A Sunday Morning Priority

Some people go to church, but wonder why? “What’s in it for me?” they ask. “Where’s the gain?”

In my business, there is “gain” (at least there is supposed to be). I can see it. Working around the house gives me a nicer place. I can see it. Going out for a drive, or heading for the lake gives me pleasure. I feel it. But sometimes going to church makes me feel, “Where’s the gain?”

But wait a minute: there is gain!...infinite gain! And without it, there is loss!...infinite loss! This is not like hot dogs or sunshine, or cool water, or sand in our sandwiches. This is like life or death, like breathing or not breathing. The eternal God who made you, who gave you life, who has the world in His hands, who can destroy us with one breath, is waiting to be praised! He waits at the altar for the penitent heart to worship. There is infinite gain in going to church, and infinite loss in not going.

Take a look: When we worship God, it removes us from the danger of idolatry. It is not a question of whether we will worship or not, but of what we shall worship? We all know how easy it is to give first-rate priority to second-rate things. And so, I go to church to keep my worship lifted upon the Holy of Holies. It would not be safe to have it anyplace else.

And then I go, because it makes me part of a great fellowship. If God is my Father, then all persons are my brothers and sisters. Some want to worship God in fractions, as long as He allows them to accept only white people, or only “my kind of people”. But God cannot be worshiped as a fraction. And there is no such thing as fractional brotherhood. Going to church makes me brother to every other child of God in the universe, and that’s a tremendous thing!

I go to Church, furthermore, because God has made me restless until I find my rest in Him.

I go to Church, also, because I must know the Truth. I am not always sure I am getting the truth from my government, or the T.V. news, and the politicians are not noted for giving us the truth. But Truth is our field. God’s truth is the only truth there is. All else is falsehood.

There is a world of invisible Truth…laws far more important than the ones we learn in our science books. They are the mental, the moral, and the spiritual laws. You cannot break these. You only get broken upon them. Love is truth. You can try to break that law with hate, but when you do so, you get ulcers and become spiteful and small. You cannot break the law of forgiveness, it breaks you.

You may have other priorities on Sunday morning, but God won’t take second place. And so I go to establish these priorities in my life. God has a lot at stake in us. And you and I have all of Eternity at stake…in Him!