Now that we have begun our relationship with God, we turn to our relationship with other believers. It stands to reason, as in our own families, if you have a father and your father has other children, these other children are your brothers and sisters. The same is true in the family of God. Other believers are your brothers and sisters, and although they are not blood relatives in the physical sense, they are blood relatives in a spiritual sense, through the blood of Christ. As it is not good for any of us to try to live life on our own (actually it is an impossibility because we cannot avoid interaction with others), we need our brothers and sisters in Christ to help us grow and to help correct us at times, too. We are all at different ages spiritually; some are very old, 60 - 70+ years as a believer, and there are some who are infants. We are all at different stages of growth and understanding of spiritual matters, both through teaching and life experiences. In my experience, we can learn from the youngest to the oldest of believers around us. How many of us have had a young person teach us something? My daughter has done that for me countless times, as has my little granddaughter who is, at this time, five years old. She has taught me about loving freely and even though life is not exactly as we would like it to be, we still hold joy in our hearts. My daughter has shown me simple faith when I try to make things more difficult than they have to be. She has had maturity beyond her years, and I have learned from it. My point here is that going to church is not just about getting our Bibles out, dressing up and going to church to socialize, hear a good sermon and perhaps do a few things to help out there. It is about engaging in relationships in the family of God. Think of it as a weekly family gathering. Are there conflicts? Most definitely, but there are, more often, times that refresh us, encourage us, lift us up and help us move forward into the coming week with hope as a result of interacting with our family. As in any family, conflicts arise, and there may be someone there we just don’t like or agree with, but again just as in our flesh and blood family, we tolerate them and even come to appreciate them because they are a part of the family. Perhaps we just have to learn to agree to disagree and let the other person be. Families stretch us, challenge us, can cause serious frustration, give great joy, provide laughter, hugs when we need them, a word of correction when needed, too, and most of all, they hang in there with us and we with them. It is good for us to be around others, because many times, someone else there has gone through the same thing we are now facing and can give us encouragement and hope to make it through, just as they did. They are there to hug us when we’re sad and to celebrate with us when we are happy. When we are unable to stand under the pressures of life, they are there holding us up in prayer. We need a family. We need to be loved as well as to love. This is what church is all about. The best way to find a church where you will find this family is to simply ask God where He would have you to go. He will guide you to the best place for you and for those in that particular church.
Now, I would like to take a moment to address one common reason people have for not attending church, and that is because of some conflict with another person, or they have observed supposed Christians doing very un-Christian things and it has turned them off from wanting to get involved in things like that. Who hasn’t heard about sex scandals, theft/dishonesty in the church, political issues, etc. going on in churches all around us? We expect that Christians are going to be a cut above everyone else, and we think that none of the above issues are going to be present in a church; however, we must remember that each church is made up of people, and the Bible says that all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. We are all sinful in nature. It is unrealistic to think or to expect that you will find a church where there isn’t some issue rearing its ugly head among the family there. Also, if we take a good look at ourselves, we will realize that we have issues that continue in our lives even though we have become a Christian. As a result, if we understand this about ourselves, we can better understand it in the lives of others, expect it, accept it and forge ahead loving others because this is what Jesus told us to do. He said that love never fails, and we will either choose to believe Him or not. I can personally testify that I have deliberately loved people who appear to be unlovable and mean, despite their reaction to me. I have persevered in it, and have, most of the time, finally reached a point where the person begins to respond favorably to me. There are those who just don’t want to, and we have to respect that. We mustn’t condemn people, because we don’t know what circumstances were in their lives to cause them to see life and react to it the way they do. I do not believe that anyone was ever born with the intent of being a miserable person; life has a way of causing many to be bitter, and some people have been hurt terribly. I just ask that you continue to love them, no matter what. If you say that’s too hard or not a reasonable request, then I remind you of the Lord Jesus. The Bible says that we know love because He (God) first loved us. He did not wait for us to ask Him or to become worthy to pay the cost of our freedom. He held nothing back to win us back, and if He can do it, we can, too, with His help. Sometimes we are not even willing to do as the Lord asks us to do, but if we can be utterly honest with Him and tell Him this, and go on to say that we are at least willing to be made willing to do as He asks us, He will work mightily in our hearts and bring us restoration in ways that we never knew were possible.
Whew! All this about church attendance? Yes, because church attendance is about relationships with others. They are our extended family, through the blood of Christ. As difficult, confusing, frustrating as well as comforting, joyful and helpful as family relationships are, they are worth it.
Here is a short prayer that you could pray: Lord Jesus, please help me to find the church family you would like me to be a part of, and please help me to love them as you love me. Thank you. (Please click on the "Church Attendance - Part 2" blog).
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