Theme of the Week: Why Church?
Bible Verse: Keep reminding God’s people of these things. 2 Timothy 2:14
Scripture Reading: 2 Timothy 2:1-26
I took piano lessons for years. I got my Grade IX in the Royal Conservatory. I was always more of a player than a practicer. What I mean is I would spend hours playing Billy Joel, Keith Green and my own original music, and precious little time practicing my Bach, Beethoven and Liszt.
I would still go to piano lessons every week even when I hadn’t really practiced like I should have. There were times when I learned some really valuable skills in my lessons, but not always. Most of the time, I would come, play my pieces and scales, and then go home. But something very powerful happened during those lessons. Every week, they reminded me that I was a piano player. Every week, I knew the lesson was coming and so I did work that I likely wouldn’t have done if I didn’t have a lesson.
This is one of the benefits of church. It reminds us that we are Christ-followers. When we don’t go to church, we can forget our real identity. We spend most of our time in the world and we can start to think that we are citizens of the world; we forget that we are citizens of heaven. It is that citizenship that should dictate how we think and what we do.
This is why I love going to church. It reminds me of things I too easily forget.
There was a summer when Jennifer and I didn’t go to church very much. I didn’t become an atheist, but I did notice that the sharp edge of my faith began to dull. I could tell that the thinking of the world was starting to take the primary place in my mind. I needed to be reminded that I was a child of God and, consequently, had a new way of thinking.
And I needed the church to remind me of that.
Prayer: Jesus, it is easy to go on auto-pilot, thinking that following you is natural. But sometimes maybe it isn’t as normal and natural as I hope. Thank you for fellow followers who remind me that following you is a deliberate choice, and that I make that choice in every other choice I make.
Reflection: Is there an area of your life that you have been on auto-pilot? Where you think that you are doing the right thing, but have not asked difficult questions of in a while? Spend some time this week asking God to show you if you have an area of your life like this.
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