Yes, I go to church. I love my church and my church family and I am proud to admit that I am a God loving fool, a Christian, if you will. Now don't get me wrong. There was a time in my life that church and religion was the farthest thing from my mind. My mama raised me with a good church foundation. But those Godly principles all fell by the wayside when I became a "mature independent teenager". There simply was no time for church. After staying out very late on Saturday nights, my beauty rest was far too important than having to get up early to sit in church and listen to the boring sermons every Sunday. It all changed for me after I had children of my own, had them baptized and made a commitment to teach my children the ways of the Lord. "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it". Proverbs 22:6.
I felt compelled to write this post after having recent discussions with family members and friends about churches in general. Those discussions reminded me of the story about the fellow who wrote to the editor of a newspaper complaining that it made no sense at all to go to church every Sunday. "I've gone for 30 years now", he wrote, "and in that time I've heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So I'm thinking I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all."
This Letter to The Editor column started a real controversy that went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:
"I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this.. They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!" When you are DOWN to nothing... God is UP to something! Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible! Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment!
I feel blessed to belong to a wonderful community of faith where my family and I can go for our spiritual nourishment and continue to grow in the knowledge of God's word....where we can be loved and encouraged and prayed for....where we can worship together, promote the Gospel and experience God's love.
My girls are nearing the age I once was when attending church became but a distant memory. It is my hope that they will continue to attend church regularly and become more involved in serving the Lord. But I cannot force this on them. I can only lead by example and pray every day that what has been instilled in them thus far will stay with them throughout their adult lives. I pray that they will want to continue to grow in their Christian faith even if it means not attending church.
My girls are nearing the age I once was when attending church became but a distant memory. It is my hope that they will continue to attend church regularly and become more involved in serving the Lord. But I cannot force this on them. I can only lead by example and pray every day that what has been instilled in them thus far will stay with them throughout their adult lives. I pray that they will want to continue to grow in their Christian faith even if it means not attending church.
6 comments:
Well said. You've just given me the ambition to get my butt in church this Sunday. And as far as the girls following by example...I think they already do.
I have faith that your girls will remember their church roots. It will become very important to them as they mature and especialy when they have a family of their own. All you can do now is set a good example. You may not think the kids are paying attention but they are!!!!
Good post....Great shot of the church! I miss my worship there very much!
Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. So very true...the passage just doesn't tell you at what age this happens! You're fortunate to have found a body of believers that can feed your soul. It's sad that there are so many "churches" these days that seem to turn people off to Christianity and going to church. Having raised two daughters, it's a scary time and we all pray our children will not stray too far during those "mature teenage years"!
Great post! And I love the letter to the editor. It's so true.
I too have some not attending church (my own children are all grown up now) but I pray that my example all their lives, their once love for the ways of God and the values I instilled them as they grew was not pointless. One day, I pray the two who have walked away will return to God. Until then, I continue to pray.
Wow, that is an awesome point! I have never thought of it quite that way but it makes complete sense. I love my church to.
Amen. Loved this post.
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