‘I didn’t like any of the songs today’; ‘I didn’t get anything from the talk’; ‘The singers were out of tune’; ‘None of my friends were around’; ‘The coffee was awful’…. How many times have you arrived home from church and had thoughts like these? We all fall into the trap at some point. And sometimes these thoughts become so big that we decide to leave the church because ‘it’s just not the church for us, we’re not getting anything from it.’ It’s so easy to fall into the trap of being a ‘consumerist Christian’. We look around for the church that’s got what we’re looking for – a great worship team, good biblical teaching, a thriving youth group. But the truth is that we can meet God at any church, as long as our focus is on meeting Him rather than anything else. The Psalmist writes, ‘I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!”’ Do you feel glad when you think about going to church? Do you feel glad when you reflect on your church? Church is our time of the week to set aside the normal day-to-day things of life, to meet together with others, to be refuelled and recharged and to spend time worshipping God. It’s not about we want, or what we think church should be like. It’s about God. Whatever you feel about your current church, let’s be people who care more about meeting God there than how the service went. Let’s be people who are glad to ‘go to the house of the Lord.’
What Now?
Ask God to give you gladness about church. And when you leave the service, only say positive and encouraging things about it.