Too Much Church
When you come to appear before Me, who has required this from your hand, to trample My courts? Bring no more futile sacrifices; incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies - I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; they are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. “Come now, and let us reason together," says the LORD, "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (Isaiah 1:12-18)
Over the past fifty years or so, there apparently has been a trend toward less and less church. Fifty years ago, churches were having two-week revivals with Bible school for children and in some cases for adults too during the daytime. Not long after I was married I was shocked to learn from my wife that revivals were scheduled from Sunday to Sunday and that people actually went to church on a Saturday night. It was hard for me to comprehend at the time! Now we have Sunday through Wednesday revivals and sometimes they begin on Sunday night instead of Sunday morning. Some churches offer drive thru communion. Other churches provide drive thru prayer and in Las Vegas; you can have a drive thru wedding. It appears that people are growing tired of church with the idea that less church is better.
How about you? Have you ever been tired of too much church? Some have provided their own solution to the problem by skipping any and every service offered on Sunday or Wednesday nights. Some have gone beyond this to only attend on Sunday mornings one or two times a month and some have cut church down even more to just the Christmas and Easter services. Are you tired of church?
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Surprisingly God is tired of church too; at least He is tired of some kinds of church services. God says through the Prophet Isaiah, “Bring no more futile sacrifices; incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies - I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; they are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them.” God is tired of people coming to church when they are really not there to worship Him. God is tired too of those who come to church on Sunday but live like the devil the rest of the week.
If you are tired of church, what can you do to bring back the joy and at the same time please God? What happens when we are involved in sin? Usually the first thing that happens is that we begin to back off of our Christian commitments and we find ourselves attending fewer and fewer church services. Integrity will help to bring back the joy of being in church. How do you get integrity if you don’t have it? God says, “Come now, and let us reason together. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Turning back to the Lord through repentance will bring you joy not only when you attend church but also it will refresh your entire life. Do the reasonable thing and commit yourself afresh to God. Then you will find that there is no such thing as too much church.
Copyright © 2004. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals on a non-profit basis with source credited. On June 8, 1998 the email version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent.
