Church: It's Not About Us

I was recently reading a blog post about someone’s fifteen reasons why they attend church, despite the fact that: they don’t really like it, the sermons are boring, and their church has hardly any community.  I was astounded while reading this list—and some of the comments that followed—as not once did anyone say, “I attend church to worship and honor God.” But then, considering the multitude of denominations that have sprung up throughout the years, this really is not too surprising. Many have forgotten what the purpose of church is, and so we question it because something just doesn’t feel right but we don’t know what is wrong.  Some churches have become so casual and ordinary that all sense of tradition has been lost. There are those that enjoy this, they like to be “entertained,” they like for church to be “fun”. They see God as their “buddy buddy” and “best friend” and their “daddy” and not as their Awesome God who should be revered and glorified and, to some extent, feared.  They look upon church with the thought, “What can and do I get out of it?”  Because of these views people no longer see Church as “God’s House,” a place that we go with the primary intention of honoring and worshiping God.  Granted, we can and should honor and worship God in our own homes, but that should not take the place of attending church. There is something special and significant to worshiping God at church. We are taking time out of our lives to focus ENTIRELY upon God and to worship Him. 

    This feeling of “I don’t really want to attend church on Sunday but I go because I feel like I should” is WRONG and we need to recognize it as such, not accept it as inevitable.  Wouldn’t Satan just LOVE it if we all stopped attending church in order to do “something else spiritual”. The point is that we need to recognize this feeling for what it is, the Devil wanting to turn us from God.   If there isn’t something special and significant in attending church at a church then why was it instituted in the first place? We might as well all stay home and just watch it on television. We should be EXCITED to go to Church to worship God, not feel like it is a chore. There should be joy and excitement at the thought that we have the freedom and privilege to attend church each Sunday (or more) and worship God. This idea that our faith is “all about us” is a terrible one and needs to be recognized as such and fought against.  God does NOT need us.  God is not grateful to us when we attend church, “Oh they have come to worship me, Yay! I needed that validation.” We honor God because We need Him.  We get up in the morning, dress up—By the way, why do people think that it is acceptable to basically roll out of bed, throw on any old thing, and go to Church?  We wouldn’t do that if we were going to meet the President or the Queen of England.  We would take great care over how we look like we do for any special occasion. So, why do we think that it is okay to not do that for God.  We need to give God our First Fruits, not our leftovers.  We have turned into a world of Cains and we think that the Abels are old-fashioned fuddy-duddies whom we resent. It comes back to the fact that we have lost all reverence for God and turned our relationship with Him into something casual, but I digress—We get up in the morning, dress up and go to God’s house in order to focus upon Him away from the distractions of ordinary life. It is a special thing, done in a special place, and in a special way. Yes, the sermon may be boring and the music may be off key but God is present and that is why we go, to be in His presence and to Honor Him as we should, and that is something I should always be excited to do.