While On Your Way to Church

   Sometimes I take a little trip through a residential area to avoid a bad corner on my way to the office. This morning as I went through this area I glanced at the thermometer and saw it was reading 111 degrees at only 10am. The thought crossed my mind, “I wonder if Jehovah’s Witnesses are out in this furnace?” I turned a corner and what did I see? An entire group of JW’s. And there, rolling up to someone’s door, three JW’s led by…a man in a wheelchair. Remember, it’s 111. I know, the “official” temperature was probably only 107 or so, but, that’s in the shade, and that man in the chair was not in the shade. I looked down the road and saw the inevitable van heading their way. They were at the end of their “service ministry.” I wondered when they had started.
   In case you are thinking I am going to try to do the “look at what those trapped in false religion will do for a lie while so many blessed with so much truth in Christ waste their lives satisfying their own personal desires” thing–while that is all quite true, that’s not where I’m going. Instead, my thoughts turned to a phrase I have used a number of times on this blog, “Theology matters.” I look at those folks going door to door spreading a message of…what? They do not believe they are “in” Christ. They have no heavenly hope, they are not in the New Covenant, they do not stand justified in the righteousness of Christ, they have no sure promise of final salvation. They truly have nothing more than a second-class salvation system.
   What about you? Most of my readers have been blessed to be part of a sound, biblical fellowship of believers. You may be going today, or just now returning from, a church where the gospel–in purity, in truth–was proclaimed this day. So let me ask you, because I know all too well how it is: how much did you rejoice in that gospel this day? Did you consider the glory of being redeemed, forgiven, freely, so that you are the blessed man or woman of Romans 4:7-8? Or were you distracted by…so many of those things that get in our way of rejoicing in what is truly important? Got cut off on the way to church? Got a late start because [fill in the blank] just can’t get out the door on time no matter how early he/she gets up? Upset because Mr. X or Mrs. Y said something snippy to you on the way into Bible Study? Thinking so much about duties next week you could not even hear the sermon after the first 90 seconds? No, I wasn’t following you around. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.
   The ease with which we are distracted from worship says a lot about how much we really love the gospel. If we treasure it so that it defines us and has captured our hearts, will we not rejoice in its proclamation, revel in contemplating its truths? How often we lose so much blessing because we are so earthly minded!
   So as you go to church today, rejoice that you are not enslaved to a system that would have you proving your worthiness to Jehovah in a wheel chair in the Arizona sun. And pray God’s Spirit will aid you in worshipping God in spirit and in truth this day.