Blessings

I got to church rather early Sunday morning. As I sat there, it provided a good opportunity to engage in the time honored sport of people-watching. As various people streamed into the huge worship center I was impressed with the friendly atmosphere. People were genuinely friendly and happy to see everyone. Indeed several complete strangers came up to me and enthusiastically greeted me and introduced themselves. There were people of nearly every description including beautiful people and ugly. There were people with great haircuts and bad haircuts, (like mine); there were people in wheel chairs and youngsters “bouncing off the ceiling”; there were fat and the skinny people present; there were people represented by various races. There were the old and the young, in fact later the pastor recognized one couple who was celebrating their anniversary and had been “married” for
61 years!!! WOW…The Bible teaches that all Christians are one big family. Although we may not look similar, we are all brothers and sisters. We certainly are a diverse family. One look around the auditorium confirmed the fact that God excludes no one.

Pretty soon church began. The music was in a word, outstanding! The pastor’s message was excellent and a very large number of people came forward at the end of the service to make various decisions for the Lord. All in all it was a very enjoyable experience Sunday. On the way back home, my wife and I talked about how good it made us feel to attend services. This morning, because of my worship experience yesterday, I am better prepared to face the trials of the upcoming week. I heard the Word of God preached yesterday, I met with my church family and I rested.

How about you? Did you attend church, or do you have a hangover from too much football game partying? If you missed church Sunday, it is not the right way to start off the new year. God tells us that we should gather together and that we need to hear the Word of God preached. He indicated that it is part of our armor in fighting satan. He felt so strongly about it that He even included it as one of the Ten Commandments. God has a reason for everything and He is always looking out for His children’s best interests. Satan does not want you to attend church. He will offer many seemingly better alternatives, not the least of which is sleeping in. He is not looking out for our best interests. He is referred to in the Bible as “the destroyer”, and it is appropriate. He wants to destroy our lives by offering poor choices and disguising them as fun alternatives.

We get peace by drawing close to God. The Bible teaches that if we draw near to Him, then He will draw near to us. Go to church next Sunday and try to make it every Sunday and let the loving peace that can only come from God fill your soul.

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Psalm 1:1
Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel
of the ungodly,
nor stands in the path of
sinners,
nor sits in the seat of the
scornful;
but his delight is in the law of
the Lord,
and in His law he meditates
day and night…


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