What are you doing this Sunday morning?
Why do I ask that? Because, I hear things all the time along the lines of,
"I work too late."
"I worship at home."
"I don't feel comfortable there."
"I just don't feel like going."
"I'm too tired."
What are all of these excuses used for avoiding? They are used for avoiding one of the important aspects of our Christian lives, going to church.
The Bible tells us in Hebrews 10:25 that as Christians, we are to gather together to worship, encourage and learn more about our Lord and Savior.
I'm not passing judgement, simply making an observation. It's quite easy to make all of these excuses and more. We can easily tell ourselves that church isn't important or that it's just too much work to get the entire family out the door at nine am (and believe me that's no easy task!). Whatever it may be that is used as an excuse not to go, that's one of Satan's many tricks that he uses to keep us from gathering as a group of Christians.
What then shall we say, brothers and sisters.
When you come together, each of you has a hymn,
or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation.
Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.
Tim Challies gives eight devices that Satan uses to keep us from church. Take a look. Have you used any of these? Here's just a few that really stick out to me.
"#1. He makes the world look beautiful, attractive and desirable. Many people profess Christ and see him as desirable for a time. For a while they enjoy private and public worship and do it all with enthusiasm. But before long Satan presents to them worldly things and makes those look more beautiful and desirable than Christ, and many souls are drawn away. “Where one thousand are destroyed by the world’s frowns, ten thousand are destroyed by the world’s smiles.”
#3. He gives you an awareness of the difficulty of worshipping well. Satan will whisper, “It is difficult to pray well, it is hard to spend time with the Lord and to persevere until he speaks to you thugh his Word, it isn’t worth the effort of going to church and being warm and friendly and engaging with other Christians.” Whatever God tells you to do, Satan will present it to you as a great burden or as something you do poorly, and in this way he will keep you from it. "
It's my prayer that this has been encouraging to you. After you enjoy your coffee this morning get moving and get yourself and your family to church for the spiritual food we all need! If you have family or friends who have fallen out of the habit of attending church, encourage or invite them to go to church but most importantly, pray for them that they would recognize the tricks of Satan, put their foot down, and go where they know they should be going on Sunday morning!
What have you done to overcome these barriers inflicted on us by our enemy?
No comments:
Post a Comment