Luke 9:57-60 (NLT) The
Cost of Following Jesus As they were walking along, someone said to
Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go.” But Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens to live
in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his
head.” He said to another person, “Come, follow me.” The man agreed, but he
said, “Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.” But Jesus told him, “Let the spiritually dead
bury their own dead! Your duty is to go and preach about the Kingdom of God.”
Last year the master shower in the parsonage started leaking
water through the basement ceiling. A contractor came, tore out the bottom, put
in a new shower pan and drain & retiled it.
They tore out the moldy ceiling & replaced it without checking if
their work had really stopped the leak. It hadn’t. Two months ago they came back, tore out the
ceiling once more. They finally
determined that water was getting behind the tile walls. As of today the project is still not
complete. The contractor shows up four hours late then leaves. His workers wait for supplies he’s supposed
to be bringing but he never comes. My patience with this irresponsible person
has now given out. We have wonderful
trustees, but they can’t make the man finish any sooner than I can. I was brought up to make commitments and then
to keep them. I could never operate like this contractor runs his business.
Yet I’ve seen the same lack of adherence to commitment in
churches. They don’t take their involvement with Christ’s church seriously. Pastors and members are responsible for the
wellbeing and ministry of the church.
These days, however we see too many people who come to church when they
don’t have anything better to do. The
schedule work on Sunday, they stay up late on Saturday night and “can’t get out
of bed,” they agree to family parties that conflict with church attendance.
I admit that sometimes people really don’t have choices. But I’ve also seen over many years that when people make Sunday worship a priority in their life, employers cooperate more with scheduling, relatives plan family events differently, and people understand that Saturday nights need to end earlier because they have a Sunday morning commitment to God. The commitment is to be loyal to Jesus Christ through the church. Jesus understood the cost of following him. There is a direct correlation between someone’s faithfulness to Christ and their church attendance. Churchgoers, your presence is a sign of a commitment and worship attendance is not just for your benefit. Your presence or absence affects the vitality of worship for everyone else, especially in smaller churches when each absence is felt. You are a priority to God. Can you let God be a priority to you?
God
Bless!I admit that sometimes people really don’t have choices. But I’ve also seen over many years that when people make Sunday worship a priority in their life, employers cooperate more with scheduling, relatives plan family events differently, and people understand that Saturday nights need to end earlier because they have a Sunday morning commitment to God. The commitment is to be loyal to Jesus Christ through the church. Jesus understood the cost of following him. There is a direct correlation between someone’s faithfulness to Christ and their church attendance. Churchgoers, your presence is a sign of a commitment and worship attendance is not just for your benefit. Your presence or absence affects the vitality of worship for everyone else, especially in smaller churches when each absence is felt. You are a priority to God. Can you let God be a priority to you?
Paige
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