“Not forsaking or neglecting to assemble together [as believers], as is the habit of some people, but admonishing (warning, urging, and encouraging) one another, and all the more faithfully as you see the day approaching.” (Luke 8: 43-48 NASB)
Here is your quick Saturday meditation, intentionally brief so that you have that much more time to ready yourself and your household, including your children, for attending church, face-to-face if possible, or virtually if that is the best option for you.
When our children were young, every Sunday regardless of being on vacation or, honestly, holding our inventive “church in the woods” at a state park, and even on holiday weekends, we ensured that our children recognized from their young age that Sunday was set aside to go to church, one way or the other. Even if I was teaching in a crowded hotel room or in a grassy area at the park where we grabbed an empty picnic area, they got some church prior to all the fun activities. No kickball without church. No sightseeing or hiking through the woods without church. No walks to the sandy beach without church. Yes, on days where fellow Christians at our church were robbed of the smiles produced by our family getting out of the car as they counted every being emerging from the vehicle, seemingly aloud and astonished, “1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9,” wherever we were, there was church. Even today, as adults. the rule is, “If you spend the night at the house, you go to church.” Yes, as adults they may find reasons to circumvent the requirement, get around the rule with legitimate or illegitimate excuses, I can still have peace in mind knowing they have been told where they should be on Sunday morning. Honestly, truthfully, or bluntly, you should be duplicating the “model” I adopted, appropriate and in accord with Scripture about not forsaking the assembly of the saints. And if your children are grown and have their own families, share the “model” with them.
When you are presented with a plethora of excuses, just say, “Do the math!” Let me help you with the math! There are 168 hours in a week. Attending church on Sunday, if you include Sunday School, figures out to be 156 hours a year; not a week. Need more math? Do you need more math? Well, church attendance, based on three hours if you attend Sunday School, is approximately 1.8% of your hours during the week!
If the math does not work, just justify your encouragement to attend church with the Scriptures above or below, at a minimum. Have a great Saturday and we will see you at the time that the saints go marching in! Enjoy some of your 98.2% weekly time today, but don’t forget the Lord’s day tomorrow, or as church folks say, “on tomorrow.” Just for clarification, our “Sabbath” is Sunday, the Lord’s Day, set as such because early one Sunday morning, thousands of years ago, the Lord Jesus Christ got up with all power in His hands after sacrificing His life for us on the cross! Smile and praise God because of that fact alone! Sunday, tomorrow, is just a day ahead. Be blessed!
“Remember to observe the Sabbath as a holy day. Six days a week are for your daily duties and your regular work, but the seventh day is a day of Sabbath rest before the Lord your God. On that day you are to do no work of any kind, nor shall your son, daughter, or slaves—whether men or women—or your cattle or your house guests.” (Exodus 20:8-10 The Living Bible)
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King