Earlier last year, I lost value for gathering with fellow believers. Online church was my thing. There were Sundays I skipped church to meet academic deadlines, showed up late and used the little one as an excuse to just stream online. My motto for this was God understands. He truly understands. While God wants us to mature as Christians, He is faithful and merciful to meet us where we are in our faith walk. Be it unto you according to your faith.
Towards the end of the year, I was convicted. I had to move from God understands to I understand what God wants this season. The need to prioritize fellowship with other believers and punctuality became paramount.
This year, I have purposed in my heart to prioritize church attendance. Church attendance over my feelings. Church attendance over meeting academic deadlines. Prioritizing church attendance would be an act of sacrifice and a way for me to model an important aspect of the Christian life to the little one. Whether we desire it or not, we are our children’s role model and our values will ultimately become their values.
There are underground churches in various parts of the world. Christians are being persecuted for gathering because the enemy knows there is power in fellowshipping with other believers. It is easier to take down a lone wolf than a wolf pack. With these in mind, church attendance should be prioritized. It is okay to stream church services but we should not let it replace physical attendance if possible.
If you do not like your local churches, ask God to show you where He wants you planted. Let the head of the Church guide you. That’s the best way to go about choosing a local church and it is more important than feelings-based decisions.
Let’s prioritize attending church with our little ones this year. Let’s start with this month, this first quarter, etc.. Soon, we would move beyond attending to serving and having a sense of family. More importantly, having a church family would become a family value. Not a mere religious act. Stay blessed!