Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Worship (corporate) (10/04/07)
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TITLE: The Family Gathering | Previous Challenge Entry
By Diane Bertrand
10/05/07 -
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Hebrew 10:25 NIV
WHY?
Have you ever been at a family gathering where one of your family members for whatever reason, is missing? The family is having a great time, but there’s an underlying sense of a hole that’s not being filled. Maybe the missing member is a jokester, and so there’s no jokes being told at this gathering. Or maybe they love to sing, and there’s no music because they’re not there. Or maybe it’s just the sound of their voice or the way their smile lights up a room. Whatever makes them special is sorely missed due to their absence.
Have you ever stopped to think that in just the same way we are dearly missed when we are absent when God gathers His family together at what we call “church“?
The rest of Hebrews 10:25 says “but let us encourage one another- and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
So, when we ask “why is it so important to God that we go to church?”, I think we find one reason is to encourage one another. Often times, I think we go to church asking “What am I going to get out of this?” That is not a bad question. Clearly God does want us to get something out of our experience at church. He wants to teach us and draw us closer to Himself during our time there. But He also wants us to come asking “ How can I be a blessing to someone at church today?” Or simply, “Lord use me to bless someone at church today.”
Some of us have gone to the same church all our lives. Others have moved to different cities or states and have spent a great deal of time and energy “finding” or “choosing” the right church . Although we may think we’ve chosen our church, I believe God has placed us in that particular group for a purpose.
On a large scale, maybe we lead a small group, or teach children’s church. Or we might be an elder or an usher, and clearly God has called us to those positions.
But what about the more subtle things He may call us to in our particular church family and even on particular days. In most of these cases we may even be unaware of how we’ve touched someone.
Maybe you don’t always get to attend Wednesday night service, but one week you are able to go. On that night you go forward with someone who just happens to sit next to you when they answer the altar call at the end of the service.
Or maybe God uses your voice ( even though you know it’s bad) to touch someone’s heart during the praise and worship portion of the service.
Or someone is encouraged by a simple but honest act of kindness or genuine worship that you show.
How many people might not have been touched if you weren’t there?
But even more amazing than the fact that God can and does use us to touch others, is that it is in those instances that WE are most blessed, which is HIS primary purpose for gathering us together.
There is something that we get from corporate worship that we cannot get from our alone time with God. Each of these times are special and precious in their own way and God blesses us uniquely in each of them, once again proving the point that His glory is our gain, and all because of His matchless love and grace.
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