Yesterday I woke up feeling kind of blah. I’m not sure if that’s a word, but that’s how I felt. I was tired and emotionally drained. Truth be told, I didn’t really feel like going to church. I felt like crawling back into bed.
It didn’t help when both of our kids declared they didn’t want to go. (Turns out my teenager isn’t feeling well, might should’ve left her home.) My little one actually pitched a fit, which is extremely rare these days. But I told him “We’re going. It’s what we do.”
For a moment I questioned whether or not that was the best thing to say. I mean shouldn’t we want to go to church? And then I realized, yes, we should. And we usually do. But sometimes you just have to do something because “that’s what we do”. You do it because it’s what’s best for you, it’s what God wants from you and for you, and it’s the right thing to do.
We eat the vegetables.
We do the homework.
We clean the house.
We run the mile.
We apologize.
We forgive.
We submit.
We swallow our pride.
We respect each other.
We live within a budget.
We guard our hearts.
We take the back seat.
We offer kind words.
We go to church even when we’re weary, because it’s what we do.
And God blesses that.
As it turns out, I was abundantly blessed by going to church yesterday. When will I remember to put some tissues in my purse?
Two young people gave their lives to Christ in baptism. How could you ask for a better morning than that?
But it didn’t stop there. Of course the singing was fantastic. (Have you ever heard 1,000 people–just voices, no instruments– singing praises to God? It’s pretty amazing.) On top of that, God took a message that was delivered to a large crowd, and used it to speak to my heart; to open it to new ideas, big dreams, and right priorities.
As I sat in church I didn’t feel chastised by God for not really wanting to go. Instead, what I felt was a flood of unmerited favor…grace.
Something I thought I didn’t want to do turned out to be a beautiful gift.
God didn’t deal with me fairly that day.
Fairness would have been to reward my half-hearted willingness to drag myself to church, with a mediocre church experience. Instead, He met my resolve to go, with a glimpse of His beauty, a fresh perspective on some things I’ve been praying about, a chance to watch two people be reborn, and a time to forget about all of life’s little worries and just lift my voice in praise. To declare “We will have no other god before you.”
I don’t know about you but I need to sing those words in public. I need to be reminded that I have to constantly decide who/what is going to be my god. If I don’t proactively choose God, it will be something else by default. Declaring my loyalty to God in public is a gift to me, it nurtures my heart, and I’m honored and humbled to offer it back as a gift to Him.
I didn’t want to go to church but I’m glad I went. I think I learned that “We’re going because it’s what we do” is sometimes the shortest distance between “blah” and “blessed”.
By the way, in case you’re wondering, my little one had a wonderful time.
This post is participating in these link-ups:
Image courtesy of [image creator name] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
This was such a great post Beth, I have had those types of days. Yesterday was one of them too, but I was blessed by going on and “doing what we do” as well!
Isn’t is great how God does that?
Hello! New to your blog and I love it!
Thanks Ashley, I’m glad you found me!
Hello from iBloom!
I enjoyed this post and understand…
We have had those feelings often too. It seems easier on the flesh to have the great attitude you did about church. Then there are no decisions to make=) When it is a no brainier…we move on auto-pilot. Plus, we come back refreshed. Well worth it!
Take care…
Heloise, I like how you put that, “it’s easier on the flesh”. If we have decisions made before the flesh gets weak, it’s easier to do the right thing! (Note, I’m not saying it’s never OK to miss church, but in this case we needed to go and I’m glad we did.)
Thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment!
Love this. On the rare occasion I don’t feel like going to a meeting of the church if I will just “do it because” I find its often just what I needed. I come home blessed and sometimes I’ve even been a blessing to others in the meeting. Then I feel double blessed!
JC, you bring up a point that I didn’t even touch on, and that’s the fact that when you do what you have previously decided to do (like go to church) you can also be a blessing to someone else. You don’t always know it though, but people are encouraged just by seeing your face and knowing you’re in this walk with them.
Since we meet in small gatherings in our homes (usually 3-5 hours/meeting) we often get a chance to minister to each other either one on one during dinner/fellowship times or to the whole group during the meeting/discussion time itsself. Sometimes when I’m either really down or exhausted I just don’t feel like going and being around people….I’m rather introverted. I’ve found that many times this is really an attack from the enemy and if I push through and go anyway I find refreshing and sometimes amazing things happen that night and big break throughs happen for the whole group. Sometimes a situation arises and I even get to minister to someone else and bless them with whatever wisdom the Lord imparts through me. That is the when I feel double blessed. Thankfully I usually get to know it because of the way we meet and live as a family. We live life together and build each others faith. Our church is the biggest blessing God ever gave us!
JC, That sounds like a wonderful group you’ve got there. I’m an introvert too and sometimes I just don’t feel like I want to get out. But that’s just the enemy using my personality against me. Introverts don’t dislike people. In fact, they spend a great deal of energy when they are around people. They enjoy deep, meaningful relationships. They need time alone to recharge so they can go give that level of energy again. We need to make sure we’re not hoarding the energy we derive when we do have alone time. There isn’t much point in getting recharged if we’re not going to take that energy and go spend it again on people.
Well now I’m preaching.
Thanks for sharing about your group, it was an inspiration!
What I love is when I go there feeling like “I’ve got nothing to offer Lord…nada” Then, God uses a slither of what I had and makes a mountain out of it that blesses. In spite of me. Gotta luv it!
Yes!!! This is so true. I hear all the time, people saying that you shouldn’t be at church if you’re just “going through the motions.” Really? Where else should you be? My husband and I went through a time after being deeply wounded by a church and we didn’t really want to go. We didn’t look forward to it, didn’t feel like it. Honestly for a period of probably months, we mostly went to church because, like you, that’s what we do.
I hate to think of where our family would be right now if we hadn’t pushed through that time, if we’d just stopped going since we couldn’t force our hearts to get into it. Thankfully, we are past that time now, and you’re right…we were blessed even in the midst.
I think satan tries to keep us from getting that blessing. I have experienced so many times when I just really, really didn’t feel like going to church that I come home so blessed. Thanks for sharing.
Exactly Crystal, where else should you be? I’m so glad you and your family kept going. I’m guessing you either eventually found a healthier church or things got better. Even if there are problems at church, staying home isn’t going to solve them. You and your family set a good example, and I’m sure you provided hope and encouragement for others who may have been going through the same thing.
Our society is very self centered and very feelings focused. But I can’t really think of anything great that has ever been accomplished by someone who only does what they feel like doing at the moment.
Isn’t it amazing how abundant God is with His grace and mercy and gifts?
Great post! I totally agree, we may not feel like it at first, but God always blesses our efforts and we have a wonderful time worshiping. Thanks for linking up with W2W Word Filled Wednesday!
SOOO been there and done that (and blogged about it! :)) LOVE what you said about God being unfair. So true!!! Reminds me of Voddie Baucham’s video about people who ask “Why does God let bad things happen?” He says we are asking the wrong question. We should be asking, “How can God know what I did/thought/said yesterday and not kill me in my sleep last night?” So thankful that He is not “fair”…but merciful and gracious!
Great message! I know that everything good or bad can be placed before God… It is always a good reality check about where we spend our time and money to see where our idols are. Thanks for the great post and for linking up at the Sunday Social : )