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So it’s time for church, you’re not
excited and for good reason. Sunday has become your weekly appointment at the
whipping post. It is where you get the usual 30 to 60 minutes of hostility,
brutality, and vented anger. Instead of a sermon, you get to endure an assault
of resentment, frustration, and bitterness. Guilty or not, the punishment
includes lashes of threats, fear, and intimidation. Reprove and rebuke are
delivered with a spirit of violence and vengeance. Love and compassion are more
mythical than Biblical. After such a beat down, one can only accept what a
worthless failure they really are. How could you expect to make it? How could
you ever hope for victory or to be a light and lead others to Christ? God must
be ashamed of you. He must be disgusted by you. How dare you think you are a
Christian? How dare you think you are a child of God?
Edification and exhortation are spiritual
concepts never found in an actual service. You keep going, because it’s all you
know. You don’t invite your friends or co-workers, because you love them too much.
As one hides an abusive relationship, you can’t let them know what you
experience, or worse have them become victims as well. Sadly, you know you’re not
growing, not prospering and not being healed. You are not becoming all God
wants you to be. You always feel second rate, never encouraged, never loved,
and never empowered. You love God, but your faith in Christ is so weak. Down
inside you feel like there is more, but you are constantly reminded of how
unworthy and repulsive you are to God.
The solution lies in prayer, love,
and lots of both. Pray for the man of God. Whether he is Pastor, Assistant
Pastor, Evangelist, Teacher, or just a Lay-Speaker, he needs your prayers.
Whatever is afflicting him to such a degree, that he can’t escape the
frustration and anger, only God can change. Show him love. Show his family
love. Be an example of love to him. You might be surprised at your influence.
Pray for your fellow saints and love them. Be an example of love to them. You
need one another’s prayers and love. Pray for the guests that may come. If they
do not feel like your church is a place of love, they will not be back, nor
should they. The world and life will beat them down enough without getting the
same at church. Show your guests love. Make it a personal mission. Mentor
others to do the same. Pray and show love to your friends, family, and co-workers.
Show them you have something they need. Be Jesus to them. Be ready to introduce
them to your Jesus by the life you live. Will they fall in love with your
Jesus? As a last resort, pray for the will of God. If things are not changing
in your life, if your preacher refuses to change, and if your church is
stagnantly satisfied, pray for God to lead you somewhere you can grow and
become effective for Christ.
Be prayerful and very sensitive to
God. I recommend making a list of churches within reasonable proximity and
visit one each week. Then, let God speak to you. Listen to Him; He will let you
know. Church should be the most exciting thing you do and place you go all
week. It’s your Father’s house and He loves you so much. Loving Christ, loving
one another, and loving lost souls- that’s the Church. What a happy place!
