NEXT STEPS: AttendSample

BECAUSE WE'RE CALLED TO SERVE

"I only go to church when I need to feel comforted and spiritually lifted up."

"I wasn't being fed at that church, so I needed to shop around."

For the most part, we think about ourselves. When we get up in the morning, when we go to work, when we sit down to eat, most of the time we're concerned about our needs. Emotionally, physically, spiritually, we often worry most about us. However, this is not what God has called us to.

All the phrases listed at the top of this page have one thing in common: They have a consumeristic essence. In other words, they're all about making sure church does for us what we want it to. Instead, we should view church as doing what it's supposed to do, not what we want it to. What was the church designed to do for us?

It was designed to make us into people who are selfless, characterized by servanthood. Don't believe us? Read some of the verses after this devotional, and see if Jesus doesn't say the same thing. Chances are if you're only coming to church when you feel you 'need' it, you're using church instead of letting God use you. And it comes back to this: When you truly believe in your heart and can relate to Paul when he says he is the worst sinner of all and that it's a miracle that God even had anything to do with you, you recognize that you owe God your life. Coming to church on Sunday for a few hours is nothing compared to what God has done first for us. So coming to church not only affects those around us (the lost), it actually shapes and forms us into the very people we want (and need) to be.

Why does attending church matter?

BECAUSE WE'RE CALLED TO SERVE.