Church Attendance – You can’t say that!
I sat in a foreign country years ago talking with a couple at a restaurant. The wife spoke openly about her ‘Church experience.’ She said that she had grown up in the Lord’s church but had given up attending. When I asked her why, she said, “Whenever I go to church, I get the pip.” (That’s an old English expression meaning that one is annoyed or irritated). Having had already met the good people that she was referring to, I was not inclined to attribute too much blame to them at that moment and have not changed my mind since. I received a call from a preacher a few years later asking if I knew the couple. They had moved to a new country and had attended the congregation he preached for. He said with concern in his voice, “They attended everything and was involved in the lives of all the members, but one day they just disappeared.” I told him I was glad of their revival, but sadly, I was not surprised at their departure. They had gotten all they wanted and then had gone about their new lives in their new land.Tragically, this story is repeated in various forms all over the world. Christianity, in its purist form, is a family of believers (yes, admittedly, we have a long way to go).Our Heavenly Father went to extreme lengths to make it possible for us to have fellowship with Him. Jesus’ agonizing death on the cross opened the way. Christians can now, by the grace and strength of Christ, put the deeds of darkness behind them in a spiritual fellowship. Jesus is our brother. Turning up to church when we feel it or just when we want something shows abject spiritual immaturity.But don’t conclude that such people believe that of themselves. In fact, any suggestion that growth might be in order is likely to give them the pip, too.Some may ask, “John, are you saying that you are sinning by not going to church all the time?” What I am saying is that your fellowship with the church exactly mirrors your fellowship with God.“If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:6-7).John StaigerIf you have been blessed by this message, please feel free to: Like, Comment or Share it with your friends.