

“But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7 (New Living Translation)

“We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person?  Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God.” 1 John 3:16-19 (New Living Translation)

--Posted by Mama O.